The New Look RTV: Part 1

I'd say the dust has settled on the upheaval at RTV, but with this outfit, you never know when another mishap or sudden change is gonna occur. But I think it's safe to make one final (for now) post about the new lineup--you know, now that I know what it IS and all.

First of all, let me say if you want a good laugh to go with some good info, go to the second (and current) RTV Facebook page. The first one disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and while the official claim is that those darned technical difficulties were the culprit, others--and not just conspiracy-inclined crackpots--assert that RTV pulled it due to the amount of negative feedback it was receiving. At any rate, Version 2.0 is up and running, and much like Version 1.0, you don't see much info at all from RTV. No, the fans provide the useful knowledge about affiliate changes, programming moves, and the like.

One particular fan, Steve Russo, clearly knows his stuff and has been the de facto company spokesman for a long time on the page, but at some point this year he became kind of a spin doctor for RTV, putting some of the more questionable RTV moves and non-moves in the best possible light for the Luken folks. For example, when someone complains that RTV representatives don't post there, Russo responds with a dig at Antenna and ME-TV for having "interns" post canned responses.

He has a point, but the Antenna page in particular at least has someone engaging with the community, and while the frequent empty promises to add shows to the master "wishlist" smack of meaningless appeasement, there are fun posts highlighting guest stars or other notable aspects of upcoming TV episodes airing on the channel. It would be easy for RTV to do this, assuming the people that run it KNOW what's gonna be on their channel.

Anyway, now that RTV's schedule is overhauled with the loss of the Universal library and the addition of some cool shows and a lot of garbage, Russo is valiantly portraying this in a positive light, chiding people for saying RTV "lost" the Universal shows when it may have just been a contract non-renewal. Well, yeah, but if RTV couldn't afford to renew it, how is that good? And though RTV has added some interesting programs from other sources, it has also brought in a lot of unappealing filler, and while I am willing to accept that if it means support for the good stuff (a point Russo is making on the Facebook page), it also looks like a clear sign that the company is in trouble.

ME-TV is poaching RTV affiliates all over the country, and it is hard to believe that trend won't continue. ME-TV has the power of the prestigious CBS/Paramount library in its favor, and RTV just lost (or "didn't renew") its own library deal with one of the other appealing libraries. I love that "Naked City" is on RTV now, but look at stuff like "Da Vinci's Inquest" and all the syndicated filler like "Great Outdoorsman" that clogs the weekends--shows thought to be offered on a barter basis, which basically means cheap as hell for RTV--and tell me that is more of a draw to station owners than a roster that includes name brands like "Leave It to Beaver" and "Magnum P.I."

I think that RTV is in trouble and that this move is a sign that it needs to cut costs to tread a little water. Now, were the Universal shows played out? Sure. RTV overplayed them, didn't take full advantage of the Uni library (assuming it had access to more than it actually used; perhaps many shows were off limits), and ruined some series by repeating episodes multiple times instead of showing the entire run. "Battlestar Galactica" is one that experienced rerun-itis. If you want the whole series, go to Netflix, where I believe all episodes of the original series are available for streaming. Why couldn't RTV get these episodes? And if RTV aired the last couple seasons of "Hitchcock Presents," I missed them because I gave up looking for them.

So change is welcome in this case, but is this good change overall? It looks bad for RTV if it's fighting to establish itself with station owners looking to sign up or maybe jump to ME-TV or even Antenna. It's good and bad for classic TV fans, who get some fresh classics but have to take them with a lot of unwelcome extras. Then of course there is the loss of old favorites which, played out as they were to longtime RTV viewers, were still beloved by many and haven't been on elsewhere much, either.

In fact, one of the as yet unspoken aspects that intrigues me about all this is what is to happen to those Universal shows. Will Antenna or ME-TV go after them? Is some other programming outlet going to acquire them? Personally, I'd love to see Netflix air some of the old stuff. It has a deal with Universal already and does stream many of the shows, yet many others have not appeared or no longer appear. Hopefully the severance of ties with RTV frees up the return of fare like "Kojak" and "Quincy" to Netflix Instant Watching.

Well, I've said a lot without really talking about the new RTV shecule. I'll stop here and be back tomorrow with more on that.