I am not giving up on it, though! It keeps trying with original programs, but no one is paying attention to them. Why not dig deeper into the back catalog of Sony material and throw up some more vintage series to get viewers in this crowded streaming landscape? Here are 5 TV classics that make a good fit for Crackle.
NOTE: Much as I would love to see Burns and Allen and black-and-white series like that here, I am not getting my hopes up since Crackle shows little interest in anything pre-1970. So I am limiting my selections to color TV programs.
NOTE #2: I am talking complete series here. Yeah, it's a free service, but the Crackle move of selecting one season or maybe two and then pulling them after a few months is outdated in today's world. Let's shoot for the whole thing for each of these 5:
1) Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman/Fernwood 2Night/America 2Night: Amazingly, Hartman is on DVD, but I think clearances will keep the Martin Mull talk shows off the format forever. All of them deserve another shot. Fernwood had a great run on Nick at Nite, but its parent show, a soap opera satire that ran over 300 (!) episodes in syndication, has had much less exposure.
300-some episodes is intimidating, perhaps, but there are no limits in streaming! Well, OK, there are plenty of limits, really, but you can't tell me Sony doesn't have the resources to make even a big sprawling run like this available on its platform.
2) One Day at a Time: I thought Netflix would pick this up when it produced the remake, but nooooo, Netflix just doesn't roll like that anymore. In fact, despite runs on Logo and Antenna TV, this series has a remarkably low profile considering it ran 9 seasons AND got a lot of attention for the ongoing revival. It seems like an easy add for Crackle.
3) Barney Miller: It never really goes away, exactly, but this critically acclaimed police sitcom never gets much love, either, and it has been conspicuous by its absence in streaming. It's on the digital subchannels like Antenna and is now complete on DVD (thanks to Shout!), but it hasn't received a nice comfy spot on Hulu. I believe Crackle did show some episodes in the past, so it could turn up again.
4) Fantasy Island: The last time I regularly watched Crackle was last year when it had a selection of Island episodes. So naturally it pulled those, and the show hasn't returned. I don't know what's keeping it off. This series is NOT on DVD, but Shout! isn't doing anything with it. It's been more than 5 years since the season 3 DVD release, and that leaves 4 more seasons in the vaults.
Like Love Boat, the guest stars and goofy premises make this a nice "dip into every now and then" kind of show and therefore well suited for streaming. Some episodes were on Hulu, and the show aired on Cozi and Universal HD, but it's too cheesy to not be available on demand. Crackle really should make this one happen.
5) It's Your Move: This is a personal choice for me. A young Jason Bateman and the great David Garrison squared off in this short-lived Leavitt-Moye sitcom on NBC. As the show went on, producers watered down the original concept and took away some of its edge, but at the time it was a breath of fresh air. It wasn't so much that Bateman's schemer was so audacious in his feuding with the adult Garrison (who played a man dating Bateman's character's mom--Caren Kaye), but that he was sometimes wrong. The kid wasn't always the smart one, and it was nice that the show didn't make the adults look like total idiots.
Clever writing and great performances make this one of the great "what ifs" of the 1980s. The episodes are out there, but I'd love to see them in good quality, and this would be a great and very welcome surprise on Sony Crackle.
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