The Rerun Syndrome

At first there is usually an uncomfortable sense of dej`a vu. Then there is an angry feeling of having been cheated. Then, perhaps, there is a sigh of resignation. Whatever the symptoms, the syndrome affects all regular TV viewers who discover, sometimes as early as February, that their favorite shows are in reruns. Now even President Nixon is aware of the syndrome and is using his influence as the nation's No. 1 viewer to try to force the networks to limit the number of reruns.

Nixon's concern in this election year lies more in gaining votes than in viewing, however. His chief interest seems to be to gain the support of the Screen Actors Guild. The guild, in an attempt to alleviate unemployment among Hollywood actors, is asking the Federal Communications Commission to limit reruns to 25% of prime evening time (v. 45% now, according to S.A.G.) and to require the networks to produce more original programming.

The networks reply that programming is so expensive these days that if they did limit reruns to 25% of prime time, they would either go broke or they would have to do all their shows on the cheap. Quality would suffer, they claim, and there would be less money for expensive specials and news shows. The upshot, they say, might be less employment rather than more.

High Prices. Ironically, one of the many reasons for the staggering TV production costs is the featherbedding practiced by the West Coast TV unions. A half-hour show like All in the Family costs around $ 100,000--double what it would have cost in 1960. An hour-long variety program like the Dean Martin Show costs about $230,000. Reruns are an important source of profits to recoup such expenditures.

The presidential pressure, which the networks can scarcely ignore, comes just at a time when they are planning bolder--and possibly unprofitable --programming. This season will include specials like ABC'S series about Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt and David Rabe's Sticks and Bones, one of several dramas CBS and Joseph Papp are planning. If the networks were forced into a rigid formula limiting reruns, they would undoubtedly opt for the cheapest solution, dropping the specials and extending the standard run of series from the present 22-to-24 weeks to the 39 weeks of a decade or so ago.

The long-suffering viewer would once more be denied any real choice in the matter. But to him, one Long Day's Journey may be worth 39 Gunsmokes --and an infinite number of Doris Day Shows. What is needed in TV is not longer-running series but more diversity. One way to increase diversity--and employment--might be to expand the production capacities of public TV. Yet Nixon vetoed increased appropriations for public TV only last June.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.