Most likely to reair first...Kennedy Price, Davidson, Carey or Barker (daytime)?

[imhomerjay]

A. People made that exact argument when TV shows first started coming out on DVD

And that business worked, before DVDs mostly crashed, for only a subset of the totality of TV programming. And even then, only a comparatively small subset of shows really did much volume. It was a niche. Even in the streaming wars, you can count on relatively few fingers, and maybe toes, the library shows that entice people to subscribe to a service.

Regardless, I’d probably agree with you with regards to any other game show except TPIR. TPIR is a timeless piece of our culture, and the reruns haven’t been seen at least 20 years, a lot of them never. I think there’s significant value in those specific reruns, especially in this era of streaming services where content is king.

Rose colored glasses cloud objectivity. It could be monetized, but the idea that there’s a huge clamor to watch people guess the prices of grandfather clocks from 1979 just isn’t realistic. It’s a niche with a slightly higher curiosity factor.

[pricefan18]

Rose colored glasses cloud objectivity. It could be monetized, but the idea that there’s a huge clamor to watch people guess the prices of grandfather clocks from 1979 just isn’t realistic. It’s a niche with a slightly higher curiosity factor.

Nostalgia factor wouldn't play in? I'd think it might a bit with this. As I stated earlier, generations have grown up with this show, either watching it with their kids, as kids, or both. It goes beyond the basic premise of the whole thing I think that way. It'd be comfort food.

[thepriceis_J]

Rose colored glasses cloud objectivity. It could be monetized, but the idea that there’s a huge clamor to watch people guess the prices of grandfather clocks from 1979 just isn’t realistic. It’s a niche with a slightly higher curiosity factor.

Yeah, I was pretty much going to say the same thing pricefan18 just said. Nostalgia would most definitely play a factor in gaining people's attention. A lot of people from the 70s to the 90s have plenty of memories watching the show as young children either with their grandmother, during the summer, or when they were home sick from school. Not a meme, but being home sick from school watching Price is certainly something that's been brought up a joke numerous times before.

I'm not sitting here to say that Price reruns are going to bring in 45 million viewers and shock the television industry, but I'd be more than willing to say that if GSN or Buzzr could pick up Price and promoted the heck out of it, it would probably be their most watched acquired program.

After lying dormant for years, the estate of Bob Ross began posting episodes of The Joy of Painting online and then struck a deal to run the program on Twitch, and now it's gained this cult like status I don't think many would've imagined happening. The resurgence in his popularity has resulted in a lot of random merchandise and Kickstarter campaign for a museum for his life and work. The two shows are different, but if a PBS show that was forgotten could achieve this kind of cult status, one that ran for 35 years with the same host and still on the air would probably fair better.

[gamesurf]

It's not a rumor. Buzzr did an FAQ and confirmed that the reason they haven't aired Price is because of CBS holding exclusive rights to air the show.

Well, that’s about as official a confirmation we’re ever likely to get! Thanks for sharing that. Don’t know how I haven’t seen that before.

Even in the streaming wars, you can count on relatively few fingers, and maybe toes, the library shows that entice people to subscribe to a service.

I’d predict as streaming services splinter and become more exclusive they’re going to have to cater to even more niche markets. After Disney+, Peacock, and HBO Go are through migrating their content, Netflix is probably going to be the left as the TV-MA Originals/Anime/Standup Special brand, for example.

Sample size of one, I know, but a good classic TPIR library is probably the only thing that would ever get me to pay for CBS All Access.

(On the flip side, that would probably motivate Fremantle to go after all the classic episodes uploaded on YouTube, and I don’t wanna be the one who touches that monkey’s paw)

[pricefan18]

Yeah, I was pretty much going to say the same thing pricefan18 just said. Nostalgia would most definitely play a factor in gaining people's attention. A lot of people from the 70s to the 90s have plenty of memories watching the show as young children either with their grandmother, during the summer, or when they were home sick from school. Not a meme, but being home sick from school watching Price is certainly something that's been brought up a joke numerous times before.

I'm not sitting here to say that Price reruns are going to bring in 45 million viewers and shock the television industry, but I'd be more than willing to say that if GSN or Buzzr could pick up Price and promoted the heck out of it, it would probably be their most watched acquired program.

After lying dormant for years, the estate of Bob Ross began posting episodes of The Joy of Painting online and then struck a deal to run the program on Twitch, and now it's gained this cult like status I don't think many would've imagined happening. The resurgence in his popularity has resulted in a lot of random merchandise and Kickstarter campaign for a museum for his life and work. The two shows are different, but if a PBS show that was forgotten could achieve this kind of cult status, one that ran for 35 years with the same host and still on the air would probably fair better.

And not only that....but let's say nothing happens with at least the Barker era episodes before Bob died. After the fact, he'd no doubt be fresh on many people's minds who grew up watching his version of the show, which I'd have to think would add that much more interest in seeing it again. So I could see that playing its' own role as well potentially in that scenario.

[MrPlinko]

Ever again is a very long time. Will we ever see those old episodes again at 11am on CBS? Probably not, but the TPIR tape library is too valuable for it to just sit in archives forever. Eventually, probably sooner rather than later, whatever the reason we don’t see them anymore whether it be some conflict with CBS that needs to be negotiated, or something specifically related to Bob that can’t be cleared until after his passing, will be resolved, and Freemantle will print money selling the rights to Netflix, or Hulu, or CBS All Access or whatever.

In my view, this is most likely.

Joe

[MrPlinko]

Realistically, Buzzer isn’t going to suddenly strike gold if they got Price reruns. The audience for old game show reruns is small. Every dollar is nice, but let’s not lose perspective.

Partially agree,

They won't strike gold.  But the ratings would go up and there are so many episodes of TPIR that Buzzr and even GSN would not suffer rerun abuse syndrome like they do now with so many shows. I agree that the audience for old game shows is small, and Buzzr  foesnot have the money in the budget to pay the CBS royalties for what they would demand for TPIR reruns.

Joe

[Spmahn]

If Freemantle suddenly got free reign to do as they wish with the TPIR Archives, there’s a less than zero chance that they’d put them on Buzzr where no one would see them and they’d generate no revenue. They’d absolutely solicit a buyer for the rights and sell them to the highest bidder.

Look, maybe the audience for game show reruns in general might be small-ish and niche, but last year Netflix paid an estimated $400 million+ for the rights to Seinfeld. Now I’m absolutely not comparing Seinfeld reruns to TPIR reruns, but although Seinfeld in a bubble is one of the greatest shows in the history of television, it’s somewhat dated these days, and the reruns have been on TV continuously for 25 years now, everyone who wants to see the show has seen it, several times over. My point is, if the reruns of a dated sitcom from the 90’s is worth $400 million to Netflix, reruns of TPIR are probably worth at least a fraction of that to somebody, and that fraction is still millions of dollars of found revenue to Freemantle.

[blozier2006]

Now I’m absolutely not comparing Seinfeld reruns to TPIR reruns

Yes you are, or else you wouldn't have brought it into the discussion.

[Spmahn]

Yes you are, or else you wouldn't have brought it into the discussion.

No, I’m not actually. I’m comparing one property that on the surface you might not think would be as valuable as it actually is, to another whose value at this moment is unknown.

[thepriceis_J]

No, I’m not actually. I’m comparing one property that on the surface you might not think would be as valuable as it actually is, to another whose value at this moment is unknown.

I wouldn't undervalue Seinfeld's popularity. It's definitely seen as a show that many don't understand the appeal of, but it's also a show whose silly portrayal of mundane life resonates with people. It's one of only a few shows in television history to go out at #1 and when its finale aired at least one cable network (TVLand) aired nothing during that time slot to urge viewers to watch the finale instead. It was a big deal when it was on and it's no surprise it remains a big deal 22 years after its ending.

[Spmahn]

I wouldn't undervalue Seinfeld's popularity. It's definitely seen as a show that many don't understand the appeal of, but it's also a show whose silly portrayal of mundane life resonates with people. It's one of only a few shows in television history to go out at #1 and when its finale aired at least one cable network (TVLand) aired nothing during that time slot to urge viewers to watch the finale instead. It was a big deal when it was on and it's no surprise it remains a big deal 22 years after its ending.

But it’a also a period piece that takes place in a pre-internet pre-cellphone society where much of the humor is based on the viewers understanding of life back then which no one under the age of 30 would have a frame of reference for.

[gamesurf]

Comparing game shows to any show with an ongoing storyline is going to be a strained analogy.

You can't watch multiple episodes of TPIR in a row like you can The Office or Breaking Bad (which, incidentally, are both shows that did okay in first-run but became far more talked about after they could be binged on Netflix). If TPIR were to hit streaming, nobody is going to feel compelled to watch every episode, or to watch them multiple times, or invite their friends over to rewatch them.

It's just nice to have. It's comforting to know you can put on something that will repeat itself every episode, but will still be entertaining.

The Bob Ross comparison was a good one. There's a market for familiar, old school, "comfort food". It isn't worth $400 million, but it's likely worth a bit more than your average Buzzr game show rerun.

[rockyboy34]

Definitely the Carey eps. Like tpir04 said, there’s over 12 years worth of it waiting to be reran.