SoSpacey

So I remember back in the 80s and 90s when Letterman or Carson were off that day you might get a repeat from a year, 2 years or even 5 years back.

They would replay some classic episodes back then.

For the past 7+ years they have moved away from that formula and gone to a formula that shows episodes from 2 weeks - 2 months ago.

The old format would allow me to either watch or rewatch a classic episode. I may even be able to catch an episode where a current famous star was on before they were really famous. Or maybe a classic moment of a certain show that I missed. And if I had seen the episode before it wasn't a big deal because I didn't see it in a long time and rewatching it was kind of fun.

Now if a talk show is a repeat it is usually 2 weeks old. If I had already seen it I wouldn't want to watch it again. It was JUST on!

In the old format I would watch a monologue from 4 years ago and be interested in it because it took you back to that time and gave a laugh. Now I get to watch a monologue from 2 weeks ago....not as fun or interesting.




So why the switch? Why did all of the late night talk shows decide it was better to repeat recent shows than show classic episodes of that show? And which did you like better?

Chew

I watch some late night shows regularly and have zero interest in stuff I just saw a few weeks ago.

Play some Daily Show with Steve and Stephen or some Tonight Show with Carson and I'd be watching every night.

calhoun07

I wish Kimmel would show classic episodes. When they show a rerun of his show, I swear they are always within the last couple weeks. It sucks.

Leno showed a lot of great classic shows during the writer's strike...we need to see more of that on all the shows.

Either that or get a guest host like they did back in "the day." I wondered just the other day why doesn't Leno ever have guest hosts when Carson had them all the time? (Aside from the Leno-hating answer that people would then realize the guest host was better!)

BlueCC

I wish they would just show old monologues and skits without any of the guests.

calhoun07

Wha??? A good host can make even sub par guests seem good. If you don't want to see the guests, you are watching a bad host, therefore the show sucks.

(I find Kimmel makes even guests I am not interested in seem tolerable to watch.)

My Other Self

I concur. I'd love to see some classic Leno and Kimmell.

Charlie Goose

Letterman, back in the days when he was funny, would show theme weeks of old shows during his off time. Like 5 shows with people who got really angry with him during the interview. Oliver Reed about to kick the shit out of him comes to mind.
Rerunning shows from two weeks ago is stupid, imo.

maingon

I liked it during the strike how Leno did a week of Old episodes from the early 90's, I wish they would do stuff like that more often.

Lokimok

I've wondered if its partly to trick people. They re-air them so fast that any movie being promoted is often still playing in theaters. Maybe they want viewers to think it's a new show. When Letterman was on NBC, he used to complain when he thought a rerun was too old. I would watch reruns from years ago just for the novelty of it.

At the very least, they should pick quality episodes instead of rerunning what might be a crap show just because a big name was on.

Mad As Hell Week! Teri Garr Week! I also have hazy memories of a Re-Run Plus where they played an old show slightly sped up & then added something extra at the end - or another where Dave was supposedly on vacation somewhere & watching along with us & commenting on the episode & interrupting with various stories... Conan has tried a couple of stunt reruns: the claymation & Halloween skeleton episodes.

Daily Show likes to promote that you can watch all of their old episodes online. Maybe they should get someone to edit together some of the less topical segments that are just really funny. I agree with Chew that it would be fun to see some of the old "correspondents" again.

calhoun07

Wow...on NBC??? He's been out of touch longer than I thought.

I'd be curious to see...which late night show did better in ratings during the writer's strike? Leno was showing classic episodes, I don't think anybody else went in that direction. Did their ratings improve at all?

And what you said about trying to cash in on promotions for movies still in the theater is probably correct. However, I just refuse to see it for shows like Kimmel, when the episodes they rerun on Monday are still online for crying out loud. I'd LOVE to see some older episodes of Kimmel in reruns.