Tuesday, September 1, 2015

The New York Channel

The New York Channel

Showing only television shows and movies which take place in New York City!


Would it be possible to program a cable/satellite/internet channel showing only television shows and movies which take place in New York City?

Sure... it's easy to fill up a daily programming grid with shows (try it with friends at a bar!), but what about an entire year's worth of programming?

52 weeks x 7 days a week x 24 hours a day = 8,736 hours of programming!

(Hmm... that doesn't seem too bad.)

Rule #1: You cannot double book a show.
No "an hour of Seinfeld!" like some local stations advertise.

 Rule #2: Only one movie a day, Monday-Friday; two-a-day on weekends.
Rule #2-A: Each movie block should have a different movie theme.
For example, Saturday night would be "Creature Feature".
Sunday evening would be "Hollywood Blockbuster". (Just like ABC used to do back in the 1970s.)
[Maybe I'll post a separate thread on New York movies by genre...]

 Rule #3: Saturday and Sunday may each have a 3-hour block for a sporting event.

 Rule #4: The episodes must exist, available for broadcast.

 Rule #5: No talk shows, soap operas, or skit comedy.
Rule #5-A: Except for Jackie Gleason (Honeymooners), prime time soap operas, and Saturday Night Live.

 Rule #6: Short lived shows may be shown one day a week, preferably on the weekends.

Long running series should be scheduled Monday-Friday (260 episodes...approximately 10 seasons). Shorter series should be scheduled on Saturday and/or Sunday. (52-104 episodes.) Longer series can be scheduled every day (365 episodes).

If something can't make the full 260 airings (like Seinfeld), then shorter series can fill the gap. Rule #1 applies.
Let's assume a year which starts on a Sunday... That means 52 weeks of Sunday-Saturday, with one Sunday left over.

So... 365x24 = 8,760 hours of programming.

Subtract from that:
  Rule #2. Nine movies a week. Let's program 2 hours a movie. (Maybe 2.5)
That's (52 x 9 x 2) + 4 [two movies on that extra, last Sunday] = 940 hours. 10.7% of programming.

That leaves: 7,820 hours of programming.

Rule #3. Three hours of sports programming for each Saturday and Sunday. (52 x 6)+ 3 = 315 hours of sports programming.

That leaves: 7,503 hours of programming. 85.7%

So let's start filling those time slots!
The series (with number of episodes in parenthesis):

Sitcoms

Archie Bunker and friends account for 284 hours of programming.
  • Barney Miller (168)
  • Fish (35)
101.5 hours of programming.
  • Diff'rent Strokes (189)
  • [The Facts of Life was set in Peeskill, NY, in Westchester County, and is disqualified.]
94.5 hours of programming.

These three franchises account for 480 hours of programming, or approximately one-half of one percent. (About 1 hour, twenty minutes of each day.)
  • Bewitched (254) [half Manhattan, half suburbia]
  • Bosom Buddies (37)
  • Car 54, Where Are You? (60)
  • Cosby (95)
  • The Cosby Show (202)
  • The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (65)
  • Dear John (90)
  • The Dick Van Dyke Show (158) [half Manhattan, half suburbia]
  • Family Affair (138)
  • Friends (236)
  • Head of the Class (114) [+ Billy (13)]
  • How I Met Your Mother (208)
  • I Love Lucy (181) [I'll include the suburban episodes, since they still live in the metro area.]
  • The Jackie Gleason Show (156) /The Honeymooners (39)
  • The Joey Bishop Show (123)
  • Just Shoot Me!(148)
  • Kate and Allie (122)
  • King of Queens (207)
  • Love, Sidney (44) [+Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend tv movie]
  • Mad About You (164)
  • Make Room For Daddy / The Danny Thomas Show (351)
  • Night Court (193)
  • The Nutt House (11) [Yes... but it has a great cast, and co-created by Mel Brooks!]
  • The Odd Couple (114) [Hmm... did Felix and Oscar ever meet Kate and Allie?]
  • The Patty Duke Show (104)
  • Rhoda (110)
  • Seinfeld (180)
  • Spin City (145)
  • Taxi (114)
  • That Girl (136)
  • Welcome Back, Kotter (95)
  • Will & Grace (194)
4601 episodes, 2300.5 hours of programming.
  • Saturday Night Live (750+!) [The "no double booking" rule! So, 365*1.5 = 547.5 hours] [I'd slot this in the "talk show" time slot of 11:30 PM-1 AM.] [If run as a non-stop marathon, it would last 46+ days.]
480+ 2300.5+ 547.5 = 3328 hours of programming.
38% of the annual total!

Drama

  • McCloud (46) [6@60, 34@90, 6@120]
    • 360+ 3060+ 720 = 4140 / 60 = 69 hours of programming
  • Naked City (138) [39@30 mins., 99@ 60 mins.]
    • 1170+ 5940 = 7110 / 60 = 118.5 hours of programming
  • Baretta [Uknown east coast city, perhaps Newark]
  • Beauty and the Beast (56)
  • Cagney & Lacey (125)
  • CSI: NY (197)
  • Dr. Kildare (190)
  • The Equalizer (88)
  • Fame (136)
  • Felicity (84)
  • Kojak (118)
  • Law & Order (456!) [365 hours]
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (343+)
  • Mad Men (85)
  • NYPD Blue (261)
  • Sex and the City (94@30 mins.)
  • Ugly Betty (85)
  • Ryan's Hope (3515!) [Yes, a soap opera set in NYC! 30 minutes long]
    • 182.5 hours of programming. [Or, if run as a non-stop marathon, 73+days.] [ Oh, wait... Rule #5. Disqualified, and I doubt episodes exist for broadcast.]
2367.5 hours of programming!

Cartoons [Yeah, I'm thinking of a Saturday Morning block. 52 Saturdays x 5 hours of programming?]

  • Spider-Man (various)
    • Spider-Man (52) [1967]
    • Spider-Man (26) [1981]
    • Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (24) [1981]
    • Spider-Man (65) [1994]
    • Spider-Man Unlimited (13) [1999]
    • Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (13) [2003]
    • Spectacular Spider-Man (26) [2008]
    • Ultimate Spider-Man (78+) [2012]
297 episodes, 148.5 hours of programming.
  • The Critic (23)
  • Futurama (140)
  • Gargoyles (78)
  • Hey Arnold! (100)
  • The Real Ghostbusters (173)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (193) [1987] 
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (157) [2003]
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (78+) [2012]
  • Top Cat (30)
972 episodes, 486 hours of programming

148.5+486 = 634.5 hours of programming.
Divide by 52 Saturdays, and that's over 12 hours of programming each Saturday Morning!

Or I run Spider-Man five days a week in an afternoon timeslot, and keep the rest on Saturday, on a 7-hour block?! Possibly grab TMNT (428 episodes) as another M-F afternoon block. That leaves an average of 5 1/4 hours of cartoons for Saturday morning.

The totals, so far:
  • Movies 940
  • Sports 315
  • Comedy 3328
  • Drama 2367.5
  • Cartoons 634.5
7585 hours. 86.6%. *SIGH* I need to find 1175 hours of additional programming... 49 days...

  • The Nanny (146) 73 hours.
  • Brooklyn Bridge (34) 17 hours.
  • Archer (75+) 37 hours.
  • The Defenders (132) 132 hours
  • Dream On (120) 60 hours
  • Jessie (101) 50.5 hours
  • Law & Order: Criminal Intent (195) 195 hours
  • Louie (53+) 26 hours
  • News Radio (97) 48.5 hours
  • Veronica's Closet (66) 33 hours
  • Wizards of Waverly Place (106) 53 hours
725 hours. 8310 total. 450 hours to go. 19 days.

  • Caroline in the City (97) 47.5
  • Boardwalk Empire (56) 56
  • White Collar (81) 81
  • Rules of Engagement (100) 50
  • Gossip Girl (121) 121
  • 30 Rock (138) 69
  • Everybody Hates Chris (88) 44

468.5 hours 8778.5 total!

So we made the "deadline"!
The breakdown:

  • Movies 940
  • Sports  315
  • Comedy  3919.5
  • Drama  2969.5
  • Cartoons  634.5
How many of these shows would you watch?

If you had to pick one episode from each of your favorite series, which would they be?
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