I guess Bill Kurtis is hanging it up

[Bob Jersey]

He is in his 80s, and his show on the Decades sidechannel wasn't the big attraction there anyway, so Weigel is rebranding the netlet as "Catchy Comedy!", going for full-time laughs from classics from across the... well, you know... the new brand débuts March 27th, and here's a sampling of its daily menu, along with the continuing weekend binge, from its affiliate in Green Bay, where the NFL team has been under major scrutiny lately...

https://www.wbay.com/2023/03/14/goodbye-decades-hello-catchy-comedy/ (link)

B

[David Bruggeman]

Kurtis has been the announcer for NPR's "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me" since the retirement of Carl Kasell, and AFAIK, isn't planning to stop doing that any time soon.

David

[Diner]

The new brand and focus seems rather more downscale and less curated than their current schedule... although I suppose one man's "Petticoat Junction" is another man's "Full House." 

Overall, it's not going to have a huge impact on their schedule, since most of Decades was comedy anyway... but sadly, this does mean the end of nightly "Dick Cavett Show" reruns. (Just last night I caught part of a 1971 pre-bout showdown between Ali and Frazier, which was truly a glimpse at a bygone era.)

I believe the only dramas on their regular schedule were "Dark Shadows" and "The Millionaire," both buried in the 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. hours. But they did often feature dramas on their weekend binges - "77 Sunset Strip" this coming weekend (including the complete "noir" final season) and "The Mod Squad" the weekend after that, just before the rebranding begins. I wonder how often we'll see dramas like that on subchannels in the future. 

[Tom Wolper]

One small note I saw in reading about the rebranding is that Weigel didn’t contract with Nielsen for ratings for Decades. They will be getting ratings for the new format. So I don’t know how they sold commercial time but the new format will increase their revenue.

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