Shows once dismissed as rerun filler, or simply too awful ever to be televised again, have now become appointment viewing. On F/X, the Fox cable division, “Grizzly Adams” does better ratings numbers than any of the channel’s original programming. The tirelessly inane E! network has had big success marketing retread sitcoms like “WKRP in Cincinnati” and “One Day at a Time.” The Family Channel recently revived the original trashy mini-series “Rich Man, Poor Man.” Even VH-1, for the first time in its long and incredibly boring history, finally has come up with a show people are actually talking about. It’s called “American Bandstand,” hosted by some dude named Dick Clark. Remember him?
“Other networks may be picking up old shows to pick up ratings, but we’re the all-classic TV network,” boasts Nick president Rich Cronin. To prove it, TV Land won’t run any national advertising until next year, airing “retro-mercials” instead. Smart move. Look at how deeply “The Brady Bunch” is wedged in our collective sense memory. Likewise all those Madison Avenue classics hawking Oscar Meyer wieners and Alka-Seltzer. Plop, plop fizz, fizz. Even the dumbest TV flashbacks are instant relief from the heartburn of life as a grown-up. R. M.
