MovieChat Forums > The Jack Benny Program (1950) Discussion > Duplicated episodes in episode guide

Duplicated episodes in episode guide


As i've been watching The Jack Benny Program on a local channel, I've been adding data to the IMDB. It's become clear to me that there are some seriously bogus entries in thie episode guide. In particular, there are episodes from the mid 50s which are duplicates of episodes from the early 60s. This becomes clear if you notice exactly the same cast in both episodes. In many of the cases that I've looked it, the later date appears to be the correct date because the episodes are directed/produced by Fred De Cordova who seems to have not actually worked on the show until 1960 or so.

Other online episode guides appear to have the same errors.

As I've added data to some of the mid-50s shows, I seem to have aggravated the error.

I wish I knew where an accurate episode guide could be found.

From here on out, I'm going to look closely at the copyright date of episodes I watch and I'm considering deleting the corresponding similar episode from a different year.

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Well, they did periodically literally re-make episodes. In other words, they did the same episode again, adding or changing the occasional joke or reference. For instance, the episode where Jack visits Edgar Bergan's house and is stymied when Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd are walking around is redone a few years later, right down to Bergan's wife singing a song. It's not the exact same show --They change a few lines and add a bit after the second show indicating the Bergans were playing a joke on Jack by hiring actors to pose as the dummies-- but extremely close.

They used to do this sometimes with older, long running shows. It never occurred to them anyone would actually watch the whole series, so they thought noone would notice.

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[deleted]

Your best bet at finding an accurate episode guide is the final book of a three volume compendium called "39 Forever," put out by the International Jack Benny fan club. Kinda pricey ($60) but worthwhile if you're a diehard fan...

http://www.jackbenny.org/store/39_forever_second_edition_vol3.htm

But, as stated above, most long-running shows from that era duplicated plots. The final season of "Burns & Allen" blatantly rehashed numerous episodes from earlier seasons and featured almost identical titles (seasons 3 & 8 each have a painfully similar episode called "Locked Out"). All of the 60s fantasy shows (Mr Ed, Bewitched, Jeannie, Munsters, Addams, and even the one-year-wonder My Mother the Car) recycled stories regularly. There were no DVRs (or even VCR's) in those days, and with only 3 networks reruns were minimal. If they thought people would be still be watching/analyzing old tapes 50+ years later, they might've done things differently.

If imdb episode entries are indeed duplicated (errors do abound on this site), you can merge the two episodes into one by changing the episode number on one of them to match the other.

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