It was announced on ME TV, that next week Lost episodes of Bonanza will be aired on Free TV.
shareNot just a few - all, from what I understand, starting with "Lothario Larkin", the first episode in the "lost" package.
shareFew TV series have genuinely "lost" episodes. As long as TV shows have been syndicated (which was almost from the start), producers have had the sense to keep them in good condition. This is why you can still see The Cisco Kid, the oldest color series.
There are a couple of lost Doctor Who episodes. They either disappeared, or were deliberately erased! In some cases only a B&W dub remains.
Of all the missing TV episodes, I'd most like to see The Gary Moore Show in which Durward Kirby ripped the entire roll of film out a of Polaroid camera. The show was live (even though videotape was available), but there might have been a kine. If there was, it has not shown up.
Few TV series have genuinely "lost" episodes.Yes, and I challenge that the Bonanza episodes were ever truly lost. On Insp, it seems that lost episodes are all they ever show.
No, they were never lost - just a marketing gimmick. When Bonanza first went into syndication in the 1970s, there were far too many episodes (over 400) that local stations would be willing to pay for. So they syndicated a selection of those, and left the rest on the shelf.
In the 1980s, with the original syndication package still running strong on broadcast stations, the distributor took the rest of the episodes off the shelf and sold them to cable, calling them "The Lost Episodes" and actually altering the on-screen title. Since then, the "Lost Episodes" title has been removed, but the nickname has stuck for this particular package of episodes.
The one show I can think of that truly had lost episodes is "The Honeymooners", which was originally a live skit on Jackie Gleason's show before they starting filming 30 minute episodes. Gleason let everyone think those early live shows were lost, but before his death, he released kinescopes of those early episodes to cable and later to syndication.
Since then, the "Lost Episodes" title has been removed, ...Not so! On Insp the lost episodes banner is alive and well. In fact I don't recall seeing an episode on Insp that wasn't "lost" and proud to claim it.
Oh, interesting. when they were running on Hallmark, that had been removed. Same on Encore Westerns.
shareThe Lost Episodes were sitting in an NBC warehouse in Fort Lee, NJ, but copies of these were rerun in Europe while The Classic 260 Episodes from Bonanza's first 11 seasons were being rerun in America. As early as 1982, UHF broadcast stations WXNE in Boston, and WAKR in Akron, aired all 431 episodes (1959-1973). The Lost Episodes banner was added to the latter package of 171 episodes from seasons 7, 12, 13 and 14 and the balance of the episodes from seasons 6, 8, 9, 10, and 11, in 1988, when they started airing on The Family Channel. Lorne Greene (1915-1987) said in a 1982 interview, that season 13 and 14 qualified for residuals payments when rerun (residuals for actors started in 1971).
shareMost of the time, it's true but there have been truly lost episodes. In the early days of TV going up through the mid-60's, it was common to re-use film stock. Early episodes were erased and taped over. The earliest reels of Doctor Who and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson are excellent examples.
Sometimes, film stock was stored away in warehouses that, too often, burned down and suffered serious water damage. Cheap packaging allowed mold to fester. Today, technology can restore damaged footage but only if that footage wasn't tossed in the garbage.
Then, we have the marketers' "lost" episodes.
For example, for the Bonanza episode "Little Girl Lost" in Season 10, the producers originally thought of either adding Linda Sue Risk to the cast or using her and her mother for a possible spin-off. When syndication rights were done, this episode and several others were not part of the deal. They'd been set aside and forgotten about in the original canon.
Sometimes, two-part crossovers were excluded from syndication deals. Let's say The Man from U.N.C.L.E. crossed with The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.. In syndication, the particular TMFU episode would be excluded because TGFU part 2 would not be available, to avoid hitting viewers with half a plotline. You can see it with The Six Million Dollar Man and its crossovers with The Bionic Woman.
Eventually, marketers realize the mistake and do their best to find the episodes, clear up the issues and package them as "lost." Many times, though, it can't be done or done quickly. And we all know there are dozens, if not hundreds, of TV shows that will probably never make it to syndication, so good luck in seeing part 2.
Nowadays, though, syndicators just give the entire episode list, crossovers be damned. Just about all of the Law & Orders and NCIS franchises have crossovers where you can't see the concluding part or beginning part because you only have, say, NCIS and not NCIS: Los Angeles either on DVD or part of the TV package.
Videotape isn't "film stock". The earliest episodes of Doctor Who were not taped over. I saw them on Public Television 35 years ago. (I'm pretty certain they were tapes, not kines.)
Older films on nitrate base (which is highly unstable) can deteriorate so much they can't be recovered.
Most of the time, it's true but there have been truly lost episodes. In the early days of TV going up through the mid-60's, it was common to re-use film stock. Early episodes were erased and taped over. The earliest reels of Doctor Who and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson are excellent examples.
Sometimes, film stock was stored away in warehouses that, too often, burned down and suffered serious water damage. Cheap packaging allowed mold to fester. Today, technology can restore damaged footage but only if that footage wasn't tossed in the garbage.
Then, we have the marketers' "lost" episodes.
For example, for the Bonanza episode "Little Girl Lost" in Season 10, the producers originally thought of either adding Linda Sue Risk to the cast or using her and her mother for a possible spin-off. When syndication rights were done, this episode and several others were not part of the deal. They'd been set aside and forgotten about in the original canon.
Sometimes, two-part crossovers were excluded from syndication deals. Let's say The Man from U.N.C.L.E. crossed with The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.. In syndication, the particular TMFU episode would be excluded because TGFU part 2 would not be available, to avoid hitting viewers with half a plotline. You can see it with The Six Million Dollar Man and its crossovers with The Bionic Woman.
Eventually, marketers realize the mistake and do their best to find the episodes, clear up the issues and package them as "lost." Many times, though, it can't be done or done quickly. And we all know there are dozens, if not hundreds, of TV shows that will probably never make it to syndication, so good luck in seeing part 2.
Nowadays, though, syndicators just give the entire episode list, crossovers be damned. Just about all of the Law & Orders and NCIS franchises have crossovers where you can't see the concluding part or beginning part because you only have, say, NCIS and not NCIS: Los Angeles either on DVD or part of the TV package.
The 'missing' Doctor Who episodes are different from these 'lost' American episodes.
The UK wiped episodes clean after they aired, believing they wouldn't be popular with the passage of time.
Similar shows like Up Pompeii, Dad's Army and others received the same treatment.
Someone more technical than me would have to explain the process, but the understanding is when these shows aired in other countries or about, there was a video transfer or something, thereby duplicating the episodes, so that then these 'missing' episodes are obtainable in these other markets, in vaults and what-have-you.
One of the most peculiar was Pertwee's story, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, with part one ending with the dinosaurs appearance, so the first part was only titled Invasion. This was deemed a copy of an earlier Doctor Who story called Invasion, and episode one of Invasion of the Dinosaurs was wiped.
Likewise, copies of scenes of 'missing' episodes considered too violent were found in Australia, so while the full episodes are no longer around, these few snippets do.
As someone else noted, rather than airing the entire run of episodes in America, it seems a small segment of shows air over and over again.
I do recall seeing The Last Haircut endlessly when I was little, and it seems Snow Train kept airing from Gunsmoke quite a lot as well.