TV Programmers -- Public Domain is Gold!
To stretch your budget!
To offer variety to your viewers!
To establish a unique identity in your market place!
The Beverly Hillbillies, The Lucy Show, Dragnet, Bela Lugosi, Roy Rogers, film noir, Robin Hood, Flash Gordon, Howdy Doody and Sherlock Holmes are discovered fresh by each generation. If vintage TV shows and features are NOT being shown on television in your area, here is your golden opportunity. They are extremely popular! The first baby boomers grew up on these vintage gems after World War-II. Take advantage of their new leisure time and desire to revisit memories from their youth as they enter retirement.
Here is a RCN/TV Pennsylvania schedule that shows how they integrate public domain films and TV shows into high school football and other local programming.
Here is your chance to be innovative in many ways! Don't simply throw the shows on the air at 2:00 am. Take a page from the old "Shock Theater" format -- program similar films at the same time each week introduced by a host. Here they are arranged by genre -- comedy, western, detective, drama, adventure plus a few more cateogries for the feature films: Muscle Men, Black Heritage, War... well, go and look!
Give each time block a snappy title. "Nightshade Theater" or "Shadow Mysteries" could showcase horror, sci-fi, mysteries, Bela Lugosi and film noir in the same time slot. Throw in a serial chapter from "The Phantom Creeps" to bring audiences back week after week to see if Bela's giant, scowling robot will conquer the world.
Comedy gems can morph into "The Looney Show" or "Sidesplitters." (Please come up with a better title!) Cartoons and comedy shorts with Edgar Kennedy, The Three Stooges and Leon Errol can spice up short features. Present a two-hour block of The Lone Ranger, Dragnet, I Married Joan, Suspense and The Cisco Kid as "Prehistoric Television" -- TV shows made before 1955 with rotating titles. "Adventure TV" can encompass Robin Hood, Ramar of the Jungle, The Buccaneers and Sir Lancelot. Rediscover the popularity of Roy Rogers by mixing his feature films and TV shows. The possibilities are endless, easy to test market and you will have fun programming!
Or start a Crime Busters Hour with two half-hour crime/police/detective shows. You can rotate in episodes of Dragnet, Mr. and Mrs. North, Racket Squad, Sherlock Holmes, Man with a Camera and Lawless Years. If that proves popular (and it will), then expand to 90 minutes or add an occasional feature film.
These one and two hour genre-oriented blocks of film can be run in the morning or afternoon and then re-run late night to catch a different audience.
This variety approach led to the creation of "Cafe Roxy." Over 100 Programs are ready to go in cafes, bars or your TV station: 12 Nights of Horror, 3 Saturday Matinee series of 12 shows each, 12 Sagebrush Sagas, 13 Big Crimes and more. Each two-hour program includes cartoons, short subjects, vintage TV shows, serial chapters and feature films. You can even download Cafe Roxy posters to use on your own website.
Yes, inexpensive programming is within reach. Please call or write me at FesFilms@aol.com for a price quote. I will be happy to send both a free DVD-R sampler with dozens of public domain clips and the free Roxy Sampler Show. You can discover the appeal of these classic entertainments, preview the quality and see how the format will play in your system. Public domain means no further cost beyond the initial purchase. We offer a quality guarantee -- if any film is sub-standard, then no charge. Try it!
Each film comes with information as to why it is in the public domain. To familiarize you with the concept and colorful history of public domain films, Read All About 'Em!
Public Domain films may be the programming solution you seek! Be the first TV station in your area to try it. Be the first to see a big boost in viewers!
