Magnum, P.I. dropped from WGN lineup?

Message

eegorr · #1 Post by **eegorr** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 10:52 pm

Please, say it isn't so! Starting tomorrow, they are showing Nash Bridges in place of MPI at 10:00AM EDT.

Does anyone know any more about this? Did I miss a pre-announcement about it?

grapeshot · #2 Post by **grapeshot** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:09 am

Oh dear, it looks like you may be right. I just did a search for Magnum in my local listings, and it only comes up as being on Sleuth for the next two weeks, and there are no episodes on WGN. And Sleuth only shows episodes from the first three seasons!

This is terrible!

eegorr · #3 Post by **eegorr** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:21 am

I sent an email earlier to superstationwgn@tribune.com to find out if it is a temporary or permanent change.

We should all email them to show our dissapointment with their apparent decision.

Miss Q · #4 Post by **Miss Q** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:27 pm

I have to agree its been dropped....

http://www.tv-now.com/stars/selleck.html

The above site only lists the sleuth channel for the month

#5 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:09 pm

A most unfortunate move on WGN's part. But watch, i'll be back ... and on WGN. You can't stop MPI. You can only try to contain it!

#6 Post by **Doc Ibold** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:21 pm

How irritating.

It's my only way of seeing Season 7 and 8.

How can you drop Magnum PI for Cheech and Don Johnson?!!

To quote Higgins from "Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too",

'OUTRAGEOUS!'

308GTS · #7 Post by **308GTS** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:26 pm

You guys are lucky that it's on at all. We here in the UK haven't had it on TV for at least 7-8 years. Most young Brits wouldn't even know who Magnum was which is very sad. Oddly enough it's been hugely popular on DVD, possibly because people like me (in their 40's) have been buying it. Thank god for DVD's is all I can say.

Nash Bridges is a cool show apart from the fact that it's more or less Miami Vice but on the West Coast.

eegorr · #8 Post by **eegorr** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:41 pm

eegorr wrote:I sent an email earlier to superstationwgn@tribune.com to find out if it is a temporary or permanent change.

Here is their reply:
Unfortunately, our licensing agreement with the distributor of “Magnum, P.I.” has expired.

Thanks for writing and watching.

George

Yeah, so why don't you renew it? What BS!

I wouldn't even mind watching Nash Bridges, mostly because of Cheech Marin, but I refuse to watch it on WGN because they offed Magnum this way!

grapeshot · #9 Post by **grapeshot** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:20 am

That's kind of a non-committal response!

It takes two to make a licensing agreement. We, of course, don't know what's going on behind the scenes here, but it IS possible that Universal, for reasons of their own, didn't want to renew WGN's license to broadcast MPI.

(Or, more likely, WGN didn't want to pay what Universal was asking.)
(Or, WGN wanted to "freshen up" it's daytime lineup.)

Whatever the deal is, it's a darned shame. Bastages.

SelleckLover · #10 Post by **SelleckLover** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:15 pm

I agree with grapeshot's comment. (Bastages!) Maybe WGN's ratings will sink and they'll have to bring it back. I feel so fortunate that here in the Los Angeles area Magnum is on two times a day on local channels.

frog480 · #11 Post by **frog480** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 2:00 pm

ou guys are lucky that it's on at all. We here in the UK haven't had it on TV for at least 7-8 years. Most young Brits wouldn't even know who Magnum was which is very sad. Oddly enough it's been hugely popular on DVD, possibly because people like me (in their 40's) have been buying it. Thank god for DVD's is all I can say.

Nash Bridges is a cool show apart from the fact that it's more or less Miami Vice but on the West Coast.

Plenty of people in their 30's too!

I like Nash Bridges also, just like Magnum, ITV showed it at stupid times and missed eps out.

SelleckLover · #12 Post by **SelleckLover** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 10:38 pm

I was talking with my husband, Jim, telling him how we're all bummed out that Magnum is only on the Sleuth Channel now on a regular basis. He says that he thinks that the reason Universal is keeping it off the air to maybe help boost DVD sales. I know that I haven't bought any of the DVDs. Why should I when Magnum was on three times daily here in the Los Angeles area? Actually, it was on a local channel (KDOC), but it was unceremoniously dropped this week. I can't even imagine that they would make more $$ from the DVD sales than from selling the reruns.

Shermy · #13 Post by **Shermy** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 11:53 pm

When channels license a show, there are certain limitations to how many times they can air it. So when it's constantly in syndication, it eventually has to be pulled until they can start airing it again. This used to happen to TV Land all the time. They would air something so frequently, it would finally have to be replaced on the schedule for the remainder of the year.

Channels generally don't mind this approach, as it allows them to rotate older shows and provide more variety. But whatever WGN's reasoning, my guess is that MPI will eventually be back in a few months.

SelleckLover · #14 Post by **SelleckLover** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 5:13 am

Love your avatar Shermy. Your explanation makes more sense than the one I suggested.

Shermy · #15 Post by **Shermy** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:22 pm

SelleckLover wrote:Love your avatar Shermy. Your explanation makes more sense than the one I suggested.

You know, I think there may be a correlation there.

I've noticed that with Elmo Higgins delivering my posts, I've started to believe virtually everything I write.