BONUS "EPISODE": WHAT WAS THE FIRST BINGE?

JANUARY 25, 1977

To my recollection, this was the first night a network aired four episodes of the same show in a row.

During the twentieth century, it wasn't often even two repeats of the same show were back-to-back in syndicated reruns.  As reruns shifted to cable like Nick at Nite, marathons began but the regularly-scheduled programs usually were one series followed by another.

In the early 1980s, WNBC did air two MARY TYLER MOORE reruns at 2 am  (my friends and I dubbed it MTMTV).  But, it was more likely hit shows in syndication would run two episodes hours apart (like at 7 PM then 11 PM).  I think it was a while before evergreens like I LOVE LUCY and M*A*S*H would air back-to-back.

Sure, two-part comedies or dramas would air on networks, especially as one-hour and two-hour season premieres.  But to load up four half-hours of television's #1 show was a big deal.

HAPPY DAYS' fourth season premiere, "Fonzie Loves Pinky" originally aired in September 1976 as a one-hour special, with part three airing the next week.  ABC had the three half-hours re-edited for the second airing, following an all-new episode (notice below that they aren't quite at the point where promos emphasized the "all new episodes" yet!)  This is also when promos began to proliferate television.  Program content began to get shorter.  A few seasons earlier, promos were often just slides taking up five or ten seconds while an announcer read information. These longer promos with "preview footage" generated excitement for viewers, even if some of us couldn't stay up late enough to watch the end of the show!

The new episode, "A Shot in the Dark," by the way, had a meta joke referencing a popular 1976 Life Savers commercial in a show that took place in the 1950s.   Television was becoming slick.

I'd have to dig to find the next time four episodes aired in a row but networks did this a few more times such as a 90-minute clip show of three JEFFERSONS half-hours. 

JANUARY 23, 1977

Of course, ROOTS was a true event which made it accessible to watch a whole story in one week, long before Netflix, premiered on ABC that same week.   The HAPPY DAYS block led into night 3 of ROOTS.  There were few mini-series before ROOTS but it was unusual to have all 12 hours air in 8 nights.

ABC didn't think ROOTS would perform so they "burned it off" on eight nights during the winter so the damage would be limited to roughly one broadcast week.

The result was ratings history.  The last episode generated 100 million viewers.

Fred Silverman binged the whole mini-series in one weekend before it was scheduled.