Do you have Antenna TV? Ever heard of it? You might want to check your channel guide, because starting Jan. 1, it’s the only place where — for the first time in decades — the world will be able to fall asleep to the dulcet tones of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” every night.
Beginning on New Year’s Day, Antenna TV (the Tribune Broadcasting network available in 102 markets across 78 percent of the country) will air late-night reruns of the Johnny Carson show every weeknight at 8 PST. On weekends, the network will show reruns of Carson’s 90-minute episodes an hour earlier.
The caveats: The episodes won’t air in any sort of order; a representative confirms that the programming team will handpick episodes to run every night. For example, the first episode will be a Carson New Year’s episode. However, there won’t be any repeats during the calendar year, and every episode will feature Carson — not one of his guest hosts.
This should make some people very happy, as many fans complain that Carson reruns aren’t shown on TV. Jeff Sotzing, Carson’s nephew, runs Carson Entertainment and has made shows increasingly available in recent years, including a YouTube channel with full episodes; DVDs and clips are available on the Johnny Carson website.
But Carson reruns are hard to find on television. Although some famous interviews were excerpted a few years ago for TCM’s popular “Carson on TCM” series, this is the first time since his “Tonight Show” ended in 1992 that the episodes will be available in a nightly strip.
The deal, a multi-year agreement, is a coup for Antenna TV, which is known for airing reruns of very famous shows of the past, including “All in the Family,” “Father Knows Best,” “The Jeffersons” and “Bewitched.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
