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Post by MEF on Oct 17, 2010 19:27:53 GMT -5
It appears the Jerry Lewis annual Labor Day Telethon will soon become a thing of the past. The MDA Telethon announced this past week the 2011 MDA Telethon will be reduced from 21 1/2 hours to 6 hours. It will only be a prime time telethon on the Sunday evening before Labor Day from 6 pm to Midnight for each time zone. There will not be a telethon on Labor Day Monday.
Here are portions of the MDA release from the MDA web site. Please see the MDA website for the full press release.
TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 6, 2010 – The Muscular Dystrophy Association today announced an important change to its perennial Labor Day Telethon, which for 45 years has galvanized tremendous public support for MDA’s lifesaving mission. The Association will shave more than 15 hours off its previous 21½-hour Telethon format. The move is central to a strategy to increase audience for and income from its 2011 Labor Day telecast. The 2010 Telethon raised $58.9 million........
......“What we’re doing now has amazing potential,” Weinberg added. “The shorter format means every hour of our show will be in the extended prime-time window of 6 p.m. to midnight in every time zone. This means our live, or tape-delayed Sunday broadcast with live local segments, will be even more attractive to stations that otherwise primarily would be running repeats from last season. The talent we’ll be attracting will be even bigger, since every moment of our prime-time show will have a tremendous audience.”
MDA also confirms Jerry Lewis will perfrom a "key" role in the MDA Telethon. It is not confirm if Jerry Lewis will be the host. Of course, Jerry Lewis is now 84, and has only done the beginning 5 hours and the last 5 hours the last few years.
Back in the 70s and 80s, it was the only channel that offered live entertainment all night long. Now we have 1000s of channels to choose. Thus, a station will not commit to the telethon as they used too. Some stations only have been airing 8-9 hours instead of the full 21 1/2 hours of the telethon. CBS puts US Open Tennis to stop CBS stations prempting CBS programming on Labor Day. NBC has scheduled NASSCAR and golf to stop NBC stations airing the telethon. Some stations will not give up overnight informerical time either. Some Big markets that used to air the telethon on the big stations are now airing on a lower rated UHF station.
I'm sure others have some great labor day telethon memories.
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Post by jdelachjr2002 on Oct 17, 2010 21:16:14 GMT -5
I remember growing up when WTSP ch. 10 in Tampa (which was once an ABC affiliate) used to air the Jerry Lewis telethon every Labor Day. Then when WTSP switched affiliates to CBS in 1994 (after WTVT ch. 13 was switched from CBS to FOX), the Jerry Lewis telethon went to WFTS ch. 28 which became the new and current ABC affiliate. WFTS stopped airing the Sunday night portions for some time. From 2003-'06, WFTS would cut away from telethon coverage to air golf on ABC (In 2004 though, WFTS dropped the telethon altogether as the station was caught up in around-the-clock hurricane coverage).
On a national level, WGN America aired the Labor Day telethon (as did WGN Chicago) always cutting away from the telethon to air a Cubs game.
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Post by mrjukebox on Oct 18, 2010 20:02:22 GMT -5
I remember the years when Casey Kasem assisted both Jerry Lewis & the late Ed Mc Mahon on the MDA telethon.
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Post by MEF on Aug 7, 2011 22:27:29 GMT -5
It appears the MDA is now having a PR nightmare. The MDA announced on 8/3/11 that Jerry Lewis "completed his run" as MDA Chairman. Jerry Lewis was supposed to appear on the 2011 telethon. Now he will not. It appears it was not Jerry's choice.
Upset comedians for Jerry Lewis support included stand-up comics Paul Rodriguez, Larry Miller, Tom Dreesen, French comedian Mustapha El Atrassi and 83-year-old Norm Crosby, who co-hosted the telethon with Lewis for a quarter century.
Crosby called the MDA’s actions “abrupt” and “cruel,”
Movie reviewer Rogert Ebert called Lewis’ removal “crude and graceless."
I wonder how this will play out.
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Post by MEF on Aug 26, 2012 20:35:10 GMT -5
It's not even a telethon anymore. For 2012, it will only be a 3 hour special called "MDA Show of Strength." It will be on WGN America from 8pm to 11 pm EDT on 9/2, if your area does not have a LOVE network station.
Antenna TV will be airing an 8 hour Jerry Lewis movie marathon on Labor Day starting at 5am. They will show "Three on a Couch," "The Big Mouth," "Don't Raise the Bridge, and "Hook, Line and Sinker." The marathon will repeat at 1 pm and 9pm. "The Nutty Professor" will not be airing during this marathon.
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Post by lasvegaskid on Aug 26, 2012 22:21:36 GMT -5
Without Jerry and Ed (and of course Casey) it isn't the same. Plus they have left Las Vegas! Young people today probably have a hard time believing at one time, the telethon was the bomb! In the days before youtube, it was a rare opportunity to watch 1st class entertainment at 3am. If you wanted to see artists perform their latest hit in the days before MTV, Jerry's show was the place! Plus you never knew when a legend like Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. might show up. To raise cash for MDA, I'm surprised they haven't put those old telethons on DVD and sold them. Here is just a taste. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqLDI_q5m0 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2012 6:54:23 GMT -5
Possibly music rights or some other issue. Admittedly I haven't watched 5 minutes of this telethon total in my life so I really don't know what goes on when they are on the air beyond raising the $$.
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Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on Aug 27, 2012 19:33:56 GMT -5
The telethon isn't a money-maker for the MDA anymore. I guess it's safe to say that the MDA Labor Day TV fundraiser is on the way out. Makes me wonder if the telethon fell victim to "the mighty computer"?
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Post by donwa001 on Aug 27, 2012 21:34:58 GMT -5
My local television station hasn't shown the full 21 hours in the last 20 years. They always start airing the telethon beginning on Monday. I used to like watching the show kick off on Sunday night when I was growing up.
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Post by jdelachjr2002 on Sept 2, 2012 23:13:07 GMT -5
In Tampa, WFTS cut the telethon to Monday only the last couple of years prior to last year.
Now it's not even called a telethon anymore. They're calling it "Show of Strength". Sigh.
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Post by jdelachjr2002 on Sept 2, 2012 23:18:39 GMT -5
It's not even a telethon anymore. For 2012, it will only be a 3 hour special called "MDA Show of Strength." It will be on WGN America from 8pm to 11 pm EDT on 9/2, if your area does not have a LOVE network station. BTW when looking it up, it appeared that the show was pre-taped which has to have been a first (also in referencing Tampa, I believe WFTS' portions of the show were tape-delayed as well). |
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Post by lasvegaskid on Sept 3, 2022 16:11:47 GMT -5
Without Jerry and Ed (and of course Casey) it isn't the same. Plus they have left Las Vegas! Young people today probably have a hard time believing at one time, the telethon was the bomb! In the days before youtube, it was a rare opportunity to watch 1st class entertainment at 3am. If you wanted to see artists perform their latest hit in the days before MTV, Jerry's show was the place! Plus you never knew when a legend like Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. might show up. To raise cash for MDA, I'm surprised they haven't put those old telethons on DVD and sold them. Here is just a taste. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqLDI_q5m0Labor Day is a sad day for LVK. The telethon is a part of my childhood that will never return. And it reminds me of all the absolute legends time has taken away starting with Jerry, Ed and of course Casey. Labor Day was the only time to see 22 1/2 straight hours of entertainment and other than a nap in the wee hours, I caught most of it at least until the mid 80s when an increasing number of other entertainment platforms started to dilute the uniqueness of MDA. I need a timpani!! I need to see Jerry and Ed hugging after they got 'one dollar more' than last year. |
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Post by mrjukebox on Sept 3, 2022 19:36:19 GMT -5
I also grew up with "The Jerry Lewis Telethon"-Here in the NY metro area,it ran from 1966-1986 on what was then WNEW-TV (now WNYW Fox 5)-A year later,the telethon moved to WWOR in Secaucus,NJ.
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Post by dth1971 on Sept 4, 2022 9:25:27 GMT -5
I miss the days of the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon on Labor Day weekends. Do you also remember when MDA had the giveaway kits to have your own home outdoor carnival to help fight muscular dystrophy?
Also: In August 2017, Jerry Lewis passed away at the age of 91.
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Post by lasvegaskid on Sept 2, 2023 13:39:12 GMT -5
Without Jerry and Ed (and of course Casey) it isn't the same. Plus they have left Las Vegas! Young people today probably have a hard time believing at one time, the telethon was the bomb! In the days before youtube, it was a rare opportunity to watch 1st class entertainment at 3am. If you wanted to see artists perform their latest hit in the days before MTV, Jerry's show was the place! Plus you never knew when a legend like Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. might show up. To raise cash for MDA, I'm surprised they haven't put those old telethons on DVD and sold them. Here is just a taste. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqLDI_q5m0Labor Day is a sad day for LVK. The telethon is a part of my childhood that will never return. And it reminds me of all the absolute legends time has taken away starting with Jerry, Ed and of course Casey. Labor Day was the only time to see 22 1/2 straight hours of entertainment and other than a nap in the wee hours, I caught most of it at least until the mid 80s when an increasing number of other entertainment platforms started to dilute the uniqueness of MDA. I need a timpani!! I need to see Jerry and Ed hugging after they got 'one dollar more' than last year. Bumping; Labor Day always makes LVK think about Jerry, Ed and Casey |
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