Love will be in the air on Tuesday night as the Tuesday Night Opry will be celebrating Valentine's Day with a very good show.
Grand Ole Opry members on the schedule include Jeannie Seely, Bill Anderson and Gary LeVox. Two pretty good contemporary country artists, Scotty McCreery and Lainey Wilson are also listed.
Tuesday February 14
7:00: Jeannie Seely, Matt Stell, Bill Anderson, Gary LeVox
Intermission
8:15: Scotty McCreery, Chase Rise, Lainey Wilson
I'm going to guess that portions of the final hour will be filmed for a future Circle TV Opry Live show.
Sounds right Byron. Not a single 'Opry member would be on the broadcast. Why is CircleTV so ashamed of the 'Opry members?
ReplyDeleteHer Haw, Opry Encores (a show made up of 1980s-90s Opry Live segments), and That Good Old Nashville Music we’re all airing on RFD-TV before the creation of Circle TV. I filmed, with a few bands I work with, a bluegrass show for RFD 4 or 5 years ago and was told at that time that Hee Haw was the highest-rated show on RFD. The rights to air these on RFD were apparently pulled when Circle was created. I don’t personally have access to Circle TV, but it is my understanding from people who do get it that Hee Haw is the only one of these three programs that have extensively aired on Circle, and that Hee Haw is aired considerably less now, if at all.
ReplyDeleteI think Ryman Hospitality owns the rights to Hee Haw. I know I’ve heard rumors for several years that there’s been plans on making a new Hee Haw. Curry
ReplyDeleteFor what it is worth, I found this article announcing the initial programming for Circle TV:
ReplyDeleteTHE COUNTRY MUSIC TV network Circle has announced its initial programming lineup. Live music, fan experiences, and interview series highlight the slate.
The centerpiece of Circle is Opry Live, a clip show of performances recorded onstage at the Grand Ole Opry that includes Opry legends, new singers, and guest artists.
Live music is also the focus of Phil Vassar’s Songs From the Cellar, which finds host Vassar performing, visiting, and drinking wine with guests like Kelsea Ballerini and Hunter Hayes.
Americana songwriter and ubiquitous Grand Ole Opry performer (though not an official member) Elizabeth Cook also gets her own series. Titled Upstream, the show finds Cook interviewing artists like Cam and Shooter Jennings at a different fishing hole each week. Outdoorsman Craig Morgan also ventures into the wild in Craig’s World, a reality series that follows the country singer at home with his family and on tour.
Other Circle programs include the road-trip series Authentic America, lifestyle magazine Southern Weekend, and Better Half, which profiles the spouses of country singers, NASCAR drivers, and more as they carve their own path.
(What is interesting, and what a lot of people don't remember is that Opry Live as never intended to actually show the Opry live each Saturday night but was a "highlight" show of previously recorded Opry performances. That changed in March 2020 when Covid hit, and the decision was made to show actual live Opry shows. Now it seems to be reverting back to more of a highlight and previously recorded show rather than a live Saturday night show).
I also remember that in the early days of Circle TV, they were showing a few of the network anniversary Opry shows. Those seem to have disappeared. Sadly, there are thousands and thousands of hours of Opry programming in their library that could be aired.
I think this is fairly normal for cable tv and over-the-air sub-channels. They start out with big plans, then soon realize the only way to make it work is to buy old TV shows and movies that are dirt cheap.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness they still have Coffee, Country, and Cody live on Circle TV. Circle has WAY more ads than the WSM version of the same show, and both the TV version and WSM itself itself now have way too many repeat interviews.
Amazing how the Circle network has gone downhill so quickly.
I no longer jump at the chance to watch country music programming because before long it leaves the airwaves.
DeleteFirst there was TNN: The Nashville Network .. watched Backstage/Opry. We all know where TNN went.
Then there is CMT: watched Opry Live for as long as CMT aired it, so I was there, there is still country music programming airing, some I watch, most I don't, I wouldn't go out of my way to ask DirecTV to add it to my line-up if it wasn't already on it.
Then for a while GAC: Great American Country, which started out in '94/'95 out in Denver, on what used to be Jones Cable, of which I had when I lived not far from where I currently live. It was a brand new country music channel and it got my attention fast. Then I moved to where I currently live and DirecTV did not carry GAC but DISH Network did, jumped ship to DISH, then DirecTV put it on their line-up, went back to DirecTV, of which I still have.
I don't recall how long it was before GAC was moved to to Nashville, it got "slicked up" and the programming changed, I'm not saying for better or worse, but it carried Opry Live, I was in. Then down the road the Opry vanished and so did I as programming totally changed. GAC has turned into Great American Country Family which is now a cable channel for Hallmark type movies. It was purchased by the former CEO of Hallmark. So we know where GAC went.
Bought a TV that is "Roku ready" so now I have Circle, can't say I am impressed. A lot of spaghetti westerns, I don't watch Bill Cody, not when I can listen to him on the "radio".
Things change, so did I ... I no longer seek any of it out on TV.
I find what is on the Opry now, them going live, getting the audience all revved up, so they can show it on Circle, it cuts into the flow of the Opry show going on, so that Circle can get their 5 minutes of an artist. It is very intrusive and VERY annoying. Can't they just film it all and "cut and paste" how they want it on their cable channel?
The one thing that hasn't changed is radio ... enjoy the Opry shows on WSM this week!
(Jeanene)
Saturday Afternoon/Night on RFD-TV is what we now watch. Perly's Place, Gaither Gospel, Merlin Gene Show, Presley's Country Jubilee (Branson), Marty Stuart Show, Stars of the Grand Ole Opry, Daniel O'Donnell, Mollie B Polka Party, Larry's Diner (several are current shows, many are replays). Great night of diverse music.
ReplyDeleteI don't have cable, and I'm considering one of the streaming options most likely hulu with live tv. Circle is a joke and will fold quickly unless people think as some do from the opry's facebook, that circle is the only way to tune in. I wonder if rfd is on a streaming tv service?
ReplyDeletewe get our RFD subscription thru Roku
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