Marathon, man

Cable network marathons are an old if not always honorable tradition. This 2003 Chicago Tribune story runs through such goodies as 46 hours of Twilight Zone on what was then the SicFi network.

The idea is to hook viewers for nice long stretches and earn better numbers than usual. GSN has certainly run its share of holiday marathons, and last week the network tried nine hours of Sherri Shepherd's Newlywed Game on Labor Day. Wouldn't you know, the network did get better numbers than usual for its weekday pre-2:00PM window.

Such a long dose of Sherri is way more than I can take. But I did catch a little of the marathon. Sherri's still pretty emphatic but doesn't overwhelm the format completely. As the Tribune story notes, marathons can be easily overdone. GSN tends to overdo everything in programming, but I don't expect another nine hours of the newlyweds any time soon.

One marathon I would like to see is the original twenty episodes of Chuck Woolery's Lingo. GSN taped those episodes on the set of the Dutch version of the show to save money. The so-called prizes were laughably cheap, and once the "winners" went away with nothing. Who knew the show would last for nine years and counting?