The Sons of the Desert two years since 1978. Most have been located in the United States but some have been held in the United Kingdom and other countries. Actors and technicians who worked with Laurel and Hardy are frequent guests, and rare films and memorabilia are exhibited. The Sons organization has been profiled periodically in media outlets, usually in a newsworthy context (as when long-lost films have been discovered). In 1974 the British Broadcasting Corporation featured the Sons in its documentary film "Cuckoo." NBC's whimsical reality show "Real People" brought the Sons to a national audience in 1980. The CBN cable-television network scheduled a
Doctor Who Appreciation Society production office had asked DWAS not to publicise. This would be an issue throughout the 1980s. Another issue was the growth of the society's local group network, which by October 1980 included seventeen groups, two of which were in North America. The society executive felt that they were unable to effectively supervise overseas groups, for whose actions they had legal responsibility, and withdrew recognition from them as DWAS local groups. The society continued to recognise an allied North American "Doctor Who" Appreciation Society until 1984, but the change encouraged the formation of the "Doctor Who" Information Network as a fully