Woolery / Early Sajak 'Wheel' episodes

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'127438\' date=\'Aug 14 2006, 10:09 PM\']
I remember that as it aired, too; IIRC, they aired from 10am-11am, with the Vegas Squares first and then $50,000 Pyramid following. As a small child I remember not liking the Vegas Squares because they kept track with X's and O's on the scoreboard instead of an actual score.
[/quote]

You're right, that did look kind of odd.  Seems like they would've replaced that with light-up x's and o's and just left the tabulating readout out of it.  Then again they were probably hoping to rebuild enough of a following and cash flow to get back to cash prizes again one day.

Before the end of the year I'm going to add a page to my website explaining every obvious problem with the Vegas Squares.  There were quite a few of them that I think sank the show.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' post=\'127466\' date=\'Aug 15 2006, 05:46 AM\']
You're right, that did look kind of odd.  Seems like they would've replaced that with light-up x's and o's and just left the tabulating readout out of it.  Then again they were probably hoping to rebuild enough of a following and cash flow to get back to cash prizes again one day.
[/quote]
Why replace it? They already had a set built, and they found a way to use it with their new format. Why incur additional expense?

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'127470\' date=\'Aug 15 2006, 08:35 AM\']
Why replace it? They already had a set built, and they found a way to use it with their new format. Why incur additional expense?
[/quote]

They could've covered it up and used the lightable X's and O's that were already on the set, and it wouldn't have been expensive.  

But that was the very least of the problems for the Vegas Squares.

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'127337\' date=\'Aug 14 2006, 11:25 AM\']
It had to do with the theme, much like you said HD did. I will look when I get home, but they cut some lyrics out of the theme. It also looked like the episodes looked dated and grainy as well, almost like a color kinescope - were the HD repeats the same way?[/quote]

If I may drift off-topic here, you just reminded me of something.  I don't know if anyone here is into Green Acres, but I noticed a number of years ago that there's one episode of it whose video quality is unbelievably worse than all the others'.  If I remember right, it's the one where Fred and Doris Ziffel go on a second honeymoon, and while they're away, Arnold gets drafted, and Oliver has to go to court to explain to the government that Arnold can't join the army because he's a pig.  (And then at the end of the episode, Ralph gets drafted. :-)  The video on the show is all grainy, and I've often wondered if it's some kind of kinescope or something.

This ringin' a bell for anyone?

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'127343\' date=\'Aug 14 2006, 10:55 AM\']
[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'127340\' date=\'Aug 14 2006, 11:45 AM\']
Another odd thing that ABC did was they didn't run the episodes in chronological order.  Most of the other daytime reruns on any of the networks were.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that when Happy Days went daytime, it only had two seasons under its belt.
[/quote]

Yup, sounds about right. Curt's page lists it as joining the ABC daytime lineup on 9/1/75, right before its third season. And it's been so long since daytime reruns were on, but I would imagine it was like syndicated reruns where the current season's eps wouldn't air in the rotation. I can't imagine for the first year or so that it took too terribly long to run through the entire series, much like when "Three's a Crowd" ran on the daytime schedule 10 years later.
[/quote]
I wouldn't believe anything that guy says.  (Of course, Wikipedia says the same thing -- but they may be using me as the source.  I'm using Wesley Hyatt and the Brooks-Marsh books.)

Actually, Happy Days didn't start airing on ABC until January 1974, so they only had a year and a half of episodes to work with.  But The Brady Bunch was set to hit syndication that fall, so they had to sub in something -- and I think that was the only ABC sitcom that had been on for more than a year (I guess The Odd Couple hadn't been considered).

Three's a Crowd is kind of a weird one.  The show was on the bubble for renewal for a second season, then ABC decided to pick up the NBC discard Diff'rent Strokes instead -- a major mistake.  Ratings for the reruns during the summer went way up (college students ogling Mary Cadorette?), so ABC tossed it into daytime for four months (replacing reruns of the long-cancelled Angie?).  They probably went through the entire run four times during that period.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'calliaume\' post=\'127584\' date=\'Aug 16 2006, 12:37 AM\']
Three's a Crowd is kind of a weird one.  The show was on the bubble for renewal for a second season, then ABC decided to pick up the NBC discard Diff'rent Strokes instead -- a major mistake.  Ratings for the reruns during the summer went way up (college students ogling Mary Cadorette?), so ABC tossed it into daytime for four months (replacing reruns of the long-cancelled Angie?).  They probably went through the entire run four times during that period.
[/quote]

IIRC, picking up Diff'rent Strokes and canceling Three's a Crowd was a last-minute decision, wasn't it? Would have been curious to see what happened with 3AC in the storylines....I believe on the British version (I want to say Robin's Nest was its title) that they married and had a child..

[uncamark]

If the film is grainy, it's usually a 16mm print instead of 35mm.  Although the networks *generally* showed 35mm prints, for syndication 16mm prints were made for the stations (they weren't generally distributed on VTR until the 80s).  When they started transferring to video for distribution, they generally went to the 16mm masters because they were more readily available.

Although a lot of DVDs these days (and, of course, TV reairings) have gone back to the original 35mm master prints, 16mm prints may still be used if it is already edited for more commercials (like the "Love American Style" repackages) or if the 35mm is unavailable, in bad condition or--unfortunately--the distributor doesn't want to bother digging the 35mm prints out.

It's not that the word "kinescope" was used in connection with graininess, since kinescopes were shot on 16mm film.

[Ian Wallis]

Just to add to the grainy video story, I recall seeing that episode on TVLand a couple of times and wondering why the quality was so different from the others.  Maybe the original master for that episode is unavailable.  For that matter, maybe the original opening sequence for that show is too - Green Acres actually had two or three different opening sequences, but all you ever see is the same one for the reruns - but that's another for another thread on another forum.

Story is that The Brady Bunch DVDs feature a bunch of grainy scenes; reportedly the original masters were cut for the first syndie repeats and those scenes no longer exist in pristine condition.

What does this have to do with game shows....well, the cast of The Brady Bunch did a week of Win, Lose or Draw in the '80s...among other things.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'127639\' date=\'Aug 16 2006, 12:47 PM\']
Story is that The Brady Bunch DVDs feature a bunch of grainy scenes; reportedly the original masters were cut for the first syndie repeats and those scenes no longer exist in pristine condition.

What does this have to do with game shows....well, the cast of The Brady Bunch did a week of Win, Lose or Draw in the '80s...among other things.
[/quote]

Those grainy scenes also exist on the TVLand showing as well...Game shows or not, this place is just a treasure trove of information. Being a huge "Brady" fan, I always wondered the reason for the grainy scenes and now I know. Thanks!

ObGameShow again: Reruns of "The Brady Bunch" in ABC daytime were bookended by "Blankety Blanks".

[Ian Wallis]

ObGameShow again: Reruns of "The Brady Bunch" in ABC daytime were bookended by "Blankety Blanks".

And let's not forget that a member of the Bradys appeared on a game show...Cindy was a contestant on the "Question the Kids" show in the fourth season!

[TheFlea]

Just one thing you have to remember--VCRs were very expensive in the late 70s and early 80s, and there weren't even a million households owning them at the time.  When first released (to NY & LA in 9/75, elsewhere in 1/76), these machines cost $2,295 unadjusted for inflation.  A 1-hour tape cost around $20; in the late 70s 2- and 4-hour tapes were releaed which cost around $16-$23.  

What's my point?  Simple--it's very unlikely that someone stockpiled game shows from that era on a home recorder.  They would have to have been rich, extremely irresponsible with their money, or extremely passionate!  That said, nothing is impossible, just remember the context of the era you're referring to.

[quote name=\'Allstar87\' post=\'126686\' date=\'Aug 9 2006, 01:48 AM\']
[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' post=\'126668\' date=\'Aug 8 2006, 10:04 PM\']
In some fifty-something's closet somewhere out there in Podunk, NE, I would *not* be surprised if there's a huge stash of 20-25 year old VHS tapes of the late 70s/early 80s episodes.   Of the couple hundred million people alive at the time, someone at least *could have* had the passion for the show to record them.
[/quote]

My thoughts exactly; it was that mindset that led me to find 8 Wheel episodes at my grandmother's house. (Don't get too excited though; the oldest was from 1991.) I'm sure these rarities are out there; it's just a matter of finding them.
[/quote]

[bclark71]

I remember Robert Mandan (who played yummy Mary Cadorette's dad on TAC) saying that ABC went back and forth on whether they were picked up for another season.  Ultimately, the network offered John Ritter a 13-week commitment, and that was considered an insult for a show and a star that had been on the air for nine years.

I also remember that Three's A Crowd's ratings improved so much that  it landed in the Top 10 for much of the summer of 1985, which was quite a feat given that Three's Company had fallen out of the Top 25 for much of its last year (which comes out on DVD October 3).

Three's a Crowd is kind of a weird one.  The show was on the bubble for renewal for a second season, then ABC decided to pick up the NBC discard Diff'rent Strokes instead -- a major mistake.  Ratings for the reruns during the summer went way up (college students ogling Mary Cadorette?), so ABC tossed it into daytime for four months (replacing reruns of the long-cancelled Angie?).  They probably went through the entire run four times during that period.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'TheFlea\' post=\'128630\' date=\'Aug 23 2006, 10:44 AM\']What's my point?  Simple--it's very unlikely that someone stockpiled game shows from that era on a home recorder.  They would have to have been rich, extremely irresponsible with their money, or extremely passionate!  [/quote]
That pretty much describes Andy Warhol -- whose personal recordings of daytime television in the seventies are in fact exactly what we're talking about!  Still, I agree with the Flea, it's extremely unlikely that there's an undiscovered trove of such recordings.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'bclark71\' post=\'128655\' date=\'Aug 23 2006, 09:50 AM\']
given that Three's Company had fallen out of the Top 25 for much of its last year (which comes out on DVD October 3).
[/quote]
I'm just mildly curious about something here, since I was having a discussion with a friend on this subject yesterday:

Why do you know this release date?

[bclark71]

...beacuse I'm...um...OKAY! OKAY!  I'M COLLECTING THEM!!!  <pant pant pant>

But I can stop anytime I want to.  Dammit.

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'128666\' date=\'Aug 23 2006, 01:33 PM\']
[quote name=\'bclark71\' post=\'128655\' date=\'Aug 23 2006, 09:50 AM\']
given that Three's Company had fallen out of the Top 25 for much of its last year (which comes out on DVD October 3).
[/quote]
I'm just mildly curious about something here, since I was having a discussion with a friend on this subject yesterday:

Why do you know this release date?
[/quote]