Newlywed Game vs. Dating Game

[Neumms]

I'm sorry if this is well trod ground, but how is it that GSN runs an awful lot of Newlywed Game but no Dating Game? Ratings, of course, but wouldn't one assume they'd be about the same? If Dating Game seems more dated than the other, I'd think it humorously dated.

[Brandon Brooks]

[quote name=\'Neumms\' date=\'Sep 11 2003, 07:53 PM\'] I'm sorry if this is well trod ground, but how is it that GSN runs an awful lot of Newlywed Game but no Dating Game? Ratings, of course, but wouldn't one assume they'd be about the same? If Dating Game seems more dated than the other, I'd think it humorously dated. [/quote]
 Well, now they don't air a lot of Newlywed Game: only two showings a day.

I just don't know if The Dating Game brings the ratings like NG did.  That may be the reason.

Brandon Brooks

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' date=\'Sep 11 2003, 08:10 PM\'][quote name=\'Neumms\' date=\'Sep 11 2003, 07:53 PM\'] I'm sorry if this is well trod ground, but how is it that GSN runs an awful lot of Newlywed Game but no Dating Game? Ratings, of course, but wouldn't one assume they'd be about the same? If Dating Game seems more dated than the other, I'd think it humorously dated. [/quote]
Well, now they don't air a lot of Newlywed Game: only two showings a day.

I just don't know if The Dating Game brings the ratings like NG did.  That may be the reason.

Brandon Brooks[/quote]
And, except for the 1978-80 version and the 80s version, running \"TDG\" requires a helluva lot of music clearance, since they seemed to have different cues for the dates and for the bumpers almost every day (and yes, I know that certain cues, like Bud Shank's \"Michelle,\" were repeated frequently on the show as date cues or bumpers).

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Sep 12 2003, 05:41 PM\']
And, except for the 1978-80 version and the 80s version, running "TDG" requires a helluva a lot of music clearance, since they seemed to have different cues for the dates and for the bumpers almost every day (and yes, I know that certain cues, like Bud Shank's "Michelle," were repeated frequently on the show as date cues or bumpers). [/quote]
 It's kinda interesting the 1978-80 and 1986-89 runs of DG are the runs that have gotten next to no airplay on GSN.

[Ian Wallis]

It's kinda interesting the 1978-80 and 1986-89 runs of DG are the runs that have gotten next to no airplay on GSN.

I think the 1978-80 \"Dating Game\" probably falls under the same problem of music cues that the '70s \"Treasure Hunt\" does - since most of the cues used were the same on both shows.

For the ABC version, many of the cues used seemed like they were \"muzak\" versions.  I wonder if they fell under the same requirement of getting them cleared.  If they did, it's surprising to me that GSN would go to the trouble of clearing every one, when it probably would have been cheaper to get the cues on the late '70s version straightened out instead.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Sep 17 2003, 10:22 AM\'][I think the 1978-80 \"Dating Game\" probably falls under the same problem of music cues that the '70s \"Treasure Hunt\" does - since most of the cues used were the same on both shows.

[/quote]
The two cues that keep \"Treasure Hunt\" off the air were songs by the Crusaders (one of them the minor 1973 hit \"Put It Where You Want It\"), which were not used in the 1978-80 version (everything was either the 1973 \"Themes\" session or new cuts recorded by Milton DeLugg and the \"Gong Show\" band).  However, since the cues other than the \"TDG\" and \"TNG\" themes were not cleared until 1997, the \"TNG\" eps from 1977-80 that GSN used to air had Steve Kaplan (I assume) soundalikes covering up the cues--since the show didn't have as many music cues to use as \"TDG,\" that's why they did it (and I suspect that the 77-80 eps got pulled to remaster them without the soundalike cues).

For the ABC version, many of the cues used seemed like they were \"muzak\" versions.  I wonder if they fell under the same requirement of getting them cleared.  If they did, it's surprising to me that GSN would go to the trouble of clearing every one, when it probably would have been cheaper to get the cues on the late '70s version straightened out instead.

Any piece of recorded music you don't own has to be cleared with the composer.  And back in the 60s, commercial releases of instrumental versions of pop hits of the day were still very common--I can easily think of all of the Hollyridge Strings' \"Beatles Songbook\" albums and similar albums, not to mention the prodigious output of the 101 Strings.  Until \"Sgt. Pepper's\" and the psychedelic era, the conventional wisdom was that the kids bought singles and the grownups bought albums (with some exceptions, like Elvis and the Beatles).  But when that conventional wisdom changed, it changed in a hurry--the FM \"beautiful music\" stations had to scramble in the 70s to find new programming material, either commissioning arrangers and musicians to record new material or trying to find sources that would consistently put out new material (programmer Jim Schulke found the BBC, where various house orchestras recorded instrumental versions of pop hits well into the 80s for Radio 2, thanks to musicians' union-influenced \"needle time\" restrictions on playing records, and signed them to an exclusive North American contract on those recordings).

And when Barris' shows were on ABC, the network paid out the royalties and cleared the music--when he had to start paying the bills in syndication, his view of the whole thing changed immensely, as did most of his colleagues.