Let's Play "What If"!

[calliaume]

... what if Larry Blyden hadn't decided to vacation in Morocco?

1. Showoffs is still cancelled in six months.  However, both ABC and G-T love Blyden's work, so he gets the next pilot from Goodson -- which is Family Feud.  Blyden hosts both the ABC and syndication versions until its cancellation in 1985.  His charming nature with the contestants also prods ABC to give him a summer-replacement variety series (Larry and Susan Together!, with Susan Anton), and then four years as Fred McConnell on Mork and Mindy.  Blyden would return to Feud in 1988 on CBS and remain with it for its six-year-run, while also making occasional appearances on The Golden Girls.
2. Richard Dawson would stay with Match Game until its cancellation by CBS in 1980.  His three attempts at hosting game shows in the 1970s, however, would be failures:  The Better Sex (with Sarah Purcell) in 1977 and both Make Me Laugh and All-New Beat the Clock in 1979.  Dawson and Rayburn would eventually team up as co-hosts of The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour in 1983; that version would run nine months.  Dawson would then take over as solo host of The Hollywood Squares in 1986.
3. Bobby Van would host The Fun Factory in 1976, his only attempt to host a game show.  It would be cancelled in 13 weeks.

[whewfan]

I can't imagine Larry Blyden on Family Feud, unless it was modified to suit his talents. I don't believe Larry Blyden ever hosted a show that just had civilians, so maybe Feud would've somehow incorporated celebs? (Maybe not necessarily Celebrity Feud, but a celeb playing with family members.) Also, as charming of a guy as Larry was on camera, I've never seen him act quick witted, and I can't imagine how he'd handle all the dumb answers family members might give.

I wonder if Richard would've been willing to share the spotlight with a female host. Perhaps if it was his girlfriend at the time, Jody Donovan. However, I can see Richard hosting The Better Sex. I can't see him hosting Make Me Laugh. He'd be more at home as a panelist instead of the host. I don't think he'd like 3 comics that try to be funnier than him. Bobby Van was a great straight man, and that's really what Make Me Laugh needed.

Beat the Clock... well, again, if the show was tailored for his talents, Richard probably would've done well with that show.

Richard Dawson and Gene on MG/HS? No, it would never work. Hollywood Squares worked best with a straightman hosting. Richard Dawson is DEFINITELY not a straightman. Would Richard have been on the panel if he hadn't had success on Feud... maybe.

Who knows WHY Jon Bauman got the nod to host HS. I think when Peter said he did an all right job in his book, he was being kind. I can sort of see the logic of why John Davidson was chosen to host HS. I think in the beginning, John had reasonable control over the celebs, and he certainly kept the game moving at a smoother pace than Jon Bauman did. John was a semi-regular on the original HS, so it made sense to hire someone that was familiar with the original show. John Davidson was also a very good HS panelist, and one of the show's best bluffers.

I think in the show's third season, John let Jm. J, Shadoe, and Joan overpower the show, and it got stale.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

I thought it was in the 2nd season when JM, Joan, and Shadoe became regulars.

[RMF]

[quote name=\'calliaume\' post=\'200965\' date=\'Nov 3 2008, 08:38 PM\']
1. Showoffs is still cancelled in six months.  However, both ABC and G-T love Blyden's work, so he gets the next pilot from Goodson -- which is Family Feud.  Blyden hosts both the ABC and syndication versions until its cancellation in 1985.  His charming nature with the contestants also prods ABC to give him a summer-replacement variety series (Larry and Susan Together!, with Susan Anton), and then four years as Fred McConnell on Mork and Mindy.  Blyden would return to Feud in 1988 on CBS and remain with it for its six-year-run, while also making occasional appearances on The Golden Girls.
[/quote]

Not to sound off-topic, but what happens, in this world, to Blyden's Broadway career?

By the same note, you say what becomes of Bobby Van, but what changes occur to the careers of Bill Anderson, Monty Hall, Jon Bauman, John Davidson, and Ray Combs as a result?

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'RMF\' post=\'200970\' date=\'Nov 3 2008, 09:37 PM\']
Not to sound off-topic, but what happens, in this world, to Blyden's Broadway career? [/quote]
He made the deliberate decision to give it up when he moved to Los Angeles to do Feud, but his higher profile from the game show and from Mork & Mindy allowed him to take starring roles in touring musicals and occasionally return to Broadway in smaller parts, always to pleasant if not resounding reviews.  

His late-in-life triumph was a return to his greatest success, signing on as a producer of the mid-90s remake of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and winning two more Tony Awards, including one as Featured Actor for playing Erronius.  It became the first time in Tony history that an actor won awards for playing different characters in two separate versions of the same show.  He starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg for a while when she took over the role of Pseudolus. That would prove ironic and a little awkward when he was passed over for the 1998 Hollywood Squares reboot because of his advanced age.

He was a delight at the 2008 Game Show Congress, where J Keith Van Straaten had him as a panelist on one of his live WML? shows, and switched places with him for a round.

[TroubadourNando]

I haven't got much I can add here, but I want to say I always enjoyed Larry Blyden as a host on what few shows he did get. He was without a doubt the bright point of Personality and is my favorite What's My Line? host.

Showoffs would have been great with him, I think...

[RMF]

[quote name=\'RMF\' post=\'200970\' date=\'Nov 3 2008, 09:37 PM\']
By the same note, you say what becomes of Bobby Van, but what changes occur to the careers of Bill Anderson, Monty Hall, Jon Bauman, John Davidson, and Ray Combs as a result?
[/quote]

I have just found my notes, and I'll answer my own questions:

Anderson ended up being on the perpetual "you'll be our next host" treadmill, and never got off.

Hall spent 1979 on the Canadian nightclub circuit.

Bauman was on MG/HQ Hour as a perpetual panelist, and spent the rest of the 1980s doing the rounds.

It would probably be for the best if I don't mention what happened to Davidson.

Combs, of course, seems to be in half the sitcom pilots every season.

Now, if I could only read my notes about the Pyramid revival...

[Jay Temple]

Re: Combs. Since Blyden's Feud ended at the same time that Dawson's did in reality, there's no reason he couldn't host it in both universes.

I think Bill Anderson still gets a show, and it fares little better than The Better Sex did.

[chris319]

Who knows WHY Jon Bauman got the nod to host HS.

I know why. Bobby Sherman liked him. I can't say I shared Bobby's enthusiasm for him.

[BrandonFG]

1. What if Puzzlers had taken off, and ran until, say 1983 or so (going by a rough average of the run of G-T's other NBC shows of the era), what would've became of daytime Wheel? Would Merv and Chuck have come to a salary agreement to keep him in place?

2. Had game shows not fallen off of network daytime lineups in the early-90s, how much more of a shelf life would they have had? If, in 1994, there were just as many daytime shows as there were ten years before (instead of just TPiR), would Millionaire have had as much of an impact on the genre in '99? Better yet, would there have been a reason to even try out Millionaire?

[Jimmy Owen]

I think Larry would have preferred stage work or episodic television guest roles after Showoffs.  

As far as why game shows became extinct on daytime network TV, those ended with the end of housewives. No housewives=no audience.

[Jeremy Nelson]

In this universe, I don't think that Feud makes it to 1985, only because Richard's kissing of women was a staple of that show, and probably was one of the reasons people watched. I still could see it lasting until '81 or '82, anyway.

Because Combs had his big Tonight Show break, he still gets the nod to host Feud '88.

[tpirfan28]

[quote name=\'rollercoaster87\' post=\'201010\' date=\'Nov 4 2008, 10:21 AM\']
Because Combs had his big Tonight Show break, he still gets the nod to host Feud '88.
[/quote]...which then lasts longer than '93, and saves his life (essentially).

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'201006\' date=\'Nov 4 2008, 08:25 AM\']
1. What if Puzzlers had taken off, and ran until, say 1983 or so (going by a rough average of the run of G-T's other NBC shows of the era), what would've became of daytime Wheel? [/quote]
Merv selects seven-year-old Ryan Seacrest.  The viewing audience, creeped out on many levels, flees.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'calliaume\' post=\'200965\' date=\'Nov 3 2008, 08:38 PM\']
... what if Larry Blyden hadn't decided to vacation in Morocco?
2. Richard Dawson would stay with Match Game until its cancellation by CBS in 1980.  
[/quote]

I'd like to take this statement a step further which may wind up spinning more "What If"'s off into their own little world...

You say it got cancelled by CBS in 1980....So here's my take on what happened.

Because Richard Dawson never got "Feud", he stayed happy on MG and the show was never moved from its 3:30 timeslot until February 1980. It was cancelled to make room for Y&R's hour expansion and make the 12:30-4 block all soaps.*