Author Topic: Game show sets (Read 9047 times)

timpale · « **on:** July 20, 2009, 01:35:11 PM »

Heres a question which would be well suited for those "in the biz". What happens to a game show's set at the end of its life? Of course I assume it gets dismantled and sent to some landfill, but the December 1987 cancellation of the $25,000 Pyramid makes me wonder. It returned 4 months later with the same exact set (not a reconstruction). Was it being housed in CBS Television City "just in case"? And then when the $100,000 Pyramid returned 3 years later in syndication with Davidson its set was reconstructed almost to the letter. I'm guessing Bob Stewart & co had blueprints lying around.

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 20, 2009, 02:31:10 PM »

[quote name=\'timpale\' post=\'220556\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 12:35 PM\']It returned 4 months later with the same exact set (not a reconstruction). Was it being housed in CBS Television City "just in case"?[/quote]The $100,000 Pyramid was still airing in that time. All that was required was a sign change.

aaron sica · « **Reply #2 on:** July 20, 2009, 02:39:10 PM »

[quote name=\'timpale\' post=\'220556\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 01:35 PM\']Heres a question which would be well suited for those "in the biz". What happens to a game show's set at the end of its life? Of course I assume it gets dismantled and sent to some landfill, but the December 1987 cancellation of the $25,000 Pyramid makes me wonder. It returned 4 months later with the same exact set (not a reconstruction). Was it being housed in CBS Television City "just in case"? And then when the $100,000 Pyramid returned 3 years later in syndication with Davidson its set was reconstructed almost to the letter. I'm guessing Bob Stewart & co had blueprints lying around.[/quote]

I wondered about that, except it was between the $20K and $50K...

clemon79 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 20, 2009, 03:06:14 PM »

[quote name=\'timpale\' post=\'220556\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 10:35 AM\']Heres a question which would be well suited for those "in the biz". What happens to a game show's set at the end of its life?[/quote]
It goes into Bob Boden's living room, apparently.

chris319 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 20, 2009, 03:08:00 PM »

Producers don't always burn sets immediately upon cancellation, but I don't know how the determination is made whether to keep a set intact and continue to pay for its storage. Based on what little I know:

Alex Trebek once said that when Battlestars was first cancelled, NBC advised them not to burn the set, hinting that they might bring it back.

The original FF set was stored outside under a tarp on the ABC Prospect lot, where some of the wooden pieces became slightly warped. That same set was used later for the Ray Combs version of the show taped at CBS. The Ferranti-Packard end game board and its associated control equipment were kept. The set was used for the last time in an Old Navy commercial and then destroyed.

When NBC cancelled HS in 1980, Heatter-Quigley took the show to Las Vegas but NBC wanted to sell the set to H-Q for an outlandish sum of money (so the story goes) and it was cheaper for H-Q to build an entirely new set, including the game board. It's surprising that H-Q didn't own the set by then, which presumably had been built for the CBS pilot in 1964.

The Tattletales set was burned after its first cancellation and a new one, slightly modified, had to be built in 1981.

Generic reusables such as scoreboard readouts are kept, but the custom-built controlling electronics would be discarded.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #5 on:** July 20, 2009, 03:12:12 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'220572\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 03:06 PM\']It goes into Bob Boden's living room, apparently.[/quote]
A separate outbuilding, actually. The living room is normal-sized and couldn't possibly hold the set pieces he has. Not to mention the wife wouldn't allow it.

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #6 on:** July 20, 2009, 03:19:11 PM »

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'220566\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 11:31 AM\'][quote name=\'timpale\' post=\'220556\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 12:35 PM\']It returned 4 months later with the same exact set (not a reconstruction). Was it being housed in CBS Television City "just in case"?[/quote]The $100,000 Pyramid was still airing in that time. All that was required was a sign change.
[/quote]
And if I'm not mistaken, the two $25,000 signs didn't look the same. The second one had the same font as the $100,000 sign.

TheLastResort · « **Reply #7 on:** July 20, 2009, 03:19:35 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'220573\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 03:08 PM\']The original FF set was stored outside under a tarp on the ABC Prospect lot, where some of the wooden pieces became slightly warped. That same set was used later for the Ray Combs version of the show taped at CBS. The Ferranti-Packard end game board and its associated control equipment were kept. The set was used for the last time in an Old Navy commercial and then destroyed.[/quote]

Interesting. I had heard the original Dawson set was kept, but it was so damaged that it had to be completely rebuilt for the Combs version. And the Old Navy commercial was fairly recent - I'm surprised the Smithsonian wasn't interested in at least part of the original set.

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #8 on:** July 20, 2009, 03:26:27 PM »

Quote

Alex Trebek once said that when Battlestars was first cancelled, NBC advised them not to burn the set, hinting that they might bring it back.

Maybe that was true in the beginning...either that or Charlie Tuna lied!

I was in the studio audience for a couple episodes of The New Battlestars in 1983. During the question-answer session Charlie did as part of his warmup, I asked him if it was a new set, or did they just keep the old one for a year. He replied (along with a stage hand) that it was a completely new set.

Another audience member asked him if that was the same set used for Hollywood Squares. He replied, "...yeah...we just bent it a little!"

dazztardly · « **Reply #9 on:** July 20, 2009, 03:36:55 PM »

Didn't NBC have a salvage yard full of old set pieces?

-Dan

cmjb13 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 20, 2009, 04:01:43 PM »

[quote name=\'dazztardly\' post=\'220580\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 03:36 PM\']Didn't NBC have a salvage yard full of old set pieces?

-Dan[/quote]
Randy West once mentioned that a neon palm tree from Trebek concentration was still around

JasonA1 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 20, 2009, 04:19:54 PM »

[quote name=\'Kevin Prather\' post=\'220575\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 03:19 PM\']And if I'm not mistaken, the two $25,000 signs didn't look the same.[/quote]

You would be. :) Here's part of the first show back.

-Jason

chris319 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 20, 2009, 04:42:01 PM »

Quote

Charlie Tuna lied!

Or was simply "misinformed". An audience member asks a question to which you don't know the answer, so you make one up ;-)

SRIV94 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 20, 2009, 05:19:51 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'220574\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 02:12 PM\'][quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'220572\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 03:06 PM\']It goes into Bob Boden's living room, apparently.[/quote]
A separate outbuilding, actually. The living room is normal-sized and couldn't possibly hold the set pieces he has. Not to mention the wife wouldn't allow it.
[/quote]
Even so, I still chuckled at the thought. Don't ruin it for me.

Bill Neuweiler · « **Reply #14 on:** July 21, 2009, 01:40:49 AM »

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'220583\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 04:19 PM\'][quote name=\'Kevin Prather\' post=\'220575\' date=\'Jul 20 2009, 03:19 PM\']And if I'm not mistaken, the two $25,000 signs didn't look the same.[/quote]

You would be.

Here's part of the first show back.

-Jason
[/quote]

where do you all see the difference?