Celebrity Bowling

[NickintheATL]

Thanks to Klauss' heads up, ESPN Classic is showing the 70's favorite (at least to some of us), Celebrity Bowling.  According to their program schedule, it's airing for an hour every Monday at 10:00 PM.

I always thought it would be a perfect fit for this channel, in fact I said so in conversation to Greg a year or so ago.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

I caught a little bit of the 2nd showing, and for such a simple concept but with celebrities, it's actually a harmless way to spend the half-hour.

It's amazing that this show lasted for 7 years in first-run syndication. Having seen plenty of celebrity game shows from various decades, I think I have a hunch as to which celebrities they may have had, if the show had gone on into the 80's and 90's.

[Jay Temple]

Ya mean we would have found out how well Teresa Ganzel handles a 7-10 split?

[Vahan_Nisanian]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'246299\' date=\'Aug 23 2010, 11:11 PM\']Ya mean we would have found out how well Teresa Ganzel handles a 7-10 split?[/quote]

Well played.

[MikeK]

It appears that starting next week, the same two episodes will air at 9 AM Eastern and 10 PM Eastern on Mondays.  Next week's lineup is Don Adams & Dick Martin vs. Anthony Newley & George Foreman, and Roy Rogers & Bob Newhart vs. Don Adams & George Foreman. I don't know what catches my eye more, George Foreman bowling (twice!) or Bob Newhart clearing an appearance.

Michael Douglas is one of the celebrities in two weeks.  I recall seeing a clip of Douglas on Celebrity Bowling when Oprah did a game show episode around 1996...

[Tim L]

I always find out about stuff like this AFTER it starts..One of the stations to originally air Celebrity Bowling (With Celebrity Tennis and Celebrity Golf) was WJAN-TV 17 in Canton, Ohio..One of the most underfunded startup UHF's in the late 1960's era..

[Matt Ottinger]

I discovered this little gem last week, and was delighted because I don't ever remember seeing it growing up, plus I have a soft spot for celeb-only games that just show stars hanging out and having fun.  Last week's was fairly low on star power.  One game had the four Lennon Sisters playing against each other, and the other had Trini Lopez, Sue Ann Langdon, Max Baer and Lee Meriwether.  I still loved it.

Unfortunately, I learned that us DirecTV fans who aren't huge sports fans no longer have access to ESPN Classic.  It's part of a higher tier now, and I'm not justifying the bump up just to watch this one show.  That's why I have a sports fan taping them for me.  Thanks, Mike!

[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'246301\' date=\'Aug 23 2010, 11:14 PM\']I don't know what catches my eye more, George Foreman bowling (twice!) or Bob Newhart clearing an appearance.[/quote]
I wonder whether they're doing quite as much due diligence as GSN did for all their shows.  That, or maybe there was different language in the original releases for this one.  After all, they'd be counting on at least one replay each season.

[chad1m]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'246310\' date=\'Aug 24 2010, 12:38 AM\']It's part of a higher tier now, and I'm not justifying the bump up just to watch this one show.  That's why I have a sports fan taping them for me.  Thanks, Mike![/quote]But, but... it's got American Gladiators too!

/And AWA Wrestling from the late 1980s, the only other reason I watched the network.
//Oh, and Cheap Seats. Great show.
///Thanks, ESPN, for your silly tier mandates.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'246310\' date=\'Aug 24 2010, 12:38 AM\']Unfortunately, I learned that us DirecTV fans who aren't huge sports fans no longer have access to ESPN Classic.  It's part of a higher tier now, and I'm not justifying the bump up just to watch this one show.  That's why I have a sports fan taping them for me.  Thanks, Mike![/quote]
I downgraded my DTV lineup not too long ago, and unfortunately the downgrade meant no more ESPN Classic. Just when I was considering reupping, I read your post. So much for that.

In reading Le Wiki, I found that a sports syndicator named TVS started producing new eps. in 2008. Anyone know anything about that? Google turns up nada, except for this press release from October 2008...

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'chad1m\' post=\'246311\' date=\'Aug 24 2010, 12:40 AM\']//Oh, and Cheap Seats. Great show.[/quote]
Loved the idea, have never liked the twins.

I'm told that ESPN made the deal to swap Classic with their college station called ESPNU.  Probably a good move for fans wanting more opportunities to watch actual, current games.

/Now if they were running Sports Challenge again...

[Loogaroo]

[quote name=\'chad1m\' post=\'246311\' date=\'Aug 23 2010, 09:40 PM\'][quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'246310\' date=\'Aug 24 2010, 12:38 AM\']It's part of a higher tier now, and I'm not justifying the bump up just to watch this one show.  That's why I have a sports fan taping them for me.  Thanks, Mike![/quote]But, but... it's got American Gladiators too![/quote]

When? I accidentally deleted all my old episodes on my portable hard drive, and can't find this anywhere on the schedule.

[chad1m]

[quote name=\'Loogaroo\' post=\'246319\' date=\'Aug 24 2010, 02:42 AM\']When? I accidentally deleted all my old episodes on my portable hard drive, and can't find this anywhere on the schedule.[/quote]I guess at this point in time they don't (remember, I haven't had the channel since about this time last year) but for a while they aired it once, sometimes twice daily.

[colonial]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'246313\' date=\'Aug 24 2010, 12:46 AM\']In reading Le Wiki, I found that a sports syndicator named TVS started producing new eps. in 2008. Anyone know anything about that? Google turns up nada, except for this press release from October 2008...[/quote]

Two episodes of "Las Vegas Celebrity Bowling" can be found here...

http://www.tvssports.com/tv.cfm

The term "celebrity" is definitely a reach, as the two matches feature John Daly (the "Real TV" host, not the golfer) vs. Collin Foster (a magician who claims to have been "banned from Nevada casinos"), and Rickey Clark (former Angels pitcher of the 60s and 70s) vs. Duke Sims (former MLB catcher of the 60s and 70s).

If you're looking for something better from that site, it appears there's at least one episode of the original "Home Run Derby" available for viewing.

JD

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'colonial\' post=\'246325\' date=\'Aug 24 2010, 09:25 AM\']If you're looking for something better from that site, it appears there's at least one episode of the original "Home Run Derby" available for viewing.[/quote]
Click on that one show and you're taken to a page with a total of 16 episodes.

Bizarre site.  I remember when they started out and only had what appear to be public domain product.  Now they have a ton of stuff, some of it fascinatingly rare, but almost certainly not public domain.  The sitcom section has the late 80's Sledge Hammer, popular hits like Andy Griffith and Hogan's Heroes, and weird 50s things that I've never heard of, including some unsold pilots.  Then there's much more recent stuff, including the Mesquite, Nevada travelogue promo that appares to run every time you take too long to make a decision.   They also have a bunch of cheapie old movies.  Every click takes you to some new, weird place.  I think I'm hooked.

[Ian Wallis]

I discovered this little gem last week, and was delighted because I don't ever remember seeing it growing up

We had it in our area for a couple of years but I don't think we got the whole run.  I guess this is another show that we now know has a good number of episodes in existence.

The sitcom section has the late 80's Sledge Hammer

I always loved this show.  It ended its ABC run in 1988 and was syndicated briefly in the early '90s but has disappeared from television ever since.  I usually don't make it a habit of buying TV show season sets, but I have both of these.  I love the Peter Marshall episode!