Broadcasting Magazine

[BrandonFG]

What the hell difference does it make if the show is distributed by one or the other or another still? Stations aren't beholden to syndicators.

There was a time in the mid 70s through the 80s where Warner Brothers gave the right of first refusal to the station that bought the last show.  For example, if your station bought, say, "Welcome Back, Kotter" reruns, you'd get first dibs on "The Waltons" without the your competition even getting a chance to bid on the show.  If you turned it down, then they would go to the other stations.  This ended when Telepictures merged into WB.  Telepictures salesmen were used to the standard way of selling and that prevailed.

Would this be associated with the "insurance policy" Telepictures offered in the mid-80s? From what I've seen in the old magazines, if a Telepictures show flopped at midseason (?), they'd have a new replacement ready to go. I believe this happened with "Catch Phrase" in '85.

But I'm guessing the Lorimar-Telepictures merger around the same time also killed that.

[Jimmy Owen]

Somewhat similar but not the same
Catch Phrase was replaced by Goen Perfect Match, but not every station went along.

[PYLdude]

That's not really being "beholden", so to speak, is it? It's just WB covering its bases and remembering who they dealt with in the past. Nobody was putting a gun to those stations' heads (figuratively speaking of course).

Re: Perfect Match: I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty WCBS didn't pick it up, since I'm almost positive WOR (pre-extra W) had nabbed it. Don't know what would've replaced Catch Phrase though.

Channel 9 sure did have a lotta game shows in their lineup that season- the last licks of Joker and Tic Tac Dough, Perfect Match, Dating Game, Newlywed Game (I think), Let's Make a Deal,  best of Feud, $1,000,000 COAL, and the original $100,000 Pyramid.

[calliaume]

Re: Perfect Match: I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty WCBS didn't pick it up, since I'm almost positive WOR (pre-extra W) had nabbed it. Don't know what would've replaced Catch Phrase though.

Sorry, but WCBS did air it at 9 AM weekdays, and it did replace Catch Phrase.

Source:  New York magazine Cue listings (https://books.google.com/books?id=7OYCAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false).

Other notes:  Dating Game did air as part of a two-hour afternoon block with The Joker's Wild, Tic Tac Dough, and Let's Make a Deal, even though I thought it didn't go into production until the fall (reruns of the Lange 1978-1980 version?).  They also had another block in the early evenings with $100,000 Pyramid, Million Dollar Chance of a Lifetime, and Feud reruns (broken up with a half-hour newscast).  WNBC ran The Newlywed Game at 7:30 PM.

[splinkynip]

Yes, Dating Game on WWOR at that time was reruns. The previous year (1984-1985), Newlywed Game aired in reruns on WWOR as well.

[snowpeck]

Yes, Dating Game on WWOR at that time was reruns. The previous year (1984-1985), Newlywed Game aired in reruns on WWOR as well.

The Dating Game repeats in syndication at that time were a mixed bag of episodes that went all the way back to the 60s and mostly featured celebrity guests and before-they-were-stars moments.

[BrandonFG]

Since it was brought up on the "most recent show with no video evidence", here's an ad for Name That Tune, from December 1970.

Apparently, it aired in a few markets, and the syndicator tried for nationwide syndication.

Speaking of NTT, has anyone ever seen an ad for the proposed Peter Allen version in the late-80s? The Broadcasting archive doesn't turn up much other than a blurb here and there.

[tvwxman]

Since it was brought up on the "most recent show with no video evidence", here's an ad for Name That Tune, from December 1970.

Apparently, it aired in a few markets, and the syndicator tried for nationwide syndication.

Speaking of NTT, has anyone ever seen an ad for the proposed Peter Allen version in the late-80s? The Broadcasting archive doesn't turn up much other than a blurb here and there.

Without citation, I can confidently tell you that there were ads for this, including photos of Peter at a keyboard on the (cool) set.

IMHO, it would have been a good addition to the syndie marketplace in 1989.

[Dbacksfan12]

IMHO, it would have been a good addition to the syndie marketplace in 1989.

In the recent post about Peter Marshall disliking Bert Convy, a link to an interview with Peter Marshall stated that 3rd Degree was the only game show that sold that year.  Was the field that slim in '89, only to "rebound" a year later?

[BrandonFG]

Peter is wrong. Several other shows premiered that fall: Talk About, Jackpot, The Last Word, and Pictionary. I may be leaving a couple off.

[tomobrien]

Source:  New York magazine Cue listings (https://books.google.com/books?id=7OYCAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false).

In that same issue, check out the results of Mary Ann Madden's New York magazine competition, in which readers were invited to come up with new game shows.  Some of the responses are still pretty good, including "Family Feudal," "All-Star Hangman" and "The Newley Wed Game" (starring Anthony Newley, of course).

[johnnya2k3]

Back to the ads:

Family Feud's share was rising just a few weeks into the 1990-91 season while newbies The Challengers, Quiz Kids Challenge, T**** Card, and of course, TJW and TTD, were falling fast. (pages 56-57, October 15, 1990)

/Love that dig at LMAD '90 though

[PYLdude]

Back to the ads:

Family Feud's share was rising just a few weeks into the 1990-91 season while newbies The Challengers, Quiz Kids Challenge, T**** Card, and of course, TJW and TTD, were falling fast. (pages 56-57, October 15, 1990)

/Love that dig at LMAD '90 though

Okay.

One, you can stop with the damn asterisks.

Two, this is kind of misleading because if Feud was doing so well in these markets, it would still have been there. In fact, wasn't the 90-91 season the start of the ratings downturn that would eventually cost Combs his job?

[TLEberle]

Okay.

One, you can stop with the damn asterisks.

Just my own but if he replaced all of his content with asterisks I would be OK with it, and we'd be no worse for it.

[BrandonFG]

Back to the ads:

You do realize that this isn't really a thread that can "derail" to the point of no return, right? Honestly, the actual conversations breaking up every single game show ad someone finds is way more refreshing. Telling us Feud was a hit in the early-90s is kinda like saying water is wet. Besides, it's pretty common knowledge here that the rookie shows (including TRUMP* Card) flopped.

*Not a fan of the guy, but censoring his name in this context is just silly.