Game Shows In The Want Ads

[TimK2003]

I was thinking back to when I went out to SoCal for the first time back in college, and was surprised to see most, if not all, of the game shows currently in production advertising on the front page of the Classified section of the Sunday L.A. Times.

For those not familiar with the ads, they were mostly 1-column-wide classified ads that looked like a larger, columnar Help Wanted ad, except they had the game show's logo instead of a company's logo either at the top or bottom of the ad.


Here are the questions I have for those who were familiar with these ads:

•  Was this just an L.A. thing, or did they do this also in New York or elsewhere while game shows were in production?


(The following questions relate more to the shows that were already airing on TV, and not new shows that were in production but yet to be seen, since the newspaper was really the only way to get
 potential contestants for a "newbie" show):

•  About what year did game shows start advertising for contestants in the Classifieds?

•  Did production companies not get enough willing applicants through the in-show contestant plugs?  (I say this because I can recall seeing ads for Card Sharks, Super Password and Scrabble,
    which were all familiar shows on TV at the time).
 
•  Did production companies get better response from the paper than from their in-show plugs for contestants on TV?

•  Does anyone out there have any visual examples of such ads, and/or collect examples of said ads?

[DoorNumberFour]

I imagine that's how they would get a lot of the actor-types with big personalities that were probably already looking through the paper for work anyway.

Also, look at that 2 On The Town special on game shows that was posted in the video sub-forum...during the part about contestant searches and tests, they show quite a few of those ads you're talking about.

[tvrandywest]

I was thinking back to when I went out to SoCal for the first time back in college, and was surprised to see most, if not all, of the game shows currently in production advertising on the front page of the Classified section of the Sunday L.A. Times.

For those not familiar with the ads, they were mostly 1-column-wide classified ads that looked like a larger, columnar Help Wanted ad, except they had the game show's logo instead of a company's logo either at the top or bottom of the ad.


Here are the questions I have for those who were familiar with these ads:

•  Was this just an L.A. thing, or did they do this also in New York or elsewhere while game shows were in production?


(The following questions relate more to the shows that were already airing on TV, and not new shows that were in production but yet to be seen, since the newspaper was really the only way to get
 potential contestants for a "newbie" show):

•  About what year did game shows start advertising for contestants in the Classifieds?

•  Did production companies not get enough willing applicants through the in-show contestant plugs?  (I say this because I can recall seeing ads for Card Sharks, Super Password and Scrabble,
    which were all familiar shows on TV at the time).
 
•  Did production companies get better response from the paper than from their in-show plugs for contestants on TV?

•  Does anyone out there have any visual examples of such ads, and/or collect examples of said ads?

I can't tell you when the L.A. Times ads started, but they were already a preferred way for contestant coordinators to fatten their files when I arrived in town in 1979. I never saw anything like it previously in New York.

To your question, generally a production company can never have too many prospective contestants applying, whether from in-show plugs or other referrals. It gives the show the picks of the litter without the need to "settle" on borderline prospects. That's why even WOF is still seeing hopefuls despite having files full of applicants.

In addition, contestant coordinators use the applicants who respond to those ads for future shows. Many of my appearances were in the earliest weeks of new shows (PYL, All Star Blitz, TTT, etc.) before the shows aired. I was called by coordinators who had me in their files from previous casting sessions, and in some cases I was unfamiliar with the shows they were casting.

Hope that helps.

Randy
tvrandywest.com