"In a moment...the game that intrigued a nation..."

[Jimmy Owen]

Could very well be too that it "intrigued" a nation in the 1950s due to its newness, coupled with the scandals that came to light, and also the 1978-86 run due to Thom McKee's magnificent run.  The opening could very well apply to both versions.  What intrigued me was why the CBS version wasn't given much of a chance?  Tic Tac Dough was a far superior game to "Joker's Wild" yet Joker had a 3 year run on CBS.  Bullseye was another B&E show I never much cared for.  Play the Percentages, the first version, was awesome, even the 2nd version with the chance to win the big jackpot.  Once it went to 2 solo players, it was blah I thought.

Page 38 of the 10/16/78 issue of Broadcasting lists the daytime rankings through August of 78.  Out of 27 shows, the CBS TTD came in 25th with a 3.9/21, just above America Alive and For Richer, For Poorer.  You can see the PDF at David Gleason's site http://www.americanradiohistory.com

[thewhammy_2000]

One of my very first recollections of Tic Tac Dough was Wink's reruns on USA (I think). Being able to read the local (Chicago Tribune) television guide at seven years old, I noticed that TTD was coming on (around) 1:00 in the morning, I wanted to try to stay up and watch the game. One night I was very sick and didn't take my medicine. Because of my mouth's refusal, a parent turned off the television at the intro of an episode. That was the only time I ever saw this version when it originally aired. I may have saw one episode as well, but I don't think I did.

When TTD '90 reran on USA (around 1993ish), I was able to understand the version with its Mancini theme and how it was so different than Wink's version. For instance, I knew about the Dragon when watching Wink's version, but was suprised to notice a Dragonslayer in the bonus round. In short, this version was different, but not bad.

Thanks to (negative) reviews and whatnot about TTD '90, I wanted to feel the same way too. I finally saw an episode from a trade and heard the "In a moment... the game that intrigued a nation. ..." intro and was wondering what was wrong with this version. In my opinion, "the game that intrigued a nation" made me think about how the game was popular in the 1950s, 1970s, and 1980s. While watching the rest of the episode, I now understood Patrick Wayne's loud win and block calls and what the people were panning about.

So basically, I guess TTD's intro was just an attempt to say they are back and better than ever. Unfortunately, a number of game show revivals have tried that (Temptation, Whammy!, Card Sharks '01, etc.) same appeal, but that didn't work out that great.

[Ian Wallis]

Page 38 of the 10/16/78 issue of Broadcasting lists the daytime rankings through August of 78. Out of 27 shows, the CBS TTD came in 25th with a 3.9/21, just above America Alive and For Richer, For Poorer. You can see the PDF at David Gleason's site http://www.americanradiohistory.com

Thanks for the link.  I'm always interested in reading any rating info for daytime shows - too bad there wasn't more of it around.  Did Broadcasting regularly do the dayime ratings, or just hap-hazardly once in a while?  

I checked out that list and was surprised by a few things.  First, that daytime reruns of All in the Family and Happy Days were doing so well - both in the top 10.  I'm also kind of humbled by the fact that most of the game shows were bunched up near the bottom, with the exception of Feud.  I thought some of them were doing better than that.

Another show I remember was America Alive.  I guess we can see why it was cancelled if its ratings were that bad.  I remember at the time NBC plugging the hell out of that show - must have been an expensive one to produce for so little reward!

[MikeK]

I remember at the time NBC plugging the hell out of that show - must have been an expensive one to produce for so little reward!

Sounds like an appropriate mantra for NBC in the late 70s.  See Supertrain.

[Jimmy Owen]

Only occasionally did Broadcasting list the rankings, generally in relation to a story about daytime.

[Ian Wallis]

In looking over those ratings again, I really think that CBS might have been too impatient with Tic Tac Dough.  Just slightly above it are Card Sharks and The New High Rollers, both relatively new shows that enjoyed multi-year runs.  Maybe if CBS gave it more of a chance, especially after the nighttime version took off, they might have had something.  What were they expecting - a show that could knock of Feud in its first two months?

[Jimmy Owen]

In looking over those ratings again, I really think that CBS might have been too impatient with Tic Tac Dough.  Just slightly above it are Card Sharks and The New High Rollers, both relatively new shows that enjoyed multi-year runs.  Maybe if CBS gave it more of a chance, especially after the nighttime version took off, they might have had something.  What were they expecting - a show that could knock of Feud in its first two months?

I'm not sure, but it was trailing Card Sharks, which was its 10am competition.  It's also possible that CBS didn't want to promote a syndicated strip or B&E or Colbert was looking to get out so it could have more flexibility in time slots for the "nighttime" version.  There was one more year that All in the Family had to run, and they moved that to 10am, plus they brought on the M*A*S*H reruns in the afternoon, with CBS paying for daytime runs for those shows, they probably felt obligated to put them on the sked.  In 78, it may have been considered a subpar performance to lose the time slot to an NBC show.  So many "what if's?"  It's fun to speculate.  TTD had its success in spite of the quick CBS cancellation.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

Kinda off-topic, but one thing I sorta wonder is, did production on the 1978-1986 Syndicated edition hastily begin after the 9-week CBS run ended? It might have.

A quick trip over to the CBS Television City webiste reveals that the show was filmed there from June 1978-December 1980 for all but June 1979 and June 1980. Assuming the production information on that show is 100% true, I would say that June-July 1978 were the filming dates for the daytime run, and July 1978-May 1979, July 1979-May 1980, and July-December 1980 were the syndicated filming dates for season 1, season 2, and the first half of season 3 respectively (production then moved to KCOP).

[J.R.]

Kinda off-topic, but one thing I sorta wonder is, did production on the 1978-1986 Syndicated edition hastily begin after the 9-week CBS run ended? It might have.

A quick trip over to the CBS Television City webiste reveals that the show was filmed there from June 1978-December 1980 for all but June 1979 and June 1980. Assuming the production information on that show is 100% true, I would say that June-July 1978 were the filming dates for the daytime run, and July 1978-May 1979, July 1979-May 1980, and July-December 1980 were the syndicated filming dates for season 1, season 2, and the first half of season 3 respectively (production then moved to KCOP).

Didn't learn a thing, eh?

[PYLdude]

Kinda off-topic, but one thing I sorta wonder is, did production on the 1978-1986 Syndicated edition hastily begin after the 9-week CBS run ended? It might have.

A quick trip over to the CBS Television City webiste reveals that the show was filmed there from June 1978-December 1980 for all but June 1979 and June 1980. Assuming the production information on that show is 100% true, I would say that June-July 1978 were the filming dates for the daytime run, and July 1978-May 1979, July 1979-May 1980, and July-December 1980 were the syndicated filming dates for season 1, season 2, and the first half of season 3 respectively (production then moved to KCOP).

So...you're answering your own question?

[Vahan_Nisanian]

No, just seeing what Ian Wallis and Jimmy Owen think of my assumption.

[BrandonFG]

Kinda off-topic, but one thing I sorta wonder is, did production on the 1978-1986 Syndicated edition hastily begin after the 9-week CBS run ended? It might have.

Don't know how hasty things would've been. They knew for awhile there would be a syndicated version no matter what (it would've sold sometime around January of '78), but likely hoped for both daytime and nighttime versions. When the CBS version bit the dust, they moved on to producing the syndie version.

[SRIV94]

In looking over those ratings again, I really think that CBS might have been too impatient with Tic Tac Dough.  Just slightly above it are Card Sharks and The New High Rollers, both relatively new shows that enjoyed multi-year runs.  Maybe if CBS gave it more of a chance, especially after the nighttime version took off, they might have had something.  What were they expecting - a show that could knock of Feud in its first two months?

Another point--the chart indicates ratings were culled from January through August, but the chart doesn't include shows that weren't currently on at that time but were earlier in the year (GONG, KNOCKOUT, TSTL, PTB, among others).

I wonder how GONG's ratings were at that point (Barris long claimed NBC's decision to cancel it was more him deciding he didn't want to do it anymore as opposed to ratings not being up to snuff--of course, that didn't stop him from doing two more years of the nighttime version [granted, production for that could be wrapped fairly quickly, as opposed to the daytime series which would keep taping]).

[Jimmy Owen]

No, just seeing what Ian Wallis and Jimmy Owen think of my assumption.

I would say it is a fair assumption.