Which would you choose?

[BrandonFG]

I don't think anyone's saying Mitt's a liar, but things don't add up for a couple of reasons.

1. Why would Reg Grundy Productions keep the less-successful version of "Sale", which only ran for 20 months, yet not hold on to the first 5-1/2 years of the far more successful version, esp. when the daytime and syndie versions aired concurrently?
2. Why would RGP not keep the daytime version, yet keep "Scrabble" which aired on the same damn network for about the same amount of time?

BTW, because Mitt told you so is not going to fly as an answer.

Again, this doesn't mean Mitt is lying, but he's also going off a 20+ year-old memory, so he could easily have his facts off. But hey, if you want to take it all at face value and get defensive with us just because he's the one who worked on the show, while we're just trying to argue logic, be our guest. It only goes back to the advice you refuse to heed.

[J.R.]

I'll end this now, by saying that I'll take Mitt Dawson's word as the truth, and nothing but the truth.

So help you, Bill Cullen?

[Jimmy Owen]

Will the real Mitt Dawson please stand up?

[GrandGame1440]

No question, it'd have to be "The Tonight Show" episodes.  Way too many gems lost there.

[PYLdude]

I'll end this now, by saying that I'll take Mitt Dawson's word as the truth, and nothing but the truth.

And I'll continue this now, by saying you're full of crap.

ETA: IIRC, Mitt actually is a member here, so I would call on him to either confirm or deny this.

[Ian Wallis]

I don't buy it for a second

Neither do I.  I really doubt producers would let years of episodes be wiped especially by '83.  By then they realized the potential of cable.

[Jay Temple]

That was especially true in 1983, when The New $25,000 Pyramid was so titled because the old one was still airing in some markets.

[PYLdude]

I don't buy it for a second

Neither do I.  I really doubt producers would let years of episodes be wiped especially by '83.  By then they realized the potential of cable.

Well, I gotta ask- where is Las Vegas Gambit then? Didn't they say most, if not all of that, was gone, and that only went off the air in '82?

[BrandonFG]

I don't buy it for a second

Neither do I.  I really doubt producers would let years of episodes be wiped especially by '83.  By then they realized the potential of cable.

Well, I gotta ask- where is Las Vegas Gambit then? Didn't they say most, if not all of that, was gone, and that only went off the air in '82?

According to rumor, I believe the practice stopped by 1981 or so.

[Bobby B.]

I'd like to see some more Trebek High Rollers unearthed, especially the original version.  I've read about the format being different from the three-column one I'm used to, but I'd like to see it in action.

[SuperMatch93]

If all of the 58-73 Concentrations were discovered in a salt mine or something, I'd be a happy camper.

[Matt Ottinger]

If all of the 58-73 Concentrations were discovered in a salt mine or something, I'd be a happy camper.

Painfully, it appears that plenty of Concentration episodes actually do exist in the Library of Congress, it's just that nobody wants to pay for converting them all from the original filmed kinescopes.  And who knows, by this point they may be unplayable anyway.

But in the realm of the hypothetical, I'm right there with you.  Carson and Paar would be terrific for the historical worthiness of it all, but selfishly, I'd vote for an equal stack of Mr. Blumenthal's rebuses.