Syndicated game shows that were uncleared in major markets

[johnnya2k3]

For decades, there have a slew of syndicated game shows besides Wheel, Jeopardy, and Family Feud airing on many stations in the country's top markets. But then there were others that never saw the light of day in the country's top markets.

One huge example was "Every Second Counts." Even though it was cleared in Los Angeles and Chicago, it did not air in the #1 market: New York City!!! Then again, the show was doomed right from the start; it may or may not have aired on any or all of Group W's stations. (I did see it in L.A., because Phoenix (where I was living at the time) passed on it)

And on another board, I discussed the lesser-known shows Atlanta -- now a top 10 market -- got to see; the following that got bupkis clearance are:
Make Me Laugh (Bobby Van)
Pitfall
$ale of the Century (nighttime)
Jeopardy! (Art Fleming nighttime)
Go For It! TV
Guilty or Innocent (the very forgotten courtroom/game show hybrid)
Anything You Can Do
Camouflage (I think, but have yet to look at any 1980 listings from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to confirm this)
The aforementioned Every Second Counts

Were there any others that the large markets said "NO" to?

[Vahan_Nisanian]

Los Angeles said "No" to the 1985-1986 nighttime $ale of the Century (but New York City said "Yes"), and I remember Jimmy Owen telling me that the weekly nighttime edition (1973-1974) never got cleared in either N.Y. or L.A.

[BrandonFG]

The first few months of syndie Wheel didn't air in either NYC or LA (might've been both, I forget). It eventually premiered in the spring of 1984.

I believe the first few weeks of Trebek's Jeopardy! aired, then it was gone. In the first Jeopardy! book, Trebek recalls reruns of Quincy airing in its place. I think it returned to LA sometime in early-1985.

[PYLdude]

So Every Second Counts never aired in New York? Wow. Strange.

As far as the others you mentioned, JohnnyA:

Anything For Money did (WCBS)
Pitfall I don't know about first run but if I recall, WLIG (now WLNY) aired reruns of it and the original Cullen Pyramid for a few years in the 80s
Sale, yes, as mentioned (WOR/WABC as mentioned by me dozens of times lol)
I don't know about the weekly syndie Jeopardy but if I'm not mistaken the Metromedia stations picked up everything the parent company distributed, so I would bet yes and that WNEW carried it
College Mad House did (WNBC)

As far as the other three go, I've only heard of Camouflage and couldn't tell you about it.

It's really rare that a syndicated game show ''doesn't'' get picked up in New York- at least one intended for broad and not regional syndication (such as Let's Ask America and 100%). As a matter of fact, I've heard of New York being an almost guaranteed pickup even if the show doesn't sell widely (Jim Peck's You Don't Say and 1980s Split Second being examples). Hell, WABC kept airing Match Game PM even after the daily syndicated series launched.

[Dbacksfan12]

PM and the daily syndicated series ran concurrently for two seasons.

[PYLdude]

PM and the daily syndicated series ran concurrently for two seasons.

But not in every market as I understood it.

[MikeK]

Cleveland got Hollywood Squares/H^2 for only about the first 13 weeks of the show's run in 1998.  Sale of the Century's syndicated run and The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime didn't air here until their second seasons; Sale was one of WBNX's launch shows when it started in 1986, while WJW picked up Chance at the start of season 2.  Related to Chance, Cleveland didn't get Catch Phrase.  Other shows not shown in this market include Strike It Rich and Headline Chasers, and that's not including the plethora of network games not seen here--Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak, Trivia Trap, Blackout, Now You See It (1989), Match Game (1990), Caesar's Challenge, et al.

[SuperMatch93]

In Chicago, Narz Concentration never aired, and TTTT didn't air from about 1970-76.

[johnnya2k3]

Scratched off College Mad House, which according to a tape trade page, did air in Atlanta (and on WSB, nonetheless).

But what if the other uncleared shows got cleared in the ATL after all? Here's who would've carried them:

$ale of the Century--WSB
Jeopardy! (Fleming nighttime)--WAGA
Pitfall--WGCL
Every Second Counts--WSB or WATL
Make Me Laugh--WXIA
Camouflage--WSB

But I've spent some parts of the summer scouring through decades of listings from AJC microfilms and noticed that WSB was not that big on the popular syndie game shows. Even though they would get TTD and TJW from WXIA (as well as Match Game reruns as late at 1985), they even aired the lesser-known So You Think You Got Troubles?!, TTD '90, Catch Phrase, TPIR (Tom Kennedy), Card Sharks (Bill Rafferty), Triple Threat (they had to; Cox -- WSB's parent company -- used to own Television Program Enterprises (TPE)), and That's Amore to go along the aforementioned College Mad House. Somebody at WSB -- Monica Kaufman Pearson, perhaps? -- must've been a secret fan.

WAGA on the other hand, carried only Season 1 of $128,000 Question, TJW '90, Trump Card, You Bet Your Life (Buddy Hackett), Don Adams Screen Test, $1.98 Beauty Show, and believe it or not, Jackpot! '89 (at 5:00 am!).

Of the big three, it's WXIA that has had the heaviest load, though they've also ran The Challengers, You Bet Your Life (Bill Cosby), Headline Chasers, Wipeout, TPIR (Doug Davidson), Quiz Kids Challenge, Truth or Consequences '87, and Merv Griffin's Crosswords.

I've also listed dozens of other lesser-known shows that also aired here...which I'll save for Off-Topic.

[johnnya2k3]

Other shows not shown in [Cleveland] include Strike It Rich

WJW wasn't even interested in Strike It Rich (though they and then-fellow Storer station WAGA did air Break The Bank)?!

[TimK2003]

Other shows not shown in [Cleveland] include Strike It Rich

WJW wasn't even interested in Strike It Rich (though they and then-fellow Storer station did air Break The Bank)?!

You can add "Bullseye" to the list.  The only time I saw that game was when I would either visit relatives in Detroit (It was either on WDIV or WJBK), or when you could pick up the Detroit stations across Lake Erie on a good atmospheric night.

[BrandonFG]

I mentioned Wheel and Jeopardy! above...to show just how much syndication had changed in the 15 years after that, Gordon Elliott did a pilot for Let's Make a Deal in 1998 or '99. It didn't sell, in part because it couldn't get clearance in NY or LA...

I visited family in Dallas frequently between Thanksgiving '98 and spring '99. I'm trying to remember if they got MG 98, not counting the WGN feed.

[Winkfan]

I mentioned this before, but, the 1980-81 version of To Tell The Truth never ran in Los Angeles; however, it did run on KCOY (CBS affiliate) in Santa Maria near where I live. So I was able to catch that one.

Cordially,
Tammy

[PYLdude]

Okay, so you bring that up...if you live in an area where you can pull in from other areas, as Tammy cites, or in parts of the Delaware Valley where you can get New York and Philly or Philly and Baltimore stations, are you considered part of multiple markets, or realistically none at all because of your pickups?

[oaklandfan2kx]

However we didn't get the Syndicated $ale of the Century in the San Francisco Bay Area at least KOVR in Sacramento airs the show along with WOR (now WWOR My9) in NYC for those who have Cable Television.