eBay find: unsold 1984 game show pilot (Rich Little's Hollywood Game Show)

[WarioBarker]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Video-Master-Rich-Little-039-s-Hollywood-Game-Show-2-1-84-Never-Produced-/121544176132

Never heard of this one, myself. Based on the handwritten and typewritten info on the reel (a 1" master tape) and its box, this was taped on January 14, 1984 and edited on February 1.

It's currently sitting at $299.95 with a little over a day-and-a-half left. The seller's description indicates he'd love to see it, but doesn't have any way to view the tape.

[JasonA1]

Unless he's trying to make back the money from a specific purchase of this tape, it's not "worth" $300. We've seen enough bad pilots to know. Would you want to be the one shelling out hundreds so the world could see, say, "Beat the IRS?" If it was legitimately shopped around in 1984, VHS copies have to be someplace. Maybe they'll never be found, but it's unlikely this edited master (i.e. a shortened or fixed version of a longer whole) is the only copy around.

-Jason

[WarioBarker]

The timeframe suggests it might have been at least mentioned at NATPE, although a quick search through the Broadcasting & Cable archives from 1983-85 doesn't seem to yield anything.

[gamed121683]

Seeing this has something to do with Rich Little, I can only assume that this pilot made (put sunshades on) a bad impression.

[WarioBarker]

Seeing this has something to do with Rich Little, I can only assume that this pilot made (put sunshades on) a bad impression.

[Matt Ottinger]

It's currently sitting at $299.95 with a little over a day-and-a-half left.

While that's accurate, it's a little misleading, since the truth is that's the seller's opening bid and he's had no offers at that price.  And I agree that's too much for an unknown unsold pilot, especially since the transfer process would likely be expensive as well.  Frankly, unsold pilots are my favorite thing to find, and I know of a bunch recorded on 2" tape that would be mine for the cost of transfer (including some known ones with Cullen!), but hundreds of dollars a pop is just not worth it.

[irwinsjournal.com]

And for the record, it did not sell at the listing price.

You can ask for any price you want on eBay but that does not mean you'll get it.   

Over on one of the model railroad boards on which I participate, there's a more than 300 page thread called "More eBay Humor."  The usual subject is listings by, let us say, overly optimistic sellers.

[WarioBarker]

Reminds me of the guy who offered a Wheel 10th-Anniversary (1992) press kit, which had a lot of good stuff. Weird thing is, every time it didn't sell he reposted it at a higher price.

[colonial]

Looking for clues about this, I reached out to filmmaker Greydon Clark via his website to ask what this was.

Mr. Clark said this was not a game show pilot.  Rather, it was an attempt at a VCR home game featuring Rich Little as the "face" of the game.  He did not go into detail about format, only to say that he directed the footage and his production company was responsible for it.


JD

[JasonA1]

I'm sure I'm not the only member here who knows Rich did end up lending his face to a game we could all buy called Rich Little's VCR Charades. I have a copy, but have not yet played it. I've certainly suggested it many times.

-Jason

[Thunder]

Wow. Rich's Little's claim to fame was his ability to impersonate celebrity voices, so this VCR game mutes him by playing charades?

That's like having John Daly play miniature golf.