Game show reruns on cable peculiar?

[gamed121683]

Let me throw a question to the panel: Has any of you ever found the concept of game show reruns...strange? I'm only speaking for myself here, but my first exposure to game show reruns were on CBN (later The Family Channel) and USA afternoon lineup back in the late '80s-early '90s (Would that be considered the "stone age" of cable?) While I loved watching them, sometimes I would wonder, what would make a cable channel air game show repeats? Do they really have as much "rewatchabilty" as sitcoms reruns would?

Obviously, the blocks did well because they lasted for years! Heck, I'm sure GSN wouldn't even be a twinkle in Sony's eye if it wasn't for the success of those afternoon schedules. I'd love to hear your opinions and maybe a reason as to why the aforementioned networks picked up the rights to them in the first place.

[snowpeck]

There's two factors I think. They were low cost programming, and the general entertainment cable networks at that time seemed to want to closely resemble the broadcast networks as much as possible. That included daytime shows too, even soap operas. USA had reruns of The Edge of Night, Search for Tomorrow and Coronation Street for a while. Some of the other cable networks had soaps too. CBN/Family Channel even had an original one.

[TimK2003]

There's two factors I think. They were low cost programming, and the general entertainment cable networks at that time seemed to want to closely resemble the broadcast networks as much as possible.

That sounds about right.  I'm sure someone with old TV Guides can pull out the daily schedule for WTBS or other cable networks from the early 80s, mid 80s and late 80s to see what they aired throughout the day. A lot of the most popular series in that decade that were in reruns, were either airing during the network's daytime schedule, or they were offered to local TV stations in each market and not necessarily to cable networks yet.  Thus the cable channels had to rely on anything that was not being syndicated to terrestrial channels.

At that time, as snowpeck stated -- especially in the earlier 80s, it was a lot of soaps, game shows, cartoons and movies -- anything you can get for cheap as many cable channels were still in their infancy and not making big profits yet.  By the time you got to the late 80s, a lot of the niche channels came into play and started taking some of the more popular shows from both the terrestrial and basic cable channels, and that's when the more basic cable channels were finally creating their own content or, in the case of some channels, broadcasted the earlier weekday rounds of sporting events or other special events. 

[BrandonFG]

By the time you got to the late 80s, a lot of the niche channels came into play and started taking some of the more popular shows from both the terrestrial and basic cable channels, and that's when the more basic cable channels were finally creating their own content or, in the case of some channels, broadcasted the earlier weekday rounds of sporting events or other special events.

And up until the late-90s, even the originals had a reputation for being "cheap". In a bit of irony, USA's original content in the mid-80s (games and scripted series), was mostly produced in Canada.

/Used to hate coming home to watch the USA game show lineup...
//...only to find golf or tennis instead

[chrisholland03]

It was also an opportunity for the production companies to gather a new audience - not all of the shows being rerun aired in (all/some/most) markets.  My first exposure to 'Bullseye' was CBN reruns and 'Liar's Club' was USA reruns.

[PYLdude]

What I tended to find more strange was the fact that there were some shows that had rerun packages sold to the local stations, although admittedly I didn't know about them until a few years ago.

And sure, I find it strange that there would ever be an audience for game show reruns, but  I never said I wasn't strange. ;-)

[Ian Wallis]

Syndicated rerun packages for game shows were rare - there's only a handful I can think of:

Best of Groucho - which repeated on local stations during much of the later '60s and '70s
Password - the color daytime year from '67 to about '69
Joker's Wild - the last CBS year for several months leading up to the '77 revival
Gambit - back issues of TV Guide show this airing in NY and LA around '79
Card Sharks - reruns of the last NBC year during '82-83
Newlywed Game - reruns of the late '70s version in '84, leading up to the '85 revival
Dating Game - reruns of the late '70s version from '84-86, leading up to the '86 revival
Match Game - reruns of the daily syndie version around '85 (instead of the new version that had been planned)
Family Feud - a "best of" package during '85-86
Press Your Luck - 130 episodes from 1985 to a handful of stations that never aired it when on CBS

Have I missed any?

The others were on cable starting in the mid-'80s.

[MikeK]

Syndicated rerun packages for game shows were rare - there's only a handful I can think of:

...

Have I missed any?

The others were on cable starting in the mid-'80s.

Debt, which reran in a few markets in 1998.

[BrandonFG]

Syndicated rerun packages for game shows were rare - there's only a handful I can think of:

(snip)

Have I missed any?

The others were on cable starting in the mid-'80s.

Cullen's $25,000 Pyramid aired well into the 80s.

I'm too lazy to see if it still exists on Youtube, but there was an episode of Treasure Hunt that was pulled from a Dallas independent station around 1983. I can't remember if it was the 70s or 80s version.

I know my area aired Tattle Tales reruns in the mid-80s, not long after the second run ended. I think they were syndicated by Firestone (looks). Nope...Victory Television. Apparently, they were looking to syndicate new episodes in the fall of '85.

I vaguely recall Supermarket Sweep and Shop Til You Drop getting a trial run in syndication c. 1995. Like with Debt, only a handful of markets aired it.

Speaking of syndicated reruns, anyone know when Wheel and J! started airing weekend reruns?

[snowpeck]

Firestone also had a Blockbusters rerun package in syndication in 83-84. Not sure how many stations picked it up, if any, but it was that package that ended up on CBN.

[PYLdude]

Wheel I wanna say has been doing weekend reruns for a very long time because I remember them doing so during the 1980s (WCBS carried episodes six days a week at 7:30.). It could be off and on, though.

[snowpeck]

Wheel I wanna say has been doing weekend reruns for a very long time because I remember them doing so during the 1980s (WCBS carried episodes six days a week at 7:30.). It could be off and on, though.

Wheel and J! were both offered up for weekends in Fall 1985 according to Broadcasting, after a successful test run in February in select markets.

[arrowood20]

I've found a couple of other syndication packages that aired around the country:

"Card Sharks" was airing in 1984 on WFSB in Hartford, paired with the previous week's "$25,000 Pyramid".

"Let's Make a Deal" was airing on both WPIX in NYC & WTVH in Syracuse in 1978-79.

"Truth or Consequences" was airing in reruns on KOA-TV in Denver in the summer of 1976, between Barker's final season and Bob Hilton's first season.

"To Tell the Truth" was airing on WPIX in '78 & '79, as well.

"What's My Line?" was airing on CJOH in Ottawa in 1978 & 1979.

Finally, "Match Game" was airing in 1983 on WBZ-TV in Boston (as previously mentioned).

One final note, I saw a listing for a game show called "Flim Flam" that aired back in 1978. It aired on CJOH in Ottawa, but I've never heard of it before, and I can't find any information about it anywhere. Does anybody here know anything about it?

[calliaume]

The Gong Show (the NBC episodes) reran in syndication - can't remember whether it was 1978-79 or a year later.

Weirdly, episodes of You Don't Say (the Jim Peck edition) were popping up on WPIX into 1980.  That had more of a feel of "We have an open half hour - here, run this" rather than anything planned.

[aaron sica]

I've seen episodes of the syndicated "Price is Right" as late as summer 1981 airing on WCBS on Saturday nights.