A network show, an accompanying syndicated show, and a conundrum. Sorta.

[TLEberle]

Again, no hard numbers, but I presume that Merv made a bundle with the one-two syndication punch for about ten years. 

[Chief-O]

IIRC, when Barry/Enright had auditions for TJW and TTD, contestants were auditioning for both shows -- they couldn't choose which show they wanted to do.

Those who were tops in testing were invited to compete on TJW, while those "one level down" were invited to play TTD.

JD

Kind of has me wondering what kinds of contestants they sent off to "Bullseye" or "Play the Percentages"....

/almost added "Hot Potato", but remembered that it had teams with common traits

[BrandonFG]

Nick, I don't have numbers, but consider it this way: the market leans in the direction of whichever side is smaller.  If there are more sellers, it's going to be a buyer's market. If there are more buyers, it's going to be a seller's market.

There are a LOT more buyers in syndication.

I don't remember if it was from Broadcasting or the Google News Archive, and I can't remember whether it was posted here, but I do remember stumbling across an article about the business of game show producing, and how syndication is more lucrative. The article is from the late-70s or early-80s, but if I can find it (or if someone else knows what I'm talking about), I'll post it.

I think this is it. It's a pretty lengthy article, so I understand if you feel TL; DR.

[PYLdude]

IIRC, when Barry/Enright had auditions for TJW and TTD, contestants were auditioning for both shows -- they couldn't choose which show they wanted to do.

Those who were tops in testing were invited to compete on TJW, while those "one level down" were invited to play TTD.

JD

Kind of has me wondering what kinds of contestants they sent off to "Bullseye" or "Play the Percentages"....

/almost added "Hot Potato", but remembered that it had teams with common traits

Funny, I just thought of the one lady who was on both Bullseye and TTD, Wemkea whatsherface that also ended up on Press Your Luck. Can't imagine there were too many folks who got to be on two different B&E shows of the era, especially considering the info shown here.

[Jimmy Owen]

Match Game PM seemed to me to have more youthful and attractive female contestants.

[jimlangefan]

IIRC, when Barry/Enright had auditions for TJW and TTD, contestants were auditioning for both shows -- they couldn't choose which show they wanted to do.

Those who were tops in testing were invited to compete on TJW, while those "one level down" were invited to play TTD.

JD

Kind of has me wondering what kinds of contestants they sent off to "Bullseye" or "Play the Percentages"....

/almost added "Hot Potato", but remembered that it had teams with common traits

Funny, I just thought of the one lady who was on both Bullseye and TTD, Wemkea whatsherface that also ended up on Press Your Luck. Can't imagine there were too many folks who got to be on two different B&E shows of the era, especially considering the info shown here.

Scott Wyant was on TTD in 1978 and on the premiere episode of Bullseye in 1980.  I believe shortly after that, he started working for B&E.

[calliaume]

IIRC, when Barry/Enright had auditions for TJW and TTD, contestants were auditioning for both shows -- they couldn't choose which show they wanted to do.

Those who were tops in testing were invited to compete on TJW, while those "one level down" were invited to play TTD.

So Thom McKee was considered to be "one level down."  Interesting.

That's what I thought of.  Perhaps B&E didn't want a super-smart, possibly dull contestant running for weeks at a time on TTD - so they were sent to Joker, which had much more luck involved.  And perhaps that changed after McKee's run brought in ratings.

It would help if we had someone who was there to explain it.  Has anyone asked, say, Mark Maxwell-Smith or Ronnie Greenberg?

[Adam Nedeff]

You've got this backwards. "Tic Tac Dough" was the top-level show, "Joker" was the one level down.

[colonial]

You've got this backwards. "Tic Tac Dough" was the top-level show, "Joker" was the one level down.

If that's the case, I apologize for the mixup.


JD

[TLEberle]

Funny, I just thought of the one lady who was on both Bullseye and TTD, Wemkea whatsherface that also ended up on Press Your Luck. Can't imagine there were too many folks who got to be on two different B&E shows of the era, especially considering the info shown here.

I think her surname was Sherman.

I don't recall a whole helluva lot, and her appearances were about three years apart anyway.
/as it happens, Dave Wagner was on in 1978 and again in the mid-80s, also a long period in between. So that makes three.

That does bring up something--if you've already been on the show you ostensibly can pass the test again but are they going to take Joker's Wild contestants and "bump them up" to Tic Tac Dough or the other way around? It's not like testing for Wheel of Fortune and being thrown to the wolves on Jeopardy. And Bullseye you could win more than on Joker's Wild and roughly equivalent to Tic Tac. I don't recall anyone who was so egregious where I said aloud "how did this assclown make it through the tryout gauntlet?"

[TimK2003]

Funny, I just thought of the one lady who was on both Bullseye and TTD, Wemkea whatsherface that also ended up on Press Your Luck. Can't imagine there were too many folks who got to be on two different B&E shows of the era, especially considering the info shown here.

I think her surname was Sherman.

I don't recall a whole helluva lot, and her appearances were about three years apart anyway.
/as it happens, Dave Wagner was on in 1978 and again in the mid-80s, also a long period in between. So that makes three.

I don't know if either of the aforementioned ladies above was the one I remember, but there was one lady contestant who was an opera singer that appeared on 2 of the B&E shows, one being Bullseye for sure.

[SuperSweeper]

Jan Kraepelien (Erik's brother) was on TTD in 1983 and then on TJW in 1986. I know Erik was in the audience for the TTD episodes. While Jan wasn't as successful as Erik, he did win several games on both shows.

[SuperSweeper]

I don't know if either of the aforementioned ladies above was the one I remember, but there was one lady contestant who was an opera singer that appeared on 2 of the B&E shows, one being Bullseye for sure.

I think that was Royanne Richert...she was on the Bullseye premiere and then did TTD and lost to Kit Salisbury.

[Neumms]

Perhaps B&E didn't want a super-smart, possibly dull contestant running for weeks at a time on TTD - so they were sent to Joker, which had much more luck involved.  And perhaps that changed after McKee's run brought in ratings.

I recall a couple of $100,000 runs before Thom came along, though, and they certainly liked long runs on Twenty-One. It's not hard to imagine them putting some dim contestants up against McKee to pad the streak.