What was your preference?

[danderson]

When two shows were on at the same time, what was your preferred show? When Sale of The Century and Family Feud were on at the same time(10am), i watched SOTC most of the time. what were your preferences back the, when two shows were on at same time.

[calliaume]

Oh, geez, there aren't many people here who remember the 1960s and 1970s - there were often two game shows competing against each other on the networks.  Sometimes three.

In general, I usually chose the more intelligent game, even at a young age.  The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, and The Neighbors held little or no interest for me (but I'd often watch them because CBS and NBC ran soaps in those hours).  Otherwise, if you had, say, The $25,000 Pyramid up against Time Machine, it wasn't a tough call.

Also, here's something that was a factor in the 1970s, but not any time thereafter:  reception.  Some channels came in better than others using that antenna (or those rabbit ears).  In our area, WCBS (Channel 2) and WNBC (Channel 4) came in considerably better than WABC (Channel 7), so if it was pretty even otherwise, I'd go for CBS or NBC shows.  It pains me to think how many episodes of Password and Split Second I missed because they were on opposite Jeopardy and The Who, What or Where Game, but that's the way it goes.

[BrandonFG]

By the time I started watching game shows actively, the genre was starting a slow decline, at least in daytime. But I'll go with what I recall from about 1988-89.

10:30 am
Card Sharks vs. Classic Concentration...I think Card Sharks usually won, but I prolly switched channels.

11:00 am
TPiR vs. Wheel/Scrabble...if I had access to the remote, the NBC shows won. I watched TPiR, but I don't think I really got into it until the early-90s.

[danderson]

Oh, geez, there aren't many people here who remember the 1960s and 1970s - there were often two game shows competing against each other on the networks.  Sometimes three.

In general, I usually chose the more intelligent game, even at a young age.  The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, and The Neighbors held little or no interest for me (but I'd often watch them because CBS and NBC ran soaps in those hours).  Otherwise, if you had, say, The $25,000 Pyramid up against Time Machine, it wasn't a tough call.

Also, here's something that was a factor in the 1970s, but not any time thereafter:  reception.  Some channels came in better than others using that antenna (or those rabbit ears).  In our area, WCBS (Channel 2) and WNBC (Channel 4) came in considerably better than WABC (Channel 7), so if it was pretty even otherwise, I'd go for CBS or NBC shows.  It pains me to think how many episodes of Password and Split Second I missed because they were on opposite Jeopardy and The Who, What or Where Game, but that's the way it goes.

Same thing where i lived in Western NC. WYFF (Channel 4) and WLOS (Channel 13) came in better than WSPA (Channel 7), so I'd usually watch Sale of The Century over the Feud, and Wheel over TPIR.  I didn't have cable then, so that's all i could get.

[SamJ93]

There was a bit of a throwback to the 70's in my area when Celebrity Name Game premiered in 2014...its affiliate put it up against the J/WoF block in the 7PM hour*. For me, the choice was easy...J! at 7, then switch over and catch the second ep of CNG at 7:30.

The station moved it up to 6PM after only a month or so, presumably because it was getting killed in the ratings.

*It was actually a three-way competition between them plus Harvey's Feud, but I never seriously considered watching that.

[danderson]

Oh, geez, there aren't many people here who remember the 1960s and 1970s - there were often two game shows competing against each other on the networks.  Sometimes three.

In general, I usually chose the more intelligent game, even at a young age.  The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, and The Neighbors held little or no interest for me (but I'd often watch them because CBS and NBC ran soaps in those hours).  Otherwise, if you had, say, The $25,000 Pyramid up against Time Machine, it wasn't a tough call.

Also, here's something that was a factor in the 1970s, but not any time thereafter:  reception.  Some channels came in better than others using that antenna (or those rabbit ears).  In our area, WCBS (Channel 2) and WNBC (Channel 4) came in considerably better than WABC (Channel 7), so if it was pretty even otherwise, I'd go for CBS or NBC shows.  It pains me to think how many episodes of Password and Split Second I missed because they were on opposite Jeopardy and The Who, What or Where Game, but that's the way it goes.

It also depended on what the networks were airing at in each slot too. I usually watched The $25,000 Pyramid on CBS instead of whatever sitcom reruns NBC was showing. But when Sale of the Century moved into that slot in 87, i switched shows. Of course, my grandmom always watched her soaps, because she always watched Another World instead of To Tell The Truth in the late 60s.

[ET206]

I would tune to $25K Pyramid on Monday to see who the celebs were.  If I liked them, I'd watch.  If not, I'd watch $ale that week.  WBTV in Charlotte only aired whatever came on at 10:00 (Pyramid or FF) and then the previous day's episode of Price at 10:30.  11:30-12:30 was a news/talk show, Top of the Day, and then the soaps.  WBTV never aired CS, PYL, or BL.  Basically, the NBC lineup was my choice.

[danderson]

I would tune to $25K Pyramid on Monday to see who the celebs were.  If I liked them, I'd watch.  If not, I'd watch $ale that week.  WBTV in Charlotte only aired whatever came on at 10:00 (Pyramid or FF) and then the previous day's episode of Price at 10:30.  11:30-12:30 was a news/talk show, Top of the Day, and then the soaps.  WBTV never aired CS, PYL, or BL.  Basically, the NBC lineup was my choice.

Couldn't you get WSPA out of Spartanburg? they always aired TPIR in pattern and also CS.

[ET206]

I would tune to $25K Pyramid on Monday to see who the celebs were.  If I liked them, I'd watch.  If not, I'd watch $ale that week.  WBTV in Charlotte only aired whatever came on at 10:00 (Pyramid or FF) and then the previous day's episode of Price at 10:30.  11:30-12:30 was a news/talk show, Top of the Day, and then the soaps.  WBTV never aired CS, PYL, or BL.  Basically, the NBC lineup was my choice.

Couldn't you get WSPA out of Spartanburg? they always aired TPIR in pattern and also CS.

I would occasionally watch PYL that way.

[jage]

We didn't have cable still in the late 80s, so I remember flipping around on days that distant stations would come in to discover game shows that I couldn't see locally. That's how I found out that $OTC was still on the air despite our local station dropping it around '86 or '87. Other than that, I mostly preferred the NBC lineup to CBS.

[Winkfan]

I may have mentioned this before, but during school holidays, I would watch one show on a regular basis until another network put another show on. I'll just give a few prime examples:

In 1974, I was faithful to the original Jackpot and Celebrity Sweepstakes during my summer between 6th and 7th grade. Then during the holiday season, ABC launched both The Money Maze and The Big Showdown; that was the first defection I can remember.

Two years later I saw The Fun Factory and the original Gong Show on NBC for a while; ABC brings on the original Family Feud and Hot Seat. Guess where I switched?

During 1983, I went from Sale Of The Century to Press Your Luck, and never looked back.

You catch my drift?

Cordially,
Tammy

[cyclone45]

I watched Scrabble, Pyramid, PYl, Sale, Concentration, Wheel, NYSI 89, Card Sharks and Jackpot..didn't watch much PIR...Also got into the CBN stuff, NTT, FTM, TANLMAD...