Tape question

[kurtinrod62]

Which network and/or packager has done the best and worst job at maintaining tapes and/or kinescopes of past GS episodes?

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'kurtinrod62\' date=\'Feb 6 2004, 04:15 PM\'] Which network and/or packager has done the best and worst job at maintaining tapes and/or kinescopes of past GS episodes? [/quote]
 For sheer quantity, the answer would have to be Goodson-Todman, which saved hundreds upon hundreds of the old panel shows on kinescope long before anyone really though there was any practical reason to do so.

On the other hand, I'm sure there are more modern, smaller outfits that are technically the right answer to your question since they would have saved 100% of whatever it is they made.

The worst major producer would almost have to be Bob Stewart.  Most of his output from 1966 to the late seventies appears to be gone, including all but the barest scraps of shows like Eye Guess, Three on a Match and most importantly The $10,000 Pyramid.

[Jimmy Owen]

Sony has pretty much everything Columbia did.  They even saved "The Perfect Match," "All About Faces," "Diamond Head" and "Celebrity Charades."

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 6 2004, 02:31 PM\'] The worst major producer would almost have to be Bob Stewart.  Most of his output from 1966 to the late seventies appears to be gone, including all but the barest scraps of shows like Eye Guess, Three on a Match and most importantly The $10,000 Pyramid. [/quote]
You could make the argument that Merv Griffin was just as bad as Bob Stewart (no matter whether it was his call or NBC's call that most of the original J! and most of the Woolery WoF aren't around anymore).  Granted, that's not the quantity of shows of Stewart's, but in terms of sheer endurance it's too bad.

Of course, who am I to argue with a moderator?  

Doug

[Winkfan]

I'm sure there are more modern, smaller outfits that are technically the right answer to your question since they would have saved 100% of whatever it is they made.

And that includes the 'masterminds' behind STUDS!

The worst major producer would almost have to be Bob Stewart.  Most of his output from 1966 to the late seventies appears to be gone, including all but the barest scraps of shows like Eye Guess, Three on a Match and most importantly The $10,000 Pyramid.

No; it would have to be Heatter-Quigley. They made more shows than Bob Stewart, and, some HSQ episodes notwithstanding, probably didn't save a great majority of their shows!

Cordially,
Tammy Warner--the 'Kit Dougherty of the Big Board!'

[That Don Guy]

[quote name=\'Winkfan\' date=\'Feb 6 2004, 05:05 PM\'] No; it would have to be Heatter-Quigley. They made more shows than Bob Stewart, and, some HSQ episodes notwithstanding, probably didn't save a great majority of their shows!
 [/quote]
Then again, weren't quite a few Heatter-Quigley shows on NBC, and before "the great purge" at that?  (In addition to HS, off the top of my head I can think of Las Vegas Gambit, High Rollers, and To Say the Least being on NBC, with Gambit on CBS, and All-Star Blitz on ABC.)

Besides, if that 2000th episode of Jeopardy! is anything to go by, would some of those older shows even be viewable?  (I remember somebody at MTR New York saying something about quite a few 1960s and even early 1970s shows (not necessarily game shows) still existing but the poor tape quality made them unwatchable.)

-- Don

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Feb 6 2004, 05:41 PM\']
Then again, weren't quite a few Heatter-Quigley shows on NBC, and before "the great purge" at that?  (In addition to HS, off the top of my head I can think of Las Vegas Gambit, High Rollers, and To Say the Least being on NBC, with Gambit on CBS, and All-Star Blitz on ABC.)


 [/quote]
 If the purge occurred in 1978, then its possible LV Gambit, the second Trebek run of Rollers, and the last two years of Squares are in a vault someplace. All-Star Blitz was Merrill Heatter Productions in association with Peter Marshall enterprises. Quigley retired in 1981 upon the cancellation of LV Gambit and Syndie Vegas Squares and broke up the partnership at the point, while Heatter continued to produce his own shows in the 80s to limited success. The international format rights to the Heatter solo shows, which include Bargain Hunters, Last Word, Battlestars, and All-Star Blitz, and the legendary Malcolm, are owned by King World

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 6 2004, 03:31 PM\'] For sheer quantity, the answer would have to be Goodson-Todman, which saved hundreds upon hundreds of the old panel shows on kinescope long before anyone really though there was any practical reason to do so.

On the other hand, I'm sure there are more modern, smaller outfits that are technically the right answer to your question since they would have saved 100% of whatever it is they made.

The worst major producer would almost have to be Bob Stewart.  Most of his output from 1966 to the late seventies appears to be gone, including all but the barest scraps of shows like Eye Guess, Three on a Match and most importantly The $10,000 Pyramid. [/quote]
 G-T did extremely well on the whole, but you can make a case for Barry & Enright.  Their '50s stuff is gone (of course, NBC owns their '50s stuff, which was almost all kines anyway), but we know almost all the '70s and '80s shows exist (possibly excepting Blank Check, Hollywood's Talking, and The Reel Game).

Given all we have left is Hollywood Squares (some of it), I don't think Heatter-Quigley has anything to be proud of here.  At least Bob Stewart caught on eventually.

[Jimmy Owen]

Another producer who did a good job of saving his tapes was Burt Sugarman.  Only Mary Hart will ever be able to see them, but at least they are there.

[kurtinrod62]

You could also add Chuck Barris,too. Especially since he managed to save episodes of classic ''Dating'' and ''Newlywed Game'' along with ''Gong Show'', though I have no idea if he ever saved any of his other material as well as any early B&W episodes of DG and NG.

[mcd]

Maybe somebody could answer this question for me, since I can't logically figure it out.

Back around 2000, GSN showed failed pilots belonging to Bob Stewart and Chuck Berris.  Considering how Stewart liked to re-use tapes, how is it possible that his pilots somehow managed to avoid destruction?

While I realize it's impossible to delve into Stewart's psyche, I'm sort of thinking that I'm just missing something really obvious as to how pilots survived but vintage Pyramid didn't.

[Robert Hutchinson]

Two wild guesses on my part as to why Stewart pilots survived:

1) People other than Stewart may have kept copies of them.

2) Stewart may have felt that pilots were more useful to keep than regular episodes of series, as he could review old pilots for ideas and retoolings and such.

[rugrats1]

G-T did extremely well on the whole, but you can make a case for Barry & Enright. Their '50s stuff is gone (of course, NBC owns their '50s stuff, which was almost all kines anyway), but we know almost all the '70s and '80s shows exist (possibly excepting Blank Check, Hollywood's Talking, and The Reel Game).

Of course, we thought that the CBS run of "The Joker's Wild" was lost too, until they were discoved on WCBS's aircheck tapes.

And also, no one has come forward yet with CBS's "Tic Tac Dough", which preceeded the popular syndicated run.