Stations which haven't shown syndicated games in years

[MikeK]

jjman's post in the 2020-21 thread got me thinking about which stations haven't aired syndicated games in ages.  One which comes to mind immediately is WJW here in Cleveland.  The last traditional syndicated game show they aired was You Bet Your Life in 1992-3, when they were a CBS affiliate.  (Remember the big affiliate changes of the mid-90s.)  I use the word "traditional", because the last quasi-game WJW aired was Kwik Witz in the late 90s.  Speculation on why they don't air games, besides 13 hours of local news/weekday nowadays:  They aired 4 of the 5 new syndie games in 1990-1, all but Trump Card.  Also, YBYL with The Cos was to be big, airing versus J!, and flopping hard.

Surely there isn't a channel which hasn't aired a syndicated game in over 20 years...right?

[tvmitch]

This is an interesting topic starter for sure.

All the stations in the Harrisburg/Lancaster, PA market have aired at least one syndicated game show in the past 20 years. Off the top of my head, I know that Millionaire ran on all the major stations in the market for at least one season.

We also get stations from the Philadelphia market here. I might be wrong, but I think that WCAU might qualify. I don't know that they have run a syndicated game show since the year 2000. WPVI has WoF/J!, and KYW has run Family Feud on occasion.

[bscripps]

My station, WWTV/WWUP in Cadillac MI.  I've worked there for 24+ years and in that time we've never aired a game show in syndication.  Off-net reruns (I still know every single episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" by heart), judge shows, "Martha Stewart Living" for a while, "Ellen", paid programs, and as a CBS affiliate we've had network stuff (TPiR, LMaD, Power of Ten, Winning Lines, etc), but I don't recall any syndicated games.

We did have the '94 TNPiR for its season (that promotional toy pinball machine that floats around on eBay every so often used to be in our lunchroom), but that's the last one.

[WhammyPower]

I'm pretty certain Milwaukee's NBC affiliate's last syndicated game show was Let's Ask America (does that really count if it stayed in-house to Scripps and what was formerly Journal Communications?). I'm not 100%, but I think it was the only offering they've had since the big contract shuffle for Wheel and Jeopardy.

I'm less certain that the ABC affiliate's last syndie affair was H2 in an overnight slot, sadly. (And yet, look at all these game shows they have in primetime that are doing fairly well!...)

Also, prior to the recent forced airings of Millionaire (and I think they also did the test run of 25WOL), I don't recall what the FOX affiliate's last syndie offering was at all. EDIT: They did air Monopoly Millionaires Club, so that'll do it.

And thanks to Gannett, I can't easily go back to old TV schedules on the Google News archive, either.

[BrandonFG]

I think the longest drought here is WAVY...the last show I can remember them airing is “Merv Griffin’s Crosswords” in 2008. That’s not much of a surprise; not counting a Bob Eubanks dating show called “Infatuation”, I believe the last syndicated game they aired prior to that was Davidson’s “Squares”.

[jjman920]

Turns out I was mistaken about the length of WBAL's drought. Forgetting its time with Millionaire and Monopoly Millionaires Club the past decade. But it has been 4 years now since that point.

If I'm not mistaken though, it's been quite a while for my CBS affiliate, WJZ. I'm pretty sure it's been a solid stream of Maury/LMAD/TPIR/News/Y&R/B&B/Talk/Phil/News 4-7/Evening News/ET for the past 10 years and overnight reruns have been filled with syndicated dramas. And before LMAD and The Talk came in, those slots were filled with Guiding Light and As The World Turns, respectively. I'm trying to search my memory banks, but this drought could be north of 20 years.

Also, you're reading that correctly, up until a year or so ago, my CBS affiliate ran three straight hours of news, delaying the CBS Evening News until 7pm. They finally caved in and now air the Evening News live at 6:30pm, with a local newscast at 7pm. Odd that they'd do that being an O&O.

[Unrealtor]

I don't think KVUE in Austin has had one since TNPIR in 1994. The KXAN/KNVA/KBVO cluster has Wheel, J!, and Feud (and I think it has had all three since they started their current syndicated runs). KTBC has 25 Words. KEYE had Celebrity Name Game and Millionaire, but nothing at the moment.

[Scrabbleship]

WCAU might qualify. I don't know that they have run a syndicated game show since the year 2000.

I thought the earliest years of Feud under Steve Harvey were on WCAU. ISTR a billboard for Feud on WCAU driving through Philly in 2012.

A market with two, going on three, syndie game droughts is DC. I don't WRC they've aired anything syndicated since TJW '90 or Davidson $100K Pyramid. Even the gimme shows other NBC O&O's aired in the later 2000's were elsewhere - Merv Griffin's Crosswords was on WJLA, Syndie DOND was on WDCA.

Right next door, WTTG has had a drought of similar, IIRC their last syndie game was Studs. WUSA has a burgeoning drought, their last syndie game was Millionaire in 2008.

[JMFabiano]

Trying to remember what WNBC had.  Last one I can clearly remember was Combs Family Feud before it switched to WWOR. 

Was syndie DOND there?

[BrandonFG]

Trying to remember what WNBC had.

(snip)

Was syndie DOND there?

I wanna say Deal was WCBS or WWOR. Yes it was.

[mmb5]

Too lazy to look up, but I don't think Detroit's NBC station has any syndicated games since Donnymid/Weakest Link.  The ABC station would have had a near 30-year streak if it wasn't for the one oddball year they decided to carry Funny You Should Ask.  Most of our games go the CBS station because without any local programming, they have a lot of time to fill.

I'm an idiot.  WOF+J has been on WDIV-NBC forever.  Nevermind me.

[aaron sica]

This is an interesting topic starter for sure.

All the stations in the Harrisburg/Lancaster, PA market have aired at least one syndicated game show in the past 20 years. Off the top of my head, I know that Millionaire ran on all the major stations in the market for at least one season.

I would say for the last 40 years, WGAL has only aired a smattering of syndicated game shows. Starting in fall 1980, the only syndicated offering they had for a season was "Hollywood Squares". Pretty sure they aired "Sweethearts" (the CNR one), and also "The Challengers" (both at 10:30am I believe, pre-empting the NBC offering). After Challengers, I don't think they aired another syndicated game show *until* Millionaire, not counting any lottery game shows or local quiz shows.

[Strikerz04]

WMAQ (Chicago) last had DoND in 2010 and MG Crosswords in 2007, but before then? Combs' Feud?


WBBM hasn't had a syndie game since losing Hollywood Squares in 2004.


Unless my memory is shot, WCIU had a gap since Donnymid (2004) and Funny You Should Ask

[PYLdude]

Trying to remember what WNBC had.

(snip)

Was syndie DOND there?

I wanna say Deal was WCBS or WWOR. Yes it was.

And before that, they’d only had one other syndie game since they dropped Feud, that being Merv Griffin’s Crosswords. (I’m not counting Ruckus or Inside the Box and I believe The Challengers and Feud aired there at the same time.)

WCBS actually hasn’t had a syndie game since 2004, when Hollywood Squares bade farewell. The year before alone, there was three; they dropped Millionaire after season one and Weakest Link got cancelled.

With rare exceptions WPIX has been out of the game show biz for most of the last 30 years. The only one with any staying power was Street Smarts which they had for the whole run. Besides that there was Pictionary, Bzzz, the syndicated Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader, and Celebrity Name Game (and they really didn’t give a crap about it, if its airing schedule was any indication).

[Chief-O]

I might be wild-a** wrong here, but I'm sure WFRV (Green Bay) hasn't had any syndie GS's since losing WOF and J! (WLUK airs both these days).