MG/HS rerun, 12-3-20

[JMFabiano]

And we have a tie in round 2.  I was tipped off when Gene pointed out a school band and cheerleaders in the audience.  As the story went, they performed to kill time in what was to be round 3.  EDIT: and so they did.

[Sodboy13]

Wow.

Like, nearly all of agreed that there was no way this had actually made it to air when this story was relayed, right?

I understand having to time out the MG segment to a certain length to hit the breaks right, and that the promo reads have to be read at transition between the two games. But the level of failure here, both by the question coordinators to put a pair of potential 6/6 questions in the 2 slot, and by the authors of the rule sheet for not having a contingency plan for an early 6-6 tie (you wipe the scores and play a normal Round 3 to break the tie,) is really stunning. How would they fill the time if there wasn't a band in the audience?

[Kniwt]

How would they fill the time if there wasn't a band in the audience?

Why didn't they just play another segment of Hollywood Squares? Was there some secret reason (Nielsen?) that Gene couldn't toss to Jon until (approximately) the halfway mark? Would've been at most a ~$300 budget hit in prize money. (Then again, perhaps they were that cheap.)

[TLEberle]

That seems like the kind of thing where you pull up some of the very well mannered audience and play the round three questions for pocket money—or if you don’t want to waste material just do Super Matchss like the daily syndicated run would do to time out the week.

Silly me I thought they would be attired in uniforms.

[Sodboy13]

Why didn't they just play another segment of Hollywood Squares? Was there some secret reason (Nielsen?) that Gene couldn't toss to Jon until (approximately) the halfway mark?

My guess is that the mid-show product reads were required to be in the 3rd break of the show, at the transition between the two games. But I have no sources or knowledge to back up that guess. Still, under that restriction, there are clearly a lot of better ways to conduct one's business.

[Mr. Matté]

At the end of that show, it seems like the show was in speed up mode (short credits scrolling by very quickly, Johnny O in fast read) so maybe they shouldn't have gone on so long with the cheerleading routine.

[mmb5]

Even more obscure than the 6-6 tie was a celebrity being introduced as "From AKA Pablo..."

[Eric Paddon]

Although the celeb in question, Joe Santos, had been a frequent guest on the 70s Match Game when he was a "Rockford Files" regular.

[MSTieScott]

It was a little surprising, earlier in the week, to hear Gene gush about a.k.a. Pablo, especially given that it wasn't an NBC show (and knowing now how short-lived it was). I wonder whether it was a "it's a Norman Lear show hooray" mindset or whether Gene just had a fondness for Joe Santos and wanted his show to succeed.

Instead of bringing up the cheerleaders to perform, the show could have had Fred Travalena and Edie McClurg fight to see who gets three uninterrupted minutes to chew the scenery.

And let's take a moment for poor Bill Anderson, who went three days straight without being called upon in the Hollywood Squares half of the show.

[JMFabiano]

It was a little surprising, earlier in the week, to hear Gene gush about a.k.a. Pablo, especially given that it wasn't an NBC show (and knowing now how short-lived it was). I wonder whether it was a "it's a Norman Lear show hooray" mindset or whether Gene just had a fondness for Joe Santos and wanted his show to succeed.

Instead of bringing up the cheerleaders to perform, the show could have had Fred Travalena and Edie McClurg fight to see who gets three uninterrupted minutes to chew the scenery.

And let's take a moment for poor Bill Anderson, who went three days straight without being called upon in the Hollywood Squares half of the show.

Were Edie and Fred on seats 2 and 3 together at any time at all?  Cause that would be MG From Hell's version of Brett and Charles.

[Scrabbleship]

It was a little surprising, earlier in the week, to hear Gene gush about a.k.a. Pablo, especially given that it wasn't an NBC show (and knowing now how short-lived it was). I wonder whether it was a "it's a Norman Lear show hooray" mindset or whether Gene just had a fondness for Joe Santos and wanted his show to succeed.

The thing that made the gushing bittersweet is that by the time the episodes aired ABC had already thrown in the towel on a.k.a. Pablo. This wasn't the first time that MG/HS had this happen - Leonard Frey's 2nd/3rd appearances and Mr. Smith, Alfie Wise and Trauma Center, Chuck Wagner and Automan, even Oh Madeline! aired its last episode during Jesse Wells' week.

With the exception of Frey/Mr. Smith, all of these cases were on ABC. ABC must've moved fast and loose with the cancellations at this point.

[JakeT]

With the exception of Frey/Mr. Smith, all of these cases were on ABC. ABC must've moved fast and loose with the cancellations at this point.

I think it was more of a case of ABC green-lighting a huge number of horrible shows during the early 80s...the many cancellations were merely ABC's wise attempts to correct their mistakes...

I have been disappointed that TVPMM hasn't managed to get the ABC 1980-81 season theme album because it would be interesting to see how many themes they sent to the affiliates that were attached to quickly-cancelled shows...

JakeT

[mcfly95]

None of NBC's 1983 Fall primetime shows were renewed.  Midseason ones fared a bit better.