A false memory-ish, but when Barker hosted TPIR, the shooting style made the studio look huge. The newer style shows how much smaller it really is. Post-Barker TPIR killed a lot of childhood memories for me.
Yeah, the first time I saw a Hollywood TV taping in person (a little over 10 years ago), it was pretty eye opening, how they make it look like they’re taping in good-sized auditorium, but in reality there are maybe 200 or so in the audience tops.
I know that’s probably no big deal for those who grew up or work in LA or NYC. But for this Midwestern boy, it was a bit of a culture shock.
Apparently my memories of watching Treasure Hunt and Match Game in first run were visiting grandparents and seeing it on CBN because we sure as hell didn't have cable in 1986 as far as I remember.
Hold up...MG was on CBN at one point? (I knew about Card Sharks and Blockbusters)
Since this thread keeps getting gravedug, I meant to come back to this earlier & never did...
On the small-town cable system I grew up with in the 80s, the only actual cable channel we had for a long time was CBN. (They eventually added TBS too—but we got locals from 3 different cities.) So we watched a lot of CBN. And for the life of me, I can’t remember them ever running MG. Of course, I was a young kid in a conservative home & probably wouldn’t have been allowed to watch it; but I think I’d have remembered seeing promos for it. So if CBN ever did run MG, it was in the late 70s or very early 80s, before I’d have any recollection.
Another thing is that CBN/Family Channel was owned by Pat Robertson’s organization, so they might have felt MG was too racy for CBN. Granted, Card Sharks had its share of racy material too. But it flew a little more under the radar, while MG was more out front about it.
A while back, the topic came up here of the Game Net channel that FAM had planned to launch around the same time GSN launched. (It was one of our rabbit trails rather than its own topic, if anyone feels compelled to find it.) Adam Nedeff said his understanding was that the entire deal hinged on the G-T rights, and that when Sony grabbed them, the Game Net launch was off. Since that conversation, I’ve wondered, if Robertson’s org had secured the G-T rights, how would they have handled MG? Would they have downplayed it? Played it at all? Or would they have still pushed it as the (at least #2) definitive game show, the way Sony & Fremantle have portrayed it the last 25 years?