Network games you thought were cancelled....but just stopped airing in your area

[aaron sica]

Creating a "spin-off" (not related to Jim Lange) subject...I'd touched upon this in the "false memories" thread too. Were there any network game shows in your area that you thought had been cancelled, but as it turned out, your station just stopped airing them for one reason or another (local programming, noon news, etc.)?

A sub-subject.......network game shows that you never knew EXISTED because your area didn't show them?

[jage]

Sale of the Century on channel 5 in the Saginaw/Flint market. I was 6 or 7, so don't know the entire timeline, but eventually the 10 AM slot got replaced with a non game show. Saw an episode a couple years later with the final end game, and was surprised/happy to see it again.

Also, I'm not sure, but don't remember MG '90 at all, and my first memory of Match Game anything was seeing it when we got GSN around '97.

[That Don Guy]

No, because the TV Guide in my area included three different channels for each network, so while there some shows that never aired where I lived (CBS's Spin-Off and, for many years from 1978 through 1990, TPIR; NBC's 50 Grand Slam and Just Men), I knew about them. I also knew about a couple of syndicated shows that never aired here (Dawson Masquerade Party, and Barry Break the Bank) through TV Guide's Fall Preview issues, although MP was also mentioned once on an episode of The Odd Couple where Dawson made an appearance.

Syndicated shows, on the other hand...I thought nighttime TPIR and Narz Concentration (which only aired on Wednesday nights) had been canceled after two seasons. (It was part of a strip of five, and when two of the other three - Dealer's Choice and The New Treasure Hunt - were canceled after two seasons, and Name That Tune moved to another channel, the station dropped these two and nobody picked them back up.) I do remember once in the late 1970s when I was watching a different syndicated show and could barely hear Any Number being played in the background audio for some strange reason.

[aaron sica]

No, because the TV Guide in my area included three different channels for each network, so while there some shows that never aired where I lived (CBS's Spin-Off and, for many years from 1978 through 1990, TPIR; NBC's 50 Grand Slam and Just Men), I knew about them. I also knew about a couple of syndicated shows that never aired here (Dawson Masquerade Party, and Barry Break the Bank) through TV Guide's Fall Preview issues, although MP was also mentioned once on an episode of The Odd Couple where Dawson made an appearance.

And that's where TV Guide comes into play, from what I mentioned in the other thread.  When I lived somewhere that had the TVG's network stations as being in Baltimore, Harrisburg and Philly, none of them carried the noon NBC option so I figured it was gone. When I lived somewhere that had TVG's network stations Harrisburg and Philly, along with NYC and Scranton, I was more aware of the longetivity of some shows, as NYC's were flagship, so they *always* carried every network offering.

[Ian Wallis]

A few examples for me (I'll probably add more later):

Press Your Luck - when it moved to 4 PM on 1/6/86, it was no longer carried in my area.  I figured ratings had declined and it was soon going to be cancelled - I didn't think they'd move it out of 10:30 if it was still doing well.  I was sure by March '86 it was gone.  When CBS aired nighttime Price is Right in summer 1986, I remember seeing a promo for their daytime games and being surprised that it was still on.

New Battlestars - I saw two episodes from the second week of the series being taped on a trip to LA in 1983.  Unfortunately, the two NBC stations I can pick up in my area both carried noon news, so I never saw it.  I didn't have a lot of out of town TVGuides at the time, but when I got one from another city in late summer 1983 and saw Diff'rent Strokes reruns listed there instead, I really wondered what happened to Battlestars.

Match Game 90 - similar to Battlestars in that it wasn't carried by either of the two ABC affiliates I can get.  I only saw it in some out of town TVGuides and a brief promo during Monopoly (I believe), so I had no idea at the time whether it was still on or not.

$25,000 Pyramid - the nighttime syndicated version was only carried in my area for the first two years, so I didn't find out until much later that it ran for five!

[BrandonFG]

IIRC, WAVY stopped airing Classic Concentration around 1991, then all of a sudden I remember seeing it at 3 pm in the fall of that year, only for WAVY to replace it with Jenny Jones. When I visited family in Maryland and Dallas in 1992-93, I was surprised NBC still aired the show, albeit in reruns.

In a bit of a reversal, Caesar's Challenge was a show I didn't realize existed until I visited family in Dallas in '93. I think I read about it when NBC canceled Scrabble and Scattergories, but CC did not air in this area.

[MikeK]

WJ(K)W was another station that stopped airing PYL after 1/3/86.  They also stopped airing Card Sharks in the late 80s after a year or so, in favor of other games including The $1M Chance of a Lifetime, Jackpot, and the last season of Hollywood Squares (Davidson).

[TimK2003]

WJ(K)W was another station that stopped airing PYL after 1/3/86.  They also stopped airing Card Sharks in the late 80s after a year or so, in favor of other games including The $1M Chance of a Lifetime, Jackpot, and the last season of Hollywood Squares (Davidson).

 

Speaking of Channel 8 in Cleveland...Body Language was MIA from most of the CBS affiliates around Northern Ohio.  Fuzzy memory is telling me that BL was not cleared in Cleveland and/or Toledo.  I'm not sure it even aired in Detroit.

 I was in Toledo at the time and a promo for Body Language snuck through on WTOL/Channel 11 one time and I was wondering what that show was all about.

[trainman]

I was in the same boat as others in this thread with "Press Your Luck" disappearing once I went back to school after Christmas break 1985-86 -- neither CBS affiliate in my local TV Guide carried the 4:00 show. (Same deal with "Body Language," of course.)

I also didn't know the syndicated "Card Sharks" existed until someone in my college dorm showed off a VHS tape of his appearance on a "Young People's Week" episode. (I also didn't know there was a syndicated "Sale of the Century," and didn't realize those were in USA's rerun rotation.)

[chargeradiocom]

Also, I'm not sure, but don't remember MG '90 at all, and my first memory of Match Game anything was seeing it when we got GSN around '97.

Same. I don’t think any of the ABC stations in my area carried MG ‘90. I was born toward the tail end of MG’s CBS run, and my mom said my dad would watch it occasionally. But I don’t really remember ever seeing it in any form until GSN.

I actually don’t remember any network game shows running in the afternoon in my area (except for the Noon hour on NBC), until Brady LMAD. So if any stations in my area ran PYL once it moved to the afternoon, I’m sure I missed it. Not sure why they seemed reluctant to carry the afternoon network game shows, because IIRC local stations in my area did carry syndies like Davidson Hollywood Squares and reruns of LMAD in the afternoon.

On a related note, I don’t remember anyone in my area running syndie Pyramid (until Davidson’s version*), though the local CBS stations carried $25K Pyramid consistently. The first time I remember seeing $100K Pyramid was in a hotel room on a small trip my mom & I took, which was a real treat for a burgeoning young game show geek like myself.

EDIT: After thinking on it longer, I do remember Davidson’s syndie Pyramid being carried locally. I don’t recall any Clark-hosted syndie version being carried locally, at least not after ‘85 or so. (‘85 is probably about the earliest specific game show memories I have.)

[Jamey Greek]

IIRC, WAVY stopped airing Classic Concentration around 1991, then all of a sudden I remember seeing it at 3 pm in the fall of that year, only for WAVY to replace it with Jenny Jones. When I visited family in Maryland and Dallas in 1992-93, I was surprised NBC still aired the show, albeit in reruns.

In a bit of a reversal, Caesar's Challenge was a show I didn't realize existed until I visited family in Dallas in '93. I think I read about it when NBC canceled Scrabble and Scattergories, but CC did not air in this area.

WESH stopped airing Classic Concentration in 1991 as well.  When I was visiting my dad in the 90s in Orlando I was waiting for Classic Concentration to come on only to find out they stopped airing it. 

[Jamey Greek]

WESH stopped airing $ale of the century after they picked up $100k Pyramid also.  The latter was relegated to weekends after they moved Newlywed Game at 7.  They also stopped airing TJW90 and replaced it with Davidson Pyramid

-WKMG stopped airing H2 in 2003.  I called my dad to ask him to tape the second game show week and he told me that supposedly it did not air down there anymore.

[Jamey Greek]

WSB aired The All New Let's Make a Deal in the 1984-85 season but did not air the subsequent seasons.

[SRIV94]

I'll need to get a ruling from the judges.

CBS O&O WBBM in Chicago only cleared the second half hour of Family Feud Challenge (and ran it after Price).  The first half hour was nuked in favor of talk shows in the 9AM CT hour (don't remember which at the time--might have been Maury).

Does that count? 

[aaron sica]

Does that count? 

Were you under the impression that the show was only a half hour because of that? I'd rule yes then. I believe that's how the show was designed - there wasn't a reference to the first half hour, IIRC. WHP in Harrisburg also ran only the second half too, at noon, immediately following Price.