The mostly complete (I hope?) list of USA Game Show Schedules (1984-97)

[tyshaun1]

By the end of 1994, USA was clearly *over* the genre. November 1994 is a fairly clear line in the sand at the exact moment that the games shifted from an integral part of that daypart to just filler. They'd already let Sale lapse over the summer, dropped half of the Scrabble double, Caesar's Challenge, $25K Pyramid and Free 4 All.  They dropped the schedule to just four shows, then to two - then just Quicksilver for three weeks, before re-adding first $100K Pyramid then PYL and Scrabble through Spring/Summer '95. That run from 1985-94 is glorious though

As I recall, Kay Koplovitz was the president of USA Network up until that point, and she was a big fan of game shows. When she retired and the new president came in, his first mission was to phase out the game shows and cartoon reruns. Hence why both were virtually eliminated within a year or so.

[chrisholland03]

This has turned into the 'misremembered things' thread redux for me.  A lot of which are me confusing/overlapping USA and CBN's schedules. 

I don't remember USA airing non-90s TTD or TJW at all, and don't remember Bullseye running as long as it did there.  And I thought NTT and FTM ran much longer.

[gamed121683]

By the end of 1994, USA was clearly *over* the genre. November 1994 is a fairly clear line in the sand at the exact moment that the games shifted from an integral part of that daypart to just filler. They'd already let Sale lapse over the summer, dropped half of the Scrabble double, Caesar's Challenge, $25K Pyramid and Free 4 All.  They dropped the schedule to just four shows, then to two - then just Quicksilver for three weeks, before re-adding first $100K Pyramid then PYL and Scrabble through Spring/Summer '95. That run from 1985-94 is glorious though

As I recall, Kay Koplovitz was the president of USA Network up until that point, and she was a big fan of game shows. When she retired and the new president came in, his first mission was to phase out the game shows and cartoon reruns. Hence why both were virtually eliminated within a year or so.

Well, in the new president's defense, wasn't Cartoon Network and Game Show Network just starting up by the time the afternoon game show block and Cartoon Express made their last stops?

[Jeremy Nelson]

Around 99 or so, USA also had "Strip Poker" and that Ahmed and Dweezil Zappa thing

Happy Hour! It was definitely a different concept- more panel show than actual game, but I definitely would be interested to see someone try this again.

[Jamey Greek]

USA also ran Candid Camera, which you might not consider a game show, but it did have John Bartholomew Tucker, Jo Ann Pflug, Betsy Palmer, studio audiences and fee plugs.

In 1987-88 they aired it right before the game show block as a matter of fact.

[Jamey Greek]

Wow I had no idea that USA briefly got rid of their game shows in February-March of 1995. but then again  I was in school at the time.  Also I do not remember LC and The Big Date being on after midnight on USA!

[Mr. Armadillo]

Huh, this fills in a few holes in my ancient memory.  I must have been watching USA a lot when I was 4, because for the longest time I remembered a show called Face the Music but basically nothing else other than it looking really old. 

On the other end of the spectrum, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever heard of Quicksilver.

[Jimmy Owen]

What might be fun is to note which shows aired on both USA AND CBN/FAM. Off the top of my head, there was CR, HP, NTT, FTM, LMAD.

[Jamey Greek]

What might be fun is to note which shows aired on both USA AND CBN/FAM. Off the top of my head, there was CR, HP, NTT, FTM, LMAD.

TTD,  Bullseye

[Jimmy Owen]

Huh, this fills fills in a few spots in my ancient memory.  I must have been watching USA a lot when I was 4, because for the longest time I remembered a show called Face the Music but basically nothing else other than it looking really old. 

On the other end of the spectrum, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever heard of Quicksilver.

Quicksilver was rather bland and easy to figure out.  Simply pick the answer that seemingly has nothing to do with the first part of the question.

[Jamey Greek]

Wow; talk about a trip down memory lane through my childhood!

We pretty much had cable since 1985, so I grew up with a lot of these shows, but I never saw a number of them in the 80s like Play the Percentages or Anything for Money because:

-My dad would come home for his lunch breaks and insist on watching Geraldo and the noon news
-My mom would make me take a nap after Tic Tac Dough (that's how I learned how to tell time!)

However, I have extremely fond memories of the 1991-92 lineups, as I remembered watching a lot of those shows in first-run as a really little kid, and the massive lineup in 1994, where I could watch wall-to-wall game shows from 10:00 AM (Price is Right) through 5:00 PM (Free 4 All).  I was so disappointed when USA trimmed back their lineup to just an afterthought 2 hours in the afternoons, and I didn't know if I would ever see PYL again in reruns...

I wonder what my younger self, who lived for those game shows on USA, would think about having GSN, followed by Buzzr and streaming apps showing on-demand game shows.  Methinks I may not have ever had any social interaction. 

\hard to believe that Davidson's Squares has never been rerun since
\\even harder to believe that Scrabble has never been rerun since (but I get optimistic with Buzzr)

Anthony

I was the same way.  I did watch USA game shows as,a toddler but my parents divorced in 1990 and we went to live with my grand,mother in Alabama and she did not have cable and my mom dumped me in Daycare.  Also, when i was with my dad he lived with his mother and I vaguely remember her having cable but the adults would not let me watch  the block from start to finish and I resented that and kinda to this day.  The summer before i started kindergarden though when my mom and i moved to town and hsd a house with cable i got more freedom.