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Author Topic: Gene Rayburn pilot question  (Read 6485 times)

whewfan

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Gene Rayburn pilot question
« on: March 15, 2022, 03:49:27 AM »
Not long ago I saw a very brief clip from a pilot that Gene Rayburn hosted that also involved filling in blanks, and I want to say it was in the 80s. I don't know the title of this game nor really how it's played. It definitely wasn't Match Game. Anyone know what I am talking about?

Strikerz04

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2022, 04:03:05 AM »
I'm thinking

whewfan

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2022, 04:31:01 AM »
No, that's not it. I wish I had posted it when I saw it.

Blanquepage

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2022, 11:25:37 AM »
I think you're referring to "It." Shot in '86 if I recall correctly.
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Adam Nedeff

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2022, 05:03:23 PM »
I think you're referring to "It." Shot in '86 if I recall correctly.
1984 Bernstein-Hovis Production, with Rod Roddy as the announcer. The game was essentially rapid-fire before & after puzzles, with contestants having to guess the middle word:
CULTURED _____ BAILEY
BETTY _____ CHRISTMAS

It sold in England as "Tarby's Frame Game."

whewfan

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2022, 06:02:19 PM »
Yes, that's what I was thinking of!

I saw one episode of Tarby's Frame Game... it's okay but it got a bit dull after a while. I wonder how Gene handled the format because it would need someone like him to give it personality.

Adam Nedeff

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2022, 07:40:28 PM »
Quote
I wonder how Gene handled the format because it would need someone like him to give it personality.
Grumpily. He handled it grumpily.

I haven't watched it in a while so this is all paraphrased from memory, but...The contestants don't ring in right away at the start of the game, and Gene mutters "Well, this game's off to a great start." At one point when the contestants don't ring in after a second hint at the correct answer, Gene snaps, "I had this solved 45 minutes ago!"

A few years back, I talked to someone who worked on this pilot and asked him, "What do you remember about the It pilot?" And his ONLY memory of it was "Gene Rayburn was in a horrible mood the whole time."

Two other things worth noting about the pilot--contestants are gradually eliminated during the game and when a contestant is eliminated, their podium sinks down and becomes part of the floor. But they don't deactivate the lockout button after they do this effect, so when Gene takes a step in the wrong direction, he sets off a buzzer. And they left that in the final cut of the pilot.

Also, they make a bizarre editing choice. At one point, Gene announces the wrong score for a player, and they had Gene loop in the correct score in post production. The way they splice it is Gene says "Your score is 200 points [edit] I mean, 250 points." They could have easily just had Gene say "You have 250 points" but instead they specifically edited it to have Gene announce that he said the wrong score.

BrandonFG

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2022, 07:52:19 PM »
I think you're referring to "It." Shot in '86 if I recall correctly.
I heard the clown was part of the reason why it didn't sell.

/Wait...
//Jokes aside, it sounds repetitive as hell
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Blanquepage

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2022, 08:44:29 PM »
'84 yes, the year in the credits was in Roman numerals and I've always transposed the V and I  :P
It had been a while since I last watched it, and after seeing it again, I second Adam's "grumpily."
Another example during round 2, Gene chastised the first contestant for clapping too loudly and "breaking his eardrum". He played it off as trying to loosen the guy up, but he was visibly annoyed. He just seemed to still be in the same "over it" mood as MGHS Hour. And yes, it's nearly 25 minutes of dullness.
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BrandonFG

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2022, 09:17:40 PM »
It seems Gene was grouchy on pretty much everything after syndie MG went off the air a couple years prior.

I dunno if he had trouble coming to terms with the genre moving towards younger, pretty boy hosts with perfect teeth and hair, but I have yet to hear of a post-MG experience where he didn't seem bitter. He apparently wasn't fond of Jon Bauman, then there's this pilot, and finally Break the Bank. I know there's the rumor that a proposed MG revival fell through because Entertainment Tonight allegedly revealed he was in his late-60s and "too old", but I think the idea that he was becoming a grumpy old man might've done more damage.

That and it was very crowded in 1987, with every syndicated game trying to become the next Wheel-killer.
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TLEberle

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2022, 10:36:37 PM »
I dunno if he had trouble coming to terms with the genre moving towards younger, pretty boy hosts with perfect teeth and hair, but I have yet to hear of a post-MG experience where he didn't seem bitter.
I think the upshot from reading Matchless Gene Rayburn is that for his entire career Gene got to write his own ticket and never had to deal with a higher-up giving him notes. On MG-HS he has to share the stage with an ill-fitting tyro which wasn't his strength, on Break the Bank he is handcuffed with a vanilla main game and cannot make merry during a high stakes end game--he was bitter because the good thing he had going was over.

Also a note to MattK: Perhaps a better phrasing is "I found it to be boring" rather than "it was boring."
« Last Edit: August 18, 2022, 08:35:39 AM by TLEberle »
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Neumms

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #11 on: March 23, 2022, 02:38:19 PM »
It sounds like a bunch of you have seen It. Is It available anywhere?

Watching MG/HSH, I contend that while Gene may not have been wild about the show, having a co-star or the co-star himself, he did a fine job. While I love the regulars from before, new guests helped pep it up and Gene put them at ease. Even the soap opera "stars" made for a not-bad show.

Adam, your book made it seem like Its mishaps made Gene crabby, not that he walked in that way.

whewfan

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #12 on: March 23, 2022, 03:22:29 PM »
Party Line, which was made after MG/HS, I think, shows that Gene could handle a non celeb format very well. He was upbeat, looked like he was having fun. It might be because the format that later became Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak had some good things going for it where Gene could riff off of the more interesting clues. It wasn't really the "wash,rinse,repeat" format that Frame Game was.

If you watch the first week of Gene on Break the Bank, he's looser and joking around more than he was in later shows. I know Kline and Friends wanted him to be more serious, but if they wanted that they should've never gotten Gene in the first place. Without seeing this pilot, it seemed that Gene saw the pilot's flaws and couldn't make much out of it, and considering he was older, I guess that made him appear bitter.

JohnXXVII

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2022, 07:47:16 PM »
I thought it was interesting how the Mark Goodson special, TV's Funniest Game Show Moments 2, from 1984/85, had no mention of Gene or Match Game, Mark Goodson's funniest show. Was it just out of sight, out of mind, or could there have been some sour grapes there?

whewfan

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Re: Gene Rayburn pilot question
« Reply #14 on: March 31, 2022, 07:58:59 AM »
Not sure about that, but since Gene was in the first special, maybe they felt that nothing could top "pretty nipples" and Cuckoo Friend and Ollie for Match Game, I guess they felt it was unnecessary to have him back.