Alternate realities when it comes to game shows

[aaron sica]

I enjoyed TKO. What if ABC puts that on instead of MG '90? Would it have lasted longer?

With that noon slot, I don't think that would have made a difference.

[Steve_Bier]

Another thought exercise:

Pick a better emcee for Mindreaders than Dick Martin.

Interesting. With that being said, when Mindreaders was being created, were any other candidates given consideration? Or a run-through?

[chris319]

Adam: ISTR Noreen Conlin was around for Puzzlers in Q1 1980. Brockman could be off by a year in his chronology and departed NBC in 1979, unless they were keeping him on mothballs until 1980.

[chris319]

Another thought exercise:

Pick a better emcee for Mindreaders than Dick Martin.

Interesting. With that being said, when Mindreaders was being created, were any other candidates given consideration? Or a run-through?

Now I have to activate some dormant brain cells. Bobby Sherman may have emceed a run-thru or two just to test the format, not being considered for air. The only celeb we tested was Dick Martin.

[chrisholland03]

There's a recorded office runthrough out and about hosted by Dick, with Dolly Martin and Bill Cullen as the celebrities

[chris319]

There's a recorded office runthrough out and about hosted by Dick, with Dolly Martin and Bill Cullen as the celebrities

What did you think of Dick as emcee?

[Ian Wallis]

I definitely believe Break the Bank would've had a decent daytime run had it not been for that soap expansion.

How about this:  in order to make way for the expanded soaps, Break the Bank is moved from 2:30 to 12 noon (which is probably what SHOULD HAVE happened).  Hot Seat never gets past pilot stage.  Despite more and more affiliates airing noon news over the network offering, Break the Bank gets good enough ratings to hang around for a year or so.  That means we probably don't get The Don Ho Show and maybe even Second Chance.  What does that mean for the eventual Press Your Luck?

It's interesting to play this game isn't it?!

[chrisholland03]

There's a recorded office runthrough out and about hosted by Dick, with Dolly Martin and Bill Cullen as the celebrities

What did you think of Dick as emcee?

I mostly agree with your assessment.  He shined when he could adlib with the contestants and celebrities as they came up with their answers.  He was frequently awkward managing the mechanics of the show and staying on script.  That was the case in the runthrough as well.

[Scrabbleship]

This is not my original thought. Somebody in our community suggested it either on Facebook or on this board somewhere. I'd credit them if I could find it. But I thought it was an interesting take.

If Woolery never leaves Wheel...

- Does the daytime version last long enough and remain popular enough for the syndicated nighttime version to come along?
- If syndicated Wheel never happens, does Kingworld expand like it did in the 80s?
- If Kingworld never expands, does The Oprah Winfrey Show ever make it out of Chicago?
- If Oprah Winfrey never becomes the huge name she did, does Barack Obama still win the presidency in 2008?

Several of these assumptions are probably stretches, but it's a delicious irony anyway.

I'll stick around 1982 with this: Pat wins the war of wills with Merv over who would replace Susan Stafford and we get Vicki McCarty as letter turner. Given her trajectory before and since, does she last 42 years or does she leave by the late 80's or early 90s? Does Wheel even last to the present day in this Vanna-less timeline?

Also pertaining to 1982 and NBC, Adam's Game Shows FAQ mentioned that NBC had taken a swing to bring $25K Pyramid to their schedule only for CBS to give Bob Stewart a spot on the schedule without having to shoot a pilot as they needed a companion for Child's Play. How would Pyramid have fared on an NBC whose daytime schedule was a hot mess at that point? Does it last as long as it did on CBS and spawn $100K in syndication by 1985?

[BrandonFG]

I think if NBC puts Pyramid in some 90-minute block with $ale and Wheel from either 10-11:30 or 10:30-noon, it gets the same six-year run.

I'd avoid the noon slot.

EDIT: I’m not good at math.

[JasonA1]

If Woolery never leaves Wheel...

- Does the daytime version last long enough and remain popular enough for the syndicated nighttime version to come along?
- If syndicated Wheel never happens, does Kingworld expand like it did in the 80s?
- If Kingworld never expands, does The Oprah Winfrey Show ever make it out of Chicago?
- If Oprah Winfrey never becomes the huge name she did, does Barack Obama still win the presidency in 2008?

I was going down this road until I realized it was probably short-sighted of me to think Wheel would never go into syndication with Chuck at the helm. He made it 6 years as a rookie host on a show that wasn't a revival. After Wheel, he was part of 3 shows that had a healthy run: Scrabble, Love Connection and Lingo. In my opinion, at least, I think this hypothetical would stop at step 1, because a nighttime show with Chuck could have been a great bet -- probably more so than with Pat, even.

Whether or not Wheel becomes a phenomenon without the enigmatic qualities of Vanna is another question.

-Jason

[Kevin Prather]

Whether or not Wheel becomes a phenomenon without the enigmatic qualities of Vanna is another question.

That might have been part of the original thread actually. If Chuck stays, Susan probably stays, and we don't get Vanna.

[Jeremy Nelson]

This came up in our Twitch chat the other night. Let's suppose Super Password was still doing well for NBC and didn't get cancelled in 1989. Who would have taken over the show when Bert's health took a decline for following year?

Vicki Lawrence!

It’s got to be either her or Jamie Farr. He’d had a couple pilots under his belt, but she’s the better option.

[tyshaun1]

How about this:  in order to make way for the expanded soaps, Break the Bank is moved from 2:30 to 12 noon (which is probably what SHOULD HAVE happened).  Hot Seat never gets past pilot stage.  Despite more and more affiliates airing noon news over the network offering, Break the Bank gets good enough ratings to hang around for a year or so.  That means we probably don't get The Don Ho Show and maybe even Second Chance.  What does that mean for the eventual Press Your Luck?

It's interesting to play this game isn't it?!

If Goodson had The Better Sex ready to go in the spring instead of letting it bake for a few more months, Second Chance never sees the light of day on TV. Interesting indeed.

[Jimmy Owen]

Another thought exercise:

Pick a better emcee for Mindreaders than Dick Martin. Though the format was fundamentally flawed, Dick didn't help. He was better in office run-thrus but once he got into the studio he was never smooth at it. He was always a bit awkward.

I'm not sure exactly when Brockman departed NBC, but even though he was a client of the company there were those in the office who didn't hold him in particularly high regard. In watching his interview, the games he plays with his fingers remind me of the Simpsons' Mr. Burns character.

By the time we brought up Mindreaders in 1979, ISTR we were dealing with Noreen Conlin.

Who wasn't busy? Dan Rowan? Lloyd Thaxton?