Alternate realities when it comes to game shows

[Adam Nedeff]

I'm not sure exactly when Brockman departed NBC.

Fall of 1980. The David Letterman Show was 100% a Fred Silverman baby, and when it failed, Brockman got shoved HARD under that bus.

[danderson]

On that front, what happens if Wheel gets the boot and not Chain Reaction, does NBC move  CR to after Letterman?

[tyshaun1]

So, in all the years that we've been tape trading, have you noticed that a TON of unsold pilots were shot in 1990?

Michael Brockman was in charge of ABC at that point and he made it known that he wanted to dump Home and make 10:30 am-12:30 pm a two-hour block of game shows. A bunch of those 1990 pilots were shot for ABC's consideration. Brockman was shown the door right before he brought this to fruition. Considering that the network game shows were starting to die at this point, I'm curious to know what would have happened if ABC had unleashed four new game shows in the fall of 1990. No difference? Ratings dilution because of all the syndicated game shows along with the ABC block? A few hits are in there and the life of network games gets extended a little bit?

IMO, none of those pilots I've seen (TKO, Body Talk, Gambit, Match Game) were particularly strong so I believe none of them would've lasted very long even if they made air; Match Game did but it struggled the entire time it was on. But Brockman himself says that he encountered HEAVY pushback from ABC execs and affiliates from wanting to give game shows another go. They seemed to resign themselves to nothing working before the soaps and him expending so much energy toward investing money into the genre probably hastened his demise.

[chris319]

Brockman himself says that he encountered HEAVY pushback from ABC execs and affiliates from wanting to give game shows another go. They seemed to resign themselves to nothing working before the soaps and him expending so much energy toward investing money into the genre probably hastened his demise.

Little wonder. Daytime game shows were always dogged by undesirable demos.

The failed pilot "On a Roll" supports the notion that Goodson was running on fumes by then. How about another revival of To Tell the Truth?

Add to that "Star Words" which had a glaring problem in judging right out of the gate. Contestant responds with "another woman" and it is deemed not to match "infidelity" and right away Patty Duke Astin voices her objection which is left in the tape, leaving Nipsey to tap dance and explain it away with a six-egg  omelette on his face.

[chrisholland03]

My favorite parts of Star Words were:

1) The dance segments
2) The Tootsie Walking Girl theme
3) Watching the set pieces glide in

My partner says On a Roll felt like a SNL parody of Wheel of Fortune.



In an alternate reality:

Match Game and Tattletales remain at 3:30pm/4:00pm and run through 1982 when they're finally cancelled.  There is no Tattletales v2, and no syndicated Match Game.
Hollywood Squares remains at 11:30am and runs through 1982 when it's finally cancelled.  There is no syndicated Hollywood Squares

MG/HS hour still happens a few months later because NBC.

[BillCullen1]

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.

100% agreed. On several occasions, Dick had that "deer in the headlights" look. He did move the game along, but he was not as polished as Cullen, Rayburn etc, I do believe The Cheap Show was his only previous hosting job. He was fine on that, but not here.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Pick a better emcee for Mindreaders than Dick Martin.

I could, but then we'd still be asking a seasoned jockey to ride a mule to the Kentucky Derby 

Oh, and since Wheel went off the air around '87 Pat Sajak gets a CBS gig, but in 1993. Letterman replaces Carson in '92 and Jay Leno gets something in syndication.

My curiousness lies in what Pat Sajak does for 5 years to end up with a late night gig! Also, if Jay Leno still has Helen Kushnick in your alternate reality, I don't see a way in which he doesn't end up with that job.

I've got one:
The staff of Family Feud is so fed up with Richard's attitude that they refuse to return to work until he's let go. The work stoppage is leaked to the press, and with mounting pressure from all sides, Goodson removes Dawson as host in 1981. With Alex Trebek already on NBC daytime, Geoff Edwards is hired as his replacement.

ABC, not wanting to lose their star talent, signs Dawson to a network deal. The relationship is buddy-buddy at first. Dawson trashes Family Feud and Geoff in a magazine feature, which blows over, but then he trashes ABC and his contract in 1982. After some middling primetime specials in 82 and 83, the network determines he's not in their future plans and he's bought out by 1984.

With a breath of fresh air in the studio, Geoff begins his tenure in 1981. Ratings see a noticeable boost thanks to the public's curiosity but aren't sustainable. Wheel still comes in and eats Feud's lunch, but instead of the Dawson series finale eulogy, it's a relatively happy affair with the staff and crew joining Geoff on stage during the final segment.

[TimK2003]

I'll throw a "what if" into the mix:

What if LMAD never bolted to ABC in the late 60s?  The only real game shows ABC had around then were mostly Barris shows.

Would NBC have given Monty a shot at a syndicated nighttime version of the show?

Would LMAD have been such a lasting game show over the decades, because it seems the show really took off after going to ABC.

[chris319]

100% agreed. On several occasions, Dick had that "deer in the headlights" look. He did move the game along, but he was not as polished as Cullen, Rayburn etc, I do believe The Cheap Show was his only previous hosting job. He was fine on that, but not here.

ISTR on Cheap Show he had an "assistant" to help him with the format, and we took that into account when considering him for Mindreaders. As I say, he was better and more at ease in the office and went "deer in the headlights" in the studio.

After thinking it over, I'd like to see how Dick Gautier would have done with a game show. Also Nipsey and Greg Morris would have been worthy of consideration. I liked Nipsey as an emcee and he had good command of the format.

The auditionee would be sent a script to study, then do one or more run-thrus in the office for the producers. Later, Mr. Goodson would see it and if Goodson approved, "the network", e.g. Mike Brockman, would be invited over to see it.

[snowpeck]

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?

[aaron sica]

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?

Scrabble would have been cancelled around this point; Chuck Woolery?

[Blanquepage]

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!

[TimK2003]

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!

Did Tom Kennedy officially "retire" from the business after Wordplay ended? I would think he would have been the top contender, as he had experience with the format, more or less.

[Blanquepage]

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!

Did Tom Kennedy officially "retire" from the business after Wordplay ended? I would think he would have been the top contender, as he had experience with the format, more or less.

Nope, another viable option. He was devising new formats and even hosted more unsold pilots; Star Play was one from 1989, for example. Tom.certainly had the experience, but I'd also think Vicki's Emmy-nominated performance on WLoD would also have considerable weight. Plus we know they wanted her helming a show since they chose her for Body Talk.

[BillCullen1]

The failed pilot "On a Roll" supports the notion that Goodson was running on fumes by then. How about another revival of To Tell the Truth?

On a Roll was WOF using dice instead of a wheel. And TTTT would return in 1990, and twice after that.

The one pilot Goodson did circa 1988 that I really liked was Oddball, which morphed into the game Just One, which I have. I thought Jamie Farr was a decent host that would have gotten better with time.