The Game Show Forum > The Big Board
$ale of the Century discussion
carlisle96:
--- Quote from: Ian Wallis on August 19, 2023, 10:52:27 AM ---
--- Quote from: tyshaun1 on August 19, 2023, 07:21:09 AM ---
--- Quote from: Neumms on August 17, 2023, 05:25:40 PM ---This struck me as I read the article that called $ale "NBC's hottest new game show." Were ratings sinking when the winner's board premiered? Did it make them go up? And did a drop in ratings prompt the Winner's Big Money Game? Both changes were brought on by the network, right?
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To give you an idea, this list was right around the same time the Winners Board premiered. Notice the not great clearances for any game not named Price, Wheel, or Scrabble.
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Wow - I love stuff like this. I wish there was more of it around.
Interesting notes on this:
It looks as if Press Your Luck was just slightly beating Sale of the Century at this time, but if Sale had the same no. of stations it likely would have been ahead.
Super Password - just a few weeks after its premiere and it really wasn't doing that well. The noon slot obviously didn't help.
Body Language with only 103 stations. It's surprising how far the 4 PM slot had fallen by the mid-80s. In my out-of-town TVGuides from the '70s, Tattletales was still listed at 4 PM in most of those editions for its first couple of years, but by around mid 1976 or so, more and more stations started tape-delaying it at 9:30 the next morning. I guess that's why Goodson fought for the 10:30 slot for the Card Sharks revival - he knew it wouldn't do that well if it came on at 4. IIRC, we've read that Press Your Luck had started to drop a fair bit by fall 1985 so CBS was probably more willing to move it by that point.
I guess most of us lamented the expansion of soap operas at the expense of game shows, but I guess when you look at the ratings, there was a good reason why they did it.
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I can imagine how frustrated Mark Goodson was to come up with a good show like Body Language and have relatively few people given the chance to sample it just once. Same with Super Password. The only time I saw Body Language was when I sat in the audience. The Baltimore and Washington CBS stations didn't carry it.
aaron sica:
--- Quote from: carlisle96 on August 24, 2023, 12:43:32 PM ---The only time I saw Body Language was when I sat in the audience. The Baltimore and Washington CBS stations didn't carry it.
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Washington didn't carry it, but Baltimore did for some of the run - at that point, WBAL-11 was the CBS affiliate. They carried it at 9:30am from the beginning of the run until September 1985, when they opted for "Break the Bank" instead.
carlisle96:
Really? I never saw it.
aaron sica:
--- Quote from: carlisle96 on August 24, 2023, 01:51:24 PM ---Really? I never saw it.
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Well, 9:30's kind of an easy-to-miss slot. WCAU-10 (also then CBS) did the same thing. Thought I remembered from old TV Guides, but I verified with old Baltimore Sun TV listings.
TimK2003:
--- Quote from: aaron sica on August 24, 2023, 01:18:30 PM ---
--- Quote from: carlisle96 on August 24, 2023, 12:43:32 PM ---The only time I saw Body Language was when I sat in the audience. The Baltimore and Washington CBS stations didn't carry it.
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Washington didn't carry it, but Baltimore did for some of the run - at that point, WBAL-11 was the CBS affiliate. They carried it at 9:30am from the beginning of the run until September 1985, when they opted for "Break the Bank" instead.
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I don't believe it aired in Cleveland at all either, but it did air in Toledo on WTOL in the morning as well (9:30am ?). IIRC, It replaced Tattletales in the same morning slot.
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