“Cool a new game show!” but it’s not a game show

[TimK2003]

Nope, they DID use footage from the NBC show.to promote the Mike Darrow version. 

[clemon79]

I also was disappointed when the version turned out to be new, and not the old one.

I was too, but it got immediate points for using the Shoot For The Stars theme (where's my onion?), and Mike Darow grew on me in a hurry.

[chrisholland03]

And I quite enjoyed the travel music employed when they swapped contestants in the '85 version

[BrandonFG]

Same. Felt like a holdover from Chain Reaction.

[Mike Tennant]

Not exactly an example, but when reading TV Guide at 5 years old, for some reason it didn't gel with me that "To Be Announced" wasn't the name of an actual show. I was always left curious as to what a show named that would be like.

I figured it was a show where they announced local events and such. Since it sounded very boring, I never tuned in to see what it really was.

[Mr. Matté]

Same. Felt like a holdover from Chain Reaction.

In true Cobert fashion, it's a holdover from Supertrain:

[colonial]

I was looking through British TV schedules last night (I do that once in a while to find out, among other things, what game shows air when and where) when I came upon a BBC1 show that will premiere on the night of May 18 called "Rebus." Hmm, I thought -- new show that's premiering on a Saturday evening (where the UK channels tend to air their "big event" shows) and the name alone screams game show. So I clicked on the description and ...

... it's a crime/mystery drama centered around a detective named "John Rebus."  Never mind ...


JD

[Jimmy Owen]

I was looking through British TV schedules last night (I do that once in a while to find out, among other things, what game shows air when and where) when I came upon a BBC1 show that will premiere on the night of May 18 called "Rebus." Hmm, I thought -- new show that's premiering on a Saturday evening (where the UK channels tend to air their "big event" shows) and the name alone screams game show. So I clicked on the description and ...

... it's a crime/mystery drama centered around a detective named "John Rebus."  Never mind ...


JD

Did they pay homage to Jack Linkletter?

[alfonzos]

Going waaaay back: "Hidden Faces" turned out to be a soap opera.

[steveleb]

Before I realized that the show I was taking a meeting on to buy 65 episodes of was a hit international soap opera, I thought NEIGHBOURS was a foreign version of the forgettable Regis Philbin game show. Worse yet, the actual episodes from ABC

[chrisholland03]

Off on a tangent, but this thread triggered a thought and a story that might be of interest.  The ending is the opposite of this thread's intent - but it was a game show!

Like a lot of us, I've always enjoyed thumbing through old TV listings.  I grew up in a small-medium sized area of the deep south that had a unique TV landscape because of geography. 

Anyway, digging through the listings of old newspapers and TV guides laying around my grandparents house circa mid-80s.  Come across a show on the CBS affiliate after the late news - Pitfall.  I'm thinking it has something to do with the Atari game I've been playing.  Imagining an Indiana Jones-esque action series with a guy in a brown overcoat and hat.  Think nothing of it.

Parallel - I vaguely remember a gameshow that has elevators.  No reason to remember this.  But it's a nagging memory.  Strike it up as confabulation. 

Fast forward a few years to early 90s, get CompuServe, find ATGS.  Discover there was a gameshow that has elevators.  It's named Pitfall.  Do a tape trade and bingo, I'm not crazy - this is exactly what my vague memory was.  But why on earth would I remember this?

Fast forward a few more years and I make the connection between the memory and the discovery as a kid and it makes me crazy.  I start digging online, and the timing was right - CBS affiliate aired Pitfall for about 6 months in the Spring/Summer of 1982 after the late news.  But there's no way a small-medium market in the deep south would air Pitfall after the late news, right?  That feels like alternate reality level insanity from a programming decision.

I've become good friends with a local meteorologist who started her career at the hometown CBS affiliate in the late 80s.  This thread reminded me of all of this and I mentioned it to her the other day.  She told me it was before her time, but she knew who to call.  A few days ago I get a call from the retired program engineer at the hometime CBS affiliate.  He confirmed they absolutely aired Pitfall the gameshow in 1982 for a brief period, and does not remember why they made that choice.  All he remembers is that the ABC affiliate was kicking everybody's butt in local news, and that it was probably something the New York Times (their owners) had negotiated with someone, and was probably a directive to fulfill a contract.  He was more shocked that anyone would remember something so vague and random, followed by 'glad to know there was at least 1 person watching, even if it was a kid'. 

So the sometimes the cool thing is - it was a game show!

[Mr. Matté]

And with that, TIL that the NYT owned TV stations, all in the South for some reason

[Scrabbleship]

And with that, TIL that the NYT owned TV stations, all in the South for some reason

TIL that Scranton, Des Moines, and Quad Cities IA/IL are in the South.

[steveleb]

I’m almost certain the Times owned a station in Huntsville Alabama at one time.  Maybe that’s the one that did it. 
Do remember the same distributor not only had let’s make a deal but I believe they also offered Hollywood squares the previous year.
In the south many distributors were personal friends with management.  Even if they had done deals as reps for other companies in the past.  Sort of a code of the west, or at least the south.
Perhaps that’s what happened here.

[Jimmy Owen]

Rhodes distributed HS,  LMAD 80 and Pitfall.