Match Game 77's ill-fated move to 11 AM

[Ian Wallis]

Oh, it was indeed a failure x. The difference between the two is that MG had equity from past success and of course Goodson’s clout.  Ralph Edwards was struggling with network shows that year (Kennedy Tune worker no better than Dennis’ version) and my understanding is that as a host Arte was not that well-liked.  So with nothing good to crow about they were deemed expendable, especially when Woody was able to con them into America Alive

I remember America Alive quite well.  It was seen at Noon (Eastern) starting in the summer of 1978.  Big things were expected of it and the producers thought viewers would be impressed that they're jumping all over the country and it was "live".  Trouble is, what they were doing wasn't very interesting.  I remember a TV Guide blurb from early fall 1978 stating NBC was losing a lot of money on it but they weren't ready to give up on it.  They tried to retool the show to make it more interesting, but it didn't work and was gone by January 1979.

AFAIK, there's only one episode that exists - one with Lucille Ball taking questions from the UCLA theatre arts class.

At least it did have a kick-ass theme song (written by Don Costa) - one that I'd love to get in the clear - but it just doesn't seem to be out there.

[aaron sica]

I always thought it was quite odd for NBC to schedule an hour show at noon. By then, some stations were starting to do news at noon. Looking at old TV listings, this was the scenario for this show in four markets:

Lancaster (WGAL) - Carried only the first half hour. Jumped out for "Noonday on 8" at 12:30.
Washington (WRC) - Carried the entire hour.
Philadelphia (KYW) - Had news at noon, joined in progress for the second half hour at 12:30 (until September when it carried the Group W "Everyday" show at 3, and moved "Another World" to 12:30)
Baltimore (WGAL) - Had news at noon and opted instead for "Bewitched" reruns at 12:30.

[Ian Wallis]

I always thought it was quite odd for NBC to schedule an hour show at noon. By then, some stations were starting to do news at noon. Looking at old TV listings, this was the scenario for this show in four markets:

Lancaster (WGAL) - Carried only the first half hour. Jumped out for "Noonday on 8" at 12:30.
Washington (WRC) - Carried the entire hour.
Philadelphia (KYW) - Had news at noon, joined in progress for the second half hour at 12:30 (until September when it carried the Group W "Everyday" show at 3, and moved "Another World" to 12:30)
Baltimore (WGAL) - Had news at noon and opted instead for "Bewitched" reruns at 12:30.

In our area, WROC carried the full hour, while WGRZ only carried the last half-hour.  The first half-hour was taken by their own noon newscast.

I have a Detroit TV Guide from December 1978, and (ironically) by that time, WDIV was carrying the show on tape-delay at 9 AM the next morning.  That must have been confusing for the (few) viewers the show had!

[SuperMatch93]

AFAIK, there's only one episode that exists - one with Lucille Ball taking questions from the UCLA theatre arts class.

The 11/30/78 episode also exists and is on YouTube; it covered American Designer Press Week from the Plaza Hotel in NYC.

Incidentally, one of the students who got to ask Lucy a question in her episode was a young "Robert Boden from Flushing, NY."

[calliaume]

Just to be clear, Knockout and To Say the Least were cancelled to make room for Card Sharks and High Rollers V2.0 in April 1978. When America Alive was added to NBC’s daytime schedule in July, the casualties were Sanford and Son reruns (which was going into syndication a couple of months later anyway) and The Gong Show.

[RMF]

AFAIK, there's only one episode that exists - one with Lucille Ball taking questions from the UCLA theatre arts class.

The 11/30/78 episode also exists and is on YouTube; it covered American Designer Press Week from the Plaza Hotel in NYC.

There are also materials from the program held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive (a 10/16/78 segment featuring a Carol Burnett interview) and the Paley Center (around a half-hour, dealing with the 1978 Soapy Awards, and undated).