Great short-lived shows

[TLEberle]

bot to mention Mike Richards did a good job hosting. Bring a protege of Dick Clark's he sire did him proud.  Both Dick Clark and Bob Stewart would have been proud of that version along with the current one.

I thought he was fine and ok. Out of the six or seven people who have hosted the show, he would not only not make the medal podium but he wouldn't even be in the top five.

[BillCullen1]

FWIW, I thought Mike Richards was a better host for Pyramid than John Davidson. But yeah, I know.

Here's another short-lived show that I thought was good. Stumpers, hosted by Mr. Password himself, Allen Ludden.

[carlisle96]

FWIW, I thought Mike Richards was a better host for Pyramid than John Davidson. But yeah, I know.

Here's another short-lived show that I thought was good. Stumpers, hosted by Mr. Password himself, Allen Ludden.

Ludden was great as always, but the problem I had with Stumpers was the players could only choose from the clues provided to them...they couldn't be flexible, creative, or funny like on Password...but what do I know? I loved Pass the Buck with its absurd judging. 

[gamed121683]

FWIW, I thought Mike Richards was a better host for Pyramid than John Davidson. But yeah, I know.

Here's another short-lived show that I thought was good. Stumpers, hosted by Mr. Password himself, Allen Ludden.

Ludden was great as always, but the problem I had with Stumpers was the players could only choose from the clues provided to them...they couldn't be flexible, creative, or funny like on Password...but what do I know?

I'm willing to bet the creators of Stumpers asked themselves this question while creating the show, "How can we be Password without the Goodson/Todman people suing the pants off us?"

[Clay Zambo]

I think the Stumpers mechanic—give your opponent clues to a puzzle in the order you think will be least helpful—would be a great mid-match round (replacing Ca$hword) in a Super Password-style revival.

Stumpers itself wasn’t perfect, but what a cool set!

[TLEberle]

I'm willing to bet the creators of Stumpers asked themselves this question while creating the show, "How can we be Password without the Goodson/Todman people suing the pants off us?"

I’m sure Lin Boleyn was concerned, Ray.

/i think I’ll leave that alone too.

[tvwxman]

Stumpers itself wasn’t perfect, but what a cool set!

Absolutely. In the years between me being a young kid in the late 70s, and getting to see the show thanks to tape trades (what are those? asked the youngins') - I remembered that set being tremendous.

What I didn't remember , was that the game was weak.  Interesting idea, poorly executed.

But again, what a set!

[Ian Wallis]

Another thing about Stumpers was its cool theme song, written by Alan Thicke.  There's a bunch of Thicke themes that came after the famous vinyl LP that haven't surfaced yet, including Stumpers.  There were cues used on Wheel of Fortune in the later '70s that came from this group, including one that was used as the theme to Thicke's CTV talk show in the early '80s.  I wonder if there's another LP out there waiting to be discovered...

[gamed121683]

Another thing about Stumpers was its cool theme song, written by Alan Thicke. There's a bunch of Thicke themes that came after the famous vinyl LP that haven't surfaced yet, including Stumpers.

Did I read this right? There is (was) an LP out there featuring Thicke's theme song work? I'd love to know more about this.

[Ian Wallis]

Did I read this right? There is (was) an LP out there featuring Thicke's theme song work? I'd love to know more about this.

Pretty well all of the Thicke themes that you hear on TVPMM came from an original vinyl LP.  They include themes that were used on Joker's Wild, Celebrity Sweepstakes, Wheel of Fortune, etc.  IIRC, I think the Wheel theme on the second GSN CD was sourced from that.

There were a bunch more themes Thicke wrote after which are unaccounted for.  I don't know for sure if there's another LP but none of them have surfaced - with the exception of Whew!

[Jamey Greek]

Any Jay Wolpert show

[Jimmy Owen]

Any Don Lipp show

[snowpeck]

Did I read this right? There is (was) an LP out there featuring Thicke's theme song work? I'd love to know more about this.

Pretty well all of the Thicke themes that you hear on TVPMM came from an original vinyl LP.  They include themes that were used on Joker's Wild, Celebrity Sweepstakes, Wheel of Fortune, etc.  IIRC, I think the Wheel theme on the second GSN CD was sourced from that.

There were a bunch more themes Thicke wrote after which are unaccounted for.  I don't know for sure if there's another LP but none of them have surfaced - with the exception of Whew!

Not sure how I missed this, but a copy turned up on ebay recently. It went for $400 so I'm actually kind of relieved I didn't find it while the auction was active: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285953300519?

[clemon79]

I realize this show was perhaps none too popular but how about The Magnificent Marble Machine?

They would have MORE of a shot with it today, with 2024 technology as opposed to 1978:

Tech: "We built a thirty-foot tall pinball machine for a game show!"

Network Exec: "Cool! How did you manage to find flipper coils that big?"

Tech: "What's a flipper coil?"

Then, the other problem: if your centerpiece is a thirty-foot tall pinball machine, you are either spending ALL your time in front of it, or you are strapping a totally unrelated front game onto it for the right to play it and your audience is bored, because they tuned in to see The Magnificent Marble Machine, not The Random-Ass Tedious Word Game.

[MSTieScott]

I'm not watching a reboot of The Magnificent Marble Machine unless the contestants are in Zorb-like inflatable balls.

Hang on, I have a pitch deck to create...