Author Topic: Network Game Shows (Read 3342 times)

adamjk · « **on:** March 21, 2004, 09:51:13 PM »

I'm wondering, why did most network game shows, very rarely air reruns, and usually ran new shows all year round? The only show that regularly at some point airs reruns, is Price is Right, and even they went all year round at first.

chris319 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 22, 2004, 12:36:02 AM »

[quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Mar 21 2004, 06:51 PM\'] I'm wondering, why did most network game shows, very rarely air reruns, and usually ran new shows all year round? The only show that regularly at some point airs reruns, is Price is Right, and even they went all year round at first. [/quote]
It's a practice that had its genesis in the days of live broadcasting. Why it wasn't negotiated away as the years went by I can't say, other than it accomodated shows with returning champions and kept the staff employed year round back in the day when game shows weren't that expensive to produce.

Craig Karlberg · « **Reply #2 on:** March 22, 2004, 04:53:22 AM »

That's true. And since Price does NOT have any returning champs, they can air a certain number of first-run episodes(it varies from year to year based on schedule changes & other factors like Bob's ailments or injuries) without worrying about how much they can budget into the show untill the end of each season & make proper adjustments as they go along.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #3 on:** March 22, 2004, 09:09:58 AM »

Repeats were more noticeable in the three-channel universe of the 60's and 70's, and it's my opinion that the nets felt that the public wanted fresh programming year round. Daytime LMAD would occassionally have a rerun on ABC with Jay Stewart intoning "The preceding was a repeat of an earlier telecast" at the end. NBC had "The Best of Card Sharks" now and then "....shows you said you wanted to see again." Starting around 83 "Tattletales" would have a repeat week (or three or four days of that week) if there happened to be an "Afternoon Playhouse" or some other type of pre-emption during a week. CBN and later USA proved that people would sit still for a regular diet of gs reruns to the point that there are more reruns on than new production.

uncamark · « **Reply #4 on:** March 22, 2004, 03:01:07 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Mar 22 2004, 09:09 AM\']Repeats were more noticeable in the three-channel universe of the 60's and 70's, and it's my opinion that the nets felt that the public wanted fresh programming year round. Daytime LMAD would occassionally have a rerun on ABC with Jay Stewart intoning "The preceding was a repeat of an earlier telecast" at the end. [/quote]
It seemed to me to be a lot more frequent in the final years of the original run--at least one day a week had a repeat and Monty had both repeat weeks *and* fill-ins. The reasoning behind it was that they didn't tape more than two shows a day (and Monty had to be talked into taping a second show, since he claimed that he was tired after taping just one show). Also, while most syndicated shows did 39 episodes a season (or 78 if two-a-week or 195 if a strip), "LMAD" seemed to do fewer shows a year and more repeats from past seasons (which is why we got a few network episodes in the syndie package GSN aired).

byrd62 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 22, 2004, 04:49:21 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Mar 22 2004, 03:01 PM\'].... "LMAD" seemed to do fewer shows a year and more repeats from past seasons (which is why we got a few network episodes in the syndie package GSN aired).[/quote]
I'm not sure, but when the syndicated LMAD episodes [1971-77] were rerun on a daily "strip" basis in the late 1970's, it included episodes from ABC's primetime run [1969-71].

On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if those ABC primetime episodes were aired during the first season or so of syndicated LMAD.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #6 on:** March 22, 2004, 05:11:18 PM »

No off-ABC shows were in the first-run package. That would have been a violation of the prime access rule for net affils in the top 50 markets. What might be causing confusion was that ABC Films distributed the show for the first season and was succeeded by Worldvison after the networks were forced to get out of the syndication business by the Justice Department. Those ABC Films shows were first-run, not off-network. The only show I can recall that was allowed to air a small number of off-network episodes in prime access was "Wild Kingdom," presumably granted a waiver due to educational content.

zachhoran · « **Reply #7 on:** March 22, 2004, 06:45:02 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Mar 22 2004, 03:01 PM\']
It seemed to me to be a lot more frequent in the final years of the original run--at least one day a week had a repeat and Monty had both repeat weeks *and* fill-ins. The reasoning behind it was that they didn't tape more than two shows a day (and Monty had to be talked into taping a second show, since he claimed that he was tired after taping just one show). [/quote]
I suspect the two 80s syndie versions of LMAD had Monty doing five shows a day(as each was a five-a-week strip). I assume the DIsney/MGM version in 1990 which MOnty did 14 weeks of also taped five a day, no? If he was tired after doing one show of LMAD a day at age 50, imagine how he would have handled five shows taped in a day(he was almost 65 when All New LMAD ended and 69 when he did the 14 weeks of Disney shows)

chris319 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 23, 2004, 01:45:14 AM »

Stop. Close your eyes. Think a minute. You've seen Let's Make A Deal hundreds of times. You know all those PRIZES they have? Do you think they appear behind those curtains and roll-away boxes by MAGIC? Do you think the camera crew has ESP and knows which shots to get when without being directed? The answer is no. They have to go through an ancient show-business ritual known as REHEARSAL. With a show like What's My Line? you can bap out five, six, even seven shows a day with as little time in between as it takes for Arlene Francis to change her Bonwit Teller gowns. But each half-hour of LMAD probably took at least an equivalent amount of time to block shots, go over Jay's announce copy, roll prizes in and out, have the stand-in emcee go through the deals, listen to the music cues, etc. That's one hour to get one show on tape plus the time it takes to pick contestants and load in and warm up the audience. Now you're pushing 1 1/2 to two hours to get a show on tape. Plus a meal break. Plus make-up and wardrobe. Plus a 1 1/2 hour engineering set-up. Plus Monty gets tired. Three shows per day is tops. In reality the true maximum is the number of shows Monty is willing to do.

Craig Karlberg · « **Reply #9 on:** March 23, 2004, 05:15:31 AM »

It's a good thing Bob Barker only does 2 shows of his on a particular day of TPIR. What Chris said is so true. That's why practice makes perfect & it's better to keep at it untill you get it right!

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #10 on:** March 23, 2004, 02:01:22 PM »

Quote

Starting around 83 "Tattletales" would have a repeat week (or three or four days of that week) if there happened to be an "Afternoon Playhouse" or some other type of pre-emption during a week.

I noticed some of those weeks in TVGuide, where they'd actually put (Repeat) after the celebrity listings. This occurred quite frequently during the '80s version - especially during 1983. As mentioned earlier in this thread, most of those weeks would occur to put them back on the Monday-Friday cycle. During the '70s run, they'd quite frequently have a new group of celebrities on a Wednesday, since they ran all the shows regardless of a Monday-Friday cycle.

The only repeats of the '70s version of "Tattletales" I can remember were the first two shows of the Gene Rayburn-hosted week. That week originally aired starting July 9, 1974, but two of those episodes were repeated in late summer. I remember watching one day and wondering "what's this doing on again".

Also, after the show was cancelled, my local station began rerunning episodes from 1975 for a while, including some rarely-seen Bob Newhart episodes.

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #11 on:** March 23, 2004, 02:06:07 PM »

Quote

"LMAD" seemed to do fewer shows a year and more repeats from past seasons (which is why we got a few network episodes in the syndie package GSN aired).

It's too bad GSN didn't negotiate for some more network episodes of "Let's Make a Deal". I think it was reported at one time that over 1100 episodes of the show still exist. By doing a rough count of all the syndicated versions, there has to be at least a couple hundred original ABC episodes still around.

Maybe the prizes were just too small!

uncamark · « **Reply #12 on:** March 23, 2004, 06:16:27 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Mar 22 2004, 05:11 PM\']No off-ABC shows were in the first-run package. That would have been a violation of the prime access rule for net affils in the top 50 markets. What might be causing confusion was that ABC Films distributed the show for the first season and was succeeded by Worldvison after the networks were forced to get out of the syndication business by the Justice Department. Those ABC Films shows were first-run, not off-network. The only show I can recall that was allowed to air a small number of off-network episodes in prime access was "Wild Kingdom," presumably granted a waiver due to educational content.[/quote]
It seems to me that in the first year of the access rule, some waivers were allowed. ABC Films may've received a waiver from the FCC to include some network repeats in the 1971-72 season in order to fill the season out and not have to repeat current season shows before the summer. From the 1972-73 season on, all syndie "LMAD" repeats that aired before the summer were from previous syndication seasons.

ChuckNet · « **Reply #13 on:** March 24, 2004, 07:12:39 PM »

Quote

It seems to me that in the first year of the access rule, some waivers were allowed. ABC Films may've received a waiver from the FCC to include some network repeats in the 1971-72 season in order to fill the season out and not have to repeat current season shows before the summer.

That's entirely possible...I recall seeing at least 1 ep from the ABC primetime run on FAM in the mid-90s, and later on GSN a coupla yrs ago, so I assumed they were part of the syndie repeats package.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

zachhoran · « **Reply #14 on:** March 24, 2004, 07:16:19 PM »

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Mar 24 2004, 07:12 PM\']

Quote

It seems to me that in the first year of the access rule, some waivers were allowed. ABC Films may've received a waiver from the FCC to include some network repeats in the 1971-72 season in order to fill the season out and not have to repeat current season shows before the summer.

That's entirely possible...I recall seeing at least 1 ep from the ABC primetime run on FAM in the mid-90s, and later on GSN a coupla yrs ago, so I assumed they were part of the syndie repeats package.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby") [/quote]
Repeated on FAM but not as yet repeated on GSN from the 70s syndie run was an episode in which a $9K Cadillac was risked to try for the SUper Deal, and the SD was won. Wonder what happened to that episode since 1995?