Game show "ironies" (if any)

[Winkfan]

While musing (sadly) over the loss of Wink Martindale, I mentioned that it happened the day after his most successful show (Tic Tac Dough) returned to GSN. And I was thinking, were there other "coincidences" or "ironies" (good or bad) in the game show biz?

The only one I can think of was one concerning Bud Collyer (The "Winkster" of his day, mind you). In 1969, Bud passed from Mother Earth on the same day his two biggest game show hits, Beat The Clock and To Tell The Truth, were "given new leases on life" in first-run syndication.

Any others?

Cordially,
Tammy

[SuperMatch93]

Bob Barker dying at 99 got him as close as possible to 100 without going over.

[Jamey Greek]

Merv Griifin died a month before his final  creation Merv Griffin’s Crosswords premiered

-Bert Convy died three days after the last episode of Match Gane 90 the show he was supposed to host before the brain tumor put him out of commission  aired its last episode.

[BillCullen1]

The '78 CBS version of TTD with Wink ran for eight weeks. The syndie version ran for eight years with Wink.

[JasonA1]

You were wise to use quotes in your title, and include both coincidence and irony in your post, because I know people have trouble differentiating those.

From the coincidence side: On the finale of the original Now You See It, I remember Jack Narz musing that the show started on April Fools Day (1974), and after 13 months and 13 days on the air, it came to end on Friday the 13th.

-Jason

[thomas_meighan]

Going along on the coincidences route—

Jack Cassidy was a celebrity guest on “Stumpers” during the week that aired right after his death.

“Password Plus” did *not* air the week of Allen Ludden’s passing, being replaced by “Wedding Day.”

Dorothy Kilgallen appeared on the 11-8-1965 daytime episode of TTTT, which had been videotaped six days earlier (per Daily News of 11-9-1965, page 4).

Reducing one coincidence a bit, the new versions of TTTT and BTC had started in some markets before Bud Collyer’s passing. WPHL in Philadelphia and WGAL in Lancaster began TTTT on 8-18-1969, and several stations began BTC that same day (per newspapers.com search).

[Scrabbleship]

Jack Cassidy was a celebrity guest on “Stumpers” during the week that aired right after his death.

Florence Griffith-Joyner passed the day her week of Hollywood Squares (the second aired Bergeron week) started airing.

[Robbo]

Florence Griffith-Joyner passed the day her week of Hollywood Squares (the second aired Bergeron week) started airing.
[/quote]

Even more ironic - I remember one of the celebrities from that week (possibly Craig Shoemaker?) commented on the lack of picks of his square during the week that he was in the “Death Square”.

[Eric Paddon]

The interesting coincidence of the last episode of "Split Second" having Judd Rose and Markie Post in "before they were famous" moments becomes an irony to me in that it took us decades to realize that contestant Steve Robinson, the last champ in the show's history who won a car thanks to Monty Hall's generosity, had a bigger pre-existing game show connection as Henry Morgan's illegitimate son.

[BrandonFG]

In early-1999 J! had a clue about then-recently deceased leader King Hussein. I remember a ticker scrolling across the screen to let viewers know the episode taped prior to his death.

Around 2001 there was a Wheel puzzle that read ROBERT BLAKE AS BARETTA, either right after his wife was killed or right as he went on trial for the murder. Pat did a pre-recorded disclaimer following the puzzle to let viewers know the episode taped in advance. Semi-related, GSN aired a Marshall Squares episode where Robert was a guest. Robert gave his response and said “Trust me” with a smile. The contestant deliberated and muttered “I don’t want to…” Obviously that episode taped well before the trial, but I remember getting a kick out of the comment.

There’s the wheelchair-bound TPiR contestant who had the chance to win a treadmill.

There was another show (I think Price) that offered a trip somewhere recently hit by a disaster. Even with the disclaimer, there was the predictable (and performative) internet outrage and useless clickbait articles.

[MSTieScott]

On the subject of unfortunate TPIR coincidences, there was one episode when, during the break, Drew saw a woman in the audience who had her arm in a cast. He asked her what happened, and she explained that she had been riding her bike when she was hit by a car.

Little did either of them know that she was on the contestant list, and one or two acts later, she was called to come on down. Drew had her explain her story again for the home TV audience, and then he asked for the next prize up for bids...

...which was a pair of bicycles.

That conversation was edited out of the final episode. (If I remember correctly, Drew might have recapped why she was in a cast later in the hour, after she had won her way up onstage.)

[aaron sica]

It was mentioned a few months back but in case anyone missed it...........Jack Barry on the Joker's Wild commenting on how the caricature on the one category slide looked like Tom Jones, and then the answer for the next question in the stack WAS Tom Jones.

[Jamey Greek]

In the episode of Debt that wink’s page posted shortly before learning of his death, there was a question about the tv series Ferris Bueller and the winning contestant’s one question category was the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

[chad1m]

Alex Trebek had a secretary named Fleming. Art Fleming had a secretary named Trebek.

[Kevin Prather]

In the episode of Debt that wink’s page posted shortly before learning of his death, there was a question about the tv series Ferris Bueller and the winning contestant’s one question category was the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

That's just bad question stacking. You'd think someone would have gone through and made sure the three expert topics weren't broached in the main game.