Classic Game Show Television Milestones Of The Wee

[rmfromfla]

All three networks did carry the 9/11 commission hearing when
 Condolezza Rice testified,  so go to alternate programming:  the DVD
 of "Rain Man" with an actual J! clip from future TOC winner Mark
 Lowenthal's first game back in 1988....

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 12:00 AM\'] I'm pretty sure the original poster is right about the colors; but I though it was 3 buzz-ins and 6 regular.  I'll dig out my tape if need be. [/quote]
 I believe you are right, and I can say with certainty that the colors were blue and black. (Blues, like usual, were regular questions, and blacks were jump-ins.)

[rigsby]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 08:06 AM\'] Sept 18, 1978 might have been the "official syndication debut", but some markets actually aired the show earlier.  In my area, the show actually started Labor Day 1978 - the Monday after the CBS cancellation.

Same thing happened for "Wheel of Fortune" in 1983 - we actually got it in late August! [/quote]
 How exactly would that work?  I can understand how it might be possible for a show like syndie Match Game, where the weeks were cycled, but for a show like TTD or Wheel, where presumably every market is airing the same show on the same day, how was that handled?

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'rigsby\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 11:17 AM\'] [quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 08:06 AM\'] Sept 18, 1978 might have been the "official syndication debut", but some markets actually aired the show earlier.  In my area, the show actually started Labor Day 1978 - the Monday after the CBS cancellation.

Same thing happened for "Wheel of Fortune" in 1983 - we actually got it in late August! [/quote]
How exactly would that work?  I can understand how it might be possible for a show like syndie Match Game, where the weeks were cycled, but for a show like TTD or Wheel, where presumably every market is airing the same show on the same day, how was that handled? [/quote]
 Those shows were not shown day-and-date when they started, only when barter syndication became the norm and satellite distribution was feasible did the same show air on the same days on all stations.  For a show like TTD, Colbert may have made a dozen tapes of each show and each station had to ship the shows to the next station down the line so some stations would start later than others.  Here in Flint, MI syndie WOF also started in late August of 83.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 05:46 PM\'][quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 04:01 PM\'] With the Watergate hearings, I've heard that the three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC at the time for you young'uns) rotated coverage of Watergate as to not have all of daytime wiped out and the soaps/games/whatever still be shown. Was this true? [/quote]
Yup, tis true (except for key moments such as John Dean's testimony).  And just to add to the fun, PBS showed replays during prime time (which is how McNeil and Lehrer got their start on public TV). Of course, in those days, there was no place else to put 'em and the networks still believed in public service. Nowadays, the president could be accused of fooling around with a young staff member and face impeachment, and it wouldn't be shown for days and days.[/quote]
In addition, the Iran-contra hearings rotated among the Big 3 on a daily basis--which is why I only got to see "Bargain Hunters" once during some time off from work (but that was more than enough).  By the time I got a VCR, it was gone.

[rmfromfla]

Quoting Art Fleming from an interview he did in "The TV Collector" from
 Feb. 1983 on the original Jeopardy:

  WHAT ABOUT PRINTS OF THE SHOW ON FILM OR TAPE?

  "I have none at all.  I wish I did.  They were all destroyed, and Merv Griffin's company has I believe, only 3 episodes of different periods of our development.
Jeopardy was one of the few shows that could not be repeated because we had
a recurring champion that was permitted to play for 5 times.  In syndication,
the tapes are, what was called 'bicycling'.  In other words, in NY, you might
see episodes 1,2 and 3.   In Cleveland at the same time, 4, 5, and 6 would be
shown, and in San Francisco, 7, 8, and 9.  So this would screw up the
sequence and that's why it was decided never to go into syndication with the
tapes we had."

     Sounds a bit confusing, and he may have been referring also to the
 syndicated version of J! from 1974-75....

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 09:55 PM\'] * I'm pretty sure that tied games carried over [/quote]
 They did, with the exception of the week where they had children as contestants.
Also, about the 1978 failed CBS run of the show, on the last episode, the champion reached the $25000 "legal limit". The Winker mentioned that the player would then have to retire from the show and then closed the broadcast with no mention that it was the final CBS edition.

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 04:41 PM\'] [quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 09:55 PM\'] * I'm pretty sure that tied games carried over [/quote]
They did, with the exception of the week where they had children as contestants.
Also, about the 1978 failed CBS run of the show, on the last episode, the champion reached the $25000 "legal limit". The Winker mentioned that the player would then have to retire from the show and then closed the broadcast with no mention that it was the final CBS edition. [/quote]
Trade magazine ads in the summer of '78 heralded that TTD would be the first game show to be stripped five days a week on network and in syndication concurrently. CBS squashed that plan real good.

[adamjk]

Out of curiosity, what was the first show to do that? Was it Dawson Feud?

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 05:13 PM\'] Out of curiosity, what was the first show to do that? Was it Dawson Feud? [/quote]
 Dawson Feud in September 1980 became the first game show to air five shows a week both on a network and in syndication.

[adamjk]

Figured as much.

[Ian Wallis]

Also, about the 1978 failed CBS run of the show, on the last episode, the champion reached the $25000 "legal limit". The Winker mentioned that the player would then have to retire from the show and then closed the broadcast with no mention that it was the final CBS edition.

It's strange that when the syndie "Tic Tac Dough" started, they started with a champion from an "unaired game".  I don't know why they just didn't start with two new contestants.

[Ian Wallis]

Trade magazine ads in the summer of '78 heralded that TTD would be the first game show to be stripped five days a week on network and in syndication concurrently. CBS squashed that plan real good.

When the CBS ratings were found wanting, Barry-Enright at one point were wondering if it was even worth going ahead with the syndie version in fear it would be a quick failure.  Luckily they decided to give it a shot!

[byrd62]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jul 2 2004, 08:44 AM\']It's strange that when the syndie "Tic Tac Dough" started, they started with a champion from an "unaired game".  I don't know why they just didn't start with two new contestants.[/quote]
As I recall, the "returning champion" in episode 1 was one Stephanie Greenberg.

Could she have been a relative of the show's supervising producer, Ron Greenberg?  If so, she would have been ineligible.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'byrd62\' date=\'Jul 2 2004, 09:56 AM\'] [quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jul 2 2004, 08:44 AM\']It's strange that when the syndie "Tic Tac Dough" started, they started with a champion from an "unaired game".  I don't know why they just didn't start with two new contestants.[/quote]
As I recall, the "returning champion" in episode 1 was one Stephanie Greenberg.

Could she have been a relative of the show's supervising producer, Ron Greenberg?  If so, she would have been ineligible. [/quote]
 Then I guess that answers your question.
Just before Jay Stewart did the FROM HOLLYWOOD! open on the first syndicated edition of Tic Tac Dough, the Winker greeted the audience by telling us that the champion had won $1400 in "preliminary games".