And there was that five-week period on "Tattletales" within the first year where they basically had a different group of celebs every day--within a week. Basically, they took five weeks worth of shows and spread them out (Monday you'd have, for example, Stiller & Meara, Bill and Marcy Shatner and Jack Klugman and Brett Somers, Tuesday you'd have Bobby Van and Elaine Joyce, Phyllis Diller and Ward Donovan and Julie Harris and CNR, and so on--once again, examples, not actual lineups). Either it had no effect on ratings or Goodson couldn't guarantee that they'd always have at least five weeks of shows in the can to continue scheduling that way.
You're close...but not quite right. According to written records I kept at the time, my memory, and TVGuide listings (although TVGuide was slow to pick up on this), they alternated two weeks worth of shows and they did this for about six months.
In other words, they'd show a Monday show with one group of celebrities, the next day would be the Monday show with the next group. Then the Tuesday show with the first group, and so on for two weeks. As soon as the two weeks were over, they'd start the whole process again.
CBS aired them in this way from about April 1974 to early December 1974. The first week when they went back to airing the episodes consecutively was the week where Gene Rayburn and Gary Burghoff were making their first appearances. CBS must have let GT know they were going to stop this practice, because on a "Match Game" from December 1974, Gene says to watch him on "Tattletales" starting "this Friday". If they had continued alternating, his first episode would have aired on a different day.
I'm not sure why the shows were ever aired this way and I've never been able to get an explanation after all these years. I'm wondering if Goodson might have complained to CBS about the way the shows were being aired(?)
