Winner Take All

[melman1]

Back in mid-August, I saved this info:
Monday, Sept. 20, Winner Take All---Cullen's launching pad as an emcee---moves into the 4 a.m. (EDT) slot for one week.  Barry Gray was the original host of the series, which patented contestant interviews along with game play. Cullen took over on the NBC version in 1952. Two Gray episodes will air, followed by three Cullen shows.

Friday, Sept. 24 (the early morning of Sept. 25), the final CBS edition of What's My Line? airs with the famous segment of John Daly impersonating himself as the last mystery guest at 4:30 a.m.

Saturday, Sept. 25 (early Sept. 26), Merv Griffin's Play Your Hunch replaces Line on the weekend schedule at 4:30. Beat the Clock stays at 4.

However, I don't remember where I got this.  I can't find it on these boards anywhere.  Even though I don't normally read it, I checked the site which would have you believe it's "America's daily stop for TV game show news, scores and information" and it's not there either - but of course postings regularly vanish from that site with no explanation offered.

So where did I see this?  And is any of it true - "Winner Take All" was not on last night (Mon. 9/20)...

[ilb4ever2000]

Last night was Sunday, technically.

And the Barry Gray episodes unexpectedly aired last week, so I don't know what they're doing this week. Four Cullen episodes? One more Gray episode?

[digiblader]

I know I'll be getting flamed for this, but..

Despite Bill Cullen being on WTA, that show was the absolute worst show I have seen!

It was so dull and mostly interviews.. and the set was pretty weak.

Plus, I prefer faster paced shows similar to this like Hollywood Showdown, compared to this show.

We want gameplay, not interviews.. the interviews took too much time.

The prizes were OK though... for 1950 or so.

[Don Howard]

On the show presented a few early mornings ago, what was up with Barry Gray tossing lollipops into the audience? Or is he just a goofball?

[Tim L]

Come on folks: Give Goodson-Todman a break here..This  (television)was relatively new for everybody involved.As I said before, Barry Gray was trying too hard to be funny..
Bill Cullen was the most entertaining thing about the newer (1952) version.  The fact that the show was a radio simulcast contributed to the presentation the way it came out.  I think Bill showed great potential even in these early shows, While Gray was out of his element here..I do think the Lady contestants were afraid  of the microphones. I had to turn the volume up on my TV to hear them half the time..


One more thing to consider:Daytime TV was in it's infancy in 1951-52.  The networks were not going to spend a lot of money doing daytime until it became more profitable..which is why you had the cheaper (in our eyes) looking sets..( I liked he crack Bill made about Borrowing $50 from the Lady Chiropractor's $250 savings bond prize..)

Tim Lones

[DjohnsonCB]

I'm with Tim L. on this.  I just watched the first of the Cullen WTAs and thought that-in spite of its early-'50s primitiveness-he and Don Pardo made it much better than the Barry Gray versions were.  One could tell that there were good things ahead for Cullen in the hosting department.  And this *was* G-T's first TV game, so its faults can be forgiven.

[ilb4ever2000]

It was interesting to see a show go for 15 minutes before going to break. When these originally aired, did they have commercials or was it only station identification?

And let me put in my vote for the Cullen version over Gray's.

[Tim L]

[quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'Sep 21 2004, 11:06 PM\'] It was interesting to see a show go for 15 minutes before going to break. When these originally aired, did they have commercials or was it only station identification?

And let me put in my vote for the Cullen version over Gray's. [/quote]
 There may have been a brief commercial, but The possibility is that in some cities, WTA may have only been 15 minutes, with a local show filling out the rest of the time

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'Sep 22 2004, 12:06 AM\'] And let me put in my vote for the Cullen version over Gray's. [/quote]
 Don't even get me started!  

Ironic, I can pop my tapes in any time I want to see Winner Take All, but there's something special about setting the TiVo for it and knowing GSN, after all this time and after all our complaints, still finds the time for stuff like this now and then.

[ilb4ever2000]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Sep 21 2004, 11:21 PM\'] Ironic, I can pop my tapes in any time I want to see Winner Take All, but there's something special about setting the TiVo for it and knowing GSN, after all this time and after all our complaints, still finds the time for stuff like this now and then. [/quote]
It's especially interesting to see GSN show this in an age of networks (GSN included) having orgasms (sorry for being so graphic) at the sight of younger and hipper demographics. Even TV Land won't show stuff this old...

[Tim L]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Sep 21 2004, 11:21 PM\'][quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'Sep 22 2004, 12:06 AM\'] And let me put in my vote for the Cullen version over Gray's. [/quote]
Don't even get me started!  

Ironic, I can pop my tapes in any time I want to see Winner Take All, but there's something special about setting the TiVo for it and knowing GSN, after all this time and after all our complaints, still finds the time for stuff like this now and then.[/quote]
Absolutely Matt..There is something special about seeing something like this..I love TV history as much as game shows themselves..Even in  the Barry Gray WTA episodes I liked the early 1950's radio influenced "feel" of the shows.  OT a bit, there are classic Country music shows Currently  being shown on RFD TV (mostly on Satellite) by the likes of Porter Wagoner and The Wilburn Brothers that were featured on many an independent station lineup in the 60's and 70's (mostly Saturdays).  Watching shows like this makes it seem like you're back in a time machine.  I feel the same about the classic game shows..I hope GSN never stops showing these at least on occasion..

Tim Lones

[CaseyAbell]

"All the complaints" might be having some effect. Well, it's really Nielsen Media Research that's producing the effect. As mentioned on the WBSM thread, the 10/11 schedule is almost all traditional game shows from sea to shining sea. So it's not too surprising that GSN is dusting off real old game shows on B&WO. The network definitely looks to have turned away from game operas and trashdateries and all those other pet peeves of the Prof.

Good Life Network, a miniscule niche cabler available in 174 households, regularly digs pretty deep into the fifties, especially for westerns. This can be a mixed blessing, though. I always remembered Maverick as one of the joys of my misspent youth. But when I saw a few eps on Good Life, they seemed unbelievably corny, predictable and dull. James Garner was great (he's never bad) but the rest of the show hadn't aged well at all.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'Sep 21 2004, 11:06 PM\'] And let me put in my vote for the Cullen version over Gray's. [/quote]
 But did Bill toss any lollipops into the crowd?

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Tim L\' date=\'Sep 22 2004, 01:56 AM\'] OT a bit, there are classic Country music shows Currently  being shown on RFD TV (mostly on Satellite) by the likes of Porter Wagoner and The Wilburn Brothers that were featured on many an independent station lineup in the 60's and 70's (mostly Saturdays). [/quote]
 Staying with your OT comment, I grew up in East Tennessee in the 60s and 70s, so imagine my surprise and delight when, surfing Direct TV to see what sort of weird stuff I get that I didn't used to get, I stumbled across Porter Wagoner and company.  "Company", by the way, often included a young, but still quite top-heavy, Dolly Parton.

In general, I'm personally quite disappointed that there aren't more channels running these antiques.  I understand the logic behind growing systems like TV Land and, yes, even GSN getting away from the old and into the new, but it just seems like there could be more of the tiny guys who'd be willing to dig into vaults and show us oldies, even for camp value.

[melman1]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Sep 21 2004, 09:21 PM\'] I can pop my tapes in any time I want to see Winner Take All [/quote]
 Implying that someone aired this before?  How many episodes survived?

It's interesting to see such a primitive attempt at dressing up a game show that apparently started on radio, for TV.  And also interesting to note that Cullen was still advising contestants to "hit your button as soon as you think you know the answer", pretty much word-for-word, almost 30 years later on Blockbusters.