Author Topic: Top Secret (Read 5701 times)

Don Howard · « **on:** September 28, 2004, 08:39:12 PM »

As has been mentioned in this forum, Top Secret was within a whisker of becoming a part of the CBS daytime line-up.
What other games fall into this category of "almost were" or "firm go--NOT!!"?

zachhoran · « **Reply #1 on:** September 28, 2004, 08:44:53 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Sep 28 2004, 07:39 PM\'] As has been mentioned in this forum, Top Secret was within a whisker of becoming a part of the CBS daytime line-up.
What other games fall into this category of "almost were" or "firm go--NOT!!"? [/quote]
A mid 80s revival of Match Game with Rayburn at the helm reportedly did not happen due to execs finding out of Gene's age via the ET birthday greetings(67 or 68 at the time) a month before the NATPE convention.
Rayburn talked about this in a couple of interviews in his later years.

TimK2003 · « **Reply #2 on:** September 28, 2004, 08:48:03 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Sep 28 2004, 07:39 PM\'] As has been mentioned in this forum, Top Secret was within a whisker of becoming a part of the CBS daytime line-up.
What other games fall into this category of "almost were" or "firm go--NOT!!"? [/quote]
I would think that NBC's plan to reincarnate "The Dating Game" & "The Newlywed Game" a year or so ago would qualify, as I have yet to hear anything else on it.

I do know that there were a couple of attempts to bring back "The Gong Show" in the last several years. "Extreme Gong" was not one of those attempts (BTW, After seeing him host "The Weakest Link", I have since forgiven George Gray for his GSN debacle). One version was to be hosted by Cleveland native Chuck Booms.

And the show "100%" with Casey Kasem at the bat never got out of their test markets.

tvwxman · « **Reply #3 on:** September 28, 2004, 09:02:20 PM »

I think you're missing Don's original query (Sorry if i'm stepping on toes Don!)

Any pilot that didn't get sold is an "Almost"....but Don cited an example of a show that was slotted to air, and then didn't.... Dating/Newlywed and Gong Show pilots don't really count (do they?).... though wasn't the WB ready to go with Gong hosted by Tom Arnold???

And...what about "What's My Line" with Harry Anderson...weren't we waiting for that one summer on CBS? Is that a better example of a shouldacouldawoulda?

zachhoran · « **Reply #4 on:** September 28, 2004, 09:06:34 PM »

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Sep 28 2004, 07:48 PM\']
I would think that NBC's plan to reincarnate "The Dating Game" & "The Newlywed Game" a year or so ago would qualify, as I have yet to hear anything else on it.

I do know that there were a couple of attempts to bring back "The Gong Show" in the last several years. "Extreme Gong" was not one of those attempts (BTW, After seeing him host "The Weakest Link", I have since forgiven George Gray for his GSN debacle). One version was to be hosted by Cleveland native Chuck Booms.

And the show "100%" with Casey Kasem at the bat never got out of their test markets. [/quote]
Add to that the proposed CBS revival of What's My Line, for which a pilot was taped just a month or two before WWTBAM-mania began in 1999. Also, a 2000 pilot for a revived $64K Question with Greg Gumbel as host was done but CBS passed on the show after the less-than-stellar ratings of Winning Lines.

Add to syndicated shows never airing outside the test market cities: Majority RUles, Yahtzee, Swaps!, and reruns of Supermarket Sweep(Lifetime version), Shop Till You Drop(Lifetime version), and Debt. The latter three would have seen new episodes produced for syndication if the reruns did well in the test cities, and they all tanked in syndie reruns.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #5 on:** September 28, 2004, 09:16:41 PM »

NATPE issues of Variety, Broadcasting or the defunct Television-Radio Age have a lot of shows that never were. One from the networks that I remember reading about was a show from Goodson circa 1990 for ABC to be called "Body Talk," which I assume would have been another try at charades. Another syndication effort that I was looking forward to that had a firm start date was a block of remakes from Bob Stewart and Syndicast from 1982, "Eye Guess," "Three on a Match" and "Chain Reaction" (I think). The Detroit Free Press had a short blurb that the block would air on WXON. It never happened.

zachhoran · « **Reply #6 on:** September 28, 2004, 09:20:36 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Sep 28 2004, 08:16 PM\'] One from the networks that I remember reading about was a show from Goodson circa 1990 for ABC to be called "Body Talk," which I assume would have been another try at charades. Another syndication effort that I was looking forward to that had a firm start date was a block of remakes from Bob Stewart and Syndicast from 1982, "Eye Guess," "Three on a Match" and "Chain Reaction" (I think). The Detroit Free Press had a short blurb that the block would air on WXON. It never happened. [/quote]
Body Talk would have indeed been a rehashing of Showoffs and/or Body Language.

Gee, wonder if Stewart could have gotten Cullen to pull a trifecta and return as host of all three of those shows he previously did.

Jamey Greek · « **Reply #7 on:** September 28, 2004, 09:37:48 PM »

Goodson also had Puzzlers and Spellbinders. Also, Barry and Enright tried to do a pilot with Wink Martindale called Banko. Ralph Edwards tired to do PYL not the PYL we know and love, but one based on the game Simon. And, in 1980 Paramount TV tied to do "Clued In" with Jack Narz.

That Don Guy · « **Reply #8 on:** September 28, 2004, 10:03:24 PM »

How close was Ben Stein's The $640,000 Question to being made?

-- Don

zachhoran · « **Reply #9 on:** September 28, 2004, 10:08:00 PM »

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Sep 28 2004, 09:03 PM\'] How close was Ben Stein's The $640,000 Question to being made?

-- Don [/quote]
ABC had wanted to do a revival of $64K Question called $640K Question in 1999, but ultimately did a US version of a certain British game show, and the rest is history. I didn't know Ben was involved with the ABC proposed revival of Question, though. IIRC Valleycrest Productions who packaged WBSM was, however.

uncamark · « **Reply #10 on:** September 29, 2004, 05:52:11 PM »

And "Celebrity Secrets," a remake of Bob Eubanks' "All-Star Secrets," was announced as part of the 1989 syndicated game show block put together by the Fox O&Os, along with "TalkAbout," "Jackpot" and "The Last Word"--but Eubanks pulled his show off a couple of months before the announced start. Don't remember the reason.

And to prove this does happen, to go slightly off topic in 1997 Dr. Drew Pinsky and Adam Corolla were schmoozing with media buyers at a cocktail party about the new syndicated TV version of their radio show "Loveline" when someone came up to them and told them that the Fox O&Os had changed their minds and the show was not going to go to air. (At least MTV picked up the show a year later.)

ObGameShow: Stone Stanley produced "Loveline."

zachhoran · « **Reply #11 on:** September 29, 2004, 07:38:05 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Sep 29 2004, 04:52 PM\'] And "Celebrity Secrets," a remake of Bob Eubanks' "All-Star Secrets," was announced as part of the 1989 syndicated game show block put together by the Fox O&Os, along with "TalkAbout," "Jackpot" and "The Last Word"--but Eubanks pulled his show off a couple of months before the announced start. Don't remember the reason.

[/quote]
Wasn't Get the Picture(a version, with adult contestants, of the show that eventually ended up on Nick in 1991-92) hosted by Gordon Elliott supposed to be in said block at one point. STewart and Palladium were also looking to revive Eye Guess as Eye Q(in tandem with Jackpot) with Henry Polic I, who had hosted a pilot.

sshuffield70 · « **Reply #12 on:** September 29, 2004, 09:06:01 PM »

Wouldn't Henry Polic I have been way too old to host a game show?

mystery7 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 29, 2004, 10:02:07 PM »

He might've done a better job at reading the clues than Henry II did on Double Talk...

"The Double Talk Is: Paddle, Paddle, Paddle...Your Watch."

Maybe that's a reason the pilot for Eye Q didn't sell.

ChuckNet · « **Reply #14 on:** September 29, 2004, 10:06:37 PM »

Quote

And "Celebrity Secrets," a remake of Bob Eubanks' "All-Star Secrets," was announced as part of the 1989 syndicated game show block put together by the Fox O&Os, along with "TalkAbout," "Jackpot" and "The Last Word"--but Eubanks pulled his show off a couple of months before the announced start. Don't remember the reason.

With the controversy over that now-infamous joke he made in Michael Moore's 1989 documentary Roger and Me, Eubanks prolly felt it was better to go into hiding until the whole thing blew over.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")