The Ups and Downs of Game Shows...

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Oct 28 2004, 01:41 PM\']Well, "Blackout" was supposedly a placeholder until "The New Family Feud" was ready, "Second Chance" was put on because MG and ABC were readying a "spinoff" to FF, which became "The Better Sex", which may explain why it ran 19 weeks instead of the normal 13 or 26 weeks (and from what I understand, SC pulled better ratings than TBS), and Give-N-Take was a "holdover" for an hour-long TPIR. So it's entirely possible than NBC had more faith in Concentration than Blockbusters, but didn't want audiences to realize that BB was just a time-slot holder until CC was ready.


Tyshaun

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It's possible they didn't have much faith in Blockbusters  due to the Concentration contestant plugs seen in the last month of the 1987 version's run

Seriously, another possible placeholder show of the late 80s was the NYSI 1989 revival. That might depend of course on when the deal to move WOF from NBC to CBS took place.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 28 2004, 06:26 PM\']Seriously, another possible placeholder show of the late 80s was the NYSI 1989 revival. That might depend of course on when the deal to move WOF from NBC to CBS took place.
[/quote]
I seem to recall Curt saying that NYSI was against Classic Concentration, and the ratings were horrible, thus the cancellation.

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Oct 28 2004, 06:32 PM\'][quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 28 2004, 06:26 PM\']Seriously, another possible placeholder show of the late 80s was the NYSI 1989 revival. That might depend of course on when the deal to move WOF from NBC to CBS took place.
[/quote]
I seem to recall Curt saying that NYSI was against Classic Concentration, and the ratings were horrible, thus the cancellation.

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Ah, don't believe anything he says.

The exact wording is:  "With minor rule changes from the final edition of the 1975 version, heavy competition from NBC’s Classic Concentration and Henry wondering why he’d signed the contract, the revised Now You See It expired after 15 weeks."

I don't have access to the Nielsens -- but if Now You See It had gotten real good ratings, CBS would have found a spot for it somewhere.  (I'm thinking not, especially given Bob Eubanks says in his book he would bet CBS's daytime chief would have called cancelling Card Sharks, NYSI's predecessor, one of his biggest mistakes.)

[tyshaun1]

Of course, with Classic Concentration beating CS by nearly a full ratings point by summer 1988, I'd imagine that losing Card Sharks wasn't a significant loss. Heck, from what I've seen, Card Sharks ratings never matched what PYL drew in the same time slot.

Tyshaun

[cmjb13]

Why were some Goodson shows opposing each other?

I figured he wouldn't want to compete against himself.

Did Goodson have any say on what time his shows would air when the particular network picked it up?

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Oct 31 2004, 08:41 AM\']Why were some Goodson shows opposing each other?

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Well, it's not like it didn't happen before.  In 1979, Perry CS and Hall BTC were slotted against one another (not to mention Perry CS and Dawson FF duking it out against one another the week after CS moved to the "death slot", then P+ and FF battled it out at 12N ET following CS' cancellation).

I guess if you have a high quantity of shows on the air, sometimes you can't help but be slotted against one another.

Doug

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Oct 31 2004, 06:45 AM\']Of course, with Classic Concentration beating CS by nearly a full ratings point by summer 1988, I'd imagine that losing Card Sharks wasn't a significant loss.

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Yet another reason as to why I'm incredulous about Card Sharks staying and The $25,000 Pyramid being pulled after its return with great fanfare when the Ray Combs Family Feud was ready for the running. Or was my beloved $ale of the Century positively clubbing $25K P in the ratings at 10:00?

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Oct 31 2004, 08:41 AM\']Why were some Goodson shows opposing each other?

I figured he wouldn't want to compete against himself.

Did Goodson have any say on what time his shows would air when the particular network picked it up?

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By the late '80's, it was probably a case of either compete with yourself or not get picked up.  I think I read somewhere that the 10:30 slot was preferred for TPIR in 1972, due to a number of CBS affils that didn't clear the 10am offering because of a local movie or the third half-hour of Mike Douglas.  From 69 to 78 there were no Goodson games on the NBC network, so the conflicts were almost non-existant then.  Heatter-Quigley had Gambit and High Rollers competing for a time, which was interesting.  If you didn't like Kenny Williams announcing a game where contestants ring in to answer questions as a lovely hostess held your fate in their hands, you were out of luck.

[Ian Wallis]

I think part of it might have also been that, by the late '80s, game shows were primarily seen in the mornings, and soaps in the afternoons.  During the '70s, each network had game blocks both in the mornings and afternoons so it wasn't as much of a problem.

[tyshaun1]

I think I read on here a while ago that CS was originally slotted to take Body Language's slot, but with some Goodson needling thrown into the mix, CBS gave it PYL's old slot. I do know CBS announced CS in September '85, but didn't give it a time slot until Nov. '85.

Tyshaun

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Oct 31 2004, 01:21 PM\'] I do know CBS announced CS in September '85, but didn't give it a time slot until Nov. '85.

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And Bob Eubanks announced it during the Spring of 1985 on Hour Magazine.

[chris319]

I wouldn't put much credence in these "the network put X on as a placeholder while Y was getting ready for air" stories. For a variety of reasons it doesn't make sense to axe a show and put an unknown quantity in its place temporarily. If the temporary show turns out to be a hit, what happens to the show in development it was holding the place of? Generally, if a network needed to buy time while another show was being prepared, the incumbent show would go on week-to-week renewals rather than a full 13-week cycle. Putting on shows for temporary runs would cultivate horrible ill will with packagers if they knew their show's fate was sealed and didn't have a shot at renewal. They would start pitching their ideas to the network that would give them a better deal in terms of not putting on shows temporarily.

The '70s and '80s were a bullish time for game shows. The networks were developing and piloting new shows year round, so at any given time you could say show X was being developed/shooting a pilot while show Y was on the air. That doesn't necessarily mean show Y was intended to be a temporary "placeholder" while X was being readied.