The Goodson Shows

[TLEberle]

Thinking back to the MG/HS thread; it seems that there's a couple of running themes through his shows.

1) He almost never did a straight quiz show; and if he did, it didn't last long.
2) But for one game, humor/comedy takes a backseat to the gameplay.

Based on those thoughts, I'm shocked that he even agreed to do MG/HS in the first place, since both shows are based on the inherent humor in the two games.  He didn't want to do MG '73 anyhow, what made him think he knew how to improve a game that didn't need improving in the first place?

As to the first point, he only had two Q/A shows; and I think IdeaMan created both of them.  Did Goodson have myopia regarding quiz shows, or did he just have so many shows floating around that he just never did more Q/As?

I will say, that for the long-lasting shows he did create, he did do one thing right, made the show about the contestants.  This shows especially in Feud and Price, which may be by design, or it might be a nifty side effect.

[Jimmy Owen]

Well, 2ftM lasted five years in primetime.  That's a pretty good run in my opinion.

[TLEberle]

Bah, I forgot about "Two For the Money."  Nevertheless, I wold rather watch Herb Shriner in black/white rather than Bob Eubanks and six sweater clad combatants any day of the week.  Fine, Mark got one quiz game right.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Nov 15 2004, 02:48 AM\']Bah, I forgot about "Two For the Money."  Nevertheless, I wold rather watch Herb Shriner in black/white rather than Bob Eubanks and six sweater clad combatants any day of the week.  Fine, Mark got one quiz game right.

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He got it pretty good with Cullen Blockbusters, too, and Rafferty BB was at least a passable revival(the set and the lack of two-against-one arguably not great)

[tyshaun1]

But Zach, I believe James is talking about longevity, and while Cullen Blockbusters had a somewhat decent run of 18 months, Rafferty's version ran all of 15 weeks and tanked in the ratings.

Tyshaun

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Nov 15 2004, 09:37 AM\']But Zach, I believe James is talking about longevity, and while Cullen Blockbusters had a somewhat decent run of 18 months, Rafferty's version ran all of 15 weeks and tanked in the ratings.

Tyshaun

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Variety or one of the trade mags reported when Rafferty BB premiered that Cullen BB had quite decent ratings(a 17 share) when cancelled in favor of a not-terribly-popular soap, Texas.

[tyshaun1]

But nevertheless, the show still ran 18 months, didn't it? Also, a 17 share in 1982, while not terrible, is not exactly blowing the roof off.

Tyshaun

[Don Howard]

This I wonder. Did NBC even consider returning Blockbusters to the daytime lineup eight months later when Texas and The Doctors got canned?
Of course, if it had, it quite likely would have been returned to 10:30 and my beloved $ale of the Century could have been left out in the cold.

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Nov 15 2004, 12:26 PM\']This I wonder. Did NBC even consider returning Blockbusters to the daytime lineup eight months later when Texas and The Doctors got canned?
Of course, if it had, it quite likely would have been returned 10:30 and my beloved $ale of the Century could have been left out in the cold.

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Well, Bill wouldn't have been available due to "Child's Play," also at 10:30 on CBS so it wouldn't have been the same.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Nov 15 2004, 12:55 PM\']Well, Bill wouldn't have been available due to "Child's Play," also at 10:30 on CBS so it wouldn't have been the same.

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I'm sure that Bowzer would have been avaiable.

[uncamark]

By Goodson's own belief that no game show was truly a hit until it had been on for five years, "Two for the Money" is the only one of his Q&As that fits the description.

Except, of course, his very first show "Winner Take All," which was at its heart a Q&A--and supposedly the only show that he and Todman personally created.  By counting radio, I'm pretty sure it fit the five-year run criteria--and invented lockout devices and returning champtions--the two devices that almost every other Q&A depends on--even if they don't use both, they do use one of the two.

[chris319]

G-T was never the Q&A-game factory that B&E was. Let's see, over the years there were:

Two for the Money
Double Dare (sorta)
Blockbusters
Trivia Trap
The Joker's Wild pilot

And there were other formats which had questions and answers but not in the encyclopedia-knowledge sense:

Match Game
Family Feud
Card Sharks
Professor Price (just kidding)

Clearly he didn't have an aversion to them but he did have people who were trying to reach beyond straight Q&A.

Also, Goodson did indeed want to revive Match Game; he emceed the office run-thru as a matter of fact (with Arlene Francis as one of the panelists).

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Nov 15 2004, 04:48 PM\']G-T was never the Q&A-game factory that B&E was. Let's see, over the years there were:

Two for the Money
Double Dare (sorta)
Blockbusters
Trivia Trap
The Joker's Wild pilot

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I think NYSI could join Trebek DD in the sorta Q&A category. Though an unsold pilot, the Peter Tomarken-hosted TKO from 1989 was another Goodson attempt at Q&A.

[cmjb13]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Nov 15 2004, 04:48 PM\']Also, Goodson did indeed want to revive Match Game; he emceed the office run-thru as a matter of fact (with Arlene Francis as one of the panelists).

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When was this?

After MG90?

[JasonA1]

When was this?

After MG90?

I believe Chris was referring to the original poster's inference that Goodson didn't want to do MG '73.

-Jason