Author Topic: Complete this sentence: (Read 6746 times)

Don Howard · « **Reply #15 on:** December 26, 2004, 02:13:25 PM »

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Dec 25 2004, 11:37 PM\']Imagine if MG had that kind of staying power and aired at 3:30pm every day on CBS up to this day....

[snapback]68645[/snapback]

[/quote]
If it wasn't for those cursed soap opera expansions to "a full hour of compelling drama"--with The Guiding Light changing its name to the much-hipper Guiding Light and doubling to 60 minutes--Match Game '77's move out of the 3:30-4:00pm ET haven wouldn't have happened. And that's what began the killing of that show.

aaron sica · « **Reply #16 on:** December 26, 2004, 02:35:31 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Dec 26 2004, 02:13 PM\']
If it wasn't for those cursed soap opera expansions to "a full hour of compelling drama"--with The Guiding Light changing its name to the much-hipper Guiding Light and doubling to 60 minutes, Match Game '77's move out of the 3:30-4:00pm ET haven wouldn't have happened. And that's what began the killing of that show.

[snapback]68671[/snapback]

[/quote]

Looking back, they should have kept MG in that slot, and moved AITF reruns to somewhere else in the lineup (AFAIK, it moved from 3:00 to 3:30 on 11/7/77). I remember reading somewhere that those reruns were very highly rated in CBS's daytime lineup then..

Since Tattletales would leave the air anyway a few months later, they should have just canned Tattletales then, kept MG in the 3:30 slot, and moved AITF to 4.

zachhoran · « **Reply #17 on:** December 26, 2004, 06:46:50 PM »

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Dec 26 2004, 02:35 PM\']

Since Tattletales would leave the air anyway a few months later, they should have just canned Tattletales then, kept MG in the 3:30 slot, and moved AITF to 4.

[snapback]68677[/snapback]

[/quote]

It's possible Whew! wouldn't have made air if they'd done that.

TimK2003 · « **Reply #18 on:** December 26, 2004, 08:47:01 PM »

One show I'm surprised that wasn't mentioned yet is the "Super Password All Stars Plus" incarnations. My nod would go to the most recent Super Password gameplay.

Simple set, simple rules, a great play-at-home game and a hell of a lot less cheaper to produce than Wheel. The only tweaking could be adding a little more to the set, and possibly adding a little more cash to the game.

Another honorable mention for at least another 21 *months* would be Balderdash. It was a great show with a lot of great chemistry in the latter episodes (they are back to the first weeks of episodes that have yet to be aired on PAX) and should deserve an afterlife and new episodes somewhere in syndication or another dedicated network.

Now that American Greetings now has control The Hatchery and all it's properties including Balderdash -- the game show aspect of it, what a great way to promote their greeting card & gift business during some of their commercial breaks.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #19 on:** December 26, 2004, 08:58:10 PM »

"Gambit" could probably still be viable. Wink and Bob could celebrate having the longest daytime game show runs together and Wink could admonish all these Johnny-come-lately casino-fad shows.

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #20 on:** December 27, 2004, 12:42:33 PM »

Quote

The question is, "In a perfect world, _________ would have gone on as long as TPIR has."

Well, since PYL, Whew and some of my other favorites have already been spoken for, I'll have to say "Break the Bank". Maybe it was a "Hollywood Squares" knockoff, but it was a very enjoyable way to spend 30 minutes, and got high ratings during the time it was on. It probably would have lasted a lot longer on ABC daytime if Fred Silverman wasn't so gung-ho on expanding soap operas to 45 minutes. Reportedly, it took two years for the expanded soaps to gain back the ratings "BTB" had.

I'm not sure what the ratings were for the syndie version, but in the fall of 1977 Jack Barry was more interested in bringing back "Joker's Wild", so "BTB" was dead.

starcade · « **Reply #21 on:** December 31, 2004, 01:05:35 PM »

Dick Clark Pyramid.

Not that John Davidson ever did a bad job, but they gutted all the personality out of it by rushing to every commercial imaginable during the Osmond days. I always loved to watch the "post-mortems" Clark would have to try to get them to come up with that one key clue that would've tripped the light fantastic in the contestant's brain.

starcade · « **Reply #22 on:** December 31, 2004, 01:06:49 PM »

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Dec 27 2004, 12:42 PM\']

Quote

The question is, "In a perfect world, _________ would have gone on as long as TPIR has."

Well, since PYL, Whew and some of my other favorites have already been spoken for, I'll have to say "Break the Bank". Maybe it was a "Hollywood Squares" knockoff, but it was a very enjoyable way to spend 30 minutes, and got high ratings during the time it was on. It probably would have lasted a lot longer on ABC daytime if Fred Silverman wasn't so gung-ho on expanding soap operas to 45 minutes. Reportedly, it took two years for the expanded soaps to gain back the ratings "BTB" had.

I'm not sure what the ratings were for the syndie version, but in the fall of 1977 Jack Barry was more interested in bringing back "Joker's Wild", so "BTB" was dead.

[snapback]68774[/snapback]

[/quote]

Which "Break the Bank"?

I would presume NOT the one where you earned time to go for a jackpot which was nigh impossible to win?

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #23 on:** December 31, 2004, 01:52:58 PM »

[quote name=\'starcade\' date=\'Dec 31 2004, 01:06 PM\'][quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Dec 27 2004, 12:42 PM\']

Quote

The question is, "In a perfect world, _________ would have gone on as long as TPIR has."

Well, since PYL, Whew and some of my other favorites have already been spoken for, I'll have to say "Break the Bank". Maybe it was a "Hollywood Squares" knockoff, but it was a very enjoyable way to spend 30 minutes, and got high ratings during the time it was on. It probably would have lasted a lot longer on ABC daytime if Fred Silverman wasn't so gung-ho on expanding soap operas to 45 minutes. Reportedly, it took two years for the expanded soaps to gain back the ratings "BTB" had.

I'm not sure what the ratings were for the syndie version, but in the fall of 1977 Jack Barry was more interested in bringing back "Joker's Wild", so "BTB" was dead.

[snapback]68774[/snapback]

[/quote]

Which "Break the Bank"?

I would presume NOT the one where you earned time to go for a jackpot which was nigh impossible to win?

[snapback]69355[/snapback]

[/quote]

I think Ian's talking about the Tom Kennedy/Jack Barry version of 76-77.
You may be thinking of the Bert Parks one. According to the encyclopedia, nobody ever won the $250,000 grand prize, which would have been a pretty good chunk of change in 1956.

zachhoran · « **Reply #24 on:** December 31, 2004, 07:21:38 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Dec 31 2004, 01:52 PM\'][quote name=\'starcade\' date=\'Dec 31 2004, 01:06 PM\'][quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Dec 27 2004, 12:42 PM\']

Quote

The question is, "In a perfect world, _________ would have gone on as long as TPIR has."

Well, since PYL, Whew and some of my other favorites have already been spoken for, I'll have to say "Break the Bank". Maybe it was a "Hollywood Squares" knockoff, but it was a very enjoyable way to spend 30 minutes, and got high ratings during the time it was on. It probably would have lasted a lot longer on ABC daytime if Fred Silverman wasn't so gung-ho on expanding soap operas to 45 minutes. Reportedly, it took two years for the expanded soaps to gain back the ratings "BTB" had.

I'm not sure what the ratings were for the syndie version, but in the fall of 1977 Jack Barry was more interested in bringing back "Joker's Wild", so "BTB" was dead.

[snapback]68774[/snapback]

[/quote]

Which "Break the Bank"?

I would presume NOT the one where you earned time to go for a jackpot which was nigh impossible to win?

[snapback]69355[/snapback]

[/quote]

I think Ian's talking about the Tom Kennedy/Jack Barry version of 76-77.
You may be thinking of the Bert Parks one. According to the encyclopedia, nobody ever won the $250,000 grand prize, which would have been a pretty good chunk of change in 1956.

[snapback]69360[/snapback]

[/quote]

The BtB Starcade is referring to is the 1985-86 edition. The original format of that bonus round had the winning team doing stunts within the time won in the maingame. Each stunt done won a bank card, and one of the 40 bank cards would Break the Bank for the team.

zachhoran · « **Reply #25 on:** December 31, 2004, 07:24:35 PM »

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Dec 27 2004, 12:42 PM\']

Quote

The question is, "In a perfect world, _________ would have gone on as long as TPIR has."

Well, since PYL, Whew and some of my other favorites have already been spoken for, I'll have to say "Break the Bank". Maybe it was a "Hollywood Squares" knockoff, but it was a very enjoyable way to spend 30 minutes, and got high ratings during the time it was on. It probably would have lasted a lot longer on ABC daytime if Fred Silverman wasn't so gung-ho on expanding soap operas to 45 minutes. Reportedly, it took two years for the expanded soaps to gain back the ratings "BTB" had.

I'm not sure what the ratings were for the syndie version, but in the fall of 1977 Jack Barry was more interested in bringing back "Joker's Wild", so "BTB" was dead.

[snapback]68774[/snapback]

[/quote]

The ratings were probably not that good. If the syndie BtB7x had been successful, Jack and Dan could have kept it going by hiring another host(since Jack would have potentially been on opposite himself in syndication as Joker came back in Fall 1977)

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #26 on:** December 31, 2004, 08:05:24 PM »

One of the strikes against the syndie BTB was that it was not part of a 7:30 checkerboard on a network O&O in NYC. It was on Channel 5 in a weekend evening timeslot. It did run on NBC affil Channel 4 in Detroit at 7:30 and I presume it got good ratings there because Channel 4 historically has gotten great ratings from gameshows it aired (even flop shows like 3AC and Every Second Counts.) "Bullseye" ran for three years on Channel 4 due to it's popularity and of course, WOF and J! have been on 4 from day one.

ChuckNet · « **Reply #27 on:** January 01, 2005, 06:52:03 PM »

Quote

One of the strikes against the syndie BTB was that it was not part of a 7:30 checkerboard on a network O&O in NYC. It was on Channel 5 in a weekend evening timeslot.

6 PM, as per TVGs of that era, and right after The $128K Question w/Mike Darrow...when BtB was cancelled, $128K moved into the 6 PM slot for its 2nd season.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

Don Howard · « **Reply #28 on:** January 01, 2005, 10:08:27 PM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Dec 31 2004, 07:21 PM\']The BtB Starcade is referring to is the 1985-86 edition. The original format of that bonus round had the winning team doing stunts within the time won in the maingame. Each stunt done won a bank card, and one of the 40 bank cards would Break the Bank for the team.

[snapback]69378[/snapback]

[/quote]
I watched that version of the show for one reason and one reason only: Julie Hayek.

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #29 on:** January 02, 2005, 12:58:44 PM »

Quote

The ratings were probably not that good. If the syndie BtB7x had been successful, Jack and Dan could have kept it going by hiring another host(since Jack would have potentially been on opposite himself in syndication as Joker came back in Fall 1977)

You're probably right. It aired Friday nights at 7:30 on ABC Buffalo, but they dropped it in July 1977 - not even finishing out the season. TVGuide still listed it for a while, but one Friday night I was disappointed to see "Dolly" (as in Parton, a syndie variety show) instead of "BTB", so it was probably a last minute decision.

During that winter, I also remember a night where an announcer stated "this evening's Break the Bank is not available, so we present this show instead..." Back to the days where the shows were "bicycled", and it probably didn't make it to the station that night because of bad weather that winter.

GSN has the series and has run it in the past, but they only ran about a third of it before dropping it - and it's never returned, expect for one appearance on the old "Game of the Week". That evening they showed an episode with Bob Barker on the panel. According to Fred Westbrock, Bob liked doing that show. He did it frequently during the syndie season with Jack Barry.