Author Topic: Shows You Didn't Expect Would Be Cancelled (Read 11577 times)

SRIV94 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 21, 2005, 10:21:02 AM »

I had thought GONG was enough of a staple that NBC wouldn't cancel it (even though it had only run a little more than two years). If I only knew then what I know now. . .

And naturally, while I knew that some game shows would have to go in favor of David Letterman's morning show, the thought had never entered my mind that HSq would be among the jettisoned (I first suspected that CS would be gone before HSq was--although once it went to 12N ET, you could see its cancellation coming).

Doug

clemon79 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 21, 2005, 12:43:06 PM »

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jan 21 2005, 08:21 AM\']I had thought GONG was enough of a staple that NBC wouldn't cancel it (even though it had only run a little more than two years).
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In your defense, you couldn't know the Popsicle Twins would come down the pike.

passwordplus · « **Reply #17 on:** January 21, 2005, 02:22:11 PM »

H2 seemed to be doing a helluva lot better ratingswise, but got canned anyhow. Network Millionaire got canned because people got burned out on it way too quick. If they would have ran it 2-3 nights a week max, we still might have it on ABC to this very day.

uncamark · « **Reply #18 on:** January 21, 2005, 02:50:38 PM »

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jan 21 2005, 10:21 AM\']I had thought GONG was enough of a staple that NBC wouldn't cancel it (even though it had only run a little more than two years). If I only knew then what I know now. . .

And naturally, while I knew that some game shows would have to go in favor of David Letterman's morning show, the thought had never entered my mind that HSq would be among the jettisoned (I first suspected that CS would be gone before HSq was--although once it went to 12N ET, you could see its cancellation coming).

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Wasn't the story that they were going to can "Wheel" and then changed their mind? Also, Filmways had already announced the syndicated strip of "Squares" for the fall of 1980 and NBC may've reacted to that.

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #19 on:** January 21, 2005, 02:54:45 PM »

[quote name=\'passwordplus\' date=\'Jan 21 2005, 02:22 PM\']H2 seemed to be doing a helluva lot better ratingswise[/quote]
Not really. I seem to recall the ratings sagged each year; until the final one; and they only remained stangant at that.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #20 on:** January 21, 2005, 03:58:27 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Jan 21 2005, 01:50 PM\']Wasn't the story that they were going to can "Wheel" and then changed their mind? Also, Filmways had already announced the syndicated strip of "Squares" for the fall of 1980 and NBC may've reacted to that.

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Like I was reading Variety at 14½. . .

The story in Marshall's book may say so, but he had WoF being brought back when Letterman's morning show was trimmed by a half hour--as most of us by now know, WoF never left the air (that half hour was added to a half hour conveniently jettisoned from ANOTHER WORLD to create AW's spin-off TEXAS). So I'm not really sure how accurate the story is.

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jan 21 2005, 11:43 AM\']In your defense, you couldn't know the Popsicle Twins would come down the pike.

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The "Have You Got A Nickel" girls supposedly never aired in my area--Chicago got the 4PM ET feed of GONG, which for that one day was different than the 1PM ET feed (not that I would've known the difference). Strangely enough, that ep did find its way into GSN's package (even if some 250 others missed the cut).

And besides, GONG wasn't cut loose by NBC until a good 10 months after the incident--plenty of time to forgive and forget (<DrEvil>Riiiight.<end/DrEvil>). I had posed a query on this board a long time ago and got no real definitive answer as to whether the decision to let GONG go was NBC's exclusively or Barris' (he has claimed in numerous interviews that he just plain didn't want to do the show anymore).

Doug

uncamark · « **Reply #21 on:** January 21, 2005, 04:09:29 PM »

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jan 21 2005, 03:58 PM\']And besides, GONG wasn't cut loose by NBC until a good 10 months after the incident--plenty of time to forgive and forget (<DrEvil>Riiiight.<end/DrEvil>). I had posed a query on this board a long time ago and got no real definitive answer as to whether the decision to let GONG go was NBC's exclusively or Barris' (he has claimed in numerous interviews that he just plain didn't want to do the show anymore).

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But he continued to do it for two more years in syndication anyway--but he may've been tired of doing approximately 239 shows a year and felt he could handle 39 a year (or 78 in the last syndication season--if they'd gotten that far when he pulled the plug on production) better.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #22 on:** January 21, 2005, 04:26:50 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Jan 21 2005, 03:09 PM\']But he continued to do it for two more years in syndication anyway--but he may've been tired of doing approximately 239 shows a year and felt he could handle 39 a year (or 78 in the last syndication season--if they'd gotten that far when he pulled the plug on production) better.

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And funny that he stayed in Burbank to do that 1978-79 season (or at least the first 13 weeks or so of it--while we never saw those last couple of years in Chicago I did see some of the fall 1978 eps via WTMJ in Milwaukee)--you would think that if NBC wasn't keen on having him around that they'd force him to find alternative studio space (which he did for the 1979-80 season).

One footnote--at the end of GONG's 400th show (aired 1/5/78), Barris does say, "We got another couple hundred more to do--hope we get to do them." (As it turned out, they only did 100 more for the network.) And Barris could have concocted the story of not wanting to do the show anymore as well (taking the high road to help sell a book instead of playing bitter old man).

Doug

Winkfan · « **Reply #23 on:** January 21, 2005, 09:34:01 PM »

I agree with both Jamey and Don. If I had been put in charge of NBC back in 2000, I'd have kept Twenty-One in its 8:00pm slot on Wednesday night. I'm also in agreement on Gambit being an unexpected dismissal.

Might I also add The Big Showdown to the growing list of shows that weren't supposed to be axed, but were anyway.

Cordially,
Tammy Warner--the 'Shelley Smith of the Big Board!'

mbclev · « **Reply #24 on:** January 22, 2005, 02:15:49 AM »

You can add "Win, Lose or Draw" to this list. Some might have said in a previous thread that ratings were the reason behind the scoring and format change, but I think it was the other way around. The changes were so confusing (in the early rounds, the person who drew did so for the first 25 seconds without any guesses from the teammates, then they had the next 5 seconds to guess for $200. If they did not guess correctly before then, they then had the remaining 30 seconds to guess for $100, and steals were worth $50) that viewers most likely were driven away. The best-known scoring system was you could score $200 for a correct guess, and you could hand off to a teammate after 30 seconds, but if you did, the charade's value dropped to $100, and you could guess the entire time.

Someone mentioned playing along in the earlier thread. In the first format, you could simply cover up part of the bottom of the screen until the host said "Go!" and then you could cover it up again before 30 seconds had expired if you wanted to play along.

(In the Cleveland area, the Bert Convy-hosted version aired in the late afternoon in its first two seasons, then it moved to overnights in its final season, possibly because the WKYC staff saw the format change [which started late in the Vicki Lawrence run] and did not like it.) This show should have had a much longer life.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #25 on:** January 22, 2005, 02:25:10 PM »

[quote name=\'mbclev\' date=\'Jan 22 2005, 01:15 AM\'](In the Cleveland area, the Bert Convy-hosted version aired in the late afternoon in its first two seasons, then it moved to overnights in its final season, possibly because the WKYC staff saw the format change [which started late in the Vicki Lawrence run] and did not like it.) This show should have had a much longer life.

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I'd say it's more likely it dropped to overnights becasue Convy wasn't hosting anymore--Robb Weller took over hosting chores for the third season (Convy took the 3RD DEGREE hosting chores). Not sure how "name" Weller was at that poiint (I knew of him from his stint as host of AM CHICAGO, where he was succeeded by some girl named Opera or Okra or Oklahoma or something like that. . .).

Doug

TimK2003 · « **Reply #26 on:** January 22, 2005, 05:46:54 PM »

In the early-evening syndicated category, my vote goes to The Cross Wits. A very solid show, and few tweaks during the course of it's existence.

By the time Cross Wits was gone in 1980, there were several stronger shows that pretty much nudged them out: The B&E trio of TJW, TTD & Bullseye, as well as Goodson/Todman's Family Feud and Match Game, along with non-gs jauggernaut PM Magazine -- those shows alone dominated that 7-8PM ET local block on the Big 3 local affiliates, and left not much room for the once-or-twice a week shows like Pyramid, HSq, Name That Tune or LMAD -- all of which were dead by September 1981.

Not to mention that Cross Wits wasn't a show that regularly gave away tons of cash & prizes like the B&E and G/T shows did, and the early 80's marked the start of the 'Mo Money Syndrome.

zachhoran · « **Reply #27 on:** January 22, 2005, 07:30:08 PM »

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jan 22 2005, 02:25 PM\']
I'd say it's more likely it dropped to overnights becasue Convy wasn't hosting anymore--Robb Weller took over hosting chores for the third season (Convy took the 3RD DEGREE hosting chores). Not sure how "name" Weller was at that poiint (I knew of him from his stint as host of AM CHICAGO, where he was succeeded by some girl named Opera or Okra or Oklahoma or something like that. . .).

Doug

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Robb was co-hosting the Home show on ABC at the time he started WLOD. He left Home show in late 1989 IIRC and was replaced by Gary Collins.

zachhoran · « **Reply #28 on:** January 22, 2005, 07:31:44 PM »

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Jan 22 2005, 05:46 PM\']In the early-evening syndicated category, my vote goes to The Cross Wits. A very solid show, and few tweaks during the course of it's existence.

By the time Cross Wits was gone in 1980, there were several stronger shows that pretty much nudged them out: The B&E trio of TJW, TTD & Bullseye, as well as Goodson/Todman's Family Feud and Match Game, along with non-gs jauggernaut PM Magazine -- those shows alone dominated that 7-8PM ET local block on the Big 3 local affiliates, and left not much room for the once-or-twice a week shows like Pyramid, HSq, Name That Tune or LMAD -- all of which were dead by September 1981.

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Bullseye didn't start production until after Cross-Wits ended production. Squares expanded to five days a week in syndication in 1980-81.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #29 on:** January 22, 2005, 07:37:09 PM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jan 22 2005, 06:30 PM\'][quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jan 22 2005, 02:25 PM\']
Not sure how "name" Weller was at that point (I knew of him from his stint as host of AM CHICAGO, where he was succeeded by some girl named Opera or Okra or Oklahoma or something like that. . .).

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Robb was co-hosting the Home show on ABC at the time he started WLOD. He left Home show in late 1989 IIRC and was replaced by Gary Collins.

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Still doesn't establish how "name" he was.

Doug