SB's Ira Skutch interview

[zachhoran]

Of note in the second part of SB's interview with Ira Skutch: Skutch's favorite unsold pilot in his GT days was the recently-mentioned Puzzlers from 1980.

[chris319]

Could he have found a worse picture of Brett?

[PeterMarshallFan]

His comment about \"Ira, only the genuine hardcore game show fans thought that [MG/HS Hour] was a well-executed show. Objectively, combining those two shows was a serious mistake\" was loaded as hell. We've already established that he hated Bauman [in one of his old FAQ's he said \"I don't know how many people want to sit through a half hour of Jon Bauman struggling on Hollywood Squares\"] Steve-o, why did the show do numbers equivalent to TPIR's numbers today if it was so bad?

SBIFOC.

[aaron sica]

To nitpick a little further on the interview...
----------------
TVGS: Most analysts believe the CBS Match Game was killed when it was moved to the morning, which seemed out of character for that show. How accurate is that assessment?

 
IRA: \"Very. Oh yes, that hurt it a lot. CBS decided to run reruns of M*A*S*H in the afternoon and they moved us out of our usual spot to four o'clock.\"
----------------


While CBS did run M*A*S*H reruns in the afternoon, he was a little quick to blame M*A*S*H; Match Game moved from 3:30 p.m. to 11:00 a.m. on November 7, 1977, as a result of the expansion of \"Guiding Light\" from 30 minutes to an hour; GL had previously aired from 2:30-3:00, with reruns of \"All in the Family\" from 3:00-3:30, and MG from 3:30-4:00. When \"Guiding Light\" expanded to an hour, that pushed \"All in the Family\" back to 3:30 and relegated MG to the 11am death slot. M*A*S*H reruns in CBS daytime replaced \"All in the Family\" in the 3:30 time slot in September, 1978.

[JohnXXVII]

I agree with Ira on MG/HS. Gene should have hosted the whole show. Having him play HS was ridiculous, and the hiring of Jon Bauman even more so

[chuckwooleryfan]

[quote name=\'JohnXXVII\' date=\'Aug 3 2003, 04:01 AM\']I agree with Ira on MG/HS. Gene should have hosted the whole show. Having him play HS was ridiculous, and the hiring of Jon Bauman even more so[/quote]
Yeah, I agree. I never saw the original show, but I sure as heck wouldn't want to see Jon Bauman struggling as a host. Had to be painful to watch...

[Don Howard]

Gene should have hosted the whole show. Having him play HS was ridiculous, and the hiring of Jon Bauman even more so

I'm still having trouble understanding why Peter Marshall wasn't offered the job. He was still fresh in people's minds having hosted the final edition of Fantasy the previous Friday. And from what I read in his book last year, Pete doesn't understand why he wasn't chosen, either.

[cmjb13]

Probably the same reason why most orginal hosts aren't asked back for revivals.

They want to make it seem fresh and new.

Of course, there are exceptions (FF94, although after Combs. Rayburn on MG/HS)

[ChuckNet]

I'm still having trouble understanding why Peter Marshall wasn't offered the job. He was still fresh in people's minds having hosted the final edition of Fantasy the previous Friday. And from what I read in his book last year, Pete doesn't understand why he wasn't chosen, either.

Based on what Pete told us at his book signing last Dec, he actually had a hand in developing MG-HS and was supposed to host, but was screwed by Orion at the last minute, in much the same way he had the rug pulled out from under him w/3rd Degree just a few yrs later.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")

[Adam Nedeff]

Steve-o, why did the show do numbers equivalent to TPIR's numbers today if it was so bad?

Um, because viewers in 1983 were living in a 50-channel universe and not a 500-channel universe and thus had fewer programming options to switch to, thereby giving network TV a considerably bigger advantage in those days?

[Ian Wallis]

When \"Guiding Light\" expanded to an hour, that pushed \"All in the Family\" back to 3:30 and relegated MG to the 11am death slot. M*A*S*H reruns in CBS daytime replaced \"All in the Family\" in the 3:30 time slot in September, 1978.

------


CBS made scheduling changes quickly several times during the '70s.  \"Match Game\" was moved from 11 a.m. back to 4 p.m. after just a few weeks, I believe TVGuide didn't even list is as being back on a 4 until a week after it had moved.

Similar thing happened with \"Price is Right\" in 1975.  I remember tuning in late one morning, and being surprised that \"Price is Right\" was on at 10:30.  I had wondered what other changes had been made, since TVGuide still had the previous week's schedule.  In the next issue it was right.

It's interesting that Ira also mentioned that the ratings for \"Price\" dropped after two years in the afternoons, until being expanded to an hour made it \"invincible\".  If that's true, I'm surprised that \"Prices\" ratings dropped that much as a result of the move.  It certainly rebounded quickly!