I'm being told by someone inside GSN that the episode comes from 1971 and was dubbed from the 2" air master. What does that do to the theories?
I think this is an episode that GSN has had all along. When I got my letter from David Schwartz in 1996, which I've mentioned here several times in the past, he answered some questions about the status of certain shows. His response on the ABC
Password: "only one 1971 episode has been found". Unless another one has turned up, it makes sense that this is from '71 and is THE episode.
Keep in mind, TV Guide back issues from back then are notoriously unreliable for game show celebrity listings. Newspapers are actually more reliable. I found that out the hard way when I started compiling my Hollywood Squares celebrity list. TV Guide needed more publication lead time than the newspapers, so it was more likely a guest would cancel after they went to press.
That's true, but I guess it depends on when the show was taped. I was surprised when the
Battlestars episodes I saw in 1983 aired the very next week. TVGuide listed only four of the six celebrities, but one of them wasn't on the panel. For shows like
Match Game, which usually taped several weeks in advance, there usually wasn't a problem.
It's interesting that TVGuide sometimes listed the celebrities as "Scheduled: " and sometimes not. I always thought it could mean those shows were due to be taped after they went to press.