Split Second coming to Buzzr 9/30.

[Chief-O]

the low-budget '80s synth theme and background

Excuse me--the music was possibly the best thing about the show. Sandy Hoyt is in there too. (Bolding mine. -C-O)

Not a hot take.

/As I skim through a recent YouTube upload past one of the contestant intros
//The guy bought a fixer-upper in 1983...."and is still fixing it up" as of '86

[WarioBarker]

It's been said that Split Second debuted December 15, 1986. Anyone know where that date came from?

I ask because not only have I been unable to find anything supporting it, but I was sent these TV listing snippets (from the Windsor Star, 12/1/86) that indicate the show debuted on CHCH two weeks earlier on December 1.

[Bryce L.]

It's been said that Split Second debuted December 15, 1986. Anyone know where that date came from?

EOTVGS 3rd Edition has 12-15-1986. Not sure where they got that from, though.

[Sodboy13]

It's been said that Split Second debuted December 15, 1986. Anyone know where that date came from?

I ask because not only have I been unable to find anything supporting it, but I was sent these TV listing snippets (from the Windsor Star, 12/1/86) that indicate the show debuted on CHCH two weeks earlier on December 1.

I believe someone else posted here that the first couple of weeks of the show aired only in Canada, so that may line up.

[calliaume]

Per New York magazine, first air date on WABC Channel 7 was 12/15/86 at 10:30 AM.

https://books.google.com/books?id=n-cCAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

[aaron sica]

Per New York magazine, first air date on WABC Channel 7 was 12/15/86 at 10:30 AM.

https://books.google.com/books?id=n-cCAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

An obvious error in the listings...No way that Daytime Jeopardy (or "Jeopardy II" as it was known in the listings) and Split Second aired for 2 days only for Oprah to air W-T-F...

[Scrabbleship]

Per New York magazine, first air date on WABC Channel 7 was 12/15/86 at 10:30 AM.

https://books.google.com/books?id=n-cCAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

An obvious error in the listings...No way that Daytime Jeopardy (or "Jeopardy II" as it was known in the listings) and Split Second aired for 2 days only for Oprah to air W-T-F...

The listings in question went Wednesday-Tuesday.

[aaron sica]

The listings in question went Wednesday-Tuesday.

That's quite the confusing way to do listings...

[calliaume]

Per New York magazine, first air date on WABC Channel 7 was 12/15/86 at 10:30 AM.

https://books.google.com/books?id=n-cCAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

An obvious error in the listings...No way that Daytime Jeopardy (or "Jeopardy II" as it was known in the listings) and Split Second aired for 2 days only for Oprah to air W-T-F...

The listings in question went Wednesday-Tuesday.

Correct.  The listings were for Wednesday, December 10 through Tuesday, December 16.

WABC programmed Oprah Winfrey at 10 AM when it launched, and realized quickly they had a phenomenon on their hands, so switched it to 4:00 PM to go head-to-head with Phil Donahue, starting December 15. The station was running Jeopardy at 4 and Rafferty Card Sharks at 4:30, so they switched time slots - but since WABC couldn't run Rafferty Card Sharks before 4 PM (in order to avoid competition with CBS's network run), Split Second ran instead. A few weeks later, WABC opened up the 7:00 PM slot for Jeopardy, which cause a small kerfuffle among TV critics (all of the New York stations had always run network news at 7, so this was a major change; within a few years all three stations had moved the network news to 6:30).

[aaron sica]

WABC programmed Oprah Winfrey at 10 AM when it launched, and realized quickly they had a phenomenon on their hands, so switched it to 4:00 PM to go head-to-head with Phil Donahue, starting December 15. The station was running Jeopardy at 4 and Rafferty Card Sharks at 4:30, so they switched time slots - but since WABC couldn't run Rafferty Card Sharks before 4 PM (in order to avoid competition with CBS's network run), Split Second ran instead. A few weeks later, WABC opened up the 7:00 PM slot for Jeopardy, which cause a small kerfuffle among TV critics (all of the New York stations had always run network news at 7, so this was a major change; within a few years all three stations had moved the network news to 6:30).

Although not in the listings at that point, I remember Card Sharks winding up at 5am on WABC eventually.

I can't put a date on when WNBC moved the network news to 7, but I know WCBS did it in the fall of '88 for Win, Lose, or Draw.

[Scrabbleship]

WABC programmed Oprah Winfrey at 10 AM when it launched, and realized quickly they had a phenomenon on their hands, so switched it to 4:00 PM to go head-to-head with Phil Donahue, starting December 15. The station was running Jeopardy at 4 and Rafferty Card Sharks at 4:30, so they switched time slots - but since WABC couldn't run Rafferty Card Sharks before 4 PM (in order to avoid competition with CBS's network run), Split Second ran instead. A few weeks later, WABC opened up the 7:00 PM slot for Jeopardy, which cause a small kerfuffle among TV critics (all of the New York stations had always run network news at 7, so this was a major change; within a few years all three stations had moved the network news to 6:30).

Although not in the listings at that point, I remember Card Sharks winding up at 5am on WABC eventually.

I can't put a date on when WNBC moved the network news to 7, but I know WCBS did it in the fall of '88 for Win, Lose, or Draw.

WNBC gave up the ghost and moved Nightly News to 6:30 in September 1991.

[WarioBarker]

Per New York magazine, first air date on WABC Channel 7 was 12/15/86 at 10:30 AM.

[link snipped]

Thanks!

Even so, I'm inclined to stick with the 12/1/86 debut date, not just because it was a Canadian production (and hence an earlier debut date there would supersede any US one) but also because it wasn't the only Canadian game show that year to debut later in the States (Chain Reaction and Love Me Love Me Not being the others).

[splinkynip]

[/

WABC programmed Oprah Winfrey at 10 AM when it launched, and realized quickly they had a phenomenon on their hands, so switched it to 4:00 PM to go head-to-head with Phil Donahue, starting December 15. The station was running Jeopardy at 4 and Rafferty Card Sharks at 4:30, so they switched time slots - but since WABC couldn't run Rafferty Card Sharks before 4 PM (in order to avoid competition with CBS's network run), Split Second ran instead. A few weeks later, WABC opened up the 7:00 PM slot for Jeopardy, which cause a small kerfuffle among TV critics (all of the New York stations had always run network news at 7, so this was a major change; within a few years all three stations had moved the network news to 6:30).
[/quote]

The same day that Split Second premiered on 12/15/1986 was when all the changes took place on WABC. Year-old Jeopardy reruns aired at 10AM, Split Second at 10:30, Oprah moved to 4PM, bumping the current season of Jeopardy to 7PM where it remains 33 years later. Hollywood Squares stayed at 7:30, Card Sharks moved to 5AM then 4:30 (still Monday to Friday and not Tuesday through Saturday early morning). For awhile I think it was paired up with Elaine Joyce Dating Game.

ABC network news moved to 6:30 that night, which was big news back in the day and pretty unheard of. WCBS did follow by moving its news to 6:30 September 1988 to make way for syndicated Win Lose or Draw second season (which didn’t last long... moved back to weekend late nights in January). WNBC finally switched in September of 1991 to make room for Love Connection which was suddenly doing well around the country, and later flipped with Cops reruns.

[trainman]

The listings in question went Wednesday-Tuesday.

That's quite the confusing way to do listings...

TV Guide began as Friday-to-Thursday (and switched to the familiar Saturday-to-Friday about 15 months later, then to Sunday-to-Saturday about 50 years later).

[aaron sica]

TV Guide began as Friday-to-Thursday (and switched to the familiar Saturday-to-Friday about 15 months later, then to Sunday-to-Saturday about 50 years later).

I might be slightly biased here, but Saturday-Friday is the norm for me when it comes to TV listings.