Ever heard of these shows?

[gamed121683]

I was in my school library the other day killing time and by the archives I found some old 1980 issues of "Broadcasting" magazine. Looking inside I'm going "Man, look at all the game shows they had back then!" (most of us would kill for those days again now). Inside this magazine I found a lot of ads for "Face The Music" with Ron Ely (Next M.C. of the Miss America pagent), "Bullseye", Hackett's YBYL (more on this in a minute), Ward's "TTTT" (with some nice color pictures), and even a "Bert Convy Show(!)" Even more bizzare was an ad for a talk show starring Vidal Sasson! Where if the show didn't look good, you didn't look good...couldn't resisit that, sorry.

     Anyway, the question in hand is when flipping through the pages two ads came to my eye. One was a game show hosted by Art James called "Mismatch" and another which looked like a picture of Jack Narz called "Phrase It". Has anyone here heard of these shows? If so, how were they played. Also the question on Hackett's YBYL, was the show as bad as the promo ads I saw for it this morning? (I've never seen the show before).

-Go on group, discuss!

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 08:31 AM\'] "Bert Convy Show(!)" Anyway, the question in hand is when flipping through the pages two ads came to my eye. One was a game show hosted by Art James called "Mismatch" and another which looked like a picture of Jack Narz called "Phrase It". -Go on group, discuss! [/quote]
 I didn't know about Bert Convy having his own talk/variety show in 1980, it must have been something offered but unsold at NATPE that year. Phrase It was discussed a couple months ago, supposedly it was a unsold syndie GT pilot, but Chris C., who worked for the company at the time, hadn't heard of it. I assume Mismatch was an unsold pilot, too.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 08:31 AM\'] Even more bizzare was an ad for a talk show starring Vidal Sasson! Where if the show didn't look good, you didn't look good...couldn't resisit that, sorry.

 [/quote]
 I remember that one. Vidal's show was called Your New Day. His "good friend" Regis Philbin made a few guest appearances on it. The show may have been the first to offer a makeover to an audience member. She would be selected at the end of Friday's program, get the treatment over the weekend and would emerge on Monday with an improved cosmetic appearance. I believe John Harlan was the announcer.

[Ian Wallis]

Also the question on Hackett's YBYL, was the show as bad as the promo ads I saw for it this morning? (I've never seen the show before).

Hackett's "You Bet Your Life" was a production of the Hill-Eubanks group - the same team responsible for "All Star Secrets" and "Infatuation".  

In my area it was on at 11 p.m. every night - and the show was cancelled in mid-season.  So yes, I'd agree that it wasn't that great...

[The Ol' Guy]

caught only one ep. of Hackett's YBYL in Detroit. Hackett seemed a bit gruff with contestants and the humor was along the line of  - "You're an organ grinder? How long do you grind your organ?" It would ask a lot of a host to be clever and classy 5 days a week.

Barry and Enright worked for some time trying to get Convy to do a talk show. Read an article that had Barry giving neighbor Convy a dog as a gift to encourage a positive answer. It was offered at NATPE, but didn't sell.

Didn't someone else pull off the concept behind Mis-Match? Three couples, one of them were not married, players had to guess the mis-match pair? Like Sweethearts with Charles N? I thought there might have been another one out there (cable?).

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 10:26 AM\']

Didn't someone else pull off the concept behind Mis-Match? Three couples, one of them were not married, players had to guess the mis-match pair? Like Sweethearts with Charles N? I thought there might have been another one out there (cable?). [/quote]
 That was the concept of Sweethearts, which CNR did host, and was produced by Richard Reid and syndied by Metromedia in 1988-89.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 10:26 AM\'] Barry and Enright worked for some time trying to get Convy to do a talk show. Read an article that had Barry giving neighbor Convy a dog as a gift to encourage a positive answer. [/quote]
 Perhaps he should've offered him money instead.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 10:26 AM\']caught only one ep. of Hackett's YBYL in Detroit. Hackett seemed a bit gruff with contestants and the humor was along the line of  - "You're an organ grinder? How long do you grind your organ?" It would ask a lot of a host to be clever and classy 5 days a week. [/quote]
It's difficult enough trying to replace Groucho, but that wasn't the only problem with the 1980 revival of "YBYL."  For some reason, the producers thought that making the Secret Words less "common words, something you see every day/around the home/you always have with you" would add to the entertainment (and Hackett made a running gag out of the fact that no one had yet to say the Secret Word).  The "listing game" that replaced the quiz was also a letdown, although I'm sure the producers thought that straight Q&A wouldn't work in 1980.  And the end game (pick an egg from Leonard the puppet duck, win a prize) was a snore.

Perhaps what hurt the show the most was Hackett's decision to go totally ad lib with the contestants.  Groucho may not've needed the scripted material, but it was good to fall back on, and even with 156 more shows a season to potentially do than John Guedel's crew, they still could've done the extensive pre-interviews with the contestants that honed the material--and Hackett would've had the same comedic sense that Groucho had to depart from the script if something spontaneously developed.

And Ron Hunsmann simply didn't have George Fenneman's class.

[bulldog_06]

Just about everyone remembers the Ron Ely hosted game "Face The Music" from the Family Channel reruns or seeing the actual series in syndication. That one needs to be on GSN2, the network for classic games.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'bulldog_06\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 01:01 PM\'] Just about everyone remembers the Ron Ely hosted game "Face The Music" from the Family Channel reruns or seeing the actual series in syndication. That one needs to be on GSN2, the network for classic games. [/quote]
Get it launched and I'm sure Sandy Frank will be delighted to make you an offer.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 08:31 AM\'] I was in my school library the other day killing time and by the archives I found some old 1980 issues of "Broadcasting" magazine. Looking inside I'm going "Man, look at all the game shows they had back then!" (most of us would kill for those days again now). Inside this magazine I found a lot of ads for "Face The Music" with Ron Ely (Next M.C. of the Miss America pagent), "Bullseye", Hackett's YBYL (more on this in a minute), Ward's "TTTT" (with some nice color pictures), and even a "Bert Convy Show(!)" Even more bizzare was an ad for a talk show starring Vidal Sasson! Where if the show didn't look good, you didn't look good...couldn't resisit that, sorry.
 [/quote]
 It's fun reading through those magazines, and seeing what could've been...I saw one from c. 1981, about a talk show co-starring Chuck Woolery. Does anybody remember this? I believe it aired, or was scheduled for, fall 1981. I *do* know it was before he left Wheel.

[Mike Tennant]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 02:50 PM\']I saw one from c. 1981, about a talk show co-starring Chuck Woolery. Does anybody remember this? I believe it aired, or was scheduled for, fall 1981. I *do* know it was before he left Wheel.[/quote]
Woolery left Wheel?  When?  Who told you this?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 02:53 PM\'] [quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 02:50 PM\']I saw one from c. 1981, about a talk show co-starring Chuck Woolery. Does anybody remember this? I believe it aired, or was scheduled for, fall 1981. I *do* know it was before he left Wheel.[/quote]
Woolery left Wheel?  When?  Who told you this? [/quote]
 I have my sources. ;-)

[bricon]

One was a game show hosted by Art James called "Mismatch" and another which looked like a picture of Jack Narz called "Phrase It".

Mismatch was an unsold pilot from Time/Life Television, done at NBC in New York.  Phrase It was an unsold pilot from Paramount Television.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'bulldog_06\' date=\'Feb 17 2004, 01:01 PM\']Just about everyone remembers the Ron Ely hosted game "Face The Music" from the Family Channel reruns or seeing the actual series in syndication. That one needs to be on GSN2, the network for classic games.[/quote]
It's so nice to have Rich Cronin posting on here.