Your Local Public TV Station

[Jimmy Owen]

A good number of Public TV stations have a locally produced high school quiz, and some might even show Groucho now and then, but one of the oddest things I remember was when the PBS station in Grand Rapids, MI used to show "Take My Word For It" in the afternoon during the mid '80s.  I suppose the show was somewhat educational.  Any other withit PBS stations out there?

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Mar 15 2004, 06:12 PM\']A good number of Public TV stations have a locally produced high school quiz, and some might even show Groucho now and then, but one of the oddest things I remember was when the PBS station in Grand Rapids, MI used to show "Take My Word For It" in the afternoon during the mid '80s.  I suppose the show was somewhat educational.  Any other withit PBS stations out there?[/quote]
Well, there was "We Interrupt This Week" in 1977-78, which was sort of like "Have I Got News for You!" and the BBC Radio 4 "News Quiz," in that it was a show where journalists answered questions about the week's news and made a lot of jokes about the news.  Ned Sherrin, the Brit who was one of the creators of "That Was the Week That Was," was the host and creator--and his judgments were, as he proclaimed every week, "arbitrary, prejudiced and final!"

Also, in the related category, some public TV stations carried the first John Sessions-packed season of "Whose Line?"

Aside from those shows (and "Think Twice" and "Carmen Sandiego" and the game show segments of "Square One"), syndicated shows were either too expensive or not exactly the right fit for public TV, particularly in those good old days before doo wop and Suze Orman-packed pledge drives.

[Craig Karlberg]

When I was in upstate New York in the early 80's, a local PBS station out of Watertown produced a high school quiz show called "Quiz Whiz".  My high school(St.Lawerence Central in Brasher Falls) took part in that show.  It lost in its only appearance there(1981).  They did MUCH better on another quiz show produced out of an NBC affiliate in Plattsburgh called "Scholars For Dollars" in 1980.  They made it to the finals before they lost.  Man, I wish I was on THAT show.

[DrBear]

Back in 1982, some PBS stations - I remember seeing it in Indiana off a Chicago station - showed "Top of the World," which had a Brit host and contestants from England, Australia and Miami competing via satellite, answering questions about each others' countries. (They had some sort of delay system to even out the satellite tranmission delay). The series only ran a few weeks and finished with a Grand Final with the best players from each country facing each other in London. (I seem to remember that it was Eamonn Andrews who hosted, but memory may play me false there). Notably, they only ran it during the afternoon (I was between jobs at the time).

[Ian Wallis]

Speaking of odd things on PBS stations, sometimes around Christmastime my local PBS station would run an "Ozzie and Harriet" Christmas episode (without commercials, of course).

Harriet Nelson once appeared on Marshall's "Hollywood Squares".

[The Ol' Guy]

Ah, I remember Take My Word For It - a pleasant Call My Bluff clone.  Here's another memory buster - on our Grand Rapids, MI PBS outlet, they once carried a short-run game show underwritten by an insurance group hosted by Allen Ludden! Called "You Owe It To Yourself", the game had married couples answering questions that I think were focused on either home safety or investments. I've been busy trying to find more information - it was taped at WITF-TV, but neither the Mineral Point archives or WITF can give me an exact timeframe. They both confirm the show, however. Gotta be 1970s. Less than 10 shows were made and cycled to various PBS stations. The one show I remember had the winning couple getting a lovely table model clock radio. They probably could have offered bigger prizes, but they would have had to raise our premiums....

[rugrats1]

When I was in upstate New York in the early 80's, a local PBS station out of Watertown produced a high school quiz show called "Quiz Whiz".

I think it's still running on WPBS today -- I recall seeing it in 2001 when I was vacationing in Ottawa.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Mar 16 2004, 09:53 AM\']Ah, I remember Take My Word For It - a pleasant Call My Bluff clone.  Here's another memory buster - on our Grand Rapids, MI PBS outlet, they once carried a short-run game show underwritten by an insurance group hosted by Allen Ludden! Called "You Owe It To Yourself", the game had married couples answering questions that I think were focused on either home safety or investments. I've been busy trying to find more information - it was taped at WITF-TV, but neither the Mineral Point archives or WITF can give me an exact timeframe. They both confirm the show, however. Gotta be 1970s. Less than 10 shows were made and cycled to various PBS stations. The one show I remember had the winning couple getting a lovely table model clock radio. They probably could have offered bigger prizes, but they would have had to raise our premiums....[/quote]
That show ran on WTTW in Chicago--the now-defunct (I believe) Central Educational Network distributed the show.  And the prize I remember was the then-exotic electronic hand-held calculator--or as Ludden called it, a "pocket computer."

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Mar 16 2004, 09:12 AM\'] Speaking of odd things on PBS stations, sometimes around Christmastime my local PBS station would run an "Ozzie and Harriet" Christmas episode (without commercials, of course).

Harriet Nelson once appeared on Marshall's "Hollywood Squares". [/quote]
 I know that WHYY (Wilmington, Del., but in the Philly TV market) showed a Christmas episode of Dragnet....

ObGameShow: WHYY was the first studio home of Double Dare.

[The Ol' Guy]

yes, several PBS stations, depending on their local viewers' tastes, run product in the public domain or available at greatly reduced prices. We've had early episodes of Burns & Allen and some half-hour Red Skelton shows appear now and then, and one summer the station decided to fill some time in the afternoons with public domain movies. And some of those are downright good!

(okay - if you need a GS reference, they probably ran Pot O'Gold with Jimmy Stewart - one of several films using a popular radio show - in this case a quiz show - as part of the plot. Others include People Are Funny and Queen For A Day.)

[ChuckNet]

ObGameShow: WHYY was the first studio home of Double Dare.

But I don't know WHYY. :-)

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Mar 17 2004, 10:35 PM\']

ObGameShow: WHYY was the first studio home of Double Dare.

But I don't know WHYY. :-) [/quote]
 [dumps gak on Chuck's head]

[byrd62]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Mar 16 2004, 07:46 AM\'] Back in 1982, some PBS stations - I remember seeing it in Indiana off a Chicago station - showed "Top of the World," which had a Brit host and contestants from England, Australia and Miami competing via satellite, answering questions about each others' countries. (They had some sort of delay system to even out the satellite tranmission delay). The series only ran a few weeks and finished with a Grand Final with the best players from each country facing each other in London. (I seem to remember that it was Eamonn Andrews who hosted, but memory may play me false there). Notably, they only ran it during the afternoon (I was between jobs at the time). [/quote]
 Yes, it was Eamonn Andrews who hosted Top of the World, which was co-produced by Britain's commercial ITV [via its London affiliate at the time, Thames Television], PBS affiliate WPBT in Miami, and the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

Eamonn also hosted the British versions of What's My Line? and This is Your Life.

[byrd62]

[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Mar 16 2004, 09:53 AM\'] Ah, I remember Take My Word For It - a pleasant Call My Bluff clone.  Here's another memory buster - on our Grand Rapids, MI PBS outlet, they once carried a short-run game show underwritten by an insurance group hosted by Allen Ludden! Called "You Owe It To Yourself", the game had married couples answering questions that I think were focused on either home safety or investments. I've been busy trying to find more information - it was taped at WITF-TV, but neither the Mineral Point archives or WITF can give me an exact timeframe. They both confirm the show, however. Gotta be 1970s. Less than 10 shows were made and cycled to various PBS stations. The one show I remember had the winning couple getting a lovely table model clock radio. They probably could have offered bigger prizes, but they would have had to raise our premiums.... [/quote]
 Allen Ludden's venture into PBS game-show-dom aired in 1974 where I lived, and it was all about finances and economics.

[byrd62]

[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Mar 16 2004, 01:14 PM\']yes, several PBS stations, depending on their local viewers' tastes, run product in the public domain or available at greatly reduced prices. [/quote]
And don't forget the PBS stations that ran the early years of Groucho Marx in You Bet Your Life, brought to you by DeSoto-Plymouth Dealers, whose commercials were included in those airings.