Author Topic: The Power of TV Guide (Read 4707 times)

TheInquisitiveOne · « **on:** July 08, 2004, 06:56:34 PM »

Good afternoon everyone!

I have been looking back at some of my old TV Guides, as well as looked through the websites of both Aaron Handy III and JRJ Games, and noticed the multitude of TV Guide ads of the past. A question came to mind, and I thought I would raise it here...

Do you think that the TV Guide ads helped bolster viewer interest in many game shows of old? Could it work today? I say that because there was a half page TV Guide ad that plugged TPIR's 30th anniversary. My opinion is that if there were no ad, it would not have received the good ratings that it eventually did.

However, I could be wrong on all of this. Opinions are always welcome!

The Inquisitive One, Finally Closing in on 200...

rmfromfla · « **Reply #1 on:** July 08, 2004, 07:48:26 PM »

Nowadays, the only ads in TV Guide for game shows are in among the
features, like J! did for the MDM tourney and the just-past Power Players
Week. And it also has to do with the evolution of TV Guide's format for
the listings: more emphasis on grids and reviewing programs, so the plugs
(not just for game shows) for local stations have slowly been squeezed
out.
In J!'s second season, they mainly had two ads all year with the
theme "Alex Trebek 007" : one ad showed Alex trying to remove the
femme fatale from the railroad track and the other showing Alex
jumping off a boat before it exploded; the tag line being: "Take the
Big Money Risk! - Play Jeopardy!" , and TV Guide had print ads
with that theme.
To answer your question, TV Guide did a good job when having ads
for game shows in its listings (you couldn't miss them), but it's just a
matter of how it's changed (or blame Rupert Murdoch?)

tvrandywest · « **Reply #2 on:** July 08, 2004, 09:14:43 PM »

A great piece of trivia during the 70s and 80s was that TV Guide was the biggest selling weekly magazine in America, and the magazine with the highest advertising rates.

I doubt it has the power it once did as I think most of us have access to other listings, including just watching the crawl of "what's on" that our cable company or satellite provider sends... on many cable systems it's provided by.... TV Guide. Hmmmm.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

Craig Karlberg · « **Reply #3 on:** July 09, 2004, 04:56:40 AM »

I think Randy's on to something here:

The last time I saw a game show ad on TV Guide was when ABC brought back Millionaire for its 3rd run of shows in 2000. That same year & that same guide, I also saw a big ad for NBC's new show called Twenty-One back then. In terms of ratings, TV Guide was batting .500(1/2). Millionaire had strong ratings while Twenty-One's was virtually "flat" so to speak. I guess it can help but sometimes, it doesn't. It all depends on how it's presented on there.

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #4 on:** July 09, 2004, 08:56:32 AM »

I think it might have had an impact in the '70s and '80s. For people who were home during the day, or fans like us, seeing those ads would whet our appetite for watching the show. If it was a bad show though, ads in TVGuide wouldn't be able to boost the ratings enough to save it. As noted, TVGuide's readership had decreased significantly during the past 20 years, so any ads they have run aren't seen by as many people.

brianhenke · « **Reply #5 on:** July 09, 2004, 12:01:56 PM »

And I remember back up until the 80s there were ads for local TV newscasts in TV Guide.

Brian

100 plus 100 equals 600?

We want some more pro wrestling (STILL) and NASCAR questions (oh, and Jeff Gordon won the Pepsi 400 driving a Pepsi Play for a Billion Chevy)!

CarShark · « **Reply #6 on:** July 09, 2004, 12:06:08 PM »

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Jul 9 2004, 03:56 AM\'] I think Randy's on to something here:

The last time I saw a game show ad on TV Guide was when ABC brought back Millionaire for its 3rd run of shows in 2000. That same year & that same guide, I also saw a big ad for NBC's new show called Twenty-One back then. In terms of ratings, TV Guide was batting .500(1/2). Millionaire had strong ratings while Twenty-One's was virtually "flat" so to speak. I guess it can help but sometimes, it doesn't. It all depends on how it's presented on there. [/quote]
I thought Twenty One did pretty well for itself in the ratings department, but was cancelled solely because it didn't topple Millionaire.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #7 on:** July 09, 2004, 02:49:48 PM »

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Jul 9 2004, 03:56 AM\'] I think Randy's on to something here:

The last time I saw a game show ad on TV Guide was when ABC brought back Millionaire for its 3rd run of shows in 2000. That same year & that same guide, I also saw a big ad for NBC's new show called Twenty-One back then. In terms of ratings, TV Guide was batting .500(1/2). Millionaire had strong ratings while Twenty-One's was virtually "flat" so to speak. [/quote]
I think they still do primetime ads, so I wouldn't count those. As for Twenty-One, it was a consistent Top 20, sometimes Top 15, maybe even Top 10 show, Millionaire's best competitor. As STYDFan noted, it didn't pull Millionaire ratings, so it was gone, showing that NBC is run by monkeys. :-)

The last game show ad I remember was for Feud 99. Nice-sized ad too.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #8 on:** July 09, 2004, 08:07:36 PM »

[quote name=\'brianhenke\' date=\'Jul 9 2004, 11:01 AM\'] And I remember back up until the 80s there were ads for local TV newscasts in TV Guide.

Brian

100 plus 100 equals 600?

We want some more pro wrestling (STILL) and NASCAR questions (oh, and Jeff Gordon won the Pepsi 400 driving a Pepsi Play for a Billion Chevy)! [/quote]
When Triangle owned TV Guide, there was a trade agreement where each local station would get ads in the magazine in exchange for TV spots for TVG. That ended when Rupert bought the mag.

ChuckNet · « **Reply #9 on:** July 10, 2004, 01:05:20 PM »

Quote

Nowadays, the only ads in TV Guide for game shows are in among the
features, like J! did for the MDM tourney and the just-past Power Players
Week.

Not entirely...I've seen ads w/the listings for a TPiR $1M Spectacular, several for Fear Factor, and one for the recent J! Power Players Week.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

rmfromfla · « **Reply #10 on:** July 10, 2004, 02:11:50 PM »

Yes, but there were also the ads that local stations had to promote their
syndicated programs: for example, in the late 80's, WKRG in Mobile had
an ad which went:

"Besides Jeopardy!, the best game show on TV today..."
'What is Win, Lose or Draw?"
"Weekdays, beginning at 4PM, on WKRG, Channel 5"
(picture of Alex on left and Bert Convy on right)

And the locals also had spots for their news, movies......

trainman · « **Reply #11 on:** July 17, 2004, 10:33:39 PM »

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Jul 9 2004, 12:56 AM\'] The last time I saw a game show ad on TV Guide was when ABC brought back Millionaire for its 3rd run of shows in 2000. [/quote]
ABC placed an ad for "Super Millionaire" on the back cover of TV Guide earlier this year. (It still seems weird not to have a cigarette ad there.)

TV Guide used to do a barter arrangement with local stations, where the stations would run commercials for the magazine in exchange for ads in the listings section. That ended in the mid-to-late 1980s. That's why there are a lot of ads for syndicated shows and local newscasts in older TV Guides.

Don Howard · « **Reply #12 on:** July 17, 2004, 10:55:38 PM »

Anyone know the guy who voiced those TV Guide commercials? Those were terrific! That was when the stories were all reader-friendly with no dipping into the controversy vat.

rugrats1 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 18, 2004, 01:29:32 AM »

I don't know the announcer's name, but I can never forget the electronic sounds that accompanied the TVG ads in the 1970s, which practically reminded me more of TVG than TVG itself.

DjohnsonCB · « **Reply #14 on:** July 18, 2004, 11:21:38 AM »

[quote name=\'rugrats1\' date=\'Jul 18 2004, 12:29 AM\'] I don't know the announcer's name, but I can never forget the electronic sounds that accompanied the TVG ads in the 1970s, which practically reminded me more of TVG than TVG itself. [/quote]
I know what sounds you mean--they were retired during that decade for a new musical underscore accompanied visually by a bending, stretching TV Guide logo. The music went through three variations before the electronic sounds came back with the visual staying.

One such spot I still remember word for word had movie critic Judith Crist subbing for the regular announcer: "Hello, I'm Judith Crist, and honest--I love movies. But I'll tell you why I criticize them so severely...in the new issue of TV Guide".

I just got an old 1967 Fall Preview issue in the mail yesterday (an eBay win) whose program listings contain nothing more than five VHF stations serving St. Louis. But amazingly, except for a couple of NBC cartoons missing from the Saturday Morning pages (one pre-empted, the other delayed till Sunday Morning), and a trio of ABC shows (two non-game daytimers and the Wednesday Night Movie) picked up by indie KPLR-11 instead of then-ABC station KTVI-2, the entire three-network program lineup is included on the affiliates for all dayparts! Snap Judgment, The Match Game, Eye Guess, American Bandstand, Joey Bishop in late night, all the old and new prime-time shows--they're all there. Oh, and the color section with all the new shows is a lively and fun read, too. TV Guide Fall Preview issues just didn't get any better than the ones between 1966 and 1990.

I also miss "As We See It", which ought to come back.

Author Topic: The Power of TV Guide (Read 4707 times)

rmfromfla

CarShark

rmfromfla

rugrats1