Winner Take All

[dzinkin]

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 02:33 AM\']It'd be like telling someone to find "Fear Factor" repeats on another station; when infact; FX is the only station that can rerun them (besids NBC).[/quote]
Actually, Fear Factor reruns are now in syndication as well... so you might well find the reruns on other stations.  (WDCA in Washington, DC, to name just one; it's the UPN affil I get via satellite.)

Just a friendly reminder that when we slam others for missing what we think are basic facts, we sometimes miss some key facts ourselves.

(Two-word summary of above: chill, Mark.)

[CaseyAbell]

I don't get why you have to stuff statistics down our throats every time someone makes a remote refrence to not liking the schedule.

I mention one number (ninety percent) about the 10/11 schedule, and I'm stuffing statistics down somebody's throat? Wow, you are number-sensitive. As David says, chill.

I happen to like the 10/11 schedule. You may not like it, which is your right. But there's no need to use intemperate language to express your disagreement.

It might surprise you about how many of the college-aged kids do in fact know about Street Smarts.

I like Street Smarts, so it's nice that some college kids have heard about the show. But I stand by my thought experiment. Given the limited availability of the show at reasonable hours of the day and its very modest ratings, I doubt that more than ten people out of a randomly selected hundred would know about it.

They won't be on any other station, because GSN owns the rights to air them. Your point is null, void, and stupid.

The point is valid, relevant, and intelligent. How many outlets were running repeats of Daly What's My Line or Rayburn Match Game before GSN came along? How many would run them today besides GSN?

Game shows are in extreme disfavor now. Even a pretty decent performer like Pyramid got canned. The idea that many (or any) other outlets would carry dozens of hours of thirty and forty-year-old game shows is...well, check the adjectives you used in the quote.

You may not like the current GSN, which again is your right. But if GSN went belly-up tomorrow, the notion that other networks would suddenly start programming many hours of Gene and John (and Richard and Bill and Jim, etc.) is fantasy.

There is no other outlet in this country's entire TV universe that devotes anywhere near as much programming time to game shows for grownups - especially older shows - as GSN does. That's why GSN is, to use the famous word, a rarity.

[Ian Wallis]

I think part of the problem is that there are a growing number of old shows (in all genres) that just aren't seeing the light of day - anywhere.  Personally, I think the best TV shows of all time occurred in the '60s and '70s.  There have been a few good shows since then, but the cream of the crop occured in those two decades.  With a few exceptions, many of those shows are becoming harder and harder to find.  The way things are going, I think some of us are afraid they'll never be aired again.  Sure, you can buy many old series on DVD, but that gets expensive if you were to try to get everything that came out - and not every season from every show will be released.

I understand the realities of today's TV and don't expect things to change any time soon, but it's kind of disappointing that most of the early years of television are being relegated to the shelves.

[Don Howard]

NOW! The big question: Will we, as promised in program guides all over the place, get our look at an episode of Number Please early tomorrow morning?

[CaseyAbell]

I think part of the problem is that there are a growing number of old shows (in all genres) that just aren't seeing the light of day - anywhere. Personally, I think the best TV shows of all time occurred in the '60s and '70s.

This will probably get fixed as the literally thousands-of-channels universe dawns. Instead of the relatively few nostalgia channels now available, there could be many dozens. So really obscure (by anybody's definition) old shows may get their day in the sun.

Still, the current situation isn't completely grim for the oldies. I checked the upcoming seven-day schedules on the nostalgia specialists and some other outlets. Came up with a pretty impressive list of fifties/sixties/seventies shows...

TV Land: All in the Family, Sanford & Son, Three's Company, Brady Bunch, Happy Days, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Mister Ed, Green Acres, I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke Show, Munsters, Leave it to Beaver, Andy Griffith Show

Good Life: Combat, FBI, Honeymooners, Mayberry RFD, New Dick Van Dyke Show, 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, Surfside 6, Gallant Men, Maverick, Bronco, Cheyenne, Superman, Lawman, F Troop, Sugarfoot

GSN:What's My Line, Number Please, Match Game, Dawson Feud, Perry Card Sharks, Beat the Clock

SciFi: Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Kolchak, Battlestar Galactica, Outer Limits

Hallmark: Hogan's Heroes, Beverly Hillbillies, Waltons, Gilligan's Island, Perry Mason, Rawhide (some duplicates eliminated)

ESPN Classic: many games from as far back as 1954

This is hardly an exhaustive list, of course. I just browsed through the zap2it schedules for a few channels. Other cable networks and local channels also carry things like M*A*S*H, Hawaii Five-O, Lawrence Welk(!). Maybe these shows aren't quite obscure enough, though some are pretty out-of-the-way for me. But I was kinda surprised at just how much regularly scheduled 50s/60s/70s TV is available already on a number of outlets.

A lot of old television has just been lost. Things start getting spotty before the mid-seventies in many genres, especially for live and videotaped shows. Johnny Carson's first Tonight show sleeps with the fishes, for instance.

But you could easily spend every waking hour watching nothing but currently scheduled 50s/60s/70s shows. And as I said, the number of old shows getting a crack at the schedules will probably rise over the new few decades as the TV universe starts to look more like today's Internet.

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 08:02 AM\'] NOW! The big question: Will we, as promised in program guides all over the place, get our look at an episode of Number Please early tomorrow morning? [/quote]
 You may want to tape it, but be prepared for a letdown.  The game is not very exciting and the music throughout will drive you nuts.

[gamed121683]

Not sure if anyone here knows this but what were the airdates (month/year) of the Cullen "WTA"'s that have been on GSN the last couple of days?

Also, if I can comment (and this is coming from someome who is under 50 years of age) I've enjoyed watching WTA. So yeah the set was sparse (keep in mind were still in TV's infancy here) but this was really an entertaining quiz show. Watching Bill Cullen here you could tell that great things were ahead for him.  Any other takers?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 12:39 PM\'] but this was really an entertaining quiz show. Watching Bill Cullen here you could tell that great things were ahead for him.  Any other takers? [/quote]
 As television and Bill Cullen history, it was interesting.

As a game show, it was really quite lame. Mind, I say that with an understanding of the history of the medium and the knowledge that MOST EVERYTHING ON TV at the time was really quite lame.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 02:43 PM\'] As a game show, it was really quite lame. Mind, I say that with an understanding of the history of the medium and the knowledge that MOST EVERYTHING ON TV at the time was really quite lame. [/quote]
 Oh, yeah, and I perfectly expected it to be. If I remember right, weren't there four firsts connected with that show? Bill Cullen's first, Goodson-Todman's first, the first with players competing against one another and the first with returning champions? I loved the grainy jumping picture and the crude credit roll with Don Pardo reading all the names as they scrolled by. In fact, it was better than I thought it would be. Thanks to GSN for retaining this hour for us.

[RMF]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 02:39 PM\'] Not sure if anyone here knows this but what were the airdates (month/year) of the Cullen "WTA"'s that have been on GSN the last couple of days?
 [/quote]
 Assuming that they're the same ones at UCLA (and, if they aren't, then where on Earth did they come from?), the Cullen episodes come from 2/27/1952, 2/28/1952, and 3/5/1952.

[ilb4ever2000]

[quote name=\'RMF\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 05:08 PM\'] Assuming that they're the same ones at UCLA (and, if they aren't, then where on Earth did they come from?), the Cullen episodes come from 2/27/1952, 2/28/1952, and 3/5/1952. [/quote]
I'm assuming the first three episodes they showed correspond with what the UCLA archives have. But as for last night's, I guess we'll never know. Judging by the set changes, it was probably later in the run.

[RMF]

[quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 05:12 PM\'] [quote name=\'RMF\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 05:08 PM\'] Assuming that they're the same ones at UCLA (and, if they aren't, then where on Earth did they come from?), the Cullen episodes come from 2/27/1952, 2/28/1952, and 3/5/1952. [/quote]
I'm assuming the first three episodes they showed correspond with what the UCLA archives have. But as for last night's, I guess we'll never know. [/quote]
 They've aired four Cullen episodes?

[ilb4ever2000]

[quote name=\'RMF\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 05:14 PM\'] They've aired four Cullen episodes? [/quote]
 Yes, Monday-Thursday nights.

[RMF]

[quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 05:16 PM\'] [quote name=\'RMF\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 05:14 PM\'] They've aired four Cullen episodes? [/quote]
Yes, Monday-Thursday nights. [/quote]
 In that case, then I haven't a clue, either.

[melman1]

[quote name=\'RMF\' date=\'Sep 24 2004, 03:14 PM\'] They've aired four Cullen episodes? [/quote]
 Yes, which contradicts that "press release" snippet at the beginning of the thread (I guess no one recalls where that came from) which said "Two Gray episodes will air, followed by three Cullen shows."

It's a q-and-a game at its most absolutely simple.  Were there any other games on TV at that time, or was this the first try at it?  It's clearly an experiment to take a radio game and add as little to it as possible for television.  Cullen had a hard time remembering the contestants' names - the lady who escorted the contestants onstage handed Bill a packet of questions, but apparently not a card with the player's name on it?  I guess cue cards came later.