The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Chelsea Thrasher on August 28, 2021, 02:53:45 PM
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Found myself digging through some 80s and 90s issues of The Tennessean on Newspapers.com - and the paper listed full schedules for pretty much everything carried in Nashville in the 80s through mid 90s. Including everything USA ran.
On October 1, 1984 USA added The Gong Show and Make Me Laugh in late night, as well as additional Gong reruns in late afternoon. The pair did well enough, especially in afternoons, that starting in May 1985, USA added Joker's Wild and Bullseye. From that point until the cancellation of original dating game Big Date on 9/22/97, (edit: eaten sentence) USA ran game shows (and various other studio competitions and dating series) on their daily schedule - a mix of licensed reruns and first-run originals.
Included is anything that would be considered a traditional studio game including studio competitions and dating series. With the exception of delightfully fun word game Smush in 2001-02, I stopped with Big Date's cancellation.
October 1, 1984:
4:30pm: Gong Show (new)
11:00pm: Gong Show (new, subject to preemption/alt. scheduling)
11:30pm: Make Me Laugh (new, subject to preemption/alt. scheduling)
December 31, 1984:
5:30pm: Gong Show (new time)
11:00pm: Gong Show (subject to preemptionalt. scheduling)
11:30pm: Make Me Laugh (subject to preemption/alt. scheduling)
April 1, 1985:
4:00pm: Joker's Wild (new)
4:30pm: Bullseye (new)
5:30pm: Gong Show
11:00pm: Gong Show (subject to preemptionalt. scheduling)
11:30pm: Make Me Laugh (subject to preemption/alt. scheduling)
May 6, 1985:
4:00pm: Joker's Wild
4:30pm: Bullseye
5:00pm: Make Me Laugh (new slot)
5:30pm: Gong Show
11:00pm: Gong Show (subject to preemptionalt. scheduling)
11:30pm: Make Me Laugh (subject to preemption/alt. scheduling)
September 30, 1985:
3:00pm: Joker's Wild (new slot)
3:30pm: Bullseye (new slot)
4:00pm: Chain Reaction (1980) (new)
4:30pm: Jackpot! (new, Original Series)
5:00pm: Make Me Laugh
5:30pm: Gong Show
12:30am: Gong Show (new slot)
January 6, 1986:
3:00pm: Joker's Wild
3:30pm: Bullseye
4:00pm: Chain Reaction
4:30pm: Jackpot (Original Series)
5:00pm: Make Me Laugh
5:30pm: Gong Show
March 30, 1986:
10:00am: Make Me Laugh (new time)
10:30am: Gong Show (new time)
3:30pm: Joker's Wild (new time)
4:00pm: Bullseye (new time)
4:30pm: Jackpot! (Original)
5:00pm: Chain Reaction (new time)
5:30pm: All Star Blitz (new)
April 28, 1986:
10:00am: Make Me Laugh (new time)
10:30am: Gong Show (new time)
3:00pm: Liar's Club (new)
3:30pm: Joker's Wild
4:00pm: Bullseye
4:30pm: Jackpot! (original)
5:00pm: Chain Reaction
5:30pm: All Star Blitz
September 29, 1986:
9:00am: Gong Show (new time)
9:30am: Anything for Money (new)
2:00pm: Liar's Club (new time)
2:30pm: Joker's Wild (new time)
3:00pm: Bullseye (new time)
3:30pm: All Star Blitz (new time)
4:00pm: Jackpot (original, new time)
4:30pm: Chain Reaction (original, new)
6:30pm: Love Me, Love Me Not (original, new)
October 27, 1986:
9:00am: Gong Show
9:30am: Anything for Money
1:30pm: Liar's Club (only if preceding movie runs VERY short; happened at least once)
2:00pm: Liar's Club
2:30pm: Joker's Wild
3:00pm: Bullseye
3:30pm: All Star Blitz
4:00pm: Jackpot (original)
4:30pm: Chain Reaction (original)
5:00pm: Love Me, Love Me Not (original, new time)
December 29, 1986:
9:00am: Gong Show
9:30am: Anything for Money
(The movie now always runs til 2)
2:00pm: Love Me, Love Me Not (original, new time)
2:30pm: Liar's Club (new time)
3:00pm: Joker's Wild (new time)
3:30pm: Bullseye (new time)
4:00pm: Jackpot (original)
4:30pm: Chain Reaction (original)
5:00pm: All New Let's Make a Deal (new)
April 27, 1987
9:00am: Gong Show
9:30am: Anything for Money
2:00pm: Love Me, Love Me Not (original)
2:30pm: Liar's Club
3:00pm: Play the Percentages (new)
3:30pm: Bullseye
4:00pm: Jackpot! (original)
4:30pm: Chain Reaction (original)
5:00pm: All New Let's Make a Deal
June 29, 1987:
9:00am: Gong Show
10:00am: Anything for Money (new time)
2:00pm: Love Me, Love Me Not (original)
2:30pm: All New Let's Make a Deal (new time)
3:00pm: Hot Potato (new)
3:30pm: Play the Percentages (new time)
4:00pm: Jackpot! (original)
4:30pm: Bumper Stumpers (original, new)
5:00pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
September 14, 1987:
12:30pm: Anything for Money (new time)
1:00pm: Gong Show (new time)
1:30pm: All New Let's Make a Deal (new time)
2:00pm: Hot Potato (new time)
2:30pm: Press Your Luck (new)
3:00pm: Play the Percentages (new time)
3:30pm: Jackpot (original, new time)
4:00pm: Bumper Stumpers (original, new time)
4:30pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
October 12, 1987:
12:30pm: Anything for Money
1:00pm: All New Let's Make a Deal (new time)
1:30pm: Play the Percentages (new time)
2:00pm: Hot Potato
2:30pm: Press Your Luck
3:00pm: Tic Tac Dough (new)
3:30pm: Jackpot (original)
4:00pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
4:30pm: Bumper Stumpers (original, new time)
June 27, 1988:
1:00pm: All New Let's Make a Deal
1:30pm: Play the Percentages
2:00pm: Hot Potato
2:30pm: Press Your Luck
3:00pm: Tic Tac Dough
3:30pm: Jackpot (original)
4:00pm: Chain Reaction (original)
4:30pm: Bumper Stumpers (original)
September 19, 1988:
12:00pm: All New Let's Make a Deal (new time)
12:30pm: Play the Percentages (new time)
1:00pm: Hot Potato (new time)
1:30pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
2:00pm: Bumper Stumpers (original, new time)
2:30pm: Jackpot! (original, new time)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck (new time)
3:30pm: Tic Tac Dough (new time)
4:00pm: High Rollers (new)
October 10, 1988:
12:00pm: All New Let's Make a Deal
12:30pm: Play the Percentages
1:00pm: Hot Potato
1:30pm: Chain Reaction (original)
2:00pm: Bumper Stumpers (original)
2:30pm: Jackpot! (original)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck
3:30pm: Tic Tac Dough
4:00pm: High Rollers
4:30pm: $25,000 Pyramid (new)
January 2, 1989:
12:00pm: Hot Potato (new time)
12:30pm: Play the Percentages
1:00pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
1:30pm: Bumper Stumpers (original, new time)
2:00pm: Name that Tune (new)
2:30pm: Face the Music (new)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck
3:30pm: Tic Tac Dough
4:00pm: High Rollers
4:30pm: $25,000 Pyramid
June 26, 1989:
12:00pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
12:30pm: Bumper Stumpers (original, new time)
1:00pm: Name that Tune (new time)
1:30pm: Face the Music (new time)
2:00pm: Press Your Luck (new time)
2:30pm: Tic Tac Dough (new time)
3:00pm: High Rollers (new time)
3:30pm: $25,000 Pyramid (new time)
July 24, 1989:
1:00pm: Name that Tune
1:30pm: Face the Music
2:00pm: Press Your Luck
2:30pm: Tic Tac Dough
3:00pm: High Rollers
3:30pm: $25,000 Pyramid
4:00pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
4:30pm: Bumper Stumpers (original, new time)
September 11, 1989L
12:00pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
12:30pm: Bumper Stumpers (original, new time)
1:00pm: Name That Tune
1:30pm: Wipeout (new)
2:00pm: Tic Tac Dough (new time)
2:30pm: $25,000 Pyramid (new time)
3:00pm: High Rollers
3:30pm: Press Your Luck (new time)
4:00pm: Hollywood Squares (Davidson) (new)
4:30pm: Couch Potatoes (new)
November 6, 1989:
12:00pm: Couch Potatoes (new time)
12:30pm: Name That Tune (new time)
1:00pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
1:30pm: Bumper Stumpers (new time)
2:00pm: Wipeout (new time)
2:30pm: Hollywood Squares (80s) (new time)
3:00pm: Tic Tac Dough (new time)
3:30pm: $25,000 Pyramid (new time)
4:00pm: Press Your Luck (new time)
4:30pm: High Rollers (new time)
March 26, 1990:
12:00pm: Face the Music (returning, new time)
12:30pm: Name That Tune
1:00pm: Chain Reaction (original)
1:30pm: Bumper Stumpers (original)
2:00pm: Wipeout
2:30pm: Hollywood Squares (80s)
3:00pm: Tic Tac Dough
3:30pm: $25,000 Pyramid
4:00pm: Press Your Luck
4:30pm: High Rollers
September 10, 1990:
12:00pm: Face the Music
12:30pm: Name That Tune
1:00pm: Bumper Stumpers (original, new time)
1:30pm: Hot Potato (returning, new time)
2:00pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
2:30pm: Wipeout (new time)
3:00pm: Hollywood Squares (new time)
3:30pm: $25,000 Pyramid
4:00pm: Press Your Luck
4:30pm: High Rollers
September 17, 1990:
12:30pm: Name That Tune
1:00pm: Bumper Stumpers (original, new time)
1:30pm: Hot Potato (returning, new time)
2:00pm: Chain Reaction (original, new time)
2:30pm: Wipeout (new time)
3:00pm: Hollywood Squares (new time)
3:30pm: $25,000 Pyramid
4:00pm: Press Your Luck
4:30pm: High Rollers
December 31, 1990:
1:00pm: Chain Reaction (Original, new time)
1:30pm: Name That Tune (new time)
2:00pm: Wipeout (new time)
2:30pm: Win, Lose, or Draw (Convy) (new)
3:00pm: Hollywood Squares
3:30pm: $25,000 Pyramid
4:00pm: Press Your Luck
4:30pm: High Rollers
September 16, 1991:
2:00pm: Chain Reaction (Original, New time)
2:30pm: Win, Lose, or Draw
3:00pm: Hollywood Squares
3:30pm: Scrabble (new)
4:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid (new time)
4:30pm: Press Your Luck (new time)
December 30, 1991:
2:00pm: The Joker's Wild (1990) (New)
2:30pm: Win, Lose, or Draw
3:00pm: Hollywood Squares
3:30pm: Scrabble (new)
4:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid
4:30pm: Press Your Luck
September 14, 1992:
2:00pm: $ale of the Century (New)
2:30pm: Win, Lose, or Draw
3:00pm: Hollywood Squares
3:30pm: Scrabble
4:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid
4:30pm: Press Your Luck
December 28, 1992:
1:00pm: Hollywood Squares (new time)
1:30pm: $ale of the Century (new time)
2:00pm: Press Your Luck (new time)
2:30pm: Scrabble (new time)
3:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid (new time)
3:30pm: $100,000 Pyramid (new)
January 4, 1993:
1:00pm: Hollywood Squares (Davidson)
1:30pm: $ale of the Century
2:00pm: Press Your Luck
2:30pm: Scrabble
3:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid
3:30pm: $100,000 Pyramid
6:00pm: American Gladiators (new)
March 29, 1993:
1:00pm: Hollywood Squares (Davidson)
1:30pm: $ale of the Century
2:00pm: The Joker's Wild (1990) (returning, new time)
2:30pm: Tic Tac Dough (1990) (New)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck (new time)
3:30pm: Scrabble (new time)
4:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid (new time)
4:30pm: $100,000 Pyramid (new time)
5:00pm: American Gladiators (new time)
June 28, 1993:
10:00am: American Gladiators (new time)
1:00pm: Talk About (New)
1:30pm: $ale of the Century
2:00pm: The Joker's Wild (1990)
2:30pm: Tic Tac Dough (1990)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck
3:30pm: Scrabble
4:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid
4:30pm: $100,000 Pyramid
After Friday, 10/8/93, American Gladiators would disappear from the daily schedule, and from that point forward be a summer-exclusive series.
December 27, 1993:
1:30pm: $ale of the Century
2:00pm: The Joker's Wild (1990)
2:30pm: Tic Tac Dough (1990)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck
3:30pm: Scrabble
4:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid
4:30pm: $100,000 Pyramid
June 27, 1994:
10:00am: American Gladiators (returning)
11:00am: American Gladiators (new time)
1:30pm: Scrabble (New Time)
2:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid (New Time)
2:30pm: $100,000 Pyramid (New Time)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck
3:30pm: $ale of the Century (New Time)
4:00pm: Caesar's Challenge (New)
4:30pm: Scrabble (New Time)
5:00pm: Quicksilver (Original, New)
5:30pm: Free 4 All (Original, New)
At 6.5 hours of game or game adjacent content, this was the fullest the genre ever took over the network's schedule.
July 29, 1994:
10:00am: American Gladiators
11:00am: American Gladiators
1:30pm: Scrabble
2:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid
2:30pm: Free 4 All (Original, New Time)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck
3:30pm: Quicksilver (Original, New Time)
4:00pm: $100,000 Pyramid (New Time)
4:30pm: Caesar's Challenge
September 12, 1994:
12:00pm: Scrabble (New Time)
12:30pm: Caesar's Challenge (New Time)
1:00pm: Quicksilver (Original, New Time)
1:30pm: $100,000 Pyramid (New Time)
2:00pm: $25,000 Pyramid
2:30pm: Free 4 All (Original)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck
3:30pm: Scrabble
November 7, 1994:
2:00pm: $100,000 Pyramid (New Time)
2:30pm: Quicksilver (Origimal, New Time)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck
3:30pm: Scrabble
February 20, 1995:
2:00pm: $100,000 Pyramid
2:30pm: Quicksilver (Original)
March 6, 1995:
2:30pm: Quicksilver (Original)
March 27, 1995:
2:00pm: $100,000 Pyramid (Returns)
2:30pm: Quicksilver (Original)
April 17, 1995:
2:00pm: $100,000 Pyramid
2:30pm: Quicksilver (Original)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck (Returns)
3:30pm: Scrabble (Returns)
June 26, 1995:
9:00am: American Gladiators (Returns, New Time)
10:00am: American Gladiators
2:00pm: $100,000 Pyramid
2:30pm: Quicksilver (Orignal)
3:00pm: Press Your Luck
3:30pm: Scrabble
American Gladiators - and $100K Pyramid were dropped after their 9/8/95 airings. Gladiators would return one more time.
September 11, 1995:
2:00pm: Scrabble (New Time)
2:30pm: Quicksilver
3:00pm: Press Your Luck
3:30pm: Scrabble
October 13, 1995 was the last day for the USA game show block as it had existed for the past decade - but the network wasn't quite through with the genre. Gladiators would survive another year on the network, and the program change *did* give us Love Connection:
October 16, 1995:
2:30pm: Love Connection (New)
3:00pm: Love Connection (New)
3:30pm: Love Connection (New)
Love Connection (and the other featured show, People's Court) typically had studio segments which led to listings soon changing to note 2 episodes spanning the 90 minutes, then from there quickly into just the now structured "USA Live" as USA got that block more firmly off the ground.
June 17, 1996:
1:00pm: USA Live (features Love Connection and debuting original Big Date - along with People's Court) (3 Hour Block)
12:00am: Big Date (original)
12:30am: Love Connection
July 1, 1996:
9:00am: American Gladiators (Returning)
1:00pm: USA Live (features Love Connection and Big Date - along with People's Court) (3 Hour Block)
12:00am: Big Date (original)
12:30am: Love Connection
4:00am: American Gladiators (New Time)
September 9, 1996 ONLY:
9:00am: American Gladiators
1:00pm: USA Live (features Love Connection and Big Date - along with People's Court) (3 Hour Block)
12:00am: Grill Me (Aired/sponsored pilot)
12:30am: Love Connection
4:00am: American Gladiators
(Grill me was a Q&A based around a kitchen with restaurant themed categories - three celebrities players - and a Honda sponsorship that got the thing on the air. Big Date resumed the timeslot the next night.
American Gladiators' last airing was on 9/13/96 - the same time the series also left first run syndication.
September 16, 1996:
1:00pm: USA Live (features Love Connection and Big Date - along with People's Court) (3 Hour Block)
12:00am: Big Date (original)
Love Connection's last airing was on June 6, 1997 as the very last remotely game-adjacent licensed series.
June 9, 1997:
4:00pm: Big Date (original, new time)
4:30pm: Big Date (original, new time)
Big Date ended it's run on September 19, 1997.
The following Monday, the new fall schedule debuted - featuring nothing that could even be remotely considered a game. Four years later, USA *would* put one final relatively traditional game on the schedule.
Smush debuted on December 3, 2001. It was an extremely fun word game hosted by Remote Control's Ken Ober. But USA didn't really have much faith in the show, the ratings didn't really bare out the little faith they did have, and after getting shuffled around to various times (including overnights) the show finally was pulled in June 2002.
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Other notes:
USA ran a mix of daytime and Barris-hosted nighttime Gong.
Speaking of Gong, the combination of it plus Press Your Luck bridge the entire "classic era" of the network's game programming save for a few weeks in Spring '95. USA added Gong in '84, and dropped it for Tic Tac Doug a month after Press Your Luck was added in Fall '87. Press Your Luck lasted all the way to the 1995 end of licensed series (excl. Love Connection and American Gladiators in summer) except...
By the end of 1994, USA was clearly *over* the genre. November 1994 is a fairly clear line in the sand at the exact moment that the games shifted from an integral part of that daypart to just filler. They'd already let Sale lapse over the summer, dropped half of the Scrabble double, Caesar's Challenge, $25K Pyramid and Free 4 All. They dropped the schedule to just four shows, then to two - then just Quicksilver for three weeks, before re-adding first $100K Pyramid then PYL and Scrabble through Spring/Summer '95. That run from 1985-94 is glorious though
Although American Gladiators' run on USA is generally pretty fondly remembered by elder millennials, outside of 1993 in general USA only really used it as a summer series. Don't know if it was ratings or contractual or affiliate complaints, but in 1994-96 the show is given solid slots each summer only to be yanked again once the kids go back to school (and the new season starts in first run)
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GSN started 12/1/94. Coincidence?
Good work!
Now do CBN/FAM. :) :) :)
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Great work! Curious question, any significance to the asterisks next to All-New LMAD and Talk About on the dates they're added to the schedule?
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Great work! Curious question, any significance to the asterisks next to All-New LMAD and Talk About on the dates they're added to the schedule?
None that I committed to enough to be consistent or relevant lol.
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Great work! Curious question, any significance to the asterisks next to All-New LMAD and Talk About on the dates they're added to the schedule?
None that I committed to enough to be consistent or relevant lol.
Fair enough. This list does make me wish my family hadn't waited until 1993 to get cable in our household.
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Other thoughts I'm not pinning to the original because it's unweildy as-is:
Press Your Luck was by far the longest lived show on the channel, running just a hair over 8 years except for a few weeks' break in Spring '95. $25K Pyramid also stuck around relatively forever, running from 10/88 to 11/94.
Scrabble (1991-95) and Sale (1992-94) felt like they ran longer than they actually did. Davidson's Squares was actually on the network schedule the same length of time as Scrabble give or take a few weeks.
A couple of shows FAR eclipsed their original production order: Joker's Wild 90 went six months in first run but got two years (split) on USA; Hot Potato ran six months and got three years (with a break). PYL's 3 years (CBS) vs. 8 (USA) is also quite a lot.
From what I recall reading a while back, the late 80s originals (any of the Canadian co-productions) did 130 shows, rerun the set, new order, rerun - until cancellation. ie: Bumper Stumpers, Jackpot, Chain Reaction. (May be wrong?)
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USA also ran Candid Camera, which you might not consider a game show, but it did have John Bartholomew Tucker, Jo Ann Pflug, Betsy Palmer, studio audiences and fee plugs.
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Impressive cataloguing!
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One of the things I noticed about USA was, with the exception of Bobby Van, they did not show episodes with deceased hosts. No Ludden Liars Club, no Barry TJW. This changed in 1990 when Hot Potato ran one more time that fall.
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Wow, that 1988 lineup really takes me back to my childhood routine.
Summer days always at Grandma's starting with Pinwheel and Little Koala on Nickelodeon, and then that USA game show block. Happy times.
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Wow, that 1988 lineup really takes me back to my childhood routine.
Summer days always at Grandma's starting with Pinwheel and Little Koala on Nickelodeon, and then that USA game show block. Happy times.
Same. We moved in with family in Virginia Beach in fall 1988, and my afternoons coming home from school were spent watching Pyramid and PYL, and imitating the Whammy poses. Nice work, Chelsea.
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Wow; talk about a trip down memory lane through my childhood!
We pretty much had cable since 1985, so I grew up with a lot of these shows, but I never saw a number of them in the 80s like Play the Percentages or Anything for Money because:
-My dad would come home for his lunch breaks and insist on watching Geraldo and the noon news
-My mom would make me take a nap after Tic Tac Dough (that's how I learned how to tell time!)
However, I have extremely fond memories of the 1991-92 lineups, as I remembered watching a lot of those shows in first-run as a really little kid, and the massive lineup in 1994, where I could watch wall-to-wall game shows from 10:00 AM (Price is Right) through 5:00 PM (Free 4 All). I was so disappointed when USA trimmed back their lineup to just an afterthought 2 hours in the afternoons, and I didn't know if I would ever see PYL again in reruns...
I wonder what my younger self, who lived for those game shows on USA, would think about having GSN, followed by Buzzr and streaming apps showing on-demand game shows. Methinks I may not have ever had any social interaction. ;)
\hard to believe that Davidson's Squares has never been rerun since
\\even harder to believe that Scrabble has never been rerun since (but I get optimistic with Buzzr)
Anthony
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This is a kickass catalogue. Thank you.
Re: 1995 with USA Live, I thought TJW 90 preceded People's Court.
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Around 99 or so, USA also had "Strip Poker" and that Ahmed and Dweezil Zappa thing
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Based on this, it was probably late 1993 that I watched the USA block. I would have been three at the time. I have very vague memories of seeing Sale, PYL, Pyramid, and TTD'90.
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By the end of 1994, USA was clearly *over* the genre. November 1994 is a fairly clear line in the sand at the exact moment that the games shifted from an integral part of that daypart to just filler. They'd already let Sale lapse over the summer, dropped half of the Scrabble double, Caesar's Challenge, $25K Pyramid and Free 4 All. They dropped the schedule to just four shows, then to two - then just Quicksilver for three weeks, before re-adding first $100K Pyramid then PYL and Scrabble through Spring/Summer '95. That run from 1985-94 is glorious though
As I recall, Kay Koplovitz was the president of USA Network up until that point, and she was a big fan of game shows. When she retired and the new president came in, his first mission was to phase out the game shows and cartoon reruns. Hence why both were virtually eliminated within a year or so.
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This has turned into the 'misremembered things' thread redux for me. A lot of which are me confusing/overlapping USA and CBN's schedules.
I don't remember USA airing non-90s TTD or TJW at all, and don't remember Bullseye running as long as it did there. And I thought NTT and FTM ran much longer.
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By the end of 1994, USA was clearly *over* the genre. November 1994 is a fairly clear line in the sand at the exact moment that the games shifted from an integral part of that daypart to just filler. They'd already let Sale lapse over the summer, dropped half of the Scrabble double, Caesar's Challenge, $25K Pyramid and Free 4 All. They dropped the schedule to just four shows, then to two - then just Quicksilver for three weeks, before re-adding first $100K Pyramid then PYL and Scrabble through Spring/Summer '95. That run from 1985-94 is glorious though
As I recall, Kay Koplovitz was the president of USA Network up until that point, and she was a big fan of game shows. When she retired and the new president came in, his first mission was to phase out the game shows and cartoon reruns. Hence why both were virtually eliminated within a year or so.
Well, in the new president's defense, wasn't Cartoon Network and Game Show Network just starting up by the time the afternoon game show block and Cartoon Express made their last stops?
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Around 99 or so, USA also had "Strip Poker" and that Ahmed and Dweezil Zappa thing
Happy Hour! It was definitely a different concept- more panel show than actual game, but I definitely would be interested to see someone try this again.
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USA also ran Candid Camera, which you might not consider a game show, but it did have John Bartholomew Tucker, Jo Ann Pflug, Betsy Palmer, studio audiences and fee plugs.
In 1987-88 they aired it right before the game show block as a matter of fact.
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Wow I had no idea that USA briefly got rid of their game shows in February-March of 1995. but then again I was in school at the time. Also I do not remember LC and The Big Date being on after midnight on USA!
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Huh, this fills in a few holes in my ancient memory. I must have been watching USA a lot when I was 4, because for the longest time I remembered a show called Face the Music but basically nothing else other than it looking really old.
On the other end of the spectrum, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever heard of Quicksilver.
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What might be fun is to note which shows aired on both USA AND CBN/FAM. Off the top of my head, there was CR, HP, NTT, FTM, LMAD.
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What might be fun is to note which shows aired on both USA AND CBN/FAM. Off the top of my head, there was CR, HP, NTT, FTM, LMAD.
TTD, Bullseye
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Huh, this fills fills in a few spots in my ancient memory. I must have been watching USA a lot when I was 4, because for the longest time I remembered a show called Face the Music but basically nothing else other than it looking really old.
On the other end of the spectrum, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever heard of Quicksilver.
Quicksilver was rather bland and easy to figure out. Simply pick the answer that seemingly has nothing to do with the first part of the question.
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Wow; talk about a trip down memory lane through my childhood!
We pretty much had cable since 1985, so I grew up with a lot of these shows, but I never saw a number of them in the 80s like Play the Percentages or Anything for Money because:
-My dad would come home for his lunch breaks and insist on watching Geraldo and the noon news
-My mom would make me take a nap after Tic Tac Dough (that's how I learned how to tell time!)
However, I have extremely fond memories of the 1991-92 lineups, as I remembered watching a lot of those shows in first-run as a really little kid, and the massive lineup in 1994, where I could watch wall-to-wall game shows from 10:00 AM (Price is Right) through 5:00 PM (Free 4 All). I was so disappointed when USA trimmed back their lineup to just an afterthought 2 hours in the afternoons, and I didn't know if I would ever see PYL again in reruns...
I wonder what my younger self, who lived for those game shows on USA, would think about having GSN, followed by Buzzr and streaming apps showing on-demand game shows. Methinks I may not have ever had any social interaction. ;)
\hard to believe that Davidson's Squares has never been rerun since
\\even harder to believe that Scrabble has never been rerun since (but I get optimistic with Buzzr)
Anthony
I was the same way. I did watch USA game shows as,a toddler but my parents divorced in 1990 and we went to live with my grand,mother in Alabama and she did not have cable and my mom dumped me in Daycare. Also, when i was with my dad he lived with his mother and I vaguely remember her having cable but the adults would not let me watch the block from start to finish and I resented that and kinda to this day. The summer before i started kindergarden though when my mom and i moved to town and hsd a house with cable i got more freedom.