Why This ABC Password Survived

[Eric Paddon]

Recalling how that the only surviving episode of "Winning Streak" likely was spared because it had originally been pre-empted for news coverage of the Nixon resignation it occurred to me that that might well be a similar reason as to why this episode of "Password" was spared.

And a powerful case for this can be found in the date 10/23/73.    On that day, in the wake of the "Saturday Night Massacre", Richard Nixon agreed to turn over the Watergate tapes to the judge presiding over the case after resisting for some time.     ABC aired a late night prime-time special on the story but it's likely that if Nixon made the announcement earlier in the day (and it was covered on the regular evening news) then some markets likely had "Password" pre-empted that day and thus, the tape found itself spared.

[Jimmy Owen]

Nixon wasn't so bad after all!

[Jay Temple]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'131158\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 08:14 PM\']
Nixon wasn't so bad after all!
[/quote]
Funny you should say that. The Rams' home opener aired locally only because Claire McCaskill, a candidate for U.S. Senate, bought about 100 tickets, putting it over the threshhold needed. With as many pre-emptions as politicians have caused over the years, it's nice to see one doing something to ensure that a program does air.

[aaron sica]

Makes a lot of sense, Eric. You may have something there.

The way the networks handled daytime for Watergate was always fascinating to me...

[mmb5]

Bingo.  All the networks covered it at noon.  Now we need to find the Jeopardy, WWWG and Split Second episodes that were also pre-empted.


--Mike

[Matt Ottinger]

I'm being told by someone inside GSN that the episode comes from 1971 and was dubbed from the 2" air master.  What does that do to the theories?

October 23rd would have been several months into the run of Match Game '73 and Brett became a regular pretty early on.  Was ANY mention made of Match Game?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'131217\' date=\'Sep 12 2006, 12:25 AM\']
What does that do to the theories?
[/quote]
It depends on whether someone was on the grassy knoll.

/Magic episode, perhaps?

[Eric Paddon]

Hmm, I've gone back to the newspaperarchive.com website which is the only on-line resource I can consult for guest info on game shows (spottier when you get to the 70s) and it does indeed appear that the episode is from either December 1971 or June 1973 since a search engine reveals only those two time frames for them appearing on Password in the TV listings.    So indeed, so much for that theory!

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'131217\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 11:25 PM\']
October 23rd would have been several months into the run of Match Game '73 and Brett became a regular pretty early on.  Was ANY mention made of Match Game?
[/quote]

No, and I specifically listened out for one.  Plus she didn't act anything like her Match Game persona which leads me to believe she hadn't appeared on the show yet or perhaps it hadn't even premiered.

[Allstar87]

I did a bit of poking around the ABC Password page, and now I'm also beginning to think that the episode may have come from 1971.

The only week in 1971 that Jack & Brett appeared on together was Dec. 6-10. At the beginning of the show, Allen made a slight reference to the Password ep. of "The Odd Couple". He said something to Jack along the lines of "Is Brett a better game player than Tony Randall?" That episode of Odd Couple aired on Dec. 1, 1971...just a week before. The episode would be fresh in everyone's minds, and it would make more sense to make a reference to a recent episode of Odd Couple than one from two years prior.

[Jimmy Owen]

According to back issues of TV Guide, they appeared the aformentioned Dec 6-10/71 and Oct 22-26/73, so without the GSN confirmation, the theory would have held water.  Now, just what happened on 12/7/71?

[Eric Paddon]

A 30th anniversary Pearl Harbor special?

[TwoInchQuad]

Well, I'll go along with the revised date-- given the nature of the patter between the Klugmans and Allen, it's pretty obvious that this was one of their first appearances on the show, which means it has to be December of 1971.  The halfway reference to the recent "Odd Couple" Password ep, and Allen's stumbling intro of Dr. Stockwell would all seem to bear that out, too.

My apologies for the initial incorrect dating-- I had been checking the ABC Password pages as well, and somehow just managed to thoroughly miss the December '71 appearance by Jack & Brett.

-Kevin

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'TwoInchQuad\' post=\'131234\' date=\'Sep 12 2006, 02:26 AM\']
My apologies for the initial incorrect dating-- I had been checking the ABC Password pages as well, and somehow just managed to thoroughly miss the December '71 appearance by Jack & Brett.
[/quote]

Have we figured out a day of the week yet?  It's apparently not Monday as they've already played at least once, and it's apparently not Friday as they told us to tune in tomorrow.  I'm leaning toward Wednesday?

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'131228\' date=\'Sep 12 2006, 12:53 AM\']
According to back issues of TV Guide, they appeared the aformentioned Dec 6-10/71 and Oct 22-26/73, so without the GSN confirmation, the theory would have held water.  [/quote]

Keep in mind, TV Guide back issues from back then are notoriously unreliable for game show celebrity listings.  Newspapers are actually more reliable.  I found that out the hard way when I started compiling my Hollywood Squares celebrity list.  TV Guide needed more publication lead time than the newspapers, so it was more likely a guest would cancel after they went to press.