Match Game 77's ill-fated move to 11 AM

[Ian Wallis]

Oh, it was indeed a failure x. The difference between the two is that MG had equity from past success and of course Goodson’s clout.  Ralph Edwards was struggling with network shows that year (Kennedy Tune worker no better than Dennis’ version) and my understanding is that as a host Arte was not that well-liked.  So with nothing good to crow about they were deemed expendable, especially when Woody was able to con them into America Alive

I remember America Alive quite well.  It was seen at Noon (Eastern) starting in the summer of 1978.  Big things were expected of it and the producers thought viewers would be impressed that they're jumping all over the country and it was "live".  Trouble is, what they were doing wasn't very interesting.  I remember a TV Guide blurb from early fall 1978 stating NBC was losing a lot of money on it but they weren't ready to give up on it.  They tried to retool the show to make it more interesting, but it didn't work and was gone by January 1979.

AFAIK, there's only one episode that exists - one with Lucille Ball taking questions from the UCLA theatre arts class.

At least it did have a kick-ass theme song (written by Don Costa) - one that I'd love to get in the clear - but it just doesn't seem to be out there.

[aaron sica]

I always thought it was quite odd for NBC to schedule an hour show at noon. By then, some stations were starting to do news at noon. Looking at old TV listings, this was the scenario for this show in four markets:

Lancaster (WGAL) - Carried only the first half hour. Jumped out for "Noonday on 8" at 12:30.
Washington (WRC) - Carried the entire hour.
Philadelphia (KYW) - Had news at noon, joined in progress for the second half hour at 12:30 (until September when it carried the Group W "Everyday" show at 3, and moved "Another World" to 12:30)
Baltimore (WGAL) - Had news at noon and opted instead for "Bewitched" reruns at 12:30.