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Alternate realities when it comes to game shows
Adam Nedeff:
--- Quote from: chris319 on June 20, 2023, 11:06:46 PM ---I'm not sure exactly when Brockman departed NBC.
--- End quote ---
Fall of 1980. The David Letterman Show was 100% a Fred Silverman baby, and when it failed, Brockman got shoved HARD under that bus.
danderson:
On that front, what happens if Wheel gets the boot and not Chain Reaction, does NBC move CR to after Letterman?
tyshaun1:
--- Quote from: Adam Nedeff on June 20, 2023, 07:41:01 PM ---So, in all the years that we've been tape trading, have you noticed that a TON of unsold pilots were shot in 1990?
Michael Brockman was in charge of ABC at that point and he made it known that he wanted to dump Home and make 10:30 am-12:30 pm a two-hour block of game shows. A bunch of those 1990 pilots were shot for ABC's consideration. Brockman was shown the door right before he brought this to fruition. Considering that the network game shows were starting to die at this point, I'm curious to know what would have happened if ABC had unleashed four new game shows in the fall of 1990. No difference? Ratings dilution because of all the syndicated game shows along with the ABC block? A few hits are in there and the life of network games gets extended a little bit?
--- End quote ---
IMO, none of those pilots I've seen (TKO, Body Talk, Gambit, Match Game) were particularly strong so I believe none of them would've lasted very long even if they made air; Match Game did but it struggled the entire time it was on. But Brockman himself says that he encountered HEAVY pushback from ABC execs and affiliates from wanting to give game shows another go. They seemed to resign themselves to nothing working before the soaps and him expending so much energy toward investing money into the genre probably hastened his demise.
chris319:
--- Quote ---Brockman himself says that he encountered HEAVY pushback from ABC execs and affiliates from wanting to give game shows another go. They seemed to resign themselves to nothing working before the soaps and him expending so much energy toward investing money into the genre probably hastened his demise.
--- End quote ---
Little wonder. Daytime game shows were always dogged by undesirable demos.
The failed pilot "On a Roll" supports the notion that Goodson was running on fumes by then. How about another revival of To Tell the Truth?
Add to that "Star Words" which had a glaring problem in judging right out of the gate. Contestant responds with "another woman" and it is deemed not to match "infidelity" and right away Patty Duke Astin voices her objection which is left in the tape, leaving Nipsey to tap dance and explain it away with a six-egg omelette on his face.
chrisholland03:
My favorite parts of Star Words were:
1) The dance segments
2) The Tootsie Walking Girl theme
3) Watching the set pieces glide in
My partner says On a Roll felt like a SNL parody of Wheel of Fortune.
In an alternate reality:
Match Game and Tattletales remain at 3:30pm/4:00pm and run through 1982 when they're finally cancelled. There is no Tattletales v2, and no syndicated Match Game.
Hollywood Squares remains at 11:30am and runs through 1982 when it's finally cancelled. There is no syndicated Hollywood Squares
MG/HS hour still happens a few months later because NBC.
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