And my annual reaction...why? This has always struck me as the oddest GSN promotion. Two weeks in the middle of the night completely outside of their target demographic, and almost always well-worn reruns, most of which have made their way to YouTube. Who is demanding this?
Back a few years ago, this very thing came up. At the time, myself, Curt Alliaume, and Adam Nedeff were discussing that at one point, CBS owned WML and IGAS outright, and then Garry Moore wound up with the rights to both as part of a later deal. Garry eventually sold out (to the parent company of Dannon Yogurt among others)
The discussion kind of petered off, but I have a semblance of an idea:
tl;dr: My educated guess is that Fremantle and Sony have a deal where GSN agrees to air them to meet a contractual requirement and gets consideration in return. Fast forward fifteen years from Garry Moore retiring. It's 1992-93. Jonathan Goodson's taken over dad's company and is working with Sony on the launch of GSN (first as a partner, then as a licensor). Also debating selling, but that's neither here nor there. The person handling the lion's share of the clearance work for the Goodson end of the GSN project is known - former daytime TV boss Michael Brockman. Here's two of Goodson's most successful shows from the 50s-60s (and in WML's case into the mid 70s). Brockman has talked on the record about the sheer clearance hell that the panel shows (and Tattletales specifically) were just from dealing with AFTRA, but he's doing the work.
WML and IGAS are perfect crown jewels for the launch of the network, and the classic shows haven't been since they went off aside from a handful of so-called 'public domain' prints on low-power stations that no one even watches. And then they realize there's a problem.
What the hell do you mean we don't even own them?. they have thousands of Kinescopes (50s/60s) and Tapes (WML Syndie, IGAS 72) and apparently *see above*.
GSN wants the shows. Mark Goodson Productions wants the shows. Through mergers, ConAgra now owns the rights. A deal is struck after they find someone at ConAgra who knows what they're talking about...and GSN is party to the deal. Whether because at this point it's still in the Sony/Goodson partnership stages or because they're the planned network of broadcast. Mark Goodson Productions and it's successors gets WML and IGAS back...but with a catch. These are intended for this new Game Show Network, right?
Okay, fine. Game Show Network has to air them. Such a deal would likely also set a minimum number. Nothing obscene, say, ten. Television changes, maybe the shows eventually get downgraded to weekends or once a week, but each show has to air at least ten times.
IGAS and WML broadcast rights get included in the deal between Mark Goodson Productions and Sony/GSN, and they set about airing the show. Which they do at first, no problem. Up through 1997, no issue. Aside from the side deal for Price and Feud '94, their master library deal with Goodson (now All-American) expires in 1997, but they're covered for that year...and by the time the calendar flips to 1998, All-American's been bought by Pearson, who is plenty ready to take Sony's cash. 1998 is covered off easily, even with the B&W shows now relegated to Sunday (originally in a multiple-hour block).
Take a very close look at old Black and White Sunday Night listings from the one hour era (1999ish to 2001) once it contracts sometime if you can find them. What turns up almost weekly? WML. What is generally the most common second show? IGAS [with TTTT, PW, and the rest making up the balance]. Obligation met. Eventually the B&W shows go to overnight, no issue. Back to Sunday late night, and again, WML as the anchor show, and while the second slot now rotates in non-schedule color shows, guess what still turns up a lot: Both IGAS B&W and IGAS '72. Back to weekdays again, and they started with...WML and IGAS. There's a clearly discernable pattern with the way GSN aired B&W shows from the day the network signed on until the end of 2008.
And then in 2009, GSN lets their library lease of the Goodson shows sunset for good. And while WML would be covered for that year, there's a problem. IGAS hasn't aired at all yet. It's been over fifteen years since that contract was negotiated, and if I'm right and the rights were contingent on airing the show, Fremantle has a massive problem. And will have one for WML in 2010.
But GSN is still licensing individual shows, and that's where the Christmas stunt comes in. Two weeks a year, five days a week. 10 episodes. Always WML and IGAS because that's what this is about. GSN runs ten episodes of their choosing of those series, and in exchange, GSN gets....and I suspect that what GSN gets has likely changed over time. My best guess is the current deal is likely "do whatever tf you want with Match Game, but air these twenty panel show episodes in December.". It's still worth GSN's time, and in exchange for a frankly oversaturated series but one that has name value, Fremantle get to keep the rights to IGAS and WML (the syndicated version of the latter has been a fixture of the Buzzr schedule for several years, and both B&W versions have done rotations on the schedule, albeit a fairly limited # of episodes.)
And all parties involved know that if the rights revert back to
ConAgra, in the year 2026, that they're never seeing either show again until they hit public domain for real. (Hell, Amazon has an entire media arm and yet the MGM-owned game shows are all presumed MIA with the possible exception of Nighttime Marshall HS - yes, including the Davidson version.). GSN gives up two hours a week on the ass end of their schedule, Fremantle gets to keep two of it's IPs.
Because so much of it is out there, it's easy to take for granted the notion of the two shows airing. But I highly suspect that without this weird-ass programming quirk that WML and IGAS could disappear outright for some time. Imagine a color episode of the CBS version finally turning up and no-one can air it.
Within that bound, GSN likes to give the programming a purpose since they still select the episodes. Theming. Homage to dead celebrities. "Hey let's show a Christmas IGAS on Christmas.". Another, "David Schwartz really wanted to air this". (Confirmed by Adam four years ago). The reasons vary over time but GSN runs the show, gets their consideration, and Fremantle retains the rights since the deal all those decades ago is satisfied another year.
