The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => Game Show Channels & Networks => Topic started by: combsisthebest on November 16, 2003, 12:15:09 PM
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Has anyone here seen GSN from its early year 95, 96, or even during its first day or first week?
If you have what was the station like?
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This is "a can of worms", but I've read it was pretty good, and programming was 24/7 WITHOUT informercials. I'm not sure if it was on here or the ezboards, but somebody had the very first schedule of GSN, and it looked pretty sharp.
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Take a look at:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=first+sc....aol.com&rnum=2 (http://\"http://groups.google.com/groups?q=first+schedule+group:alt.tv.game-shows.*&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&group=alt.tv.game-shows.*&selm=20010627022642.12394.00000424%40ng-fr1.aol.com&rnum=2\")
It has the first schedule as posted in June '01 on ATGS. Looks like an interesting schedule to me!
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When GSN came out, I was only a little over a year removed from HS and still had ties to the place. So, using those ties, I had one of my old teachers tape GSN for me when the satellite dish wasn't being used by the school.
I like what GSN has to offer now, but the station was infinitely better back then - more of a selection from the G-T library, and less repeats of shows. There were no speedups, no split-screen credits, and at first, no bug.
There was one thing in the early days, though - very little sponorship. What filled time between shows were commercials for (who else?) Sony, a lot of PSA's, and some GS personalities reflecting (i.e. Gene Rayburn talking about Match Game, Richard Dawson talking about Match Game, etc..) So you saw a lot of the same stuff inbetween the shows.
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Does anyone have screen grabs that they can post online from early GSN? From what I am hearing the old GSN had its pluses and negative as does the current GSN, correct?
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[quote name=\'combsisthebest\' date=\'Nov 16 2003, 04:05 PM\'] Does anyone have screen grabs that they can post online from early GSN? From what I am hearing the old GSN had its pluses and negative as does the current GSN, correct? [/quote]
No. It was the perfect thing, brought down to us mere mortals by God himself.
_Everything_ has plusses and minuses.
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Does anyone have screen grabs that they can post online from early GSN?
Yes. Maybe I'll post clips of early GSN promos and such.
Eventually.
--Jamie
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Fiono Coyne\' date=\'Nov 16 2003, 11:50 PM\']
Does anyone have screen grabs that they can post online from early GSN?
Yes. Maybe I'll post clips of early GSN promos and such.
Eventually.
--Jamie [/quote]
Don't bother, you'll just get bogged down with requests for more; although I appreciate it.
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The graphics were more primitive as well and the GSN symbol you see today didn't exist yet. Instead it was just a plain text with it's old mascot "Winnine" on the left. The main theme of the show was a roulette wheel with some curtains and words spining "CASH" and "PRIZES" it also had a very jazzy commercial theme.
Am I the only one who think those grahpics were much cooler than today's graphics ?
-Joe R.
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I loved GSN in its first few years. From 1994-98 it was great. Yes Joe, I agree that the "winnie" graphic was better than what they have today! GSN had more of a "warmer" feel to it back then, with "Club AM", "Prime Games" and "Wide World of Games" regularly seen on the schedule. Although they had no sponsors in the beginning, I kind of liked the spots where stars talked about their old shows, or the "Mr Hostman" commercials - they were neat!
True, they did air more of GT, but they also weren't afraid to go into the vault. The "Game of the Week" featured such shows as Art Fleming's 2000th "Jeopardy" and Bill Cullen's "Eye Guess". Stuff like that you just wouldn't see on the network today.
I may be in the minority, but I personally felt they used too much GT product in the beginning. Only three hours of the schedule were given to the other libraries they had - Barris, B&E, Griffin. I would have liked to have seen more B&E right off the bat - that's why I really enjoyed what some people refer to as "The Dark Period" - at least it gave us a chance to see some of the "other stuff" for a while.
GSN was my most-watched channel for its first five years and I really miss those days. It's just not the same as it was then...
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[quote name=\'JRaygor\' date=\'Nov 17 2003, 01:39 AM\'] The graphics were more primitive as well and the GSN symbol you see today didn't exist yet. Instead it was just a plain text with it's old mascot "Winnine" on the left. The main theme of the show was a roulette wheel with some curtains and words spining "CASH" and "PRIZES" it also had a very jazzy commercial theme.
[/quote]
I could be wrong, but I think I saw a clip of that specific promo in "The Cable Guy." Not sure, but was the background a goldish-brown color?
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Nov 17 2003, 03:17 PM\'] I could be wrong, but I think I saw a clip of that specific promo in "The Cable Guy." Not sure, but was the background a goldish-brown color? [/quote]
Yep, you're correct. GSN used to have that color seqence, there were some Blues and Greens thrown-in as well.
Also, GSN was a more "Live" channel. With the infamous phone-in games and live interactive events. Peter Tomarken, Ray Combs and Gene Wood were very involved with GSN's early days as well.
-Joe R.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Nov 16 2003, 05:45 PM\'] [quote name=\'combsisthebest\' date=\'Nov 16 2003, 04:05 PM\'] Does anyone have screen grabs that they can post online from early GSN? From what I am hearing the old GSN had its pluses and negative as does the current GSN, correct? [/quote]
No. It was the perfect thing, brought down to us mere mortals by God himself.
_Everything_ has plusses and minuses. [/quote]
Sry. Let me rephrase that. What were the plusses and minuses of the old GSN?
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Ray Combs
Was he just doing promos?
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 07:28 AM\']
Ray Combs
Was he just doing promos? [/quote]
He and RIchard Dawson hosted a Family Feud salute on Thanksgiving 1995(repeated on Thanksgiving 1996 IIRC). Dawson's segments from that 1995 marathon were shown on THanksgiving 2000 as part of a Feud marathon.
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 09:07 AM\'] [quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 07:28 AM\']
Ray Combs
Was he just doing promos? [/quote]
He and RIchard Dawson hosted a Family Feud salute on Thanksgiving 1995(repeated on Thanksgiving 1996 IIRC). Dawson's segments from that 1995 marathon were shown on THanksgiving 2000 as part of a Feud marathon. [/quote]
I take it they weren't sitting together?
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 08:28 AM\']
Ray Combs
Was he just doing promos? [/quote]
Pretty much, yeah. In fact, of the three people Joe mentioned, only Peter Tomarken was "very involved" in those early days. Gene Wood showed up for interviews and special segments occasionally (and did some announcing for them, of course). I honestly don't remember Combs doing any more than the same sorts of promos they got just about every game show personality to do, but he may have made some other contribution I don't recall.
Basically, their three original on-air personalities were Tomarken, Laura Chambers and Steve Day. Tomarken hosted the phone-in games they played in between classics in prime time, and Chambers & Day handled the daytime hours.
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[quote name=\'combsisthebest\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 03:44 AM\'] Sry. Let me rephrase that. What were the plusses and minuses of the old GSN? [/quote]
The biggest plus was its very existence. For the first time, you could watch dozens of different classic shows going all the way back to the early fifties and into the seventies and eighties. Up until that time, a collector might have owned a couple dozen episodes from Shokus, and a few grainy seventies shows if you happened to know someone who knew Bob Boden. ATGS was just starting to hit its stride about that time too, so it was a very exciting time to be a classic game show fan.
The biggest minus, by far, was the original content. Those call-in games like "Decades" and "Race for the Numbers" had no imagination to them at all, and slightly more ambitions efforts like "Trivia Track" were just laughably bad. Frankly, all the original programming on GSN the first couple of years had a claustrophobic, low-budget feel to it. (Their studio was just about the size of a decent walk-in closet.)
The station was extremely hard to get. Most of us had to pick it up on the BIG satellite receivers. I always had the feeling that there were maybe a few dozen of us watching at any given moment. And believe me, it wasn't hard to get through on their call-in programs! One of my favorite moments was getting to talk to William Windom, one of my favorite character actors (and someone with only a tenuous connection to game shows).
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 09:52 AM\'] One of my favorite moments was getting to talk to William Windom, one of my favorite character actors (and someone with only a tenuous connection to game shows). [/quote]
William Windom? Man that channel always gets happening stars on it.
He did do a week of SUper Password in 1986.
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 10:55 AM\'] He did do a week of Super Password in 1986. [/quote]
And believe me, they showed a clip from it. But WE got to talk about his interest in James Thurber, and the fact that I got to see him perform his one-man show when he toured college campuses back in the early eighties.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 10:02 AM\'] But WE got to talk about his interest in James Thurber, and the fact that I got to see him perform his one-man show when he toured college campuses back in the early eighties. [/quote]
And for those who didn't know, Windom starred in the Thurber-based "My World and Welcome To It" in the late 60s. An excellent show that only lasted one year; those are the type of shows I'd love to see on some channel. Hello, Trio?
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 10:28 AM\']
And for those who didn't know, Windom starred in the Thurber-based "My World and Welcome To It" in the late 60s. An excellent show that only lasted one year; those are the type of shows I'd love to see on some channel. Hello, Trio? [/quote]
Cable networks seem to be going for more recent shows these days, the odds of something that's 20+ years old being added to a rerun schedule seem to be much less these days. Case in point: GSN is acquiring more recent stuff like Millionaire rather than stuff not seen in years as of late. If any network would air "My World......", Trio would probably be it.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 06:34 AM\'] [quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 08:28 AM\']
Ray Combs
Was he just doing promos? [/quote]
Pretty much, yeah. In fact, of the three people Joe mentioned, only Peter Tomarken was "very involved" in those early days. Gene Wood showed up for interviews and special segments occasionally (and did some announcing for them, of course). I honestly don't remember Combs doing any more than the same sorts of promos they got just about every game show personality to do, but he may have made some other contribution I don't recall.
Basically, their three original on-air personalities were Tomarken, Laura Chambers and Steve Day. Tomarken hosted the phone-in games they played in between classics in prime time, and Chambers & Day handled the daytime hours. [/quote]
I remember seeing on the E!THS of Ray Combs that he and Laura were sitting together. So I'm guessing that he was on Laura's show at one time.
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slightly more ambitious efforts like "Trivia Track" were just laughably bad.
The only thing I liked about Trivia Track was its theme music. Anyone know where I can get a clean copy of that?
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. And believe me, it wasn't hard to get through on their call-in programs! One of my favorite moments was getting to talk to William Windom, one of my favorite character actors (and someone with only a tenuous connection to game shows).
For sure. Shortly after it went on the air I was watching around noon, and Steve and Laura suggested people to call in if they wanted to talk to them. I called, a spoke to a very nice gentleman (don't know his name) and they decided to put me on the air. They talked to me on the air for three minutes straight, right before the 12:30 "Match Game" they had at the time. Afterwards, they sent me a "thank you" card with Peter Tomarken's, Steve Day's and Laura Chamber's signatures, and a "winnie" pin.
I've still got those three minutes on tape!!
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I remember seeing on the E!THS of Ray Combs that he and Laura were sitting together. So I'm guessing that he was on Laura's show at one time.
Ray filled in for Steve Day on Club AM/Late Night Games.
Other fill-ins were Johnny Gilbert, Gene Wood, Charlie O'Donnell, Burton Richardson, and Betsy Palmer.
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Ray filled in for Steve Day on Club AM/Late Night Games.
Other fill-ins were Johnny Gilbert, Gene Wood, Charlie O'Donnell, Burton Richardson, and Betsy Palmer.
Oh, I almost wish this topic wasn't posted. Just hearing about all this good
stuff which has long gone by the wayside has me on the verge of weeping
openly in the halls.
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On the other hand, back when the network debuted, we would have been THRILLED to see original programming of the quality of Cram, Friend or Foe or Russian Roulette. And frankly, at the time, a lot of the live talk show stuff was pretty lame.
As I've said before, nostalgia isn't what it used to be. It's nice to think back (or imagine back) to some vague "golden age" of GSN, but people were pointing out its shortcomings back then too.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Nov 19 2003, 05:59 PM\'] And frankly, at the time, a lot of the live talk show stuff was pretty lame.
[/quote]
I'm sure I wasn't the only one who pressed their fast-forward button on their GSN tapes then...:-)
Although oddly enough, when I finally *did* get GSN thanks to Dish Network in '96, I enjoyed the live segments...
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The only thing I liked about Trivia Track was its theme music. Anyone know where I can get a clean copy of that?
Don't know, but it was actually stock music that I recall hearing a year or 2 later in a promo for Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reruns on NY's WPIX (Ch. 11).
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")
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I have the First day of GSN on tape..It looked pretty good for 1994.
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I kinda remember when GSN first came out. When I was at the Grocery Store with my mom in 3rd grade. They sold Orbit Magazines, and I have seen Advertisements for GSN. I remember a year later, when I went with my mom, and her then-boyfriend to drop his daughter off to see her mother in Mobile. We stopped by a good friend of my mom's boyfriend's house, and he had a sattelite and I noticed it in the grid. Christmas 1995, my grandmother bought me a Sattelite Dish to keep at her house (A Primestar which Directv bought out in 2000.) Since I wanted GSN, plus she lived out in the boondocks in Alabama. But I noticed that GSN was not availible yet. We didn't get it until 1997, when the Dark Period rolled around. (Well, we actually got it in June 1997, when they were still airing G-T shows.) I watched GSN 24/7 when it first came out. But now, I watch a lot more then GSN. I woke up to GSN, and I went to bed to GSN when it first came out. So, I would like to get some GSN tapes, from 1994-1997, when Club AM, and Prime Games, and all came out.
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[quote name=\'Jamey Greek\' date=\'Dec 7 2003, 10:11 PM\'] I kinda remember when GSN first came out. When I was at the Grocery Store with my mom in 3rd grade. They sold Orbit Magazines, and I have seen Advertisements for GSN. I remember a year later, when I went with my mom, and her then-boyfriend to drop his daughter off to see her mother in Mobile. We stopped by a good friend of my mom's boyfriend's house, and he had a sattelite and I noticed it in the grid. Christmas 1995, my grandmother bought me a Sattelite Dish to keep at her house (A Primestar which Directv bought out in 2000.) Since I wanted GSN, plus she lived out in the boondocks in Alabama. But I noticed that GSN was not availible yet. We didn't get it until 1997, when the Dark Period rolled around. (Well, we actually got it in June 1997, when they were still airing G-T shows.) I watched GSN 24/7 when it first came out. But now, I watch a lot more then GSN. I woke up to GSN, and I went to bed to GSN when it first came out. So, I would like to get some GSN tapes, from 1994-1997, when Club AM, and Prime Games, and all came out. [/quote]
I really, really, hope that you didn't actually watch GSN 24/7. If so, you really need to consider turning off the boob tube, and say...open your front door?
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[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Dec 8 2003, 12:41 PM\'] [quote name=\'Jamey Greek\' date=\'Dec 7 2003, 10:11 PM\'] I kinda remember when GSN first came out. When I was at the Grocery Store with my mom in 3rd grade. They sold Orbit Magazines, and I have seen Advertisements for GSN. I remember a year later, when I went with my mom, and her then-boyfriend to drop his daughter off to see her mother in Mobile. We stopped by a good friend of my mom's boyfriend's house, and he had a sattelite and I noticed it in the grid. Christmas 1995, my grandmother bought me a Sattelite Dish to keep at her house (A Primestar which Directv bought out in 2000.) Since I wanted GSN, plus she lived out in the boondocks in Alabama. But I noticed that GSN was not availible yet. We didn't get it until 1997, when the Dark Period rolled around. (Well, we actually got it in June 1997, when they were still airing G-T shows.) I watched GSN 24/7 when it first came out. But now, I watch a lot more then GSN. I woke up to GSN, and I went to bed to GSN when it first came out. So, I would like to get some GSN tapes, from 1994-1997, when Club AM, and Prime Games, and all came out. [/quote]
I really, really, hope that you didn't actually watch GSN 24/7. If so, you really need to consider turning off the boob tube, and say...open your front door? [/quote]
Oh! I got out of the house too! Like for instance When I was living in Florida, and visiting my Grandmother, I would go see my Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. Plus, I would go out to eat with my grandmother. But still, I woke up to GSN, and went to bed to GSN.
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I began seeing GSN somewhat regularly when Comcast added it to its Eatontown system sometime in 1996. This was when my cable system was not yet acquired by Comcast, and it took some doing for Adelphia to add GSN, which they finally did on April 15, 1998. At one time, GSN was Channel 19 on the Comcast system.
But we did see snippets of the channel from tapes fed to us by Dave Hammett, who also sent us a copy of a "Club AM" call-in segment in which Steve Day spoke the names of both Mackey brothers, live and on TV. The current GSN would never do that. There was also at one time a streaming Internet feed of GSN, which was soon discontinued when someone found out people were actually watching it.
Of course, the last shred of interactivity (besides the interactive games) was "Extreme Gong." The producers read the old alt.tv.game-shows and although we were made fun of there, it made for some good television the night George Gray was asked to display a vacuum cleaner hose on the air... and... well, we'll let George himself finish the story...
WD-40
It was actually all a coincidence that I carried a
vaccuum hose :)
You had to ask for somtin' weird like that didn't you,
you bastard? Do you know how hard that was?
......actually, every day our props person Donna gives
me something cool to have for the show (my one tip of
the hat to dear Mr. Barris). I told her no one would
believe that this new idiot on line "extremeg" was me
unless I had a damn hose......she had that sucker (she
took it off a real vaccuum at the studio) in less than
5 minutes! Donna rocks!
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[quote name=\'davemackey\' date=\'Dec 11 2003, 05:30 PM\'] I began seeing GSN somewhat regularly when Comcast added it to its Eatontown system sometime in 1996. This was when my cable system was not yet acquired by Comcast, and it took some doing for Adelphia to add GSN, which they finally did on April 15, 1998. At one time, GSN was Channel 19 on the Comcast system.
But we did see snippets of the channel from tapes fed to us by Dave Hammett, who also sent us a copy of a "Club AM" call-in segment in which Steve Day spoke the names of both Mackey brothers, live and on TV. The current GSN would never do that. There was also at one time a streaming Internet feed of GSN, which was soon discontinued when someone found out people were actually watching it.
Of course, the last shred of interactivity (besides the interactive games) was "Extreme Gong." The producers read the old alt.tv.game-shows and although we were made fun of there, it made for some good television the night George Gray was asked to display a vacuum cleaner hose on the air... and... well, we'll let George himself finish the story...
WD-40
It was actually all a coincidence that I carried a
vaccuum hose :)
You had to ask for somtin' weird like that didn't you,
you bastard? Do you know how hard that was?
......actually, every day our props person Donna gives
me something cool to have for the show (my one tip of
the hat to dear Mr. Barris). I told her no one would
believe that this new idiot on line "extremeg" was me
unless I had a damn hose......she had that sucker (she
took it off a real vaccuum at the studio) in less than
5 minutes! Donna rocks!
[/quote]
Ah, yes, the infamous Extreme Gong incident, which sent the whole ATGS community up in arms, as if their reputation was truly tarnished.
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Dec 11 2003, 07:13 PM\'] Ah, yes, the infamous Extreme Gong incident, which sent the whole ATGS community up in arms, as if their reputation was truly tarnished. [/quote]
I have to admit I still snicker whenever I see a Scott Satin-produced show take a dive. :)
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it was great from dec.94- 2/97 there was lots of Tomarken live on his show decades then