The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Jamey Greek on February 07, 2004, 04:25:54 PM
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I've got a 1991 "Fall Preview" TV Guide and It mentioned in 1991 that Scrabble was to be revived in 1991 for USA Network with Steve Edwards as host. Could someone confirm that?
Jamey Greek
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It never happened -- a new run of Scrabble was considered for USA, but apparently, the show never went into production, with USA showing only the repeats of the NBC series.
A new, short-lived Scrabble did surface on NBC in 1993, with Wollery as host.
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[quote name=\'rugrats1\' date=\'Feb 7 2004, 03:32 PM\'] Wollery. [/quote]
TTD '90 room. Now. :)
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actually....the Scrabble revival with Steve was "this close" to syndication...before getting pulled at the last moment... NBC buying the Chuck 93 show may have had something to do with this...but for weeks, Broadcasting Cable magazine ran trade ads, complete with pix with Steve hosting....IIRC, it's the newer set...
Another IIRC, TV Guide's Fall Preview listed Scrabble joining USA with Steve Edwards...though it was Chuck reruns that were actually aired....
As for Steve still churning along in syndication on GDLive, he's the only good thing on that show...watching him do GD LA can be entertaining, so long as they muzzle the two bimbos beside him...
Does anyone have old Broadcasting mags to share??
Matt
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Steve is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year. He should get a Purple Heart for having to deal with Dorothy and Jillian.
Am I the only person who finds Dorothy a lot more annoying than Jillian?
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[quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Feb 7 2004, 06:15 PM\']
Am I the only person who finds Dorothy a lot more annoying than Jillian? [/quote]
Actually if I mute the television, I find Steve and Dorothy to be fairly annoying.
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[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Feb 7 2004, 05:03 PM\'] actually....the Scrabble revival with Steve was "this close" to syndication...before getting pulled at the last moment... NBC buying the Chuck 93 show may have had something to do with this...but for weeks, Broadcasting Cable magazine ran trade ads, complete with pix with Steve hosting....IIRC, it's the newer set...
Another IIRC, TV Guide's Fall Preview listed Scrabble joining USA with Steve Edwards...though it was Chuck reruns that were actually aired....
[/quote]
TV Guide did mention that Scrabble was offered for syndication for Fall 1991 at the January 1991 NATPE convention, but apparently not enough stations were interested. Steve Edwards did indeed host a pilot around that time that would have brought it back.
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Am I right in assuming this was the same format of the Grundy version and not like the more board game like attempts GSN did with the Scrabble Challenge Pilots that failed?
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In trying to search for the format to "Scrabble Challenge" over at our old home, it appears it got lost with the sands of time. Does anybody recall or happen to save that post?
-Jason
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Who was supposed to distribute this Scrabble Pilot for Syndication? and was Charlie Tuna supposed to come back and announce?
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If you mean the one GSN was supposed to get, it didn't fly. I believe John O'Hurley hosted this pilot, but it didn't sell.
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[quote name=\'passwordplus\' date=\'Feb 8 2004, 01:58 PM\'] If you mean the one GSN was supposed to get, it didn't fly. I believe John O'Hurley hosted this pilot, but it didn't sell. [/quote]
I think Scrabble Challenge would have done better if they had gone with an unknown host...but maybe that's just me.
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[quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Feb 7 2004, 07:07 PM\'] Actually if I mute the television, I find Steve and Dorothy to be fairly annoying. [/quote]
And Jillian is twice as entertaining! (tee hee hee)
We should all send them e-mails during a show and see if they read them just for the hell of it.
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[quote name=\'passwordplus\' date=\'Feb 8 2004, 12:58 PM\'] If you mean the one GSN was supposed to get, it didn't fly. I believe John O'Hurley hosted this pilot, but it didn't sell. [/quote]
No I was talking about the one with Steve Edwards in 1991.
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[quote name=\'passwordplus\' date=\'Feb 8 2004, 12:58 PM\'] If you mean the one GSN was supposed to get, it didn't fly. I believe John O'Hurley hosted this pilot, but it didn't sell. [/quote]
Kennedy hosted a second pilot for a Scrabble CHallenge a few months back, but neither pilot sold to GSN as yet, and at this point it's looking less and less likely.
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[quote name=\'Jamey Greek\' date=\'Feb 8 2004, 12:54 PM\'] Who was supposed to distribute this Scrabble Pilot for Syndication? and was Charlie Tuna supposed to come back and announce? [/quote]
I'm gonna have to delve into my old Broadcasting mags to confirm, but I think the distributor was Group W. Don't know about the announcer.
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TV Guide did mention that Scrabble was offered for syndication for Fall 1991 at the January 1991 NATPE convention, but apparently not enough stations were interested. Steve Edwards did indeed host a pilot around that time that would have brought it back.
They say that timing is everything...during the fall of 1990 we had all those failures of other shows they tried to bring back - "Joker", "Tic", "TTTT", etc. That's probably why they didn't get enough stations. I wonder if they tried to bring this back a year earlier if it would have flown.
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Feb 9 2004, 08:47 AM\']
They say that timing is everything...during the fall of 1990 we had all those failures of other shows they tried to bring back - "Joker", "Tic", "TTTT", etc. That's probably why they didn't get enough stations. I wonder if they tried to bring this back a year earlier if it would have flown. [/quote]
It'd have had a slightly better chance of selling in January 1990's NATPE convention than in the 1991 one, if only because the NBC Scrabble was still on the air in early 1990, and this would have been looked at as a syndicated counterpart(of course it got the boot shortly after). Whether the stations that bought the show would have reneged upon hearing of the NBC version's cancellation a couple of months later is another story. DIdn't WNBC show reruns of Scrabble for a few months after the show's cancellation?
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The problem "Scrabble" would have in 1990 is that with "J!" reaching a ratings height back then, everybody wanted Q&A shows. "Scrabble" could've either stood out in a glutted Q&A field or been dismissed.
In 1991, "Scrabble" was seen as just another game show--and the stations decided they'd had enough of those for a while.
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Wasn't Willard Scott being considered as a host of some game show that was being shopped around for a 1991 revival? Password maybe?
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Wasn't Willard Scott being considered as a host of some game show that was being shopped around for a 1991 revival? Password maybe?
I wish I had a source I could find to back this up, but as I recall he was considered to host $100,000 Pyramid, before John Davidson was picked.
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[quote name=\'bricon\' date=\'Feb 9 2004, 01:27 PM\']
Wasn't Willard Scott being considered as a host of some game show that was being shopped around for a 1991 revival? Password maybe?
I wish I had a source I could find to back this up, but as I recall he was considered to host $100,000 Pyramid, before John Davidson was picked. [/quote]
There was a small blurb in the Life section of USA Today around 89-90 that mentioned a proposed Willard Scott-hosted Pyramid.
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[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Feb 9 2004, 12:55 PM\'] Wasn't Willard Scott being considered as a host of some game show that was being shopped around for a 1991 revival? [/quote]
In 1992, Willard did end up hosting a short-lived revival on the Family Channel. Though not a game show, it was a revival of the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour called "The Original Amateur Hour"