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As part of the What's Happening weekend marathon on TV Land, the episode, "Going Going Gong" will be airing Saturday evening 11/5 at 11pm ET (check listings possible re-airings later in the weekend).
Part of this episode takes place on The Gong Show.
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[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Nov 5 2005, 10:18 AM\']Part of this episode takes place on The Gong Show, with Chuck Barris.
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Is this the episode where a childrens' chorus sing "Bubblin' Brown Sugar" on "The Gong Show"? If so, Chuckie won't be on it.
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Was Barris on the "Sanford and Son" Gong Show episode? I haven't seen that in a long time.
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[quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Nov 5 2005, 11:46 AM\']Was Barris on the "Sanford and Son" Gong Show episode? I haven't seen that in a long time.
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Yes...they even had a girl introduce him.
Now, did WH use the actual Gong set? I know "Sanford..." didn't. If you look closely, you can even see the junkyard set on the far right of the screen (watch for the shot when Demond Wilson plays drums).
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What's Happening didn't use the Gong set.
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[quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Nov 5 2005, 12:37 PM\']What's Happening didn't use the Gong set.
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I'm going by memory about 28 years ago when it was first run. I knew that both Bud Yorkin produced shows, Sanford & Son and What's Happening, had an episode involving Gong. I remember one episode using a faux Gong set (S&S), but I thought the other (WH) had used the real set. I'm surprised that Sanford & Son didn't use the real Gong set as both shows were taped at NBC Burbank at the time, no?
The What's Happening episode was around 1977. I assume that Sanford & Son did their Gong ep around the same time, so conceivably Yorkin could have used the same faux set for both shows, no?
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Nov 5 2005, 12:28 PM\'][quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Nov 5 2005, 11:46 AM\']Was Barris on the "Sanford and Son" Gong Show episode? I haven't seen that in a long time.
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Yes...they even had a girl introduce him.
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None other than Sivi Aberg.
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I remember seeing both episodes when they aired, along with the "family" sketch on The Carol Burnett Show where Eunice was on the show. I remember that on WH, when the last act had finished, one of the panelists (Kene Holliday from Carter Country) stood up and announced the winner. I thought that was stupid. If you can't even get the host to show up, the episode wasn't worth doing.
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[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Nov 6 2005, 01:09 PM\']I thought that was stupid. If you can't even get the host to show up, the episode wasn't worth doing.
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You don't necessarily know the circumstances. It could be that NBC put the kibosh on letting Barris do the ep (this was an ABC show, after all). Granted, it wouldn't explain why Barris actually did the Burnett spoof (perhaps NBC had more respect for her and let the network rivalry slide--my own speculation, not official by any means).
And WH! booked three "panelists" who weren't exactly GONG stalwarts. You could very well be right as well.
BTW, is the Sandy Kenyon who played the "producer" the same one who also did the "Hollywood Minute?"
Doug -- and the countdown to 1600 continues
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Nov 6 2005, 02:21 PM\'][quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Nov 6 2005, 01:09 PM\']I thought that was stupid. If you can't even get the host to show up, the episode wasn't worth doing.
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You don't necessarily know the circumstances. It could be that NBC put the kibosh on letting Barris do the ep (this was an ABC show, after all).
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But didn't ABC O&Os pick up Gong? Or, at the least, provide support for the syndicated version? I recall in the contestant plugs of the syndicated episodes that employees of ABC and their families weren't eligible to participate.
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[quote name=\'rugrats1\' date=\'Nov 6 2005, 06:27 PM\'][quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Nov 6 2005, 02:21 PM\'][quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Nov 6 2005, 01:09 PM\']I thought that was stupid. If you can't even get the host to show up, the episode wasn't worth doing.
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You don't necessarily know the circumstances. It could be that NBC put the kibosh on letting Barris do the ep (this was an ABC show, after all).
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But didn't ABC O&Os pick up Gong? Or, at the least, provide support for the syndicated version? I recall in the contestant plugs of the syndicated episodes that employees of ABC and their families weren't eligible to participate.
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Syndicated "Gong" was produced for the ABC O&O's (plus other interested parties) for the first three years and for CBS' for the final year. ABC's involvement with "Gong" goes back even further than that, as the pilot episode was taped at ABC's San Francisco station.
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[quote name=\'rugrats1\' date=\'Nov 6 2005, 04:27 PM\']But didn't ABC O&Os pick up Gong?
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Not in my market (and I'm in one of the Big Three). Even so, that still wouldn't necessarily prevent NBC from getting tough with one of its employees as far as making a guest appearance to help a competing network (and during that season Gary Owens was hosting the syndie run anyway, Barris were merely producing).
If the account that Barris wrote in Confessions is factual, the initial idea for GONG was presented to ABC (my guess--because of Barris' prior dealings with the network). After he ditched the "legit talent contest" aspect to make it a spoof, he then wound up selling it to NBC. My guess is that ABC no longer had room on its schedule for the show once piloted (and the slot they would've given GONG wound up going to FF, even though GONG started four weeks earlier), and NBC then picked it up.
Doug -- and the countdown to 1600 continues (and concludes)
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Nov 6 2005, 01:21 PM\']BTW, is the Sandy Kenyon who played the "producer" the same one who also did the "Hollywood Minute?"
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Same guy. I believe he was at CNN from Day One (or least Day One of the Los Angeles bureau). Don't remember his other acting credits offhand, but he has 'em.
It seems to me that "What's Happening!!" taped at KTLA, not NBC or ABC--and the set was not the actual set. "Sanford" may've used a smaller version of the "Gong" set, since they most likely couldn't have fitted the whole thing next to the main junkyard set.
And the Carol Burnett sketch actually taped at NBC on the "Gong" set, complete with NBC Mother MacKenzie. That freeze frame at the end of the sketch as the gong sounds of Eunice's look on her face is a classic.
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[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Nov 7 2005, 04:55 PM\']And the Carol Burnett sketch actually taped at NBC on the "Gong" set, complete with NBC Mother MacKenzie. That freeze frame at the end of the sketch as the gong sounds of Eunice's look on her face is a classic.
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What a melancholy moment, especially as the picture shrank into the black. I don't think I've seen it since it first aired and I can still remember it. It made me terribly sad. I suppose that's how great Carol Burnett was in the character, that one could feel sorry for such an oddball.
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[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Nov 7 2005, 03:55 PM\']It seems to me that "What's Happening!!" taped at KTLA, not NBC or ABC--and the set was not the actual set. "Sanford" may've used a smaller version of the "Gong" set, since they most likely couldn't have fitted the whole thing next to the main junkyard set.
And the Carol Burnett sketch actually taped at NBC on the "Gong" set, complete with NBC Mother MacKenzie. That freeze frame at the end of the sketch as the gong sounds of Eunice's look on her face is a classic.
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I do believe you're right on all counts. The scaled-down set for WH! did utilize GONG's wall patterns pretty well (I didn't look closely enough to see if they were legit). But if KTLA = Golden West, then that's exactly where they taped.
I haven't seen the S&S GONG episode in ages, but I wonder--for two weeks in June 1978 (which would've been well after the S&S ep aired initially), GONG used a smaller-scale set with the band on stage (one of those eps was the one that introduced Michael Winslow to America). I wonder if part of that same set was also used for the S&S show.
Shame on me for not remembering having seen the Burnett sketch.
Doug
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Nov 7 2005, 04:55 PM\'][I do believe you're right on all counts. The scaled-down set for WH! did utilize GONG's wall patterns pretty well (I didn't look closely enough to see if they were legit). But if KTLA = Golden West, then that's exactly where they taped.
I haven't seen the S&S GONG episode in ages, but I wonder--for two weeks in June 1978 (which would've been well after the S&S ep aired initially), GONG used a smaller-scale set with the band on stage (one of those eps was the one that introduced Michael Winslow to America). I wonder if part of that same set was also used for the S&S show.
Shame on me for not remembering having seen the Burnett sketch.
Doug
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KTLA was owned by Golden West, Gene Autry's company. Their outside production division was called "Golden West Videotape Division."
And since TVL's ep guides to "Carol Burnett and Friends" only list Family sketches as "The Family," I can't say whether the "Gong Show" sketch is included in the package or if it's coming up any time soon on the weekend airings. (Carol did much more than 151 shows, the number in the "Carol and Friends" package.)
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[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 11:47 AM\']And since TVL's ep guides to "Carol Burnett and Friends" only list Family sketches as "The Family," I can't say whether the "Gong Show" sketch is included in the package or if it's coming up any time soon on the weekend airings. (Carol did much more than 151 shows, the number in the "Carol and Friends" package.)
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And to dovetail your point, I haven't really found a good definitive Burnett episode guide on the web (there's a text one with a show-by-show airdate listing and who the guest stars were and a couple of highlights for some of the eps, but it's by no means as inclusive as some other show episode guides I've seen).
Weren't there a couple of cycles of CB&F reruns? I seem to recall one cycle that was almost all sketches, with choreographer Ernest Flatt's name stripped from the credits (but the associate choreographer's name left in), then another set that allowed some musical sequences with Flatt's name included. (If yes, TVL prolly cleared eps from both but perhaps not all?)
ObGS: Burnett's show taped in Studio 33 at CBS TV City. Wonder what's there now. Hmmmm.
Doug
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(Carol did much more than 151 shows, the number in the "Carol and Friends" package.)
Since it's a well-known fact that Carol did more than 151 shows, I wonder why the syndicators decided on that number. When you consider that most stations that originally aired the show probably aired it five days a week, you'd think 130 would be a more logical number, because each episode could be aired twice within a year.
Things that make you go hmmm.... (cue C&C Music Factory!) :)
Ob GameShows: Carol Burnett was a guest on "Password".
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 01:35 PM\']Since it's a well-known fact that Carol did more than 151 shows, I wonder why the syndicators decided on that number.
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I'm not sure they did. TVL has 151 half-hours available for air, but I tend to think that there were others that haven't been cleared. As I said in the post above I seem to recall a second cycle of reruns, some that actually had musical numbers (one of which contained a snazzy Bernadette Peters tap routine, a small piece of which was shown in Burnett's first clipfest special as well as during her recent DVD infomercial). It's hard to tell from the TVL site, but I don't think that episode was cleared in their package. I've been seeking a definitive ep guide to try to pinpoint it down further but have not met with much success.
Doug
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Then maybe Burnett has a case of "WKRP"-itis. What I mean by that is, WKRP had lots of background pop music in their shows too - which were OK for the first few years of reruns. But now it would cost too much to license a lot of that again, and much of the background music has been stripped and changed to something generic (that's one reason the series hasn't yet appeard on DVD).
Maybe there were more of Burnett's shows in initial rerun packages which are now no longer clearable because of the music.
And the search goes on...
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[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 12:47 PM\']...since TVL's ep guides to "Carol Burnett and Friends" only list Family sketches as "The Family," I can't say whether the "Gong Show" sketch is included in the package...[/quote]
I recall seeing the "Gong Show" sketch once on CB&F.
... or if it's coming up any time soon on the weekend airings.
Considering that Eunice (Carol's "Family" character) sings Morris Albert's "Feelings", it all depends on how much TV Land ponies up for the rights to the song.
Of course, on the real Gong Show in the 1970s, I recall an episode where all the contestants sung "Feelings" -- and got gonged.
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[quote name=\'rugrats1\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 08:01 PM\']Of course, on the real Gong Show in the 1970s, I recall an episode where all the contestants sung "Feelings" -- and got gonged.
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I'm fairly certain that somebody made it through unscathed. (Shame GSN couldn't clear the episode for air so that I'd know for sure.)
I do know of two eps where nobody won--the 3/18/77 show (Steve Martin on the panel, and also playing banjo on stage--twice), and the 7/18/78 show (from the final week--three acts were brought back and not rated, and the new ones trotted out were all awful). TTBOMK, I don't believe there were any others.
Doug
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 08:45 PM\'][quote name=\'rugrats1\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 08:01 PM\']Of course, on the real Gong Show in the 1970s, I recall an episode where all the contestants sung "Feelings" -- and got gonged.
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I'm fairly certain that somebody made it through unscathed. (Shame GSN couldn't clear the episode for air so that I'd know for sure.)
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There were a couple who did get through--but not many.
Of course, this was the tribute to the song most heard in auditions--the second most heard song, "The Way We Were," got a similar treatment, most memorably for the rather, uh, large non-contestant woman who sang it as "Mammaries/Like the corners of my mind..."