The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => Game Show Channels & Networks => Topic started by: MSTieScott on June 15, 2021, 01:48:57 AM
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I am bewildered by week 30 of the Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour, which Buzzr is currently in the midst of airing. On the panel, there's the expected collection of mostly supporting actors from current TV series along with a former '70s star who hadn't had a hit in a little while. Also on the panel this week, introduced as "From WTHR in Indianapolis," is Kim Hood.
Kim Hood was a newscaster on Indianapolis's NBC affiliate at the time. As best as I can tell, she wasn't breaking into national renown in 1984. I am fascinated and perplexed at why an anchor/reporter from a seemingly random affiliate is in Los Angeles taping a week of Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour. Gene and Jon are treating her courteously, but nobody seems to know why she's there, including Kim herself.
Was Indianapolis the market that was key to getting the show renewed for a second season? Did Kim Hood do something in 1984 that the internet doesn't remember? Does anybody know what led to this booking?
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This gets weirder: WTHR, the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, didn't air The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour at all. According to the TV listings I just dug up from May 1984, they filled the time slot with syndicated programming. Specifically...reruns of Match Game.
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Thank you MSTieScott for asking the question. I did not see the Monday episode, so I was hesitant to ask in case an explanation was mentioned.
There's not much info out there on Hood online. She's listed today as a "documentary producer" and was the third wife of the late Congressman Andrew Jacobs (the two wed a few years after her game show appearance).
I'm curious if Hood's appearance was a combination of her being in Burbank to audition for an NBC series of some sort (*) and her being thrown on air to sub for a celeb who backed out last minute.
JD
(*) -- Forgot where I read this, but it was mentioned in one of Helen Reddy's obituaries that she was speaking to NBC about potential opportunities for a TV series in 1983-84, and that her week on MG/HS was an "audition" of sorts. If true, that at least sets a precedent of NBC using the show to audition talent.
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This gets weirder: WTHR, the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, didn't air The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour at all. According to the TV listings I just dug up from May 1984, they filled the time slot with syndicated programming. Specifically...reruns of Match Game.
Not sure of your source, but all of the Indianapolis-area newspapers on Newspapers.com have MGHS listed for 2 p.m. Central on WTHR that month.
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I went to bed just after the opening last night, and was similarly baffled. My first thought was that this was a new high/low in appeasing an affiliate. My second thought was, given that this was a show that threw a visiting marching band onstage to fill a segment because of a large hole in the rules no one thought to address, that I was the first person to give this a second thought.
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This gets weirder: WTHR, the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, didn't air The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour at all. According to the TV listings I just dug up from May 1984, they filled the time slot with syndicated programming. Specifically...reruns of Match Game.
Not sure of your source, but all of the Indianapolis-area newspapers on Newspapers.com have MGHS listed for 2 p.m. Central on WTHR that month.
There's an October 30, 1983 article from The Star Press of Muncie that says that WTHR would NOT be carrying the show when it debuted on Monday. Best as I can tell, the station started carrying it on January 3, 1984. I thought about a theory where they brought in a local Indianapolis personality to celebrate the fact that the affiliate had added the show (wouldn't be the weirdest thing they ever did), but even that doesn't make any sense five months after the fact.
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Besides this weirdness, this week of MG/HS stands out as I previously received the open and the mid-show deals (fee plugs, HS celeb announcements, switchoff to Bauman) as part of a tape trade way back when. I don't believe any episodes from this week were out in the trading circuit otherwise, though. So it was nice to see another bit of the series turn up even though not an episode.
Not sure if we've gotten to that episode yet (I missed the Monday airing). All I remember is it's when Jon takes the mic and is shouting "It's mine, it's mine!"
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Not sure of your source, but all of the Indianapolis-area newspapers on Newspapers.com have MGHS listed for 2 p.m. Central on WTHR that month.
That comes from me misreading a TV listings grid that looked like 30 minutes of Match Game followed by Star Trek. By May, they WERE airing it, you're right, but for a time, they weren't. Muncie Star-Press on October 30, 1983 prints a short blurb about the show's debut, wrapping up by noting that WTHR will not be airing the series. By March 7, I'm still not seeing the show at all in the grid--their afternoon schedule that day is News, Search, DOOL, Another World, You Asked for It, Gilligan's Island.
On April 25, the schedule reads News, DOOL, Another World, Gilligan's Island, Star Trek.
So going back to what Scott initially said, this actually looks more and more like it was a gesture of goodwill because WTHR finally agreed to start airing the show.
EDIT: Just saw that Matt suggested the same theory while I was typing it up. Hat tip.
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Missed in all of the Kim Hood hoopla - this is probably the only time anyone has ever been introduced as "from The Duck Factory."
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Missed in all of the Kim Hood hoopla - this is probably the only time anyone has ever been introduced as "from The Duck Factory."
Is there any other show that attracted so many stars of failed series? Or is that just due to the state of NBC at that time?
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Missed in all of the Kim Hood hoopla - this is probably the only time anyone has ever been introduced as "from The Duck Factory."
Is there any other show that attracted so many stars of failed series? Or is that just due to the state of NBC at that time?
Mostly the latter. NBC clearly pushed HARD to have its own "stars" represented on this show, and some shows were much less successful than others, especially on NBC around that time. They were just beginning to turn a corner after the late-seventies early-eighties fiascos, but there was still plenty of dreck.
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Missed in all of the Kim Hood hoopla - this is probably the only time anyone has ever been introduced as "from The Duck Factory."
Is there any other show that attracted so many stars of failed series? Or is that just due to the state of NBC at that time?
Mostly the latter. NBC clearly pushed HARD to have its own "stars" represented on this show, and some shows were much less successful than others, especially on NBC around that time. They were just beginning to turn a corner after the late-seventies early-eighties fiascos, but there was still plenty of dreck.
None of NBC's fall premieres from the 83-84 season made it to a second season, and there were only a couple of bright spots on the midseason slate.
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I wonder at what point during the run did NBC finally announce that they were pulling the plug on the show?
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From Matchless Gene Rayburn I think it was when Santa Barbara was ready to go.
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Mostly the latter. NBC clearly pushed HARD to have its own "stars" represented on this show, and some shows were much less successful than others, especially on NBC around that time. They were just beginning to turn a corner after the late-seventies early-eighties fiascos, but there was still plenty of dreck.
Did they ever have a Cheers or Family Ties-adjacent personality?
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I wonder at what point during the run did NBC finally announce that they were pulling the plug on the show?
The cancellation (and replacement by “Santa Barbara”) was announced as early as 4-13-1984 in the Pittsburgh Press and a couple other papers (from newspapers.com archive).
Doesn’t look like any “Family Ties” people appeared on MG-HSH, even Michael J. Fox. (Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter haven’t done many game shows — she was on HS in ‘73 and an all-star FF in ‘79; he was on HS in 2001, but that’s all the IMDB has.) I’m also not seeing any “Cheers” actors.
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Doesn’t look like any “Family Ties” people appeared on MG-HSH, even Michael J. Fox. (Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter haven’t done many game shows — she was on HS in ‘73 and an all-star FF in ‘79; he was on HS in 2001, but that’s all the IMDB has.) I’m also not seeing any “Cheers” actors.
So, two shows that would become definitive 80s sitcoms were never represented, but stuff like Mr. Smith got plenty of representation. Yeesh…
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The cancellation (and replacement by “Santa Barbara”) was announced as early as 4-13-1984 in the Pittsburgh Press and a couple other papers (from newspapers.com archive).
Thanks! IIRC, the show was always meant as a stopgap for "Santa Barbara", but was promised a move to another timeslot if the ratings were good once SB was ready.
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Doesn’t look like any “Family Ties” people appeared on MG-HSH, even Michael J. Fox. (Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter haven’t done many game shows — she was on HS in ‘73 and an all-star FF in ‘79; he was on HS in 2001, but that’s all the IMDB has.) I’m also not seeing any “Cheers” actors.
So, two shows that would become definitive 80s sitcoms were never represented, but stuff like Mr. Smith got plenty of representation. Yeesh…
I'll say. Still knocked out that Mr. Smith was the $1000 answer one Super Match.
Was the audience taken from the NBC Studios tour/just had a test screening of all the 1983-84 shows?
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I’m also not seeing any “Cheers” actors.
Imagine, if you will, a week of MG/HSH with just the actors from Cheers. That would have been a lot of fun.
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Besides this weirdness, this week of MG/HS stands out as I previously received the open and the mid-show deals (fee plugs, HS celeb announcements, switchoff to Bauman) as part of a tape trade way back when. I don't believe any episodes from this week were out in the trading circuit otherwise, though. So it was nice to see another bit of the series turn up even though not an episode.
Not sure if we've gotten to that episode yet (I missed the Monday airing). All I remember is it's when Jon takes the mic and is shouting "It's mine, it's mine!"
I know this is an extremely silly question, but was the above the episode seen last night by any chance?
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The ep that aired last night (Wednesday) was a new batch of celebs including David Lander (who did the walk across the stage), Nedra, and Erin Moran.
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The ep that aired last night (Wednesday) was a new batch of celebs including David Lander (who did the walk across the stage), Nedra, and Erin Moran.
Skipped ep then?
(EDIT: Yep. Does the episode seen this past Monday match up with anything I described from the elements I remembered having?)
This, then, is a week which did have a few circulating episodes previously. I called it the Unofficial Laverne and Shirley/Happy Days week as a few people from each show were on the panel. Though with the talent on the panel, Salute to 80s Sitcoms Aimed At Teens would be more like it. Includes a $30K loss.
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Missed in all of the Kim Hood hoopla - this is probably the only time anyone has ever been introduced as "from The Duck Factory."
And I am wrong, as Teresa Ganzel is also being introduced as "from the Duck Factory."
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Missed in all of the Kim Hood hoopla - this is probably the only time anyone has ever been introduced as "from The Duck Factory."
Is there any other show that attracted so many stars of failed series? Or is that just due to the state of NBC at that time?
Mostly the latter. NBC clearly pushed HARD to have its own "stars" represented on this show, and some shows were much less successful than others, especially on NBC around that time. They were just beginning to turn a corner after the late-seventies early-eighties fiascos, but there was still plenty of dreck.
And that of course accounts for all the endless puffery at the beginning of the run for "Mister Smith" and the constant booking of Leonard Frey.
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Missed in all of the Kim Hood hoopla - this is probably the only time anyone has ever been introduced as "from The Duck Factory."
And I am wrong, as Teresa Ganzel is also being introduced as "from the Duck Factory."
Ditto Nancy Lane.
It would have been cool if MGHS pushed all the chips in and booked Don Messick.
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Not sure of your source, but all of the Indianapolis-area newspapers on Newspapers.com have MGHS listed for 2 p.m. Central on WTHR that month.
That comes from me misreading a TV listings grid that looked like 30 minutes of Match Game followed by Star Trek. By May, they WERE airing it, you're right, but for a time, they weren't. Muncie Star-Press on October 30, 1983 prints a short blurb about the show's debut, wrapping up by noting that WTHR will not be airing the series. By March 7, I'm still not seeing the show at all in the grid--their afternoon schedule that day is News, Search, DOOL, Another World, You Asked for It, Gilligan's Island.
On April 25, the schedule reads News, DOOL, Another World, Gilligan's Island, Star Trek.
So going back to what Scott initially said, this actually looks more and more like it was a gesture of goodwill because WTHR finally agreed to start airing the show.
EDIT: Just saw that Matt suggested the same theory while I was typing it up. Hat tip.
I can shed a little more light here, having been an IU student then. Indianapolis was on ET during Standard Time months and CT during Daylight Savings months. As a result, basically WTHR followed the network from 10-3 local time (except for noon news). So when MGHS aired at 2 local time (actually 2:30, IIRC), they carried it. At 3 local time, they didn’t.
And the week she taped aired the week before the 500, so the booking was timely.
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Missed in all of the Kim Hood hoopla - this is probably the only time anyone has ever been introduced as "from The Duck Factory."
And I am wrong, as Teresa Ganzel is also being introduced as "from the Duck Factory."
Ditto Nancy Lane.
It would have been cool if MGHS pushed all the chips in and booked Don Messick.
Or, for that matter, Jim Carrey.
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Any bets on whether or not Buzzr makes it to the end of the run on this cycle?
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Any bets on whether or not Buzzr makes it to the end of the run on this cycle?
I know for a fact not on this cycle; they loop back to episode 76 on Monday July 12th, after reaching 166 on Friday the 9th.
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Any bets on whether or not Buzzr makes it to the end of the run on this cycle?
I know for a fact not on this cycle; they loop back to episode 76 on Monday July 12th, after reaching 166 on Friday the 9th.
Dang—we miss Woolery by three shows.
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Any bets on whether or not Buzzr makes it to the end of the run on this cycle?
I know for a fact not on this cycle; they loop back to episode 76 on Monday July 12th, after reaching 166 on Friday the 9th.
Dang—we miss Woolery by three shows.
Also Arlene Francis, who I believe was on the same week as Chuck.
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I'm assuming something inappropriate was said/motioned during that question with Marty Cohen last night about Idi Amin's autograph. The obvious edits were dizzying.
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I'm assuming something inappropriate was said/motioned during that question with Marty Cohen last night about Idi Amin's autograph. The obvious edits were dizzying.
On one of the episodes with Michael Winslow, he had an answer in MG of "Chinese restaurant," Buzzr had a real quick edit after his answer reveal, but the OB had also been posted to Youtube showing him doing a long 80s-era bit with your stereotypical Chinese accent.
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On one of the episodes with Michael Winslow, he had an answer in MG of "Chinese restaurant," Buzzr had a real quick edit after his answer reveal, but the OB had also been posted to Youtube showing him doing a long 80s-era bit with your stereotypical Chinese accent.
It's amusing to me the 1970s CBS episodes, which were famous for pushing the content envelope, seem to be much less edited today than the 1980s NBC shows, which have very few salacious questions.
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GameTV in Canada runs a content warning card before afternoon airings of '70s Match Game and, strangely, both Super Password and Clark-era $100,000 Pyramid.
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On one of the episodes with Michael Winslow, he had an answer in MG of "Chinese restaurant," Buzzr had a real quick edit after his answer reveal, but the OB had also been posted to Youtube showing him doing a long 80s-era bit with your stereotypical Chinese accent.
It's amusing to me the 1970s CBS episodes, which were famous for pushing the content envelope, seem to be much less edited today than the 1980s NBC shows, which have very few salacious questions.
Something something THEY CONVERTED MORE 70s EPISODES BEFORE CANCEL CULTURE TOOK OVER ETC ETC something.
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It's amusing to me the 1970s CBS episodes, which were famous for pushing the content envelope, seem to be much less edited today than the 1980s NBC shows, which have very few salacious questions.
Yeah, I’ve noticed there seems to be an “innocence bias,” I guess, toward the 70s shows. Besides the lighter-touch editing, BUZZR generally gives 70s shows, including Match Game, a TV-G rating, while being quicker to slap a TV-PG on 80s & later shows. There’s certainly a debate to be had over whether the TV content ratings are worth a darn in the first place, but I really don’t know how one can say 70s MG is totally G-rated, particularly when giving MGHSH a (justified, IMO) PG rating. I don’t know; maybe it’s a bias that shows were more innocent in the “good old days.”