shows that have been destroyed (2 Viewers)

[Jack P]

The "Winning Streak" theme was reused in the pregame shows for the 1975 World Series. In a similar vein, the opening theme music for "This Week In Baseball" was originally the theme music for the Stewart produced "Jackpot!" (1974-75) for which one episode only survives (the show with the record Super Jackpot win). Interestingly, there are more saved episodes from home recordings of the earlier "Three On A Match" (1971-1974) as a contestant who was on for several days in 1974 got his episodes recorded on U-Matic.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

I love this thread. Let's keep the discussion going.

It seems many of the game shows that have been destroyed are the original versions of timeless programs, which are generally regarded as better than their revivals. There are some people who prefer the 70's Pyramid, there are some people who prefer the 70's Split Second, there are some people who prefer the 60's Concentration, there are some people who prefer 70's High Rollers, there are some people who prefer 70's Hollywood Squares, there are some people who prefer 70's Jackpot, there are some people who prefer 60's Jeopardy, there are some people who prefer 60's Let's Make a Deal.

But I think one of the few exceptions is to whether Press Your Luck or Second Chance is better. I don't think you'll find many people who say the latter is better. But I will say that the latter did a better job at Q&A rounds.

 

[Jack P]

Very few people I think were able to remember "Second Chance" which only lasted five months on ABC (and which is also presumed destroyed; we have only the last of three pilots and there is audio of the final episode). "Press Your Luck" is a rare case of a show based on a flop that became a hit.

I think there are a number of reasons why 70s Pyramid in NY seems better than 80s Pyramid in LA. For one thing the game play wasn't so predictable. Come the 80s, the main game was down to an exact science that 21-20 scores tended to be normal whereas in the 70s during the ABC period the quality of main game play was better than what it had started with in the early CBS years (where 11-10 might be a routine score) but not yet at that more boringly predictable phase. Also, there are more interesting celebs on the 70s Pyramid because that was the tail end of the period when you would still see slightly bigger names in TV appearing as opposed to the 80s when by then it was mostly the second-tier performers of TV shows mixed in with the long-term regulars for a production company. And finally, shows based from NY just *seem* more fun than the ones in LA.

It's too bad these producers weren't ahead of the curve on saving these programs. Goodson did better than others, but he was lucky that his shows in the 70s were on CBS primarily which wasn't as quick to erase compared to the other networks.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

Amazing how this misinformation is constantly being repeated. Here is the story and why somebody is spreading this false information. When TNT ran the show, they didn't run every episode. That's it. That's the whole reason why people keep saying episodes are missing. Nothing is missing. They didn't run the whole series, just as they didn't do with many of the old shows they ran. They didn't run every Mr. Novak or Cain's Hundred or a lot of shows. They ran only one Lieutenant. Obviously not missing as the complete series is on DVD. MGM has a complete run of the show. Period. End of story. There is a complete set on 3/4 at Library of Congress as well, which MGM donated along with complete runs of their other series. Can we finally put this falsehood to rest, please.

Now, let's have WB release AMCS on DVD-R in the MOD program.

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

Very few people I think were able to remember "Second Chance" which only lasted five months on ABC (and which is also presumed destroyed; we have only the last of three pilots and there is audio of the final episode). "Press Your Luck" is a rare case of a show based on a flop that became a hit.

I think there are a number of reasons why 70s Pyramid in NY seems better than 80s Pyramid in LA. For one thing the game play wasn't so predictable. Come the 80s, the main game was down to an exact science that 21-20 scores tended to be normal whereas in the 70s during the ABC period the quality of main game play was better than what it had started with in the early CBS years (where 11-10 might be a routine score) but not yet at that more boringly predictable phase. Also, there are more interesting celebs on the 70s Pyramid because that was the tail end of the period when you would still see slightly bigger names in TV appearing as opposed to the 80s when by then it was mostly the second-tier performers of TV shows mixed in with the long-term regulars for a production company. And finally, shows based from NY just *seem* more fun than the ones in LA.

It's too bad these producers weren't ahead of the curve on saving these programs. Goodson did better than others, but he was lucky that his shows in the 70s were on CBS primarily which wasn't as quick to erase compared to the other networks.

Interesting how I discovered all the, well, I wouldn't call it "hate", but whatever it is Pyramid from 1982-1988 gets. (Davidson and Donnymid, I can understand on the other hand...) Maybe I have a soft spot for the '80s $25K and $100K cause that is what I grew up on, aside from some vague memories of, well it had to either be the end of $20K or $50K at that time. The '70s and the '80s = the golden period for game shows, IMO.

I think the show under Dick Clark was always good (and Bill Cullen), but can see why people would prefer the New York episodes. You got a bigger variety of stars and people you'd normally not see on the later versions, yes, including more A-listers. And it had a distinct feel, now that I am watching more eps. But the "predictable" play could have also been because the game was relatively new and not everyone got the hang of it.

But you gotta admit...NY Pyramid in general + the '80s set = would have ruled the world.

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

I also think 1-2 typical Second Chance eps. have since surfaced. I at least remember seeing one with the free spin/rotating money amount in place.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

The biggest problem with the NY Pyramid was that the games sometimes straddled, especially if there was a very long tiebreaker. Bob Stewart obviously never intended Pyramid to straddle, so I don't know why he couldn't use the same tiebreaker, that would later be used on the LA version.

 

[Neil Brock]

Now, let's have WB release AMCS on DVD-R in the MOD program.

Hopefully we will at some point, I have no doubt.

 

[Brian Himes]

Now, let's have WB release AMCS on DVD-R in the MOD program.

Just out of curiosity, what is AMCS? I haven't been able to figure out what show that is.

 

[Charles Ellis]

I read somewhere that the 1970s Canadian sitcom The Trouble with Tracy (shot on tape and syndicated in the US) is considered lost. A clip exists on YouTube- can anyone confirm this story?

 

[John Karras]

I read somewhere that the 1970s Canadian sitcom The Trouble with Tracy (shot on tape and syndicated in the US) is considered lost. A clip exists on YouTube- can anyone confirm this story?

A show that bad should have been burned. Seriously, I doubt that it is "lost". As awful as the show was, it ran forever in reruns into the 1990's in Canada. It was a cheap and easy way for new cable and television channels to meet their Canadian Content quotas. I'm sure the tapes still exist.

 

[Rob_Ray]

A show that bad should have been burned. Seriously, I doubt that it is "lost". As awful as the show was, it ran forever in reruns into the 1990's in Canada. It was a cheap and easy way for new cable and television channels to meet their Canadian Content quotas. I'm sure the tapes still exist.

Reminds me of a friend who once said of a rarely seen old movie, "It's not lost. It's hiding."

 

[PatrickGoodluck]

Just out of curiosity, what is AMCS? I haven't been able to figure out what show that is.

"A Man Called Shenandoah". It bugs me too sometimes when people often initialise or abbreviate titles on HTF. Sorry, Home Theater Forum.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

"A Man Called Shenandoah". It bugs me too sometimes when people often initialise or abbreviate titles on HTF. Sorry, Home Theater Forum.

We would love to see Robert Horton's later western on DVD as a counterpoint to his earlier tenure on "Wagon Train". Get it on Warner's MOD program!

 

[Brian Himes]

"A Man Called Shenandoah". It bugs me too sometimes when people often initialise or abbreviate titles on HTF. Sorry, Home Theater Forum.

Thanks. It was driving me nuts trying to figure it out.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Have we talked about the Hugh Downs Concentration? That show was actually my earliest memory of watching television. I watched it from my highchair...

 

[Jack P]

Not many episodes survive. There are about 9 to 10 kinescopes that circulate from the Downs and Bob Clayton eras (there are no kinescopes in circulation of Ed McMahon's brief tenure as host) including a number of the "Challenge Of Champions" contests (several consecutive shows featuring ex-baseball player Ralph Branca) and two of the Christmas shows with "Secret Santas" playing against each other. There's also an edited version of the last show from March 1973.

The Jack Narz hosted Concentration that ran in syndication from 1973-1978 and was produced by Goodson-Todman productions is extant but unfortunately when GSN wanted to air repeats, NBC which owns the format, wouldn't permit it, nor would they allow repeats of the Alex Trebek hosted "Classic Concentration" of 1987-1991. Unfortunately the boat has long since sailed on any hopes of seeing them repeated again given GSN's current policy (the Trebek stuff maybe someday if NBC relented, but the Narz stuff I doubt would fly).

 

[LouA]

Does anyone know if the 1961 NBC educational series "One Two Three Go" exists?
I was also wondering about Frank Buxton's "Discovery" ?

 

[Charles Ellis]

Regarding the Dark Shadows tape preservation question, more than likely it was Dan Curtis himself who had the tapes saved. It was his show, plus he got his start in the TV industry selling shows for the syndication market. Therefore he had an idea to save the tapes for syndication from the beginning. Originally ABC Films was to syndicate the show once it went off the air in 1971, but there was a delay. The FCC forced the major networks to give up their syndication units (it was an antitrust thing), so ABC Films was spun off to become Worldvision Enterprises, as CBS Films became Viacom. (interestingly enough, CBS now owns both Viacom and Worldvision). It wasn't until 1975 that syndication began, with only 260 episodes from Barnabas being released from the chained coffin in April 1967 to shortly after Vicki returned from 1795 in April 1968. It wasn't until 1982 that additional episodes were released into the syndicated market.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

One thing I have been trying to find is footage or logos of The Madison Square Garden Network, the predecessor to the USA Network. But I can't seem to find anything.

So I have no idea what the MSGN logo looked like back then.