Worked on writing after I took the laundry downstairs. Betty assures her friend that it's not her fault things went south with Jack. Brett claims they'd tried working things out for a while, but even her getting a role on The Odd Couple didn't improve their relationship. She knew he spent his money on gambling; he knew she was bored watching the boys and didn't like her drinking so much.
Tried job hunting for a while. I wouldn't mind working in one of the many local schools if it was a year-round job. Most schools here only need someone for the actual school year. It would be too much of a pain to try to find something temporary during the summer. Copywriting seems to require more experience than I have.
Broke for a very quick lunch and to finally get the laundry in the dryer around quarter after 2. Watched Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood while I ate and got ready for work. "Daniel Gets a Shot" which he's very nervous about. His mother and Doctor Anna encourage him to think about something happy while it's happening. Dan and O the Owl are happy to enjoy "A Stormy Day" outside, until the thunder rolls in! Mrs. Tiger tells them to think about things that cheer them up and play inside until the rain passes.
Went straight to work even before the cartoon ended. They were preparing to clean the floors up front and in the back room tonight, which meant every candy and magazine shelf up front and all the displays that weren't on a large shelf had to be moved and shoved into aisles. I spent most of the afternoon wiping down parts of the registers that were usually behind coolers and shelves and were a sticky mess. It wasn't really busy until rush hour, and even then, it could have been worse.
Of course, when I tried to shut down, there was only one other person open. One guy ducked in after I'd already turned the light off. Another lady and her brood came in with a pile of gift cards she hemmed and hawed over before finally buying all but one. Yeah, thanks to all that, I was almost late getting out.
At least I was able to take my bike this time. It was sunny and humid all day, but windy and not hot to the degree that it has been. There were a few fat clouds in the sky, but nothing threatening.
Rushed straight home after that. Ate dinner while watching Match Game '79. Grand Ol' Opry cowboy Guich Kotch gets to read a question about what big fruit they put in a drink in Texas, while Charles teases Brett about her answer. Debralee Scott is more nervous about answering "Very __" in the Audience Match.
Finished up the night on YouTube after I brought up my laundry, watching game shows that flopped in one way or another. Take Mad Libs on The Disney Channel, for instance. Apparently, Disney tried a lot of game shows when they revamped the channel around 1997, but none of them stuck around for more than a year, including this one. This version of the famous books that have people slotting words into silly stories has more in common with the Nickelodeon Double Dare than Match Game. Two groups of kids first slot words into a story sent in by a kid viewer, then shove a ball back and forth while naming words that fit a category. In between, the kids do stunts that involve looking for words or going through obstacles to grab words and make Mad Libs.
This is cute, but it doesn't have much to distinguish it from other Double Dare imitations like Full House other than the word theme. It is one of the only stunt shows that doesn't end on a huge, messy free-for-all obstacle chase. Instead, the kids have to describe a word and get their partner to say it, more like Junior Password. Otherwise, the word theme tends to get drowned in all the goop.
Kids and grown ups playing together goes back further on the networks than most people might suspect. The Generation Gap was the first show to pit adults against kids and teens to see who knew more about the other's culture. I'm a little disappointed this didn't do better on ABC's prime-time schedule in 1969. Not many game shows can boast appearances by the Ohio Express singing their hit song "Yummy, Yummy," Bill Kenny beautifully crooning "If Didn't Care," or a question revolving around a segment from Yellow Submarine. (Incidentally, this is a rare glimpse of the show's first host Dennis Wholey. Producer Jack Barry replaced him after the tenth show.)
Finders Keepers, one of the last game shows on the failed DuMont network before they shut down, has a few things in common with the later Nickelodeon show of the same name. Here, it's adults who call in and have to search a full, messy set for their entry forms, with the help of someone chosen from the audience. Host Fred Robbins came off as annoying and smarmy, but they did give out some nice prizes, including a darling puppy to one of the little girls from the audience who helped find the entry form.
The Celebrity Game would also inspire a later show. Two contestants have to guess whether nine panelists answered a question with yes or no. The panelists then toss out quips as they explain their answer. If all this sounds familiar, this is Merrill-Heater's less-elaborate precursor to Hollywood Squares. The show only lasted a year and a half on CBS in 1964-'65, but Merrill and Heater would keep tinkering with it, including an unsold pilot with Bert Parks in 1968.
Chuck Barris' wacky pageants and romance shows inspired their own imitations. The Cheap Show from 1978 crosses Barris' savage sensibilities with Double Dare stunts. The panelists, here Rita Moreno and David Doyle, ask the questions, and the two pairs of contestants have to guess which one is right. (There's always a chair for a third panelist who never appears.) If they're wrong, their partner gets slimed or has pies thrown at them. The winner gets the honor of spinning the wheel for a real prize, selected by "Oscar the Wonder Rodent." Um, yeah. Dick Martin seems to be having a great time as the host, but this show is weird even by the standards of Barris' programs. By far my favorite thing about it is the hilarious satirical credits, where even they admit the show is pretty darn strange.
Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak may also have been inspired by other shows, in this case Family Feud and the Pyramid franchise. We have two teams here, one male, one female. One player from each team selects a word, while the others wear headphones so they can't hear it. The first player describes the word to the second player, the second to the third, and so on. This continues until they either finish the line, time runs out, repeats a clue already given, or gives too much pantomime. Neat idea, but I'm surprised anyone ever finished a line. It was too easy to give illegal clues or use hands. Forsyth's charming presence does manage to give this a lift and makes this fairly popular with the game show community.
Forsyth was far from the last British host to appear on a flop American game show. Cat Deely hosted 20Q, which was briefly part of a syndicated game block during the summer of 2009. In this version of the kids' game, audience members compete against a computer known as "Mr. Q." Those who can answer his question make their way up front, where they have to guess whether a series of clues is about a certain subject. They played two rounds in an episode. After the second round, the two winners compete against each other. The champ competes against Mr. Q to see who can figure out what something is in the least questions. An obvious Who Wants to Be a Millionaire clone is livened up by a brighter-than-usual set and Mr. Q's very funny wisecracks.
Celebrate these lost pieces of broadcast history with these rare flops! (Most of these shows even come with the commercials from their original runs. There's numbers on the copy of Finders Keepers, but DuMont shows tend to be very hard to find.)
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