Watched Alice's Wonderland Bakery while eating breakfast. Hattie and Fergie love racing to make deliveries for Alice's new food order service in "Order Up!" The guys learn a lesson about going slow and working together when they mistake Dinah for the cake Alice made for the Queen of Hearts and have to swap them at Hearts Palace. Alice and Rosa are caught up in a "Teeny-Tiny Venture" when they're shrunk and have to figure out a way to the palace by midnight for the Knighting Ceremony.
Switched to The Roku Channel for The Busy World of Richard Scarry. "Mr. Gronkle Moves Away" when he gets tired of the noise in Busytown. Turns out the woods are even noisier. He eventually moves back, but won't answer his door or phone. He finally realizes how important he is to the town when Huckle, Lowly, and Sergeant Murphy come to check up on him. An Indian scribe and his daughter try to convince a wealthy merchant that "Counting Chickens" with numbers is easier than with stones or shells. He refuses to learn the new new system, until the daughter teaches him. Billy Dog is certain he'll never be able to handle "The Spelling Bee." His mother helps him practice, and he not only wins, he gets to the city finals.
Took the laundry downstairs, then did dishes and put them away. After I got all that cleaned up, I watched Broadway's Lost Treasures III. This is one of the three collections of musical numbers aired on the Tonys to have turned up on PBS in the early 2000's. Robert Goulet, Tommy Tune, and Harvey Furnstein hosted. To tell the truth, most of the performances were done years after the shows in question had come and gone, including Julie Andrews and Ethel Merman performing their biggest hits. Debbie Allen and the dancers from West Side Story give us a glimpse of the original lyrics for "America," while the cast of the 42nd Street revival from 2001 open the show by literally dancing on the real Broadway...and then under it on the subway.
Robert Goulet was seen twice, joined by Inga Swenson and a line of male and female Mounties for a medley of songs from Rose-Marie and in the addition material with two numbers from the flop Kander-Ebb show The Happy Time. Sweetly goofy Kristen Chenowith makes a perfect Sally explaining "My New Philosophy" in the 1999 revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. The cast of the 1989 revue Black and Blue tore up the floor with their vivacious tap routine to "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do." The opening numbers from the original Ragtime and the 2002 Into the Woods revival gives us a good look at those epic shows and how the casts of New Yorkers and immigrants in the turn of the 20th century and fairy tale characters interact. The mid-60's flop How Now Dow Jones isn't well-known today, but that's not the fault of its hilarious and catchy chorus number "Step to the Rear."
After the show ended and I put the laundry in the dryer, I decided to try my new muffin pan. I wanted to use up the coconut that was leftover from the Irish potatoes last week, and I haven't made muffins in ages. The "Old School Muffins" recipe from Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food became Coconut-Orange Muffins, replacing the yogurt with orange juice. Not bad. I haven't made a bad batch from that recipe yet. I think the orange juice just made them more sweet than orange, though.
Had lunch while watching What's New, Scooby Doo? It's a "Big Scare In the Big Easy" when the gang encounter the ghosts of two brothers who fought on the opposite sides of the Civil War at a graveyard. The owners are being pressured by their next-door neighbor to sell for his water park. When Daphne disappears while investigating, the others rescue her while trying to figure out what this not-so-brotherly duo is really up to.
Brought the laundry upstairs, then listened to Doris Day's Greatest Hits while I folded it. This 1958 album gives us a lot of songs from her movies to that point, like "Secret Love," "It's Magic," "Que Sera Sera," and the title number from Teacher's Pet, but I prefer the non-film songs. Her "Everybody Loves a Lover" is jaunty fun, and we also get a sweet "When I Fall In Love" and "If I Give My Heart to You."
Went online to reply to an e-mail. We finally got a bite. A company that rents out office space needs an assistant and are willing to give me a short phone interview. I told them I'd be ok for Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning.
After I finished that, I went down for a desperately-needed nap. I took allergy medicine earlier in the day, but all that did was wipe me out. I passed out at 4:30 and didn't get up until past 6:30, by which time the rain was long gone and the sun was out.
Took out the recycling, then had dinner while watching Match Game Syndicated. Bob Donner joined in for the first time in these episodes. His deadpan humor and excellent artwork on his cards would really add a lot to the later syndicated episodes and Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. Joining him are Bill Daily and a pair of Wallaces, Marcia and former Miss USA Marjorie.
Finished the night on YouTube with flop game shows from the 50's and 60's. Producers were really just trying to see what stuck in the early days of TV. Game shows that worked on radio often didn't land on television, either because they didn't involve enough movement, or they'd just worn out their welcome. Along with panel shows, quiz shows were among the most popular formats during the 50's. They were cheap to produce, could hand out huge payouts, and winning contestants often became household words.
Penny to a Million from 1955 is one example. Contestants won a penny for each question answered. They could win a maximum of 100 pennies, or $10,000. Yeah, this is dry as a bone. It takes forever for anyone to earn enough pennies for a decent payout, and the format just isn't that exciting. Even jocular radio announcer Bill Goodwin can't drum up interest.
No wonder producers started fixing shows. The Big Surprise from 1956 had celebrities and regular folks who had performed acts of heroism answering questions about their family and themselves to win $100,000. Even giving contestants the answers beforehand and having Errol Flynn as a contestant in the surviving episode couldn't make this one more interesting. It was gone by 1957, well before other shows began blowing the whistle on the fixes.
Dotto started off strong in early 1958. Contestants answered questions that would connect dots to form a picture. If they guessed correctly, they would win fabulous prizes. Within months, the show was the biggest hit on daytime, and Jack Narz was one of the best-known hosts on television. It came crashing down by late July when it was discovered that the show was rigged and contestants were given answers to questions in advance.
It's too bad. Unlike the previous two shows, this one was strong enough not to need the rigging. I'm surprised no one has tried reviving this or doing something similar, maybe on streaming with digital dots. The two surviving episodes show why it was such a fast success.
By the early 60's, quiz shows were replaced by celebrity guessing games like Password or gimmicky panel shows. The most notorious of the latter was You're In the Picture from 1961. Jackie Gleason hosted this very weird panel show where four celebrities stick their heads through a picture and try to guess what they are while Gleason tosses out quips. Uh, yeah. Not really as horrible as Gleason's later apology claimed, but very, very awkward. Fortunately, both the show and Gleason's apology the next week for how bad it was survived, so you can see the biggest game show bomb of the early 60's for yourself.
Get the Message is an example of the many Password imitations littering the airwaves in the mid-60's. Unlike You're In the Picture, I wish this one had worked out. Two teams of men and women consisting of contestant and a pair of celebrities are shown a message. The celebrities write a one-word clue describing the message and relay it to their contestant. If they didn't guess the message, it passed to the other team. Simple and fun, this is another one I'm surprised no one attempted to revive or revise.
Game shows in the late 60's became more salacious in response to more titillating programs like The Newlywed Game and Hollywood Squares. He Said, She Said went the Newlywed route as three regular married couples and a celebrity couple matched stories. Gene and Helen Rayburn were the celebrities in the pilot. The regular contestants were dropped in favor of all-celebrities after a few months. Goodson-Todman would continue to tinker with this one in the early 70's, finally finding success with it as Tattletales in 1974.
Check out some of the most notorious game show flops and scandals of the 50's and 60's, including one that was so bad, it ended after one episode!
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