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Monday, September 13, 2010

Dumb Daytime Moves--Let's Make a Deal changing networks

When "Let's Make a Deal" debuted on the NBC Television Network on December 30, 1963, it quickly became one of the top game shows on daytime television, being of the first shows to regularly compete with the popular CBS soap opera "As the World Turns".

It was so popular that the network ran a limited primetime series during the summer of 1967. Host and co-producer Monty Hall wanted a permanent berth on the network's nighttime schedule, but NBC wouldn't give it to them. ABC soon offered Hall a spot on both its daytime and nighttime schedules.

The change was soon made and on December 30, 1968, exactly five years to the day, "Let's Make a Deal" made its debut on the ABC daytime lineup in the same timeslot it aired on NBC three days earlier (1:30 P.M.). This turned out to be a huge change for both networks. NBC soon lost millions in advertising revenue, and ABC would quickly become the number one daytime network. The nighttime "Let's Make a Deal" made its ABC debut on February 7, 1969, and ran until the end of the 1970-71 season, when it moved to syndication.

But that wasn't the only dumb move NBC made around this time.

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