And now for part two on Lin Bolen's reign of terror at NBC Daytime.
January 6, 1975 is notable for three reasons.
One, it marked the debut of arguably the most popular game show in television history, "Wheel of Fortune." Originally hosted by Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford, "Wheel" would ultimately become the second-longest running game show in network daytime history.
Two, it marked the first expansion of a soap opera from a half-hour to a full hour. "Another World," which had been NBC's most popular soap for a decade, was given the nod and expanded from 3:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. Because of this, "How to Survive a Marriage" would be bumped back to 1:30 p.m., but it wouldn't stay there for long...
And it also marked the debut of "Blank Check," hosted by Art James. That show only lasted for six months.
On April 18, 1975, "Marriage" finally bit the dust, and on the following Monday, "Days of our Lives" became the second soap opera to expand to a full hour, taking the 1:30 P.M. timeslot, and had NBC finally having a show that could fully compete with "Let's Make a Deal" and "As the World Turns."
On July 7, 1975, "Blank Check" was replaced by "The Magnificent Marble Machine." Hosted by Art James, TMMM has the distinction of being one of the most notorious game shows of the 1970s. Produced by the same company that game us such "larger-than-life" game shows as "Video Village" (which featured a human board game), "Hollywood Squares" (nine celebrities in a giant tic-tac-toe board), "Gambit" (which had giant playing cards), and "High Rollers" (which had giant dice), "The Magnificent Marble Machine" was a giant pinball machine that a celebrity and his civilian partner would play in that show's bonus round for cash and prizes for the civilian. Around the same time, "Jackpot!" changed its format from riddles to straight questions, a change that ultimately killed the show. It died on September 26, and was replaced the following Monday with "3 For the Money," a game with two teams of a two civilians and a celebrity captain that competed for an entire week. That show only lasted nine weeks. Yes, you read that right. NINE WEEKS!!
With "Wheel of Fortune" becoming so popular in such a short time, it became the second game show to permanently expand to an hour on December 1, 1975. However, this expansion only lasted six weeks, as it shrunk back to a half-hour on January 16, 1976. "The Magnificent Marble Machine" also endured a two-week hiatus in January of 1976. TMMM was replaced by the talk show "Take My Advice," which only lasted for five months. "High Rollers" (which had changed its format to having players guess a celebrity picture concealed by the nine numbers) and "The Magnificent Marble Machine" were also canceled on June 11, 1976, replaced the following Monday with two comedy game shows--"The Fun Factory," hosted by the late Bobby Van, and the infamous "Gong Show," hosted by Chuck Barris. "The Fun Factory" would leave the air on October 1, the same day as "Celebrity Sweepstakes." Both shows were replaced by "Stumpers" (produced by Lin Bolen's production company) and "50 Grand Slam" (where players could win up to $50,000), hosted by Allen Ludden and Tom Kennedy, respectively (both had previously hosted "Password" and "Split Second" back-to-back on ABC from 1972 to 1975). Both shows ended on New Year's Eve. Another show that ended on December 31, 1976, was the "Another World" spin-off, "Somerset" (which debuted on March 30, 1970).
The first Monday of 1977 brought along three new shows: "Shoot for the Stars" (hosted by Geoff Edwards, the game also holds the distinction of being the last new network daytime game show to air from New York), a revival of "Name That Tune" (this time hosted by nighttime host Tom Kennedy), and the soap opera "Lovers and Friends." "Lovers and Friends" was taken off the air on May 6, only to returned on December 5, 1977 under the title "For Richer, For Poorer." That show only lasted until the end of September 1978.
"Name That Tune" ended on June 10, replaced the following Monday by "It's Anybody's Guess," hosted by Monty Hall and announced by Jay Stewart (who had previously worked together for 14 years on "Let's Make a Deal"). That show, along with "Shoot for the Stars," were both gone by the end of September, replaced on October 3 by "Knockout" (hosted by semi-regular Gong Show panelist Arte Johnson) and "To Say the Least" (hosted by Tom Kennedy). Both shows ended their run on April 21, 1978.
The following Monday brought two of the NBC's most popular game shows on its lineup--"Card Sharks" (hosted by Jim Perry, who was virtually unknown in America, while well-known in Canada for his shows "Definition" and "Headline Hunters"), where a player could win over $28,000 on the turn of a card, and a revival of "High Rollers," hosted again by Alex Trebek, which had bigger prize packages than the previous version.
Nineteen seventy-eight also brought along the end of the daytime "Gong Show." The show had been pushing the envelope during the past year (particularly with the infamous Popsicle Twins, plus Jaye P. Morgan baring her breasts {which were censored, of course.}), and NBC decided to cancel the show, even though it was still somewhat popular. Chuck Barris had the last laugh in the show's final episode, where he sang his version of the song "Take this Job and Shove It," delivering a middle finger to NBC (which was censored).
Around this time, Lin Bolen was replaced by Fred Silverman, a man who would not only cause NBC's daytime lineup to crash, but almost caused the network itself to implode.
But that's for another entry.
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