Dumb Daytime Moves--Hollywood Squares in Vegas

I haven't done one of these in a while, and I know this isn't exactly a dumb DAYTIME move, but with a clip of the highly-sought after Vegas season of "Hollywood Squares" popping up on YouTube, I just couldn't pass this up.

"Hollywood Squares" is one of the all-time greats in the history of game shows.  The gameplay was actually secondary to the hilarious "joke" answers delivered by the stars.  However, like most shows, "Squares" did make some dumb moves over the years, such as moving the show to four different time slots in the final four years on NBC, replacing the beloved Center Square Paul Lynde with a puppet (I'm not joking with that one), or perhaps the most notorious change during the show's 15-year-run...moving to Las Vegas.

Here's the set-up.  The daytime version of "Hollywood Squares" was cancelled on NBC on June 20, 1980 by a certain individual who I have talked about before.  However, the syndicated version, which was airing once or twice a week, depending on the market, was still going on strong, so it was decided to expand the show to five nights a week.  It was also decided to move the show to Las Vegas, partially because the producers, Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley, were reviving Gambit at the same time, and they were planning on having the show tape from Las Vegas as well.  They also decided to bring back Paul Lynde as the Center Square.

Here are my problems with this...

First of all, the show is called HOLLYWOOD Squares.  That means that with the exception of occasional visits, the show would always be done in HOLLYWOOD, not Las Vegas!

Second, with the show moving to Vegas, the giant tic-tac-toe board, which was the centerpiece of the show, had to be disassembled and reassembled for each taping day as opposed to letting the set stand in the studio.  This is because they were shooting at a theater at the Riviera Hotel & Casino.

Third, from what I've read, everybody spent their free time gambling, and as a result, the quality of the show suffered.

Fourth, THERE WAS NO SECRET SQUARE GAME!!  I mean, come on!  That's one of the best parts of the show!!

Needless to say, the show was cancelled after only one season in Sin City, with Paul Lynde leaving again mid-way through. (He tragically died shortly afterwards.)  While this wasn't the absolute worst version of Hollywood Squares, it was still pretty bad.  I haven't exactly seen a full episode of it yet, just the clip that surfaced, but I do not have high hopes if an episode ever does show up.

And that's it for now.