How did game show tapings work back in the day (let's say, for example, Jim's $ale @ NBC in Burbank)? Did they work then much as they do today, with a few differences?
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Game show tapings back in the day?
- Thread starter bmasters1981
- Start date
Until the early 1960's, network game shows were generally broadcast live.
After that, shows were initially taped one episode at a time.
But during the decade, producers discovered that if they could tape a week's worth of shows (five episodes) back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back on the same day, they would save a lot of money on studio rentals and production crew time.
Usually, an audience would see two or three episodes, then while the host and crew had a lunch or dinner break, the first studio audience left and a second audience would be brought in for the remaining two or three episodes.
For a network, it would free up additional studio time for in-house shows or to rent to outside producers.
If a network had seven daytime game shows taped either in New York or Los Angeles, they could have allocated one studio for all the shows, with each show taping five episodes on the same day.
(I think NBC may in fact have had six or seven New York-based daytime game shows in the mid-to-late 1960's and perhaps indeed one studio may have been used for them, as outlind above, but I don't know for sure)
After that, shows were initially taped one episode at a time.
But during the decade, producers discovered that if they could tape a week's worth of shows (five episodes) back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back on the same day, they would save a lot of money on studio rentals and production crew time.
Usually, an audience would see two or three episodes, then while the host and crew had a lunch or dinner break, the first studio audience left and a second audience would be brought in for the remaining two or three episodes.
For a network, it would free up additional studio time for in-house shows or to rent to outside producers.
If a network had seven daytime game shows taped either in New York or Los Angeles, they could have allocated one studio for all the shows, with each show taping five episodes on the same day.
(I think NBC may in fact have had six or seven New York-based daytime game shows in the mid-to-late 1960's and perhaps indeed one studio may have been used for them, as outlind above, but I don't know for sure)
bmasters1981 said:
Pat Sajak and Vanna White only really work about 40 days per year, as they can knock out a whole season's worth of shows taping 5 shows a day at a time over a 40 day span (I believe in 4 10-day spurts).
The same applies to most other 30 minute game shows as well (give or take).
For hour long game shows ("The Price is Right", "Let's Make a Deal") they probably bang out 2 shows per day, taping over a 90 day (or so) span.
I can recall Art James lamenting the practice of taping a week's (or weeks) worth of shows, recalling the days when he would do his live game show at noon, and be home eating a relatively late lunch by 2 p.m.
In August of 1961 my Mom took me to 3 shows and 2 were done live. (Price is Right - and Camouflage ) and the third (Who Do You Trust) aired the following week.
In 1963 my brother took me to a 'To Tell The Truth' which was taped a week ahead ( my brother went to a bar and bet on the outcome of each segment ;D )
In 1973 - What's My Line would crank out 5 a day - I went to one taping which was 3 shows but the same day $10,000 Pyramid was done live at the Ed Sullivan which I found odd given Clark was based in LA.
In 1963 my brother took me to a 'To Tell The Truth' which was taped a week ahead ( my brother went to a bar and bet on the outcome of each segment ;D )
In 1973 - What's My Line would crank out 5 a day - I went to one taping which was 3 shows but the same day $10,000 Pyramid was done live at the Ed Sullivan which I found odd given Clark was based in LA.
J
John-Summers
Guest
Of course, taping shows far in advance of the air date can bring about some unexpected problems. One of the funniest examples I ever saw happened in 1979, during the midst of the Iran hostage crisis. I don't recall what show it was, but one of the prize winners received "an all-expenses paid vacation in beautiful Tehran, jewel of the Middle East!" The guy was elated, and shouted "Oh I love that city!"
Whoops.
Whoops.
"Jeopardy!' tapes five shows on Saturday and five
on Sunday, and there are 46 weeks of new shows
per year (46x5=230, so Alex works about 23 weeks
a year).
One show that was a headache for its network
was ABC's "The Money Maze." It took two days
to set up the maze, one day to tape a week's worth
of shows, and two days to take the maze back down.
That tied up one ABC studio in New York for five days
a week, when the network would most likely have preferred
to have several shows using that studio.
I knew that the original "Price Is Right" and "Camouflage"
were live; I thought "Who Do You Trust?" was live except
on Mondays. According to a story I once heard, Johnny Carson
liked his three-day weekends even then, and he would tape
Monday's show on Friday night. There were about three hours
between the live Friday show and the taping for Monday, and he
and Ed McMahon would spend it in a nearby bar. One Friday night,
Johnny came back to the studio plastered; he kept asking the first
couple over and over again, "Where are you from? What do you do?"
Show owner Don Fedderson, after seeing the tape, made a quick trip
from LA to New York, sat Johnny down and made him watch the show.
Johnny didn't remember any of it, and Fedderson told him he was fired
if it ever happened again. Needless to say it didn't (but Fedderson had
problems later with Woody Woodbury over the fishing attire he always wore).
But then again, Johnny would sometimes tape several shows at one sitting
and give himself and the staff several days off. so it's not unthinkable that
the show you saw was indeed taped for later airing.
In the early '60s CBS had to juggle the taping of a number of shows at the
Ed Sullivan Theater because Sullivan's producer and son-in-law Bob Precht
liked to have the studio from Thursday to Sunday. "Password" and "To Tell
The Truth" taped there (as well as "Candid Camera" and "Ted Mack's Amateur
Hour"). I know that Allen Funt and Ted Mack would tape two shows at one
time; I don't know if the two game shows taped two weeks' worth or came in
every week and did six shows (both had a primetime version as well as daytime).
I also believe Bob Barker taped "The Price Is Right" four days a week: two shows
one day, one on each of the other three. Don't know what Drew's schedule is.
on Sunday, and there are 46 weeks of new shows
per year (46x5=230, so Alex works about 23 weeks
a year).
One show that was a headache for its network
was ABC's "The Money Maze." It took two days
to set up the maze, one day to tape a week's worth
of shows, and two days to take the maze back down.
That tied up one ABC studio in New York for five days
a week, when the network would most likely have preferred
to have several shows using that studio.
I knew that the original "Price Is Right" and "Camouflage"
were live; I thought "Who Do You Trust?" was live except
on Mondays. According to a story I once heard, Johnny Carson
liked his three-day weekends even then, and he would tape
Monday's show on Friday night. There were about three hours
between the live Friday show and the taping for Monday, and he
and Ed McMahon would spend it in a nearby bar. One Friday night,
Johnny came back to the studio plastered; he kept asking the first
couple over and over again, "Where are you from? What do you do?"
Show owner Don Fedderson, after seeing the tape, made a quick trip
from LA to New York, sat Johnny down and made him watch the show.
Johnny didn't remember any of it, and Fedderson told him he was fired
if it ever happened again. Needless to say it didn't (but Fedderson had
problems later with Woody Woodbury over the fishing attire he always wore).
But then again, Johnny would sometimes tape several shows at one sitting
and give himself and the staff several days off. so it's not unthinkable that
the show you saw was indeed taped for later airing.
In the early '60s CBS had to juggle the taping of a number of shows at the
Ed Sullivan Theater because Sullivan's producer and son-in-law Bob Precht
liked to have the studio from Thursday to Sunday. "Password" and "To Tell
The Truth" taped there (as well as "Candid Camera" and "Ted Mack's Amateur
Hour"). I know that Allen Funt and Ted Mack would tape two shows at one
time; I don't know if the two game shows taped two weeks' worth or came in
every week and did six shows (both had a primetime version as well as daytime).
I also believe Bob Barker taped "The Price Is Right" four days a week: two shows
one day, one on each of the other three. Don't know what Drew's schedule is.
All good responses-- thanks for them! I've learned a lot from this thread, and I think that Jim's $ale would have been something I would have wanted to be on; I've seen quite a bit of it from YouTube, and I like how it was produced.
Friends and neighbors...if the Las Vegas-based Game Show Hall Of Fame ever gets re-started, I have three-count 'em-three no-brainer nominees from my base here in "The 'Ville," Louisville, KY.
(Home of the NCAA D1 Mens' Basketball Champs 2013, the NCAA D1 Womens' Basketball National finalists 2013, the NCAA Baseball College World Series Participants 2013, AND the 2013 NCAA/BCS Sugar Bowl Football Champs UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE CARDINALS!!!)...Okay, back to my nominees...
1) JACK NARZ (Louisville Native, "Dotto" and other shows and much VO/announcing);
his brother 2) JIM NARZ aka "Tom Kennedy," "Split Second" and others; and finally,
their brother-in-law (for real!) the Immortal Mr. Game Show...3) BILL CULLEN (not from Louisville, but we always claimed him...met him at a studio tour here in the city when I was a 4th grader in 1964...jolly, warm, friendly despite his polio affects.)
(Home of the NCAA D1 Mens' Basketball Champs 2013, the NCAA D1 Womens' Basketball National finalists 2013, the NCAA Baseball College World Series Participants 2013, AND the 2013 NCAA/BCS Sugar Bowl Football Champs UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE CARDINALS!!!)...Okay, back to my nominees...
1) JACK NARZ (Louisville Native, "Dotto" and other shows and much VO/announcing);
his brother 2) JIM NARZ aka "Tom Kennedy," "Split Second" and others; and finally,
their brother-in-law (for real!) the Immortal Mr. Game Show...3) BILL CULLEN (not from Louisville, but we always claimed him...met him at a studio tour here in the city when I was a 4th grader in 1964...jolly, warm, friendly despite his polio affects.)
I can tell you the exact date of the Pyramid live show - Thursday, Sept. 6, 1973
I seem to recall that the shows were done live because they had to work around the Watergate hearings that rotated from network to network playing havoc with daytime programming.
I wound up on Who's Who on WML and that episode has aired on GSN as others have seen it ( I haven't )
I seem to recall that the shows were done live because they had to work around the Watergate hearings that rotated from network to network playing havoc with daytime programming.
I wound up on Who's Who on WML and that episode has aired on GSN as others have seen it ( I haven't )
EJM said:
In response to a message and for general FYI:
Louisville/Jefferson Metro, KY (consolidated city/county government in 2003) Pop. 763,750 (est. 6-30-13)
Louisville, KY-IN SMSA Pop. 1,398,750 (est. 6-30-13)
Louisville, KY-IN CMSA Pop. 1,509,250 (est. 6-30-13, incl. Ft. Knox area)
Louisville/Jefferson Metro, KY (consolidated city/county government in 2003) Pop. 763,750 (est. 6-30-13)
Louisville, KY-IN SMSA Pop. 1,398,750 (est. 6-30-13)
Louisville, KY-IN CMSA Pop. 1,509,250 (est. 6-30-13, incl. Ft. Knox area)
The King Bee said:
If you'd like to expand that out to include the whole state (or commonwealth, they call it there) of Kentucky, you can add
Chuck Woolery, original host of "Wheel Of Fortune," also "Scrabble," "Love Connection," and "Lingo" (from Ashland) and Nick Clooney, who did "The Money Maze" (he's from Maysville).
I've always heard that, with Bill Cullen, what you saw was what you got; he was just the same off-camera as he was on. His one irritant was that he didn't like to be waited on; if he could get something for himself, he'd do it. One reason, I think, for his success, as well as Jack Narz's, is that they didn't play the role of the game show host (all hyped-up like Bert Parks, who could really be a monster when the cameras were off). I still think TV Guide blew it when they ranked Bill sixth among the greatest game show hosts (behind Allen Ludden, Bob Barker, Gene Rayburn, Alex Trebek, and Bob Eubanks). Bill should have been first or closer to it.
bpatrick said:
Looking at a website that handles TPIR tickets, it's practically the same now as it was when Barker was still there, except they're taping one extra show per week (two each on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays). It looks like they're taping for the upcoming season starting August 19th, although they just recently taped an upcoming episode for Veteran's Day back on July 31st.
Speaking of Price and CBS...Television City's Studio 33 has to be the busiest soundstage in all of television, and it's been that way since at least the late 60s/early 70s, back when to The Carol Burnett Show was being produced. The 1980s to the '90s was probably when it was at its peak in terms of show productions--Price, Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune, the Pyramid, Body Language, Card Sharks, and a few others (and several of those shows at one point had both daytime and nighttime versions being produced).
You guys should check out TV City's official website, and it had a list of every production produced there, including on what soundstage and when it happened.
The TV-viewing audience in general. I believe Bill even participated in a couple of Kentucky Derby Festival events...a big deal around here, and still one of the country's biggest civic celebrations. Of course, the family ties didn't hurt!
With the (then) 3 net affiliates so influential with their networks as were WHAS (then CBS), WAVE (NBC) and WLKY (then ABC), it was easier to get network talent to travel into Louisville for personal appearances. At one point, the three stations had seats on each net's affiliate advisory board...at the same time. I attribute this to the stations' strong management, cooperation with the network, and in the case of WHAS (1950 new studios, 1968 re-builds) and WAVE (the first new all-color NBC affiliate studios, 1959), state of the art facilities, with WLKY to follow with new studios in 1968.
With the (then) 3 net affiliates so influential with their networks as were WHAS (then CBS), WAVE (NBC) and WLKY (then ABC), it was easier to get network talent to travel into Louisville for personal appearances. At one point, the three stations had seats on each net's affiliate advisory board...at the same time. I attribute this to the stations' strong management, cooperation with the network, and in the case of WHAS (1950 new studios, 1968 re-builds) and WAVE (the first new all-color NBC affiliate studios, 1959), state of the art facilities, with WLKY to follow with new studios in 1968.
Louisville Network Affiliates (Was: Re: Game show tapings back in the day?)
There might have been another reason: The Kentucky Derby. The biggest event in horse racing, the networks may have had Louisville affiliate managers on the affiliate boards hoping these managers would have an "in" with Churchill Downs which would give them an edge in negotiating upcoming TV deals with the track for the race.
Back in the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's, the Derby was probably the fourth of fifth biggest television sports event of the year (behind the World Series, the Rose Bowl, the Masters golf tournament, the Super Bowl once that started and perhaps eventually the NBA Finals) and was eagerly sought by the networks.
The King Bee noted: said:
There might have been another reason: The Kentucky Derby. The biggest event in horse racing, the networks may have had Louisville affiliate managers on the affiliate boards hoping these managers would have an "in" with Churchill Downs which would give them an edge in negotiating upcoming TV deals with the track for the race.
Back in the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's, the Derby was probably the fourth of fifth biggest television sports event of the year (behind the World Series, the Rose Bowl, the Masters golf tournament, the Super Bowl once that started and perhaps eventually the NBA Finals) and was eagerly sought by the networks.
Roger to that, Joseph...I've worked 26 Derbies for the various networks, and it's a major troops and trucks movement into the TV compound on the east side of the Downs property . NBC uses 125 or so staffers, 33 cameras, four TV production trucks and six utility and office trailers.
Churchill Downs has the best TV cable layout of any sports venue, with coax, triax, optical fiber and audio cable at 70+ positions all running to the terminal rooms at the TV compound. This reminds me of what I saw a few years ago during a major rebuild of the grandstand...the old main cable run was severed and re-run under cover inside a cable chute.
The old outdoor run carried cables labeled back into the early 1950's! Old multicore black-and-white camera cables at the bottom, through lighter multicore above it to thick-jacketed early triaxial up to the previous year's runs of flex triax and fiber optic cable. It was like reading the rings on an old tree. All of it was labeled with network and year run...the earliest was CBS from 1953.
Churchill Downs has the best TV cable layout of any sports venue, with coax, triax, optical fiber and audio cable at 70+ positions all running to the terminal rooms at the TV compound. This reminds me of what I saw a few years ago during a major rebuild of the grandstand...the old main cable run was severed and re-run under cover inside a cable chute.
The old outdoor run carried cables labeled back into the early 1950's! Old multicore black-and-white camera cables at the bottom, through lighter multicore above it to thick-jacketed early triaxial up to the previous year's runs of flex triax and fiber optic cable. It was like reading the rings on an old tree. All of it was labeled with network and year run...the earliest was CBS from 1953.
Retro Kentucky Derby Coverage (Was: Re: Game show tapings back in the day?)
I wonder if WHAS-11 broadcast the Kentucky Derby locally in 1950 and 1951 (the station first signed-on the air in March of 1950), since I believe Louisville wasn't connected to network TV lines until 1952.
Maybe the King Bee can answer if WHAS had color remote equipment in the early 1960's. I do know that CBS didn't get it's first color remote truck until October, 1965 (and I believe it's first use was supposed to be the launch of Gemini 6 that month at Cape Canaveral, but the unmanned Agena target rocket exploded at the time it was supposed to go into orbit and the manned launch got scrubbed; it's second use was the Thanksgiving NFL game in Detroit the next month), so CBS could not have done the Derby in color with it's own color remote equipment until 1966. However, if WHAS had a color remote van prior to that, perhaps it was used to feed coverage in color to CBS.
Ironically, comedian Red Skelton for a time in the early 1960's had a video production firm with three color remote trucks. In one of his deals with CBS, he should have gotten the network to use them. During the Fall, three of them could have been used each week for some of their regional NFL games, one or two of them could have been sent to Louisville each May for the Derby, and each April, all three of them could have been sent to Augusta, Georgia for the Masters golf tournament.
I wonder if WHAS-11 broadcast the Kentucky Derby locally in 1950 and 1951 (the station first signed-on the air in March of 1950), since I believe Louisville wasn't connected to network TV lines until 1952.
Maybe the King Bee can answer if WHAS had color remote equipment in the early 1960's. I do know that CBS didn't get it's first color remote truck until October, 1965 (and I believe it's first use was supposed to be the launch of Gemini 6 that month at Cape Canaveral, but the unmanned Agena target rocket exploded at the time it was supposed to go into orbit and the manned launch got scrubbed; it's second use was the Thanksgiving NFL game in Detroit the next month), so CBS could not have done the Derby in color with it's own color remote equipment until 1966. However, if WHAS had a color remote van prior to that, perhaps it was used to feed coverage in color to CBS.
Ironically, comedian Red Skelton for a time in the early 1960's had a video production firm with three color remote trucks. In one of his deals with CBS, he should have gotten the network to use them. During the Fall, three of them could have been used each week for some of their regional NFL games, one or two of them could have been sent to Louisville each May for the Derby, and each April, all three of them could have been sent to Augusta, Georgia for the Masters golf tournament.
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