Last-minute program changes for West Coast Network Feed?

[Stanislav]

One of the many oddities alleged about the legendary ABC flop Turn-On is that the negative reaction to the broadcast was so swift and intense that the network didn't even feed the show to the West Coast later that evening. I'm pretty sure this has been debunked (if you know otherwise, enlighten us).

But have there ever been other incidents where a network fed a program to the East and Midwest, then for whatever reason pulled a last-minute switch and substituted either a different episode or a different program entirely to the West? I'm not talking about the typical schedule disruptions caused by sporting events running long, breaking news, etc., but cases in which there was some controversy or anomaly that precipitated an abrupt programming change between feeds?

 

[Davros2006]

I can think of two incidents, one controversial, the other not so much.

1: A 1978 broadcast of THE GONG SHOW featuring an act called “The Popsicle Twins”. Apparently, after airing in the eastern half of the country, it was deemed too racy to show to the west. (Were the censors asleep at the time?) That moment also apparently led to the show’s cancellation not long after.

2: When the second network daytime incarnation of TO TELL THE TRUTH (most of its predecessors were seen either at night by the network or in daily syndication) premiered on September 3, 1990, on NBC, they accidentally ran the pilot with host Richard Kline (Larry of THREE’S COMPANY fame) and a set that part of which according to one picture kind of resembled the mid ’70s set in New York. They managed to solve the issue upon realizing the mistake and ran the intended premiere with Gordon Elliott for western viewers.

 

[radioman148]

>>I can think of two incidents, one controversial, the other not so much.

1: A 1978 broadcast of THE GONG SHOW featuring an act called “The Popsicle Twins”. Apparently, after airing in the eastern half of the country, it was deemed too racy to show to the west. (Were the censors asleep at the time?) That moment also apparently led to the show’s cancellation not long after.>>

That episode aired in reruns many times.

 

[azumanga]

I can think of two incidents, one controversial, the other not so much.

1: A 1978 broadcast of THE GONG SHOW featuring an act called “The Popsicle Twins”. Apparently, after airing in the eastern half of the country, it was deemed too racy to show to the west. (Were the censors asleep at the time?) That moment also apparently led to the show’s cancellation not long after.

On the West Coast, the same episode did appear, but without the Popsicle Twins. Because of that, the show ended early and the remaining few minutes were filled with PSAs.

2: When TO TELL THE TRUTHpremiered on September 3, 1990, on NBC, they accidentally ran the pilot with host Richard Kline and a set that part of which according to one picture kind of resembled the mid ’70s set in New York. They managed to solve the issue upon realizing the mistake and ran the intended premiere with Gordon Elliott for western viewers.

Though as I heard, the next day, they ran the premiere in the east and the Kline pilot in the west, with everyone caught up on Wednesday.

 

[mleach]

One of the many oddities alleged about the legendary ABC flop Turn-On is that the negative reaction to the broadcast was so swift and intense that the network didn't even feed the show to the West Coast later that evening. I'm pretty sure this has been debunked (if you know otherwise, enlighten us).

For many years in many of those trivia books it was said that Denver's then ABC affiilate KBTV ( now NBC/KUSA ) channel 9..halfway during "Turn-On"..somebody appeared on camera and said something like "..the rest of Turn-On will NOT be seen on KBTV channel 9"..and in comes some guy playing the piano to round out the rest of that half hour.

However....

Last year the now defunct Rocky Mountain News, their columnist ( also known as the "big mouth" of Denver ) Penny Parker had interviewed some old timer who was employed at KBTV channel 9 during the late 60's ( why? who the hell knows !!! LOL ) but anyway the subject of "Turn-On" was brought up and according to this man..he claimed that actually "Turn-On" did air in full in Denver and of course he had no idea who started the story about KBTV yanking the show off the air in mid-broadcast. But then again this man was well into his early 90s so maybe his memory had faded over the years.

On a similar note I seem to remember reading a message on another site some years back from someone who had claimed to had seen "Turn-On" on LA's KABC when it aired so maybe Turn-On did air throughout the country. But then again......

 

[bpatrick]

Haven't some segments of "Saturday Night Live" been
deleted for the West Coast feed?

This reminds me of a story that happened back in radio,
in 1948. CBS had a popular daytime game show, "Double
Or Nothing," hosted by comedian Walter O'Keefe. One day
a woman contestant appeared; she had survived the Bataan
death march as an Army nurse, but at this point was working
in a restaurant. She told a story about a male friend who was
suffering a bad case of depression: "Won't eat, won't go out,
won't do nothin'...." She had asked a mutual friend (male) what
they ought to do about it. "Why don't we get a good-looking
girl like you and have a big screwing party?" he said. O'Keefe
became frantic trying to change the subject; the CBS switchboard
lit up, and the network ordered its Pacific affiliates to destroy the
tape of the broadcast and not air it later in the day. One station
didn't comply, and the broadcast has become someting of a collector's
item.

 

[Ultimajock]

Haven't some segments of "Saturday Night Live" been deleted for the West Coast feed?

...seems to me Sinéad O'Connor's 3 October 1992 ripping of a photo of Pope John Paul II on-camera was one such deletion...

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Haven't some segments of "Saturday Night Live" been deleted for the West Coast feed?

Two words: Charles Rocket. One word: (bleep).

 

[Stanislav]

Haven't some segments of "Saturday Night Live" been deleted for the West Coast feed?

...seems to me Sinéad O'Connor's 3 October 1992 ripping of a photo of Pope John Paul II on-camera was one such deletion...

I believe in that case they were able to substitute tape of the dress rehearsal (in which she had not pulled the "Pope" stunt, but instead held up a photo of a child).

Two words: Charles Rocket. One word: (bleep).

I never saw the original broadcast of that -- was it merely bleeped, or edited for the West Coast? I finally saw that show in a repeat many years later, and they just deleted a chunk of the ending sequence (resulting, IIRC, in a "jump cut"), so you didn't even see the immediate response to the F-bomb. (I believe I read that guest host Charlene Tilton did a classic wide-eyed hand-over-open-mouth "take," which would have been pretty funny to see...)

 

[milwaukee_dave]

Continuing with "SNL" -- wasn't the infamous Ashlee Simpson lip-synching flub during the 2004-05 season edited for west coast viewers? Or am I imagining that?

 

[radiorob2.0]

I don't know how long this has been policy but SNL does two performances. A full run through earlier in the evening and the live performance. The best performances of the two are used later.

The "Popsicle Twins" on The Gong Show were part of Chuck Barris' war with NBC censors. He would bait and switch the censors on occasions by presenting an over the top act. The censors would balk at the over the top act while Barris would sneak in an act they would normally forbid. Barris though "Have You Got A Nickel" (the act's name) would cause the censors to freak out. Instead they allowed it to air. A member of the NBC hierarchy saw the simulated fellatio and immediately told Master Control that will never air on this network again. Barris was ordered to explain himself. He showed up to the meeting and enjoying a Popsicle. The network brass wasn't amused.

 

[radioman148]

I don't know how long this has been policy but SNL does two performances. A full run through earlier in the evening and the live performance. The best performances of the two are used later.

The "Popsicle Twins" on The Gong Show were part of Chuck Barris' war with NBC censors. He would bait and switch the censors on occasions by presenting an over the top act. The censors would balk at the over the top act while Barris would sneak in an act they would normally forbid. Barris though "Have You Got A Nickel" (the act's name) would cause the censors to freak out. Instead they allowed it to air. A member of the NBC hierarchy saw the simulated fellatio and immediately told Master Control that will never air on this network again. Barris was ordered to explain himself. He showed up to the meeting and enjoying a Popsicle. The network brass wasn't amused.

There was another episode where Jaye P Morgan, one of the panelists, took off her blouse.

 

[radiorob2.0]

I don't know how long this has been policy but SNL does two performances. A full run through earlier in the evening and the live performance. The best performances of the two are used later.

The "Popsicle Twins" on The Gong Show were part of Chuck Barris' war with NBC censors. He would bait and switch the censors on occasions by presenting an over the top act. The censors would balk at the over the top act while Barris would sneak in an act they would normally forbid. Barris though "Have You Got A Nickel" (the act's name) would cause the censors to freak out. Instead they allowed it to air. A member of the NBC hierarchy saw the simulated fellatio and immediately told Master Control that will never air on this network again. Barris was ordered to explain himself. He showed up to the meeting and enjoying a Popsicle. The network brass wasn't amused.

There was another episode where Jaye P Morgan, one of the panelists, took off her blouse.

I believe it was that incident that lead to her firing. It's a shame cable was still in its early days, because this show would have had new life on Pay TV uncensored. What bugged me was that NBC could have just dropped audio or added a sound effect or tone to cover the dirty word. Instead, they would display a slide with the words "Oops" over a gong. I guess they felt there were those who could read lips who might be offended.

 

[azumanga]

What bugged me was that NBC could have just dropped audio or added a sound effect or tone to cover the dirty word. Instead, they would display a slide with the words "Oops" over a gong. I guess they felt there were those who could read lips who might be offended.

I think the "Oops" slide was used on the show, both NBC and syndicated, to cover up any profane material, heard or seen -- not just for that particular incident. That being said, NBC should have just let the incident go instead of firing Morgan, as that incident got "Oops'd".

 

[hubcity]

What bugged me was that NBC could have just dropped audio or added a sound effect or tone to cover the dirty word. Instead, they would display a slide with the words "Oops" over a gong. I guess they felt there were those who could read lips who might be offended.

I think the "Oops" slide was used on the show, both NBC and syndicated, to cover up any profane material, heard or seen -- not just for that particular incident. That being said, NBC should have just let the incident go instead of firing Morgan, as that incident got "Oops'd".

I seem to remember, especially in the case of Jaye P., how she's start to talk, the Oops! slide would come on, and then change colors three or four times before they'd cut back to the proceedings, sort of connoting that she said a LOT of bad words...

As for Charlene Tilton's gasp/hand-over-mouth/wide-eyed take on Charlie Rocket's last SNL, I can confirm that's what happened. (I think I did the same take.)

UPDATE: Just checked the SNL Transcripts site - they claim it was actually the second f-bomb of the night (Prince dropped the first one in his song) and, son of a gun, it wasn't Rocket's last SNL. They let him do one more show, two weeks later. On the news segment, after Joe Piscopo's sports reporter did a piece on hockey violence (suggesting they use softer sticks), Rocket turned to him and said, "Did you say 'puck'?" Of course, after this, they canned the new producer and most of the cast.

 

[mleach]

It's a shame cable was still in its early days, because this show would have had new life on Pay TV uncensored.

Had the film "The Gong Show Movie" been a hit rather than a major bomb, I wouldn't had been surprised had the Gong Show found themsevles on cable. The movie IMO pretty much killed the Gong Show. What was Barris smoking? LOL. Maybe Don Adams talked him into it as this was around the same time he did that Get Smart flick "The Nude Bomb". Another bomb of a movie. Perhaps both Chuck Barris & Don Adams saw the success of the Blues Brothers thinking.."hey why not?

But that cable angle...It really is amazing that Chuck Barris never saw the future for his shows on cable, at least back in the early 80s anyway.

 

[radiorob2.0]

What bugged me was that NBC could have just dropped audio or added a sound effect or tone to cover the dirty word. Instead, they would display a slide with the words "Oops" over a gong. I guess they felt there were those who could read lips who might be offended.

I think the "Oops" slide was used on the show, both NBC and syndicated, to cover up any profane material, heard or seen -- not just for that particular incident. That being said, NBC should have just let the incident go instead of firing Morgan, as that incident got "Oops'd".

It was used for all questionable events. As I said, they could have just pulled down the audio instead of the slide.

 

[Stanislav]

UPDATE: Just checked the SNL Transcripts site - they claim it was actually the second f-bomb of the night (Prince dropped the first one in his song) and, son of a gun, it wasn't Rocket's last SNL. They let him do one more show, two weeks later. On the news segment, after Joe Piscopo's sports reporter did a piece on hockey violence (suggesting they use softer sticks), Rocket turned to him and said, "Did you say 'puck'?" Of course, after this, they canned the new producer and most of the cast.

There was also previously a sketch in which Paul Shaffer was playing a member of a British rock band, and repeatedly used the euphemism "floggin'" in place of the adjective form of the F-word. On one such use, he actually slipped and used the real profanity, but it was not perfectly clear between the British accent and the fact that he was mumbling (I think he was doing sort of an Ozzy Osbourne takeoff). Which led to the control room exchange:

"What did he say?"
"Uh...he said 'floggin''"

Later, when Charles Rocket dropped his F-bomb, supposedly Jean Doumanian asked a similar question, along the lines of "Did he just say what I think he said?" Same guy as in the previous exchange deadpanned, "He said 'floggin''...'"

 

[mleach]

I am surprised the ABC SNL clone "Fridays" didn't have this problem s...as in last minute changes for the west coast since Fridays I believe was done Live. Between all the drug jokes and language ( example :.."you pissy little bitch" ), not to mention the great Wendy O' Williams and her chainsaw and that infamous skit where Andy Kaufman and Michael Richards had almost got into a fist fight even though that was planned between Kaufman & Richards. I checked out the Wikipedia thread on "Fridays' where they had mentioned that one skit ( "Diner of the Living Dead" ) was so bad that 6 affiliates had refused to air it and as a result stopped airing Fridays. Who were those affiliates?

But besides that, Wikipedia didn't mention about ABC being forced to make last minutes changes to anything on Fridays.

 

[Ultimajock]

It's a shame cable was still in its early days, because this show would have had new life on Pay TV uncensored.

Had the film "The Gong Show Movie" been a hit rather than a major bomb, I wouldn't had been surprised had the Gong Show found themsevles on cable. The movie IMO pretty much killed the Gong Show. What was Barris smoking? LOL. Maybe Don Adams talked him into it as this was around the same time he did that Get Smart flick "The Nude Bomb". Another bomb of a movie. Perhaps both Chuck Barris & Don Adams saw the success of the Blues Brothers thinking.."hey why not?

But that cable angle...It really is amazing that Chuck Barris never saw the future for his shows on cable, at least back in the early 80s anyway.

...actually, Barris was getting tired of showbiz in general. Plus, his relationship with his daughter Della was pretty well shot, so he chucked it all (no pun intended) and moved to France for a decade-plus...