Two shows on different networks

[bpatrick]

The "Another Network" thread has made me
wonder: how many people had two shows,
simultaneously, on different networks? I
can think of a few from the '50s, nothing
more recent (having a network and a syndicated
show at the same time don't count):

Art Linkletter: House Party (CBS, 1952-69)
People Are Funny (NBC, 1954-61)

Bud Collyer: Beat The Clock (CBS/ABC, 1950-61)
Feather Your Nest (NBC, 1954-56)
To Tell The Truth (CBS, 1956-68)
Number Please (ABC, 1961)

Ted Mack: The Original Amateur Hour (DuMont/
NBC/ABC/CBS, 1948-70)
Ted Mack's Family Hour (ABC, 1951)

George Fenneman: announcer, You Bet Your Life
(NBC, 1950-61)
host, Anybody Can Play (ABC, 1958)
host, Your Surprise Package (CBS, 1961-62)

John Daly: anchor, ABC News (1953-60)
host, What's My Line? (CBS, 1950-67)

Can anybody think of others?

 

[bpatrick]

I need to add two more:

Bert Parks emceed "Break The Bank" on NBC
and "Stop The Music" on ABC between 1949
and 1952.

In the summer of 1955, Hal March starred in
an NBC sitcom, "The Soldiers," on Saturdays,
while hosting "The $64,000 Question" on CBS
Tuesdays.

 

[WMC2006]

Cant think of any of those but I can probably come up with plenty of people who have had more than 1 show on the same network at the same time (Bob Saget on ABC with Full House and Funniest Home Videos; and, Heather Locklear with Dynasty and TJ Hooker, again on ABC.)

But that's another subject completely. ;D

 

[retrothoughts]

From March 1973-March 1974, Dick Clark hosted $10,000 Pyramid weekday mornings on CBS, and hosted American Bandstand Saturdays on ABC. [When Pyramid was on ABC from May 1974-June 1980, Dick would close the Friday Pyramid episode by plugging Bandstand, and vice versa]

In 1985, Dick would host or co-host shows on all three networks: $25,000 Pyramid weekday mornings on CBS; Bandstand Saturdays on ABC (it would be cut to a half-hour the following year); and TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes (alongside Ed McMahon) Monday nights on NBC.

 

[Ultimajock]

...add Bill Cullen, who had several NBC or ABC game shows (most notably "The Price is Right") simultaneously with his paneling duties on "I've Got a Secret" on CBS, and Richard Dawson, who started his ABC tenure on "Family Feud" while locked into a contract to be a panelist on CBS' "Match Game 7x." Between the latter two, Dawson worked the most weekly hours -- three for each show in their network and syndicated versions -- as anyone Goodson-Todman ever had on the payroll. ("I've Got a Secret" was only 30 minutes per week for Cullen.) No wonder he began getting cranky on "Match Game" in '77 and '78...

 

[Corky Marlowe]

What about sportscasters? I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that both Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas do college hoops for both ESPN and CBS. I'll bet there were some others back in the day, too...

 

[KeithE4]

...add Bill Cullen, who had several NBC or ABC game shows (most notably "The Price is Right") simultaneously with his paneling duties on "I've Got a Secret" on CBS, and Richard Dawson, who started his ABC tenure on "Family Feud" while locked into a contract to be a panelist on CBS' "Match Game 7x." Between the latter two, Dawson worked the most weekly hours -- three for each show in their network and syndicated versions -- as anyone Goodson-Todman ever had on the payroll. ("I've Got a Secret" was only 30 minutes per week for Cullen.) No wonder he began getting cranky on "Match Game" in '77 and '78...

Dawson and Larry Hovis were both semi-regulars (Hovis is also credited as a writer on the show) on NBC's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In during that show's first season (1968), while appearing on CBS's Hogan's Heroes at the same time.

 

[Ultimajock]

...add Bill Cullen, who had several NBC or ABC game shows (most notably "The Price is Right") simultaneously with his paneling duties on "I've Got a Secret" on CBS, and Richard Dawson, who started his ABC tenure on "Family Feud" while locked into a contract to be a panelist on CBS' "Match Game 7x." Between the latter two, Dawson worked the most weekly hours -- three for each show in their network and syndicated versions -- as anyone Goodson-Todman ever had on the payroll. ("I've Got a Secret" was only 30 minutes per week for Cullen.) No wonder he began getting cranky on "Match Game" in '77 and '78...

Dawson and Larry Hovis were both semi-regulars (Hovis is also credited as a writer on the show) on NBC's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In during that show's first season (1968), while appearing on CBS's Hogan's Heroes at the same time.

...Hovis, yes (he also appears on the LPs taken from the audio tracks of the shows put out by Epic and Reprise, IIRC), but I'm positive Dawson didn't join the cast until the final (Paul Keyes-produced) season of "Laugh-In." By that time, "Hogan's Heroes" was gone and Dawson's other job was as panelist on the syndicated revival of "I've Got a Secret"...

 

[ShawnHill1]

What about sportscasters? I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that both Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas do college hoops for both ESPN and CBS. I'll bet there were some others back in the day, too...

I'm sure there are plenty of sportscasters pulling double-duty, not counting those broadcasters who work for a team, whose broadcasts are on different outlets. I know Dick Enberg does football, tennis, and basketball for CBS, and tennis for ESPN/ESPN2. Tim Brando does college football and basketball for CBS, and play-by-play for Fox Sports Net's Sunday night Atlantic Coast Conference basketball games. Also, Johnathan Coachman of World Wrestling Entertainment appears as an on-air character and/or play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Raw (on USA Network) and does legitimate play-by-play for CBS's College Sports Television network.

 

[LKellerIII]

"I know Dick Enberg does football, tennis, and basketball for CBS, and tennis for ESPN/ESPN2."

In the 60s, a YOUNG Dick Enberg was doing play-by-play on network TV (don't remember which network), as well as play-by-play on local LA radio, AND was one of two weekdays sports anchors on local KTLA - 5. The other was Keith Jackson, who was already working for ABC, on top of his duties at KTLA.

 

[bpatrick]

Enberg worked for NBC for years; I'm not
sure but I think he went to CBS when the
Eye network got the rights to AFC games
(after losing the NFC to Fox).

 

[Newname]

Richard Anderson, already mentioned in the 'appearing in two shows simultaneously' thread due to his role as Oscar on 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and 'The Bionic Woman', qualifies for this list, because 'BW' switched networks (from ABC to NBC) for the '77-'78 season.

 

[Ultimajock]

...as does Nancy Walker -- "Rhoda" on CBS, "McMillan & Wife" on NBC...

...and Curt Gowdy, who was often heard on NFL football telecasts on NBC and "The American Sportsman" on ABC on the same day (and, in some markets, at the same time)...

 

[OldNumber7]

If I recall correctly, Robert Reed was playing the dad on The Brady Bunch on ABC while in a semi-regular role as a detective on Mannix on CBS.

 

[bpatrick]

Dennis Day was on Jack Benny's show on CBS
at the same time (1952-53) that he had his own
sitcom on NBC. For those who don't remember,
Dennis was a real tenor specializing in Irish songs,
and he almost always sang one on both shows.
In character, he wasn't very bright; on his own
show he played a small-town type trying to get
ahead in show business. (Another Benny regular,
bandleader/comedian Phil Harris, had been on
Benny's radio show on CBS and his own radio show
on NBC in the late '40s and early '50s.)

Slightly off-topic but I have to tell this for the
benefit of any Benny fans: on a 1958 Benny show,
Dennis became a millionaire, courtesy of John Beresford
Tipton and his assistant Michael Anthony (Marvin Miller
appeared on this particular show). Naturally, Benny,
forever in love with money (in character), was jealous
of Dennis' sudden good fortune. But at the end, Anthony
had to retrieve the check; it seems it was intended for
another Dennis Day.

 

[fredflintstone]

Dennis Day had his own sitcom on radio, while appearing on the Jack Benny radio show. Benny's band leader, Phil Harris, also had his own show with his wife Alice Faye, which immediately followed Benny. When Benny jumped from NBC to CBS in 1948, Harris' program stayed with NBC. Both shows were done live. Harris could no longer appear in the last half of the Benny program because he had to cut out the back door at Columbia Square and across a parking lot to the back door of NBC at Hollywood and Vine. Benny's announcer, Don Wilson, also announced on other programs. A standing joke at the time was Benny complaining that he only had one show.

While appearing with Groucho (and doing the other shows), George Fenneman also announced Dragnet on both NBC radio and television (The story you are about hear/see is true....).

 

[bpatrick]

True on all counts, but a little clarification
is in order: Groucho and Dragnet
were on different networks for only one season and
that was on radio (1949-50); Groucho was on CBS,
Dragnet on NBC that year. In the television era,
NBC had them both (at one point around 1956 or
'57 they were on back-to-back on Thursday nights).
What I was looking for were examples of people who
were on two shows on different networks at the same
point in time, which Fenneman was at least twice (three
times if you include what I said a few lines up).

As for Phil Harris, eventually the necessity of appearing
only in the first half of Benny's show led to his leaving
in order to concentrate on his (and Alice Faye's) own show.
Bob Crosby took his place but it wasn't the same; IMHO,
Crosby never came close to being as funny as Harris, nor
did Benny's writers ever develop a character for him as
they did the vain, hard-drinking bandleader Harris played.