why dont Game Show Network air the old Hollywood Squares?

[bb]

I enjoy Game Show Network and I have notice Hollywood Squares on there from time to time but its one of the recent shows. Wonder why Game Show dont show the original Hollywood Squares with Peter Marshall & Paul Lynde?

I remember watching the "Marshall" Hollywood Squares years ago when I was in grade school but havent seen it since.

I remember reading that the old Hollywood Squares was a "Burt Sugarman Production" so maybe its a case of cant get the rights.
If so thats a shame, maybe thats why such shows from the 70s ( from what I been told the golden age of game shows ) like Jackpot,
Celebrity Sweepsteaks, and High Rollers ( the one with Ruta Lee ) I have yet to see on Game Show Network.

[corwayn2]

I heard rumors time and time again, that the ORIGINAL HOLLYWOOD SQUARES episodes(at least, a lot of them)were destroyed, and even burned, and NBC was notorious for destroying episodes of their game shows

[PPatters]

I heard rumors time and time again, that the ORIGINAL HOLLYWOOD SQUARES episodes(at least, a lot of them)were destroyed, and even burned, and NBC was notorious for destroying episodes of their game shows

This was what people originally believed, but, given the curiosity of several people that worked to help find themes for the Game Show themes CD, these episodes were found. It is assumed that episodes from all eras have been found, though we don't have an actual number.

I enjoy Game Show Network and I have notice Hollywood Squares on there from time to time but its one of the recent shows. Wonder why Game Show dont show the original Hollywood Squares with Peter Marshall & Paul Lynde?

Simply, they haven't gotten the rights and they haven't felt the need to get the rights. Although, they recently had a poll asking what show you want to see on GSN and this was one of the choices. I doubt that based on these few votes they'll get it, but who knows.

I remember watching the "Marshall" Hollywood Squares years ago when I was in grade school but havent seen it since.

As was mentioned, for many years they were lost and believed destroyed.

I remember reading that the old Hollywood Squares was a "Burt Sugarman Production" so maybe its a case of cant get the rights.

Actually, it was a Merrill Heatter / Bob Quigley Production, and currently belongs to MGM, I believe.

If so thats a shame, maybe thats why such shows from the 70s ( from what I been told the golden age of game shows ) like Jackpot, Celebrity Sweepsteaks, and High Rollers ( the one with Ruta Lee ) I have yet to see on Game Show Network.

All of those shows you mentioned have been destroyed, I do believe. Sorry.

[bb.]

I have heard that ABC did the same thing with their game shows. For example back in the 70s I remember a show called The Neighbors hosted by Regis Philbin. Yet watching the many of bios about Regis recently NONE of them brought up The Neighbors. In fact one of them said that the current Millionaire show was Regis' debut as a game show host.

Far as destroying video tapes goes, really a shame. This practice also effected many kid shows. The old Soupy Sales show as well as Wonderama. Both Soupy and Bob McAllister for years expressed how upset they were about this. Same thing with Merv Griffin's and Dinah Shore's talk shows, many of those shows were destroyed as well. Sad to know so much of tv is gone forever. Celebrity Sweepstakes featured the last tv appearance of Mama Cass while many big rock/country stars did the kid show Wonderama. Kiss, Dolly Parton, and Cindy Williams/Penny Marshall...all one one show.

Only if the networks knew !!!

[corwayn2]

THE NEIGHBORS was VERY short-lived, and it ran from 1975-76. I, myself, was unaware it was REGIS(before his name was a household name), who hosted it,until he mentioned his past TV appearances several years ago, on "Regis And Kathie Lee", and one ABC show I heard where the episodes were burned was "The Big Showdown" hosted by JIM PECK, from 1974-75

[PPatters]

It was common practice for every network to destroy anything they thought was taking up a lot of space. Game shows and talk shows took up a lot of space :-) The years of "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson that were made before he bought the show were destroyed, so VERY few of his first episodes exist. (In a "Tonight Show" biographical thing, they had to re-create the opening of the first show as it was destroyed). Furthermore, the first Super Bowl was destroyed.

Many shows were destroyed just because it was cheap. Producers, such as Mark Goodson, re-used tape for their daytime, 5 times-a-week shows as it was cheaper just to do it that way.

[TV Guy]

Some episodes of the Peter Marshall-era "Hollywood Squares" have survived, but a large number of them were in fact destroyed by NBC in the 1970s. The Chuck Woolery "Wheel of Fortune" episodes and the early 1970s "Password" revival are lost, too.

[PPatters]

You're right about the last two, but, as I mentioned, they have found a VERY VERY large number of Peter Marshall "Hollywood Squares" episodes when they were looking for the theme for the second Game Show Themes CDs. So, Marshall's HS lives on!

[corwayn2]

I wonder if the ABC daytime episodes of "Let's Make A Deal" are destroyed, too?

[PPatters]

Those are largely destroyed. 500 KINESCOPES are in the hands of Monty Hall, although. All of the original episodes of LMAD besides the Syndicated version were basically destroyed. A few ABC Nighttime episodes can be found in the syndicated run. (During the summer, instead of re-running episodes from the previous season during the first summer, they got the ABC nighttime episodes that were collecting dust and put those in the run).

[corwayn2]

I've noticed on both the FAMILY CHANNEL, and just recently on GAME SHOW NETWORK, after the VERY FIRST SYNDICATED EPISODE(taped in 1971), they air an episode from ABC NIGHTTIME(taped in 1970), where the studio has a tan and yellow set

[bb]

As far as networks destroying tapes of shows goes..wonder if they are still doing it?
Sitcoms/Dramas I have my doubts but what about old talk shows that are now defunct like Geraldo or Morton Downey Jr's wild show from the late 80s, or even 80s game shows like the last bunch to air on NBC before they gave up ( Classic Concentration for example ). Or even Soaps. Wonder if the nets still has any old 'Capitol"s or "The Doctors" locked away in some vault somewhere
or are they destroyed as well?

[PPatters]

NOTHING was burned after the early-to-mid 80s. So, all of the post ~1982 shows are completely and totally intact.

[duane]

When Morton Downey died earlier this year I think WWOR ( the New York station that produced the show )said that only 1 or 2 shows exist of it. Maybe the practice of erasing tapes is done only on a local level.
About 2 years ago we had 3 different tv stations in our area celebrate their 50th
and to my surpirse when they looked back
there were few clips of the past unless you count still photos. Just folks talking about what happened.

I am kind of surprised the networks DONT erase tapes of old soaps though. Even though there is SoapNet ( which is own by ABC ) but for the most part whats the purpose of keeping them? Old soaps like The Doctors, Capitol, Love of Life, and Another World chances are wont be re-runed.

[D&R]

Originally posted by PPatters:
NOTHING was burned after the early-to-mid 80s. So, all of the post ~1982 shows are completely and totally intact.

So why was the proven and usual methods of erasing/destroying old tapes halted? Was it because of newer technology that compressed storage space, the realization that old stuff could be sold/syndicated or younger execs committed to tv preservation?

[corwayn2]

CERTAINLY, in the '70's, there were no cable channels that aired reruns of daytime episodes of game shows, and whoever thought there would one day be such a thing as GAME SHOW NETWORK

[PPatters]

Ya know what, I really don't know the answer to your question. I'm certain that there were several reasons. One being the fact that people were realizing that there were HUGE HUGE storage places that are PERFECT for tapes in the form of salt mines (this is where you can find all the existing episodes of "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson). Another is less room that tapes take up and more cable companies picking up older shows. (In 1985 came the birth of "Nick at Nite" certainly some companies began realizing then that they could sell some of their older shows to them. However, tape burning had PROBABLY stopped a few years before that). Another may have been the fact that more and more producers weren't allowing networks to burn the shows that the producers owned. (Mark Goodson NEVER allowed any of his shows to be burned, ABC did it against his will. However, as a money-saving method, he would re-use tapes from his daytime shows in the 1950s and 1960s, so they would just re-use and re-use and re-use tape until they were just too poor to be re-used again. That meant that they taped over stuff.)

[TV Guy]

A lot of episodes of soaps from the 60s and 70s were destroyed as well. Sci-Fi is running "Dark Shadows", and it's a minor miracle that all but one of the episodes from that show's five-year run have survived. I've read in several places that many 60s and 70s episodes of "Days of Our Lives", "Another World", and "One Life to Live" are gone.