Game Show Forum > Lightning Strikes Twice In Houston

GSWitch

Dec 18 2003, 09:20 PM

Back in March, KPRC rescheduled a St. Jude special from Monday to Tuesday due to George W. Bush's prime time address. The penalty; knock off the final Let's Make A Deal Billy Bush episode.

Nine months later, LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE as another St. Jude special knocked off The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular off KHOU!

If there was a $1,000,000 winner, Houstonians will miss out on history! I will feel just like the football fans back in 1968 when NBC had Heidi over the New York Jets-Raiders game!

Only in Houston does this happen!

Jimmy Owen

Dec 18 2003, 09:30 PM

Well, the million dollar winner could donate the cash to St. Jude's, a very worthwhile foundation.

Modor

Dec 18 2003, 09:34 PM

QUOTE (GSWitch @ Dec 18 2003, 09:20 PM)

Back in March, KPRC rescheduled a St. Jude special from Monday to Tuesday due to George W. Bush's prime time address. The penalty; knock off the final Let's Make A Deal Billy Bush episode.

Nine months later, LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE as another St. Jude special knocked off The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular off KHOU!

If there was a $1,000,000 winner, Houstonians will miss out on history! I will feel just like the football fans back in 1968 when NBC had Heidi over the New York Jets-Raiders game!

Only in Houston does this happen!

I've heard quite enough about this Heidi for a year.

Would you all stop grousing about how gameshows are your lifes first priority? If they are--get them straight.

zachhoran

Dec 18 2003, 09:35 PM

QUOTE (GSWitch @ Dec 18 2003, 09:20 PM)

Back in March, KPRC rescheduled a St. Jude special from Monday to Tuesday due to George W. Bush's prime time address. The penalty; knock off the final Let's Make A Deal Billy Bush episode.

Nine months later, LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE as another St. Jude special knocked off The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular off KHOU!

If there was a $1,000,000 winner, Houstonians will miss out on history! I will feel just like the football fans back in 1968 when NBC had Heidi over the New York Jets-Raiders game!

Only in Houston does this happen!

I'll post a quick spoiler for it in SHow Summaries.

clemon79

Dec 18 2003, 09:52 PM

QUOTE (zachhoran @ Dec 18 2003, 07:35 PM)

I'll post a quick spoiler for it in SHow Summaries.

Like anything would have stopped you.

dzinkin

Dec 18 2003, 11:03 PM

QUOTE (GSWitch @ Dec 18 2003, 09:20 PM)

Back in March, KPRC rescheduled a St. Jude special from Monday to Tuesday due to George W. Bush's prime time address. The penalty; knock off the final Let's Make A Deal Billy Bush episode.

Nine months later, LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE as another St. Jude special knocked off The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular off KHOU!

If there was a $1,000,000 winner, Houstonians will miss out on history! I will feel just like the football fans back in 1968 when NBC had Heidi over the New York Jets-Raiders game!

Only in Houston does this happen!

No game show pre-emption is a tragedy, and your comparison of every such event to the Heidi fiasco is as tired as it is baseless. Get a grip.

In fact, as Rochester's then-CBS (now NBC) affiliate proved by not airing Press Your Luck, pre-emptions can sometimes be a blessing. :-)

- David

David Lawrence

Dec 19 2003, 09:33 AM

I'm also from Houston, and I agree with the rest that it's really not worth getting so upset. Besides, usually when network programming is pre-empted by local programming (be it St. Jude or our NBC affiliate's Dateline Houston specials or something else), the network show turns up within a few days, often on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in place of an infomercial.

More annoying was missing out in the 90s on shows like CBS Combs' Feud & FF Challenge because of local & syndicated talk shows. (We at least had the syndie Feud.) And because we didn't get MG 90, my first exposure to any form of Match Game was MG 98. Still, even then, not that big a deal.

I disagree that "only in Houston does this happen" but regardless, if just the thought that you might miss out on a couple of game shows, as fun as they are to watch, makes you so upset, that's not good.

GSWitch

Dec 19 2003, 02:13 PM

QUOTE (David Lawrence @ Dec 19 2003, 08:33 AM)

I'm also from Houston, and I agree with the rest that it's really not worth getting so upset. Besides, usually when network programming is pre-empted by local programming (be it St. Jude or our NBC affiliate's Dateline Houston specials or something else), the network show turns up within a few days, often on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in place of an infomercial.

More annoying was missing out in the 90s on shows like CBS Combs' Feud & FF Challenge because of local & syndicated talk shows. (We at least had the syndie Feud.) And because we didn't get MG 90, my first exposure to any form of Match Game was MG 98. Still, even then, not that big a deal.

I disagree that "only in Houston does this happen" but regardless, if just the thought that you might miss out on a couple of game shows, as fun as they are to watch, makes you so upset, that's not good.

There were some other Houston mishaps. In fact,

1). BLOCKBUSTERS: KPRC never carried both Cullen & Rafferty versions. Houston had to wait until CBN (now ABC Family) had it in reruns. I read your profile.

2). CLASSIC CONCENTRATION: After 2 years, KPRC dumped a real nice game show to move the soap "Santa Barbara" in the mornings! A dumb move, indeed!

3). THE PRICE IS RIGHT: Believe it or not, KHOU took a 2 year break (1980-82) & replaced it with Hour Magazine. And what did it cost us? The debut of The Grand Game & Pauline chasing Bob Barker all around!

Sorry if I offended anyone with my posts on coincidences!

mparrish11

Dec 19 2003, 03:09 PM

Here's what you do:

Call the TV station and see when/if they will air the MDS. If they are like Seattle/Tacoma, where our major affiliates have operating agreements with indie stations (except for KOMO-TV), you will most undoubtedly see it in the very near future.

Or....

Set up a trade!

It's really not the end of the world.

clemon79

Dec 19 2003, 04:16 PM

QUOTE (mparrish11 @ Dec 19 2003, 01:09 PM)

Call the TV station and see when/if they will air the MDS. If they are like Seattle/Tacoma, where our major affiliates have operating agreements with indie stations (except for KOMO-TV), you will most undoubtedly see it in the very near future.

Are they operating agreements, or straight-up duopolies? I'm under the impression that KIRO and UPN-11 are under the same ownership. KING and KONG are, of course, and I know for a fact that FOX-13 and KTWB-10 operate out of the same building.

(Now you folks on the East Coast know how we feel when you guys go off about local affiliates. ;))

dzinkin

Dec 19 2003, 09:53 PM

QUOTE (clemon79 @ Dec 19 2003, 04:16 PM)

I'm under the impression that KIRO and UPN-11 are under the same ownership. KING and KONG are, of course, and I know for a fact that FOX-13 and KTWB-10 operate out of the same building.

KIRO does produce KSTW's newscast (at least for one more day), but they're not a duopoly; KSTW is owned by Viacom, while Cox owns KIRO. Of course, given the affiliation dance of a few years ago (KSTW from indie to CBS to UPN, and KIRO from CBS to UPN back to CBS), and the fact that KIRO's had three owners in recent memory (first Bonneville, then Belo and now Cox), I'm surprised no one's bought them both by now, if only by accident. :-)

- David

mctoyboy

Dec 19 2003, 10:09 PM

QUOTE (clemon79 @ Dec 19 2003, 04:16 PM)

QUOTE (mparrish11 @ Dec 19 2003, 01:09 PM)

Call the TV station and see when/if they will air the MDS. If they are like Seattle/Tacoma, where our major affiliates have operating agreements with indie stations (except for KOMO-TV), you will most undoubtedly see it in the very near future.

Are they operating agreements, or straight-up duopolies? I'm under the impression that KIRO and UPN-11 are under the same ownership. KING and KONG are, of course, and I know for a fact that FOX-13 and KTWB-10 operate out of the same building.

(Now you folks on the East Coast know how we feel when you guys go off about local affiliates. ;))

The scary thing is.....i don't even know the names of my local affiliates! =)
j

HSquares2003

Dec 20 2003, 07:09 PM

You mean the worthwhile time for St. Jude couldn't be put on the weekends? It is interesting that stations screw with the primetime programs way too much. If there is some breaking news(Houston for example, a hurricane or tornado or such) , fine, pre empt is no problem. But something like that could be sent to a weekend slot cuz all the stations run are informercials and sports. Duh!

clemon79

Dec 20 2003, 08:13 PM

QUOTE (HSquares2003 @ Dec 20 2003, 05:09 PM)

You mean the worthwhile time for St. Jude couldn't be put on the weekends?

If I'm running a TV station, and St. Jude is willing to pay the appropriate price for weeknight prime time airtime (which I assure you is a LOT higher than ANY weekend slot would be), then I'd be stupid not to accept their check, and anyone here who believes differently, well, you're entitled to, but I'd suggest that a career in broadcast management is not for you. :)

fostergray82

Dec 20 2003, 08:27 PM

QUOTE (HSquares2003 @ Dec 20 2003, 07:09 PM)

You mean the worthwhile time for St. Jude couldn't be put on the weekends? It is interesting that stations screw with the primetime programs way too much. If there is some breaking news(Houston for example, a hurricane or tornado or such) , fine, pre empt is no problem. But something like that could be sent to a weekend slot cuz all the stations run are informercials and sports. Duh!

This brings up a programming question.

I don't know about sports, but doesn't a station have a certain obligation to air sports on weekends, if they're under contract? I'm thinking more along the lines of college football and basketball, where one station might air a certain collegiate conference's games (i.e. on Saturdays, our local station airs ACC football and b-ball thru Jefferson Pilot).

Or is it no different than primetime programming?

aaron sica

Dec 20 2003, 08:53 PM

QUOTE (clemon79 @ Dec 20 2003, 08:13 PM)

If I'm running a TV station, and St. Jude is willing to pay the appropriate price for weeknight prime time airtime (which I assure you is a LOT higher than ANY weekend slot would be), then I'd be stupid not to accept their check, and anyone here who believes differently, well, you're entitled to, but I'd suggest that a career in broadcast management is not for you. :)

Wow.....I'm amazed...

Reason I say that is because a week ago when the first TPiR MDS was on, all of the TV listings had a St. Jude's special on for WHP-TV (our local CBS affiliate). Considering I wanted to see how the largest-money winner accomplished that feat, I emailed 21 and nicely asked if they were going to re-air it at another time. The response I got back was that they were going to air it at the scheduled time.

I was still kind of unsure, but come 8pm, the MDS ran as they said it would.

After what you said about St. Jude's, I feel VERY lucky and appreciate my CBS station even more.

TonicBH

Dec 20 2003, 09:52 PM

I don't think any of my affiliates here in Portland have done anything bad in Gameshowdom.

Except years ago when KATU would only air the latter half of Jeopardy after MNF games...

And the "Family Feud Network switch". First two seasons was on KGW (NBC affil) in late night hours (4AM) then to 1-2PM in a double run, Then it went to KOIN (CBS affil) for the next two seasons, paired with TTTT2k before going to a double run as well, then BACK to KGW for Karn's first season paired with TWL, now it's on KPDX (UPN affiliate, was a FOX affiliate until earlier this year) in a double run.

I've NEVER seen a syndicated game show switch between 3 networks in its run.

fostergray82

Dec 20 2003, 10:07 PM

QUOTE (TonicBH @ Dec 20 2003, 09:52 PM)

I don't think any of my affiliates here in Portland have done anything bad in Gameshowdom.

Except years ago when KATU would only air the latter half of Jeopardy after MNF games...

And the "Family Feud Network switch". First two seasons was on KGW (NBC affil) in late night hours (4AM) then to 1-2PM in a double run, Then it went to KOIN (CBS affil) for the next two seasons, paired with TTTT2k before going to a double run as well, then BACK to KGW for Karn's first season paired with TWL, now it's on KPDX (UPN affiliate, was a FOX affiliate until earlier this year) in a double run.

I've NEVER seen a syndicated game show switch between 3 networks in its run.

We've had that too...Feud started on WTKR for its first season, then went through numerous (latenight) timeslot changes on WVBT, including a double run at 2:30 am and 6 am (!!!). Then this past spring, I found it out of nowhere on WTVZ, at 11 am.

zachhoran

Dec 20 2003, 10:10 PM

QUOTE (TonicBH @ Dec 20 2003, 09:52 PM)

I've NEVER seen a syndicated game show switch between 3 networks in its run.

Dawson Syndie Feud did in Philly. It started off on WPVI(ABC) in 1977, then when it went to five a week in 1980 moved to WCAU(then CBS, now NBC) and aired there through September 1984, then from Jan-Sep 1985 was on KYW(then NBC. now CBS)

Jimmy Owen

Dec 20 2003, 10:11 PM

QUOTE (clemon79 @ Dec 20 2003, 08:13 PM)

QUOTE (HSquares2003 @ Dec 20 2003, 05:09 PM)

You mean the worthwhile time for St. Jude couldn't be put on the weekends?

If I'm running a TV station, and St. Jude is willing to pay the appropriate price for weeknight prime time airtime (which I assure you is a LOT higher than ANY weekend slot would be), then I'd be stupid not to accept their check, and anyone here who believes differently, well, you're entitled to, but I'd suggest that a career in broadcast management is not for you. :)

I agree that stations will do whatever makes them the most money (we had a Billy Graham special preempt the first half-hour of Bob's B-day show here in Saginaw, the station only showed half the show.) Of course, Billy Graham is appointment tv for some people (and has been even before Bob Barker made his tv debut.) Overall, though, I am of the opinion that an infomercial can hurt the surrounding shows ratings thus making the time less valuable in the future, even to infomercial people.

aaron sica

Dec 20 2003, 10:15 PM

QUOTE (TonicBH @ Dec 20 2003, 09:52 PM)

I've NEVER seen a syndicated game show switch between 3 networks in its run.

Happened in Scranton/WB with Wheel..

Started out in July 1984 on WNEP (ABC), then switched to WYOU (CBS) in fall of 1985 (or 1986, I can never remember), and has been on WBRE (NBC) since Labor Day, 1992.

trainman

Dec 20 2003, 10:44 PM

QUOTE (fostergray82 @ Dec 20 2003, 05:27 PM)

I don't know about sports, but doesn't a station have a certain obligation to air sports on weekends, if they're under contract? I'm thinking more along the lines of college football and basketball, where one station might air a certain collegiate conference's games (i.e. on Saturdays, our local station airs ACC football and b-ball thru Jefferson Pilot).

Or is it no different than primetime programming?

In the specific case of the Jefferson Pilot sports, your local station has bought a syndicated sports package, so their obligations are about the same as they would be with a syndicated game show...usually what that means is that if they choose not to air a game, they'd have to "make good" on all of the commercials that Jefferson Pilot included in the game, i.e., air all those commercials as soon as possible in comparable time slots.

But if you think game show fans are a surly bunch, a local station pre-empting a sporting event would most likely cause a meltdown of the station's phone system...and the classic example is, of course, "The 'Heidi' Game" in 1968.

clemon79

Dec 20 2003, 11:05 PM

QUOTE (Jimmy Owen @ Dec 20 2003, 08:11 PM)

Overall, though, I am of the opinion that an infomercial can hurt the surrounding shows ratings thus making the time less valuable in the future, even to infomercial people.

That's your opinion, and you're certainly welcome to it, but I'd have to suggest that if the facts and economics of the whole situation backed you up, then you wouldn't see this continuing to happen...and yet it does.

rugrats1

Dec 21 2003, 03:14 AM

QUOTE

I agree that stations will do whatever makes them the most money (we had a Billy Graham special preempt the first half-hour of Bob's B-day show here in Saginaw, the station only showed half the show.) I am of the opinion that an infomercial can hurt the surrounding shows ratings thus making the time less valuable in the future, even to infomercial people.

Of course, that same station (WNEM ch.5) bumped Wheel and Jeopardy for an infomercial the night before (12/12), but it wasn't for a charity special like St. Jude's or Billy Graham, but rather to sell a set of oldies CDs.

Infomercials say alot about the station, not only in regards to the types of infomercials they show, but also in regards to the time of day it's shown. And in my opinion, it seems that WNEM is so hard up on cash, they're willing to give up Wheel and Jeopardy, the nation's top two syndicated TV shows, for a night for cheap infomercials. And it's infomercials that can be seen at just about anytime anywhere, not St. Jude's or Billy Graham, which are generally reserved for prime-time carriage on the market's top stations.

That Don Guy

Dec 21 2003, 01:10 PM

QUOTE (Jimmy Owen @ Dec 18 2003, 09:30 PM)

Well, the million dollar winner could donate the cash to St. Jude's, a very worthwhile foundation.

Don't laugh; this actually happened once, although it wasn't a game show. In one of the McDonald's Monopoly contests, St. Jude's Hospital received an anonymous letter with the Million Dollar Instant Winner game stamp. (McDonald's announced that, even though the stamp was now invalid as they could not be transferred in any way, they would donate the million to St. Jude's anyway. I assume that McD's did it this way to claim the charity tax benefit.)
Keep in mind that this was one of the "rigged" games, so it's not clear if the person who did this did it because they were having second thoughts about the original plan...

-- Don

gshowguy

Aug 19 2004, 08:13 AM

QUOTE (GSWitch @ Dec 19 2003, 02:13 PM)

[/QUOTE]
There were some other Houston mishaps. In fact,

1). BLOCKBUSTERS: KPRC never carried both Cullen & Rafferty versions. Houston had to wait until CBN (now ABC Family) had it in reruns. I read your profile.

2). CLASSIC CONCENTRATION: After 2 years, KPRC dumped a real nice game show to move the soap "Santa Barbara" in the mornings! A dumb move, indeed!

3). THE PRICE IS RIGHT: Believe it or not, KHOU took a 2 year break (1980-82) & replaced it with Hour Magazine. And what did it cost us? The debut of The Grand Game & Pauline chasing Bob Barker all around!

Sorry if I offended anyone with my posts on coincidences!

Has KTRK (Channel 13) pulled off a similar feat on its ABC game shows during the '80s, like KPRC (Channel 2) did with its NBC game shows and KHOU (Channel 11) did with its CBS game shows?

J.R.

Aug 19 2004, 08:31 AM

QUOTE (gshowguy @ Aug 19 2004, 08:13 AM)

[QUOTE=GSWitch,Dec 19 2003, 02:13 PM] [/QUOTE]
There were some other Houston mishaps. In fact,

1). BLOCKBUSTERS: KPRC never carried both Cullen & Rafferty versions. Houston had to wait until CBN (now ABC Family) had it in reruns. I read your profile.

2). CLASSIC CONCENTRATION: After 2 years, KPRC dumped a real nice game show to move the soap "Santa Barbara" in the mornings! A dumb move, indeed!

3). THE PRICE IS RIGHT: Believe it or not, KHOU took a 2 year break (1980-82) & replaced it with Hour Magazine. And what did it cost us? The debut of The Grand Game & Pauline chasing Bob Barker all around!

Sorry if I offended anyone with my posts on coincidences! [/QUOTE]
Has KTRK (Channel 13) pulled off a similar feat on its ABC game shows during the '80s, like KPRC (Channel 2) did with its NBC game shows and KHOU (Channel 11) did with its CBS game shows?

Forget what I said earlier, please rip this guy to shreds, Mr. Lemon !

-Joe R.
(Whose waiting for this guy to revive a thread from 2002)

Jimmy Owen

Aug 19 2004, 08:40 AM

QUOTE (JRaygor @ Aug 19 2004, 08:31 AM)

-Joe R.
(Whose waiting for this guy to revive a thread from 2002)

Impossible! Ezboard threads cannot be dredged up.

clemon79

Aug 19 2004, 10:45 AM

QUOTE (JRaygor @ Aug 19 2004, 06:31 AM)

Forget what I said earlier, please rip this guy to shreds, Mr. Lemon !

Nope. I have nothing more to say on this topic that is either relevant or true.

MyCapableAssistant

Aug 19 2004, 10:59 AM

QUOTE (clemon79 @ Dec 18 2003, 08:52 PM)

QUOTE (zachhoran @ Dec 18 2003, 07:35 PM)

I'll post a quick spoiler for it in SHow Summaries.

Like anything would have stopped you.

LOL!

Well, the topic of the thread DID say: "Lightening Strikes...!"