This Date In Television Game Show History - 1984
Jul 2, 2022 1:57:02 GMT -5
babytims and EaglesWings like this
Post by billmcdee on Jul 2, 2022 1:57:02 GMT -5
Scrabble starring Chuck Woolery debuted on the NBC daytime schedule.
It would run for almost 6 full years, ending its first run on Friday, March 23, 1990.
NBC attempted to revive it in January 1993, after the cancellation of "Santa Barbara" (which also debuted during July 1984 on NBC).
The 1993 version did not last even 5 months, as it was axed on June 11, 1993. The changing demographic of "housewives" watching daytime game shows had changed dramatically by then, but I think what hurt this updated version even more was the very cheap payouts. Gone away were instant cash bonuses for solving words when a letter was placed on a blue or pink square. Instead, that money was added to the bonus sprint jackpot which started out at a piddly $1,000. When your bonus game potentially pays less than main game winnings ($500 for the crossword and $1,000 for the Scrabble Sprint), that's a losing formula.
The set looked so barren compared to the original. Chuck did his best to host this revival, and Charlie Tuna still was the announcer but the '93 revival would have been better off never having happened in my humble opinion.
In any event, 38 summers ago TODAY, the very first ep of Scrabble aired on NBC, and I was fortunate enough to be alive and to be home to watch it. I was a young lad of 17, on my summer break from high school, preparing for my senior year.
Here's a video of the first ever episode:
It would run for almost 6 full years, ending its first run on Friday, March 23, 1990.
NBC attempted to revive it in January 1993, after the cancellation of "Santa Barbara" (which also debuted during July 1984 on NBC).
The 1993 version did not last even 5 months, as it was axed on June 11, 1993. The changing demographic of "housewives" watching daytime game shows had changed dramatically by then, but I think what hurt this updated version even more was the very cheap payouts. Gone away were instant cash bonuses for solving words when a letter was placed on a blue or pink square. Instead, that money was added to the bonus sprint jackpot which started out at a piddly $1,000. When your bonus game potentially pays less than main game winnings ($500 for the crossword and $1,000 for the Scrabble Sprint), that's a losing formula.
The set looked so barren compared to the original. Chuck did his best to host this revival, and Charlie Tuna still was the announcer but the '93 revival would have been better off never having happened in my humble opinion.
In any event, 38 summers ago TODAY, the very first ep of Scrabble aired on NBC, and I was fortunate enough to be alive and to be home to watch it. I was a young lad of 17, on my summer break from high school, preparing for my senior year.
Here's a video of the first ever episode:
