Hello and Welcome to Joshuaonline , we like to look at the TV and Media here it's not updated everyday but we try have a few posts each month, hope you enjoy and thanks for visiting
NETWORK TV Fall 2024
It's that time of year again! The networks are releasing their fall line ups
TVLookFall2015 ABC FOXNBC The CW CBS
As we get closer to the broadcast networks' upfront, which will cover our special here on Joshuaonline. Many TV series this season were canceled or ended their runs, for the purpose of our list there are the main broadcast networks, not cable or other.
This was a lost thought , that we've considered not looking back at game shows , but then after much consideration and searching, we thought why not. (Yeah Why not?) So , let's take a look at a few game shows , most of these not by magic didn't last long . (We picked these for good reason).
1. Child's Play
Child's play was a game show that ran on CBS from 1982 to 1983 ,but since it was a daily game show it racked up 258 episodes. (pretty good)
Judging by the name you might think it involves Children. (Well, you were right) yep children gave definitions of words for our contestants to figure out.
Exhibit A
They put the word on the screen , Can't play at home ...sigh
To the point , that was the game show , you had 2 rounds and a bonus round (so three rounds in math terms) , It was hosted by Bob Cullen , a famous radio and TV guy he also almost hosted the 1972 revival of "The Price is Right" (the one on TV now , as of 2015, unless it was canceled and nobody told us ).
As we said , the game show didn't last long only 1 season it couldn't compete at the 10:30/9:30c slot and CBS axed it. One thing about game shows is they sometimes get made for other countries ,that happened to this one.
The Brits , did it as well. London Weekend Television made a version of it that broadcast from 1984-1988 hosted by Michael Aspel. It also had Australian version, Russian , Greece, Spain ,Netherlands , Germany , and Indonesia.
2. Dreamhouse
Now we go to ABC and here's an idea for a game show , you know some give away dates (with figures ) , cars, trips (to Toledo) , money (to buy stuff in Toledo) but how about a Brand New House! ( yeah!!!!!, does it come fully loaded?) Dream House was that game show.
In 1968 on ABC (America's Network that is not CBS) it was a daily game show , while it also had a prime time weekly version for a while.
It was hosted by Mike Darow. It had two couples play against each other (to the death?) in recall games to see who gets the right amount of points.
The winning couple in the final game, wins a room full of swanky early 70's furniture ( I think)
Joshuaonline when we sold furniture
Now , what about this house business ? well the contestants who won got a new house , worth $40,000 (this is in 1968's money) plus $7,000 for land , or they could have $20,000 in cash. Anyway it lasted from 1968 to 1970 . It was reported that some of the houses won , were not finished (oops) ,and sometimes the former contestants found out they needed more than the $7,000 given in the contest, hence the show added the $20,000 prize option. The game was hurt by this already so it was axed and replaced by ... "All My Children" ( see here at JOL it was always ends up back to soap operas).
Then in 1983 it came back , now to NBC, (America's Network, that is also not CBS) with now host Bob Eubanks . Now the couples (yes still couples) competed for a house worth $100,000 (in 1983 money). Also contestants had to get a combination correct (they had to work hard for the house) if they got it right they would win the house, they didn't get it right they would the classic - Come back the next day and try again ,against another couple if they won that day , they could try the combination again and see if they won the house. (rinse then repeat)
I think they won !
It ended after about a year because it wasn't the best in ratings (could have been worse, ask ABC) it was replaced by Scrabble.
3. Scrabble
Ok, this is not a new idea but why not take a board game ( though not Operation) and make it in to a game show .(The last word of board game is game) This is our longest running of the soaps in this article began on NBC in 1984 and ended in 1990. It was hosted by Chuck Woolery.
Youtube... will also comeback to haunt you
4. GO
Again with NBC ( We better not have to say to NBC again this article) , GO was a game show that didn't go to long ( ha ha ha , worked hard on that didn't you?) It was created by Bob Stewart (also the creator of Chain Reaction) and ran from October 1983 to February 1984. It was hosted by Kevin O Connell (who people in Buffalo might know as a weather man ). The contestants were two teams including one of the players being a celebrity. The goal was to play the game to get to 1,500 points , which ever team go those points made it to the jackpot round where they had change to win up to $20,000 ( if they made it to double jackpot).
(Just for fun , there also was a soap stars week in November of 83)
It was canceled after a few months due to it's 12PMET /11ct slot , many NBC stations would preempt for newcasts ( it could have waited til 5 , you know NBC affiliate , seesh) so it was hard for it attract an audience if people in some markets didn't even know it existed.
5. Time Machine
And finally (thank goodness) , our last game show "Time Machine" which ran on NBC ( of course it did) , from January 1985 to April 1985 (Time machine huh?) .
It was a game show bulit with mini games that fit into it's focus on history and pop culture. After the first month they changed the format , for instance instead of the champion playing the mini games , the new challengers faced each other off to meet the champion later. They played 3 mini games and there was no prize bank anymore. Then the winner meets the champion in the champion round.
Time Machine!!!
That's our look back at short lived game shows (well except for that one) you win a brand new un finished house but you did get swanky 60's furniture and a time machine. Comeback next time at Noon (except in the 230 markets that are airing newscasts). Thanks for reading,
TV News Lookback TV Netflix
Apparently Today is a lookback TV day , and it was announced last night that a spinoff of the 90's sitcom "Full House" is coming to Netflix (guess we gotta make that a category now, our first post about something on Netflix ) with a 13 episode run.
Actor John Stamos, was on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last night and announced the news of the reboot -spinoff thing. Saying the show will focus on Candace Cameron (playing D.J Tanner) and her 3 sons.
In an interesting move , Nickelodeon will be airing the sitcom "So Little Time" , starring the Olsen Twins starting next week (April 27th) at 7:30pmET/PT. The Series ran on Fox Family in 2001 until 2002, when it was canceled by ABC Family (after Disney bought the channel). This is also first time the series has been seen on US TV in years. So if you were a fan of this show , record it or watch it , never know how long it will last , and you might want to save those 26 episodes the show had. And always they could change their minds.
This time , we take look back at some children's programs (back to this again, huh?) by a company we've talked about before , DIC.
That's our name , wear it out!
DIC entertainment was (because things we cover are gone, except for Disney, they are never gone) , launched by a french guy named Jean Chalopin in 1971 (the party year) , the original name of the company was Diffusion, Information et Communication. (uhhhh) They , as decided to come on over to America in the 1980's (the party decade) with the help of a man named Andy Heyward, they also had an animation office in Japan so they could export the animation jobs to themselves. Remember when we talked about a couple DIC series being on Disney's One Saturday Morning? There was a reason for that (I'd hope so) Capital Cities/ABC ,which was ABC's company name from their purchase by Captial Cities (all 50 of them?) they bought up DIC in 1993. When Disney bought CapCities /ABC they also got guess what? ( ESPN?) DIC was now owned by Disney. (DICsney). In 2000 Bain Captial (the famous one) bought DIC in 2000 and they eventually got it sold to Andy Heyward. Where they became the last bastion of syndicated children's programming. Eventually , in 2008 (when everything was going just fine , no not really) , it got sold to Cookie Jar Entertainment (who also is now a dead company, eh circle of life or death).
So , let's get to the shows now. (Finally, I was just about to go to CNN.com)
1. Dennis The Menace (the animated one from the 80's)
Video is kind of loud ... like the 80's ... so it's not loud in the 80's
Dennis the Menace is one of those "Cartoons on TV based off Comic strips" things , about our overall-ed hero and his gaggle of friends and his very big dog. Even though Dennis is a Menace it's all because he is trying hard to help. (Like most people ) It ran on Syndication first in 1986 with 65 episodes (the average of shows like this) , then CBS saw a star in their eye ( ha! get it? , no ? me neither) and picked up the series for a season 2 of a big 13 episodes. Each episode was 3 shorts inside (again more like average series of the time). It ran a long time on syndication repeats and on popular cable channels , like USA for their Cartoon express.
2. Inspector Gadget (also a surprise at the end or mistake )
This was the first , animated series by DIC , came on in 1983 on our favorite channel , syndication (well ,it's not really a channel , but what do you want from me?). it was also the first animated produced in stereo. (Yeah 80's!) It was created by Andy Heyward, Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi.( We mention Andy alot )
Go Gadget go ! / copyright DHX media (guess who owns DIC now?)
The series is about a detective who is half machine who has tons of gadgets (which ever is convenient for that episode) he was a bumbling detective who solved crimes and stopped EVIL. He also had a niece named Penny and a very smart dog named Brian. (Who then moved to Quahog , wait oh --- never mind) and they solved the crimes or stopped the evil together. The main villains are working for a group called M.A.D and their leader Dr. Claw. (they just give medical degrees to everyone don't they?)
Gadget works for Chef Quimby , he's the chef of police in Metro City ( hmm they have bad crime rate)
Each episode , since it was the 80's ended with a PSA .
Wait... we have more (have your credit cards ready)
Inspector Gadget's field trip , this show was a kind of spin-off with our cartoon hero , created by Dic in 1996 it aired on the History Channel . (Before it became the scary channel with lack of history) it had 26 episodes , Don Adams returned as the voice . This series was an educational travel show for kids (or people who really like inspector gadget or traveling). It only featured Gadget , none of the other original animated series characters were there. It ran on DIC's syndication block in the 2000's.
A new digital sub-channel network that was announced back in January ; Laff TV launches Apirl 15 on ABC owned stations , Scripps Media stations, some Cox media stations, and some Meredith stations. It is a comedy based network, hence the name.
They will be airing comedy Movies from the Disney, Miramax, and Sony , it will be airing off-network sitcoms of The Drew Carey Show , Ellen , Empty Nest, Grace Under Fire , and Spin City.
We have their first day schedule (note :this can change)
8AMET My Mom's New Boyfriend
10AMET Empty Nest
10:30AMET Empty Nest
11AMET Ellen (Sitcom)
11:30AMET Ellen (Sitcom)
12PMET Vice Versa
2PMET My Father, The Hero
4PMET Spin City
4:30PMET Spin City
5PMET Ellen (sitcom)
5:30PM Ellen (sitcom)
6PMET Grace Under Fire
6:30PMET Grace Under Fire
7PMET The Drew Carey Show
7:30PMET The Drew Carey Show
8PMET Spin City
8:30PMET Spin City
9PMET The Drew Carey Show
9:30PMET The Drew Carey Show
10pmet So I Married and Axe Murderer
`12AMET The Drew Carey Show
12:30AMET The Drew Carey Show
1AMET Grace Under Fire
1:30AMET Grace Under Fire
2AMET Empty Nest
2:30AMET Empty Nest
3AMET The Apple Dumpling Gang
5AMET Empty Nest
5:30AMET Empty Nest
6AMET Indian Summer
From looking ahead it looks as though Movies will air from Weekdays 6AMET-10AMET; 12-4PMET; 10pmet-12AMET 3-5AMET (though some movies can go longer). While Empty Nest will be on weekdays at 5AM ET (Back to Back) ; 10AMET (back to back) ; and 2AMET (back to back). Ellen weekdays at 11AMET (back to Back) , and 5PMET (Back to Back). Spin City Weekdays 4PMET (back to back) and 8pmet (back to back) . Drew Carey Show weekdays at 7pmet (back to back ) ; 9PMET (Back to back) ; 12AMET (back to back). Grace Under Fire weekdays at 6PMET (back to back) ; and 1AMET (back to back).
Weekends seem to include the same mixture of movies and sitcoms , and on Saturdays the mandated 3 hours of E/I programming.
To find out more about Laff visit their website here.
On Wednesday, CBS' Bob Schieffer announced that he is retiring and leaving "Face The Nation", Sunday the replacement for him on "Face The Nation" has been announced, as John Dickerson who will take over in the Summer.
In the era before the 1990's , there were 3 networks ,(or 4 after 1986) , but in many markets there were more than 3 Channels. These other channels were most likely unaffiliated (or independent) of a network. They may have been known for airing movies in primetime and you favorite classics. (This is before everything got ruined) One thing they would air is Children's tv programs and the syndication market allowed programs that may have not been able to make to the NBC , CBS, or ABC line ups but before there were Children's channel or before anyone cared about them.
Our look is at 3 programs from Hasbro (yes, the toy company) from the 1980's.
Something about , Hasbro wanted to make TV shows based off their toys (you know to sell toys?) so they hired animation studio Sunbow Entertainment to make them cartoon like. Hasbro would also distribute their own shows through their company, Claster , who also created the 1950's series "Romper Room" (way before Hasbro Brought them) .
The first series of our 3 series from Hasbro is "Jem" or "Jem and the Holagrams" Jem was a production of Hasbro ,Marvel ,and Sunbow. Created by Christy Marx ,the program premiered in 1985 . The show was based on a line of dolls , Hasbro made . Jem was a mixture of hip music videos (cough MTV cough) , soap opera (love triangle , random drama), action and adventure (including bad guys) ; and Science Fiction.
Even Sunday TV was fun ... now it's just infomercials
One of things about this show was probably an influence of the MTV popularity at the time, so each episode had animated music videos that related to stories by the time the show ended there was almost 200 music videos and over 100 unique songs.
There were about 3 produced songs per episodes , all this was unique for a TV series especially an animated one.
We are going to get a song stuck in your head rather you want it to be or not
The TV series itself was about a woman named Jerrica Benton who inherits her Father's music company , though there was an evil man named Eric Raymond (not everybody loves Raymond) who wanted to run the company (you know , he likes money). Jerrica finds out that her Father also had bulit a system called synergy that produces holograms ,and Jerria creates a persona called Jem. She and her friends start a music group that competes against another called the Misfits ran by a rich girl named Pizazz and later a group called the stingers. Jerrica a boy friend named Rio , who also may have a crush on Jem ( checks , to make sure we aren't writing about soaps again)
It was the most watched Children's program in Syndication in 1985 it ran the standard 65 episodes and ended in 1988.
Now stay tuned for G.I Joe : A real American Hero.
Everyone knows, G.I Joe was a toy and a comic book (you know to read with your toy) it was technically mini-series glomped together (why is that not word ,selfie is and that's an awful word) : "G.I Joe : A Real American Hero" ; "G.I Joe : The Revenge of the Cobra (that sounds like a Syfy original movie) , "G.I Joe: The Pyramid of Darkness ", and "G.I Joe Arise , Sepentor, Arise!" (sounds like the 3rd movie of a Cobra series of Syfy original movies). The series started in 1983 in syndication and ran until 1986.
