The Boob Tube #24: Daytime TV Game Shows

Bob Barker put pimps to shame in the 70s

When I found this magazine at a used bookstore, how could I resist? Bob Barker in Huggy Bear's wardrobe is worth any price. With his Barker Beauties, he was, after all, a daytime TV pimp.

Reading through the magazine, it got me all sentimental about the glory days of daytime TV. Hardly any women worked, so there was a huge audience available while dad and the kids were gone.  Soap operas were plentiful: Guiding Light, Search for Tomorrow, Ryan's Hope, All My Children, Days of Our Lives, Edge of Night, As the World Turns, Young and the Restless..... the list goes on.  But there was also a huge audience during the daytime for games.

a scan from the magazine - click all images to enlarge

No computer graphics, no flashy tactics like those of today's game shows... just some contestants, a host, and a game to be played.  The hosts were masters of small talk and quick wit - without high tech sounds, lights and editing, they had to be.

Are those prizes from Door #9.... or boxes of pure Evil marked with the Number of the Beast (being held upside down)?  

My favorites across the decade were Joker's Wild, Tic Tac Dough, Match Game, Card Sharks, Name That Tune, The Newlywed Game, Password, The Gong Show, Make Me Laugh, The Dating Game and Wheel of Fortune.  Whenever I was home sick from school, I'd have to watch the Price Is Right; and the show is forever associated with those memories.

Listen to the Card Sharks theme

This image is from an article on Carol Merrill of "Let's Make a Deal"; about how she married her hairdresser. I wonder what became of that marriage?

I loved the whole costume element of Let's Make a Deal.  The costumes were never elaborate; often ridiculous, sometimes super hot.  There was nothing better than watching a guy dressed as Raggedy Andy choose a goat instead of a brand new refrigerator.  I always wondered - did they really take home the goat?

Never was much of a fan of The Hollywood Squares.  The jokes were unbelievably corny, and I didn't recognize most of the celebs (not many elementary schoolers were familiar with Joey Bishop or Virginia Graham. Needless to say, Paul Lynde's brand of humor was lost on me as well.

Didn't care for the $25,000 Pyramid either.  The show made me a nervous wreck.

A few things I miss...

• Losers made to feel worse by shitty consolation prizes (usually Turtle Wax)
• Winners of The Wheel of Fortune getting to spend their winnings on crap from a rotating circular prize stage
• Hot chicks on The Dating Game trying to hide their disappointment when they chose the butt ugly dude over the hunk

Here's a few more pages from the magazine...

Feel free to make this your desktop wallpaper

What is an article on dieting doing in a Game Show magazine? I don't know, but I just had to share the shitty illustration with you.  You're welcome.