Monday, April 21, 2014

What Might've Been: Bedtime Stories (1979)

Los Angeles radio personalities Al Lohman & Roger Barkley were a popular morning team back in the day, but the success they enjoyed on radio never translated all that well on television in two attempts, both for game show titans Merrill Heatter & Bob Quigley.

The first, Name Droppers, spent three months on NBC between 1969-70. A decade later, Lohman & Barkley returned, this time with a late night game that was a bust in the summer of '79.

Bedtime Stories was meant, I guess, to be a variant on relationship games such as Chuck Barris' twin classics, The Dating Game & The Newlywed Game, but a little more risque. Back in those days, though, they didn't have just Johnny Carson to deal with in late night, but in a lot of markets, including mine, thanks to cable, England's Benny Hill Show was making inroads, as memory serves.

As it turned out, Bedtime Stories was, ah, put to bed for good after 2 months. America wasn't ready for a late night game show.

Blanquepage offers a sample from the pilot, produced in March of '79:



No rating.

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