Monday, February 18, 2019

What Might've Been: Couch Potatoes (1989)

This has previously been reviewed at Saturday Morning Archives, but we're giving it a fresh look today.

The year is 1989. MTV's Remote Control was the inspiration for producer Haim Saban's last attempt at a game show. He'd bombed with a pair of Saturday morning games, NBC's I'm Telling! (co-produced by DIC), and the syndicated Treasure Mall, and wouldn't find live-action success until acquiring the rights to what would become the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Couch Potatoes was a daily series that ran from January-June 1989, with Marc Summers, host of Nickelodeon's Double Dare, serving as MC. Watervliet native Joe Alaskey (ex-Out of This World) was the announcer at first, but due to scheduling conflicts related to his voice-over work, Alaskey was gone before the series was over, replaced by veteran game show MC Jim McKrell. Alaskey will be seen and heard in this sample offering:



While Remote Control had been on the air less than 18 months before Potatoes debuted, it wasn't the only reason Potatoes failed, as I have no memory of the series airing in the home market, even with the unlikely hook of having local talent on the show.

No rating.

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