I think most of you know the story about this one.
ABC had asked George Schlatter to come up with something akin to Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In on NBC, but at half the length, with the jokes at twice the speed.
That formula resulted in Turn On being cancelled while it was still on the air on its opening night.
Let me repeat that. It was cancelled while the 1st episode was on the air!
Yes, Turn On was an even bigger bomb than Jackie Gleason's You're in The Picture, which led to Gleason explaining the failure a week later. ABC didn't give Schlatter and Ed Friendly that satisfaction. Not even a cherished star like Tim Conway, the host du jour opening night, was enough to keep people interested. The only other familiar faces were Theresa Graves, who'd later move to Laugh-In, and, after that, Get Christie Love!, and New York children's show legend Chuck McCann.
Here's that one infamous episode:
The first (and only) broadcast of Turn-On was on February 5th, 1969. My twin brother and I didn't see this show when it aired, as we were kind of busy being born that day.
ReplyDeleteI had just turned six three days earlier. I didn't see it that night either, as it was past my bedtime.
ReplyDeleteA small clarification:
ReplyDeleteDuring Turn-On's one and only airing, several ABC affiliates stopped the broadcast midway through, wiring the network that they wouldn't air the show in the future.
Most ABC affiliates, including WLS here in Chicago, carried Turn-On through to the finish; the cancellation decision was made after it ended,most likely the next morning.
ABC would have had to wait until they'd heard from the other stations that were complaining before a final decision could be made; the owned-and-operated stations (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and San Francisco) would have still carried it, had the network decided to bite the bullet, so to speak - but the rest of the stations were firm, and so it went.
All of that said, I've always wondered if George Schlatter held on to those unseen Turn-Ons all these years; well, now we know (sort of).
My family watched Episode 1, on the night in question; we were all as bewildered as anyone else, I suppose.
I'm just back from watching Episode 2; God knows why anybody thought it would get any better ...
Anyway, should someone come up with any of the other Lost Shows, of course I'll watch them; curiosity wins out, every time ...
Oh, there's a few I'd like to see myself......
ReplyDelete