Tuesday, June 2, 2020

What Might've Been: The Cheap Show (1978)

As Chuck Barris' Gong Show was winding down, finishing in the summer of 1978, co-creator Chris Bearde, who took to amending his billing as ChrisBearde for some reason, struck out on his own, and developed another parody, this one a mash-up of Liars' Club, Hollywood Squares, and maybe, It Pays to be Ignorant, the latter of which had flopped in a syndicated revival five years earlier, or Let's Make a Deal.

The Cheap Show, sad to say, lasted just one season, and gave comic Dick Martin (ex-Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) his first game show hosting job. He'd follow this up with another short-lived series, Mindreaders, for Goodson-Todman & NBC, not long after Cheap bit the dust.

Bearde's repertory company in support of Martin included long time standby Billy Van (ex-The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, etc.) and Joe Baker (ex-The Rich Little Show, The Kopykats), who was otherwise working for Hanna-Barbera as a voice actor at the time. You're forgiven if you mistake Baker for Buddy Hackett for some reason.

The inestimable Charlie O'Donnell is the announcer.

I never saw the show, so there's no rating on this sample, with David Doyle (Charlie's Angels) and Rita Moreno (ex-The Electric Company).

2 comments:

Silverstar said...

Dang, I remember this show like a fever dream. It came and went so quickly that until today I couldn't find anyone who's ever seen it.

hobbyfan said...

I'd heard of it, and seen some ads in TV Guide.