In all the years I spent bowling in leagues, one paramount truism was that making spares was just as important as throwing strikes.
In 1960, ABC decided to try it out in primetime with a 15 minute, weekly program, Make That Spare.
The rules were rather simple. 5 frames, instead of the traditional 10, due to the 15 minute (or less) format, predicated by the live boxing card that served as a lead-in on Saturday nights (and later, Fridays). The series lasted four seasons (1960-4), and is commonly considered a forerunner to the Pro Bowlers Tour, which became a Saturday staple in the daytime in 1962.
Nightclub entertainer-turned-sportscaster Johnny Johnston describes the action in this sampler from July 1964, as the series was nearing its end.
Speaking of the Pro Bowlers Tour, in 1988, ABC decided to try to revive Make That Spare after 24 years away, with Chris Schenkel & Nelson Burton, Jr. at the mic's, but the daytime pilot failed to score (pun intended).
Rating: A.
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