Q:  Why are the ABC Password shows never shown on Game Show Network?

A:  This is one of our most perpetually asked questions and it is frustrating that those shows are apparently gone.  The ABC version is one of the few shows of any kind in which Mark Goodson did not insist on archived copies.  The cost would still have been expensive to save them all because television was still using bulky, two-inch videotape in those years and kinescopes were virtually dead.

Yet, Goodson managed to save the color editions of the CBS daytime version of Password and nearly all of the nighttime shows.

ABC, largely a bare-bones network until it became number one in prime time in 1976, archived almost nothing because of those costly $300-a-tape spindles.

Sadly, so many of television's top names of that era played on that version before the level of celebrity players declined.  Elizabeth Montgomery, Bill Bixby, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Martin Milner, Greg Morris, Kate Jackson, Tony Randall, Robert Young and Mary Tyler Moore all appeared on the ABC version of Password.  Betty White became the first female substitute game show host in more than a dozen years on a week when Allen played the game.  Monty Hall hosted for a week when Allen and Betty challenged the other ABC game show hosts.

The only thing we're glad they don't have:  Password All-Stars, one of the worst mistakes in daytime history.

Q:  I seem to remember Video Village as a child but some people I work with think I'm crazy.  What was the game like?

A:  After seeing Merrill Heatter, its co-creator, at Game Show Congress, I will tell you he is pleased you aren't crazy.  Video Village made his company.  

The show, which aired from 1960-62, was a living board game as contestants traveled down three "city streets" in the "village."  They advanced via the roll of a dice in a chuck-a-luck cage.  The object was to amass money and prizes as one traveled along the village in a race to reach the finish line first.

One of the most inspired moves of jeopardy in the game was Exchange Place, the last square before the finish.  Hit that and you were forced to trade places with an opponent who may be way behind and often blow the game.  You did keep all of your loot, even if you lost.

Only two kinescopes and one clean copy of a videotape appear to have survived, one with Jack Narz, one with substitute host Red Rowe and one with Monty Hall.

Q:  The recent A&E Biography on game shows did not mention a word about Bill Cullen.  Why?

A:  Nor did it mention a thing about Allen Ludden.  You had a couple of stills of Allen but no discussion of him.  

We're pleased they used Tom Kennedy, Monty Hall, Wink Martindale, Peter Marshall, Alex Trebek, Bob Eubanks, Betty White----so many of the great classic hosts.  

Yet, at Game Show Congress, Peter himself called it "a travesty" that Bill, arguably the greatest emcee ever, was ignored.

Our guess is that this special was produced by a documentary company run by young producers who don't have a clue who Bill was.  Often, the surmisal is:  "If we don't know who he is, the audience surely won't."  

That was an embarrassing oversight and A&E should be ashamed.  However, that mistake will likely not be repeated on one of the upcoming GSN documentaries on game shows.  We were told by two of the producers the unanimous consensus was of Bill as the best of all time and we're virtually assured a generous focus on Cullen will be on one of those specials.

Q:  When is the change going to happen with Richard Karn on Family Feud?

A:  In mid-September, when the show returns for an eighth season.  That's when John O'Hurley will replace Karn.

Q:  Do you think with its renewed emphasis on game shows that GSN will ever run Groucho's You Bet Your Life as you have suggested?

A:  Sadly, no.  We still think it would be a solid alternative for weekend late night and it would not be terribly expensive.  Paul Brownstein Productions holds the syndication rights.

Yet, our surmisal is GSN would not buy anything in black-and-white (and probably wouldn't air the late night monochrome shows it has now, were it not for their celebrity nostalgia value).  Seeing Groucho again, in our view, would be an outstanding exception but I'm not optimistic Rich Cronin would even look in that direction.

Q:  Was that the Rich Cronin of GSN we saw last week on Password Plus?

A:  It absolutely was.  Rich was a college student at the time, hoping to earn a little extra money.  He had no idea at the time his future would include originating TV Land and guiding the fortunes of Fox Family Channel and Game Show Network.

Q:  Do you think GSN will ever go back to calling itself Game Show Network?

A:  Probably not and it's a shame.  The decision on a name change was made when GSN appeared to be headed diametrically opposite from the game show business and was commissioning everything from casino shows to game operas and buying recent network offerings from The Mole to The Next Action Star to Star Search to the dreadfully juvenile Kenny vs. Spenny.  

Our question, and we have shared this with some of GSN's marketing personnel:  do you know of 10 people who really and truly go around calling that channel GSN---The Network for Games?  To most people, it's still Game Show Network and it always will be, no matter how they try to market it.

__________________________

No doubt, you've experienced the emotion shortly after a much-anticipated event, concert, or gathering you attended and you say to yourself, "I can't believe it's been a week since I was there."

This year's fifth Game Show Congress flew by with the speed of The Concorde and left us wondering where the time went.

The depth and breadth of people in the game show and television industry, in general, who shared their time and memories with GSC attendees was unmatched.

The live stage version of What's My Line?, which featured a woman who was a contestant on the CBS version more than 50 years ago, was a rocket-launcher for GSC.  When Shirley Jones emerged from the lattice set to sign in as the night's mystery guest, one had the ambience of the original series in the New York theatre.  

Saturday brought us a number of first-timers to GSC, including TV's first permanent five-day-a-week female game show host, Sarah Purcell; legendary announcer Johnny Gilbert; the ultra-personable Burton Richardson of Family Feud; Tic Tac Dough legend Wink Martindale and GSC's second Contestant Legend, Thom McKee and his wife Jenny.

Sunday, in both a panel of game show executives and the Legends Luncheon to honor Hollywood Squares host Peter Marshall and game show packager Mark Itkin, the Hilton Burbank rooms were filled with more television history among the guests than at any GSC in its five years.

I quipped to Rich Fields of The Price Is Right:  "If a fire breaks out in here, we may find several centuries of game show stories in deep jeopardy."  To see Merrill Heatter, Harry Friedman, Michael Brockman, Bob Stewart, Stu Billett, Gary Edwards, Al Howard and Bob Boden all breaking bread at the same table was a snapshot of a lifetime.  During the lively panel discussion, Scott St. John, executive producer of Deal or No Deal, joined Friedman, Brockman, Billett and Boden.  To say it was one of the most educational experiences about why things are often done or not done in game show formats is an understatement.  Even Johnny Gilbert said:  "I came to this to learn because you never stop learning."

The day before, to see two old friends----Gilbert and Jack Narz---- relate stories of the pioneering era of this industry was worth two months in any classroom.

Some of my snapshot moments from GSC5:

---Betsy Palmer, with the first What's My Line? question, asking Barker's Beauty Gabrielle Tuite: "Did you do The Price Is Right with Bill Cullen?"

---Betsy, during one of our rare breaks on Saturday and Sunday, asking my good friend Stu Shostak and myself: "Well, how are my boys?" We thought that was neat. It's been years since either Stu or I have been called "boys."

---A rare clip of Jack doing a live 1951 commercial for Lager Beer and listening to his story about how the ad agency demanded meticulous pouring of the beverage to within an eighth of an inch in the mug. "We had to rehearse it four or five times to get it just right," Jack said. After seeing Jack drink the product on camera (when such was not illegal), Jack was asked if he ever objected to the repeated rehearsals. "Not one bit," he proclaimed.

---The outstanding interviewing skills of Stu Shostak as he led Wink, Thom and the key principals through the history and the stories of Tic Tac Dough. When the re-created game was played, Wink never missed a beat. The entire experience, music stingers and all, was like being in the audience of the actual show all over.

---The absolute unleashed joy of grown people playing Saturday night's Buzzer Battle and Smarty Pants games. Watching the smoothness of Larry Anderson, who should be hosting some kind of game show somewhere, preside over Buzzer. Enjoying the drop dead funny antics of Burton Richardson as he called the names of the successful buzz-in teams. Burton has become a genuine friend as well as a professional we admire.

---The emotions of Sunday, particularly when the audience rose as one for Rose Marie to offer her testimonial for Peter Marshall. After more than a minute, Rose insisted: "Please sit down....if you don't, you're going to make me cry.".....Watching Peter literally beat his hand on the banquet table as he watched clips of some of his funniest moments from Squares.

Last year, I watched as the Narz clans turned GSC into just that kind of clambake.  The same thing happened again this year.  

We, as viewers, tend to think all of these working professionals, still active or retired, see each other all the time, eat frequently from the same table and are constantly on the phone with each other.  That is the fantasy we build up because we have been so enriched by the work they have done to entertain us over the years.

In truth, I watched last Sunday as between 50 and 75 producers, emcees, performers and show staff members embraced, warmly clasped hands and exchanged fond greetings----some for the first time in years.  Betsy Palmer, in fact, had never met Peter Marshall.  Standing off to the side for a moment before the festivities, I felt as if I were watching another of those great family reunions, only in mid-July instead of on Thanksgiving Day.  The warmth, the humor, the joy and the memories were just as special.

One of the great producers in our Legends Luncheon asked me at Sunday's end, "Is this what Game Show Congress is all about?  If it is, I want to be a part of it every year."  

Ronnie Greenberg, who gave us everything from The Who, What or Where Game to The Big Showdown and The Money Maze, said the same thing last year.  Now, Ronnie is a senior advisor to GSC and one of the best friends anyone could ever hope to have.

As sentimental as this sounds (and I am not one who minds sentimentality in the least), game shows have given us an awful lot of joy and love for 65 years on television.  Game Show Congress encapsulates those emotions over one weekend once a year.  You can't bottle it.  You can't buy it or sell it.  The only way you can feel it is to experience it yourself.  

Two years ago, our good friend Jason Block coined the crescendo event of GSC "a day in game show heaven."  We've now made three trips to that piece of heaven.  Lord willing, I hope we have a few more excursions there to book.

Miss Francis' gowns by Bonwit Teller