Game Shows Making Strong Comeback
Game shows making strong comeback FORMAT GAINS POPULARITY DESPITE STRINGENT NETWORK CONTROLS "Game shows," the tv baby that al- with four daytime programs -Your of merchandise and the length of the most went out with the bath water Surprise Package, Double Exposure, "plugs" for products offered on the when the quiz scandals broke two years Video Village and Face the Facts (with programs. Shortly after the quiz scan- ago, are on the rise again. But they're a Saturday -only version of Video Vil- dals, the networks established units to being scheduled primarily in daytime, lage, aimed at the children's audience, "police" programs that offered prizes. and precautions are being taken by the to start shortly). Control was asserted by the networks networks to police the programs and ABC-TV, which had utilized few in these ways: keep merchandise and money prizes at game programs up to 1959, currently They now acquire the merchandise comparatively modest levels. carries five -Camouflage, Seven Keys, themselves, either directly from manu- A check by BROADCASTING last week Number, Please, Who Do You Trust facturers or through a so -called prize showed the following: and Queen For a Day. agency and direct the distribution of CBS -TV, which dropped all game NBC-TV continued to schedule a full merchandise to winning contestants. programs in the wake of the television complement of game programs even This move was aimed at eliminating quiz scandals in the winter of 1959, is after the quiz scandals but, a spokes- criticism that the producer and /or the back in the field in a substantial way man pointed out, controls at the net- prize agency kept duplicate prizes for work level are stringent to eliminate any possible criticism.
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