Game shows Screwed by the Network.
- Examples from Disney-owned networks, including ABC, Freeform, and A&E Networks, can be seen here.
- Examples for Nickelodeon game shows can be seen here.
In general:
- Many daytime game shows whose network was run by Fred Silverman.note Not surprising, as Silverman actually openly hated game shows, feeling that they were a waste of time and not as entertaining as scripted programming. Never mind that game shows are generally cheaper to produce than scripted programming, and might have helped NBC during its ratings doldrums when it was spending money left and right on scripted fare and the 1980 Summer Olympics. That money didn't come back when the Jimmy Carter-ordered boycott on the 1980 Olympics forced it off of NBC's schedule and the rut claimed Silverman's career with the firm and his A-list executive career.
- Break the Bank (1976) was #3 in all of daytime television but Silverman, who helmed ABC at the time, canned it after just 15 weeks to expand two soap operas by 15 minutes. Tsk, tsk, tsk…
- The NBC version of Card Sharks aired at 10:00 AM and was pulling in commendable ratings for its slot. To accommodate Letterman's show, it was moved to Noon where many local affiliates chose to pre-empt it for newscasts. Card Sharks was canceled fifteen months later.
- The Hollywood Squares was enjoying the highest ratings for a daytime game show but then NBC president and CEO Silverman wanted it gone, ostensibly because he passed on it while vice president of CBS and hated how big of a hit it became. In its last two years on the air, Silverman enacted his revenge by shuffling its time slot in an effort to confuse viewers. He finally canned it in June 1980 along with Chain Reaction and High Rollers to make room for a 90-minute talk show hosted by David Letterman... which flopped after four months. The same shuffling very nearly killed Wheel of Fortune as well, but its cancellation was overturned — and in doing so, it eventually got popular enough to gain the syndicated version which remains on air well into The New '20s. As for Silverman, his bosses at NBC corporate parent RCA ultimately got fed up with his mistakes and finally sacked him and replaced him with Grant Tinker... who, coincidentally, had previously known Merv Griffin back when he previously worked at NBC as a junior programming executive during the mid-1960's, and, in fact, had previously persuaded Mort Werner, then the network's senior vice president of programming and talent, to greenlight Griffin's other best known creation, Jeopardy!, which itself gained a syndicated revival around the same time as Wheel's.
- Silverman screwed over the original version of Password which had been losing viewers to Days of Our Lives on NBC and The Newlywed Game on ABC. When he was vice president of daytime programming at CBS, Silverman wanted the show permanently moved from New York to Television City. An argument ensued with Mark Goodson and Bill Todman and the show was terminated.
- Around the same time, Silverman likely had an influence on CBS canceling their entire prime time game show lineup when the 1966-67 season came to a close, even though prime time programming was technically outside of his responsibilities. CBS axed To Tell the Truth, a nighttime version of Password, I've Got a Secret and What's My Line? without warning, claiming that game shows were no longer suitable for prime time hours. Bennett Cerf found out about What's My Line getting canceled through The New York Times. The daytime version of To Tell the Truth survived another season before getting the ax itself.
- Amusingly, several years later, when Silverman was promoted to vice president of programming at CBS, he and Goodson-Todman eventually patched up their differences and Silverman green lit several game shows from Goodson-Todman on CBS's daytime schedule, such as revivals of The Price Is Right and Match Game as well as two new shows called Tattletales, which itself was actually a loose revival of He Said, She Said, and Now You See It. This continued on when Silverman moved to ABC, when Silverman brought Family Feud and The Better Sex to the network. It finally came full circle at NBC, when Silverman green lit a revival of Password titled Password Plus, as well as three new shows, the aforementioned Card Sharks; Blockbusters; and Mindreaders.
- The Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy! combo as well as the trifecta of The Oprah Winfrey Show, The People's Court, and Entertainment Tonight, were responsible for the mass trampling of syndicated game shows in the mid to late 80s. Family Feud's ratings tanked and was not renewed in 1985 with the daytime version cancelled shortly after. The Joker's Wild and Tic-Tac-Dough, which were already struggling due to unpopular hosting changes, both kicked the bucket in 1986. Already existing shows were moved to unpopular time slots such as late night or the early evening. The Bill Rafferty-hosted revival of Card Sharks was screwed by an affiliate; WABC in New York City originally aired it at 4:00 PM alongside Jeopardy! but moved to the late night hours to accommodate Oprah while Jeopardy! got the juicy 7:00 PM slot. New shows, such as the Tom Kennedy-hosted version of The Price Is Right, the US version of Catchphrase, Wipeout (1988), and many others also suffered this fate.
- With very rare exception, the syndicated version of Wheel of Fortune has a mandatory time slot of 7:00 or 7:30 PM in the Eastern and Pacific Time Zones and 6:00 or 6:30 PM in the Central and Mountain Time Zones. Because of this, it is often preempted by local affiliates that choose to air special programming or sports pregame coverage just before primetime.
- It also falls victim to sporting events such as March Madness or the World Series that begin coverage at those times, including Thursday Night Football, which began pregame at 7:30 PM Eastern and aired interchangeably on CBS and NBC from 2014-18, then FOX from 2018-21.
- Starting in 2023, the final season hosted by Pat Sajak, ABC began airing pregame coverage for Monday Night Football on days where the network nationally aired a game. This pre-empted the show in far more households than Thursday Night Football, as Wheel airs in the 7:30 Eastern slot on all but one of ABC's O&O stations (four of which cover the top four Nielsen markets), along with several of its other affiliates (such as WFTV in Orlando). Since Wheel is not allowed to air during the day, affiliates had to either move the show overnight, to a subchannel, or just skip it entirely. This happened on multiple Mondays of Sajak's final season, including the first three in a row.
- In some cases, if sister show Jeopardy! (which does not have any time slot mandates) has its time slot pre-empted instead, some stations will opt to air that show in Wheel's time slot.
- On NBC affiliates that carry the show, most of them are forced to pre-empt it for at least two weeks straight during the Summer and Winter Olympics. Since 2006, on the East Coast, most NBC affiliates air the program The Olympic Zone at 7:30/6:30 PM Central, which is Wheel's most popular time slot, and in some markets where Jeopardy! is the show affected by this (such as Detroit), the affiliate will either move Jeopardy! to replace Wheel, or they will air additional local Olympic specials in Wheel's slot to avoid having Wheel air with no Jeopardy! to follow it. During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Wheel had three $100,000 wins in a row, but many NBC affiliates still chose not to air those episodes despite the media publicity and continuity (the latter being a rarity for Wheel since they got rid of returning champions, and the most common reason affiliates give for prioritizing Jeopardy! broadcasts over Wheel). Some stations that did plan to air these episodes in earlier time slots between Olympic broadcasts were denied permission by Wheel's syndicator, CBS Media Ventures.
- Match Game suffered this quite frequently by each of the three networks it aired on over the years (and twice in ABC's case):
- NBC canned the original not because of ratings (which were still very good), but because it wanted to revitalize its lineup. The replacement, Letters to Laugh-In, bombed within three months.
- CBS moved the show from 3:30 PM to 11:00 AM on November 7, 1977 - then to 4:00 PM on December 19. The first change was bad enough, but the second really killed it and Dawson's departure in mid-1978 didn't help matters. Altogether, the show lasted 16 months following the move to 4:00.
- The first ABC version was slotted at Noon, forcing affiliates to choose between it and local news or other programming. Most chose the latter option, a fate the previous entry in the Noon slot, Ryan's Hope, had also suffered.
- The Alec Baldwin ABC version was hit with this hard during its final years. The final season was recorded in 2019, but didn't air until two years later, despite much of ABC's schedule being reliant on game shows in the wake of COVID. And then, the show was unceremoniously pulled after only a few weeks, one of which was a repeat of an older episode. Most of that final season still hasn't aired as of late 2021.
BBC:
- Of the five series of the BBC's Would I Lie to You?, it has never once held the same time slot twice; it has bounced from Saturday at 10PM, Friday at 9PM, Monday at 10:30PM, Friday at 10:35PM, Friday at 9:30PM. And it's been announced that Series 6 will be airing before the watershed, at 8:30PM.
CBS:
- Match Game flourished at 3:30 PM Eastern, but the network inexplicably moved it to 11:00 AM, following The Price Is Right. Ratings tumbled as several major markets blacked out Match in favor of syndicated fare. Six weeks later, Match was moved to the low-clearance 4:00 PM Eastern spot (previous occupant Tattletales was moved to 10:00 AM and Price to 10:30) where it lived out its tenure to April 1979.
- The original CBS run of Password became the first hit after the quiz show scandals nearly killed off the game show genre. Then on July 11, 1966, CBS preempted the series to cover a press conference by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara regarding the progress of the Vietnam War; as NBC and ABC didn't give their news divisions the same leeway that CBS gave its news division, viewers began defecting to both NBC's recently-debuted Days of Our Lives and the debut of The Newlywed Game on ABC, giving the latter a larger sampling than it likely would've had otherwise. This eventually led to Fred Silverman canceling it (see above).
- Much later, CBS screwed Million-Dollar Password by canning it simply because it didn't hit their target demographic, despite the fact that it frequently pulled the highest ratings in its time slot. (That may have been for the best, though, considering the rather terrible format changes that version had.)
- Whew! was an odd example- at first it was doing well, as ABC programmed nothing in the 10:30 AM time slot and all NBC had to offer was the short-lived All-Star Secrets. But as part of Fred Silverman's plan to shut down The Hollywood Squares (see above), it got shuffled to 10:30 and promptly started beating Whew! to a pulp. CBS' daytime department realized NBC was playing dirty and asked the promotional people for more advertising. They said no, and as a result, even the show going into a full-time Celebrity Edition didn't help, and the show expired unfairly.
- CBS also screwed over the American Winning Lines by only airing it Saturday nights with seemingly no consistent timeslot, causing the ratings to plummet.
Channel Four:
- This is thought to be the cause of Carol Vorderman's 2008 departure from British game Countdown: when the show's budget was going to be cut by 33%, Vorderman was willing to take a 33% salary cut as well...except Channel Four allegedly went up to her and said what boiled down to "We're going to take off a trailing zero from your salary next year. Take it or leave it, you have two days to respond." Note that Vorderman's about as famous in Britain as Vanna White is in America, as she was on Countdown from its 1982 debut.
FOX:
- The Chamber got screwed by FOX as it was rushed to air ahead of time to compete with ABC's The Chair (2002) and ended up getting labeled a rip-off as a result (it's unknown which show began production first)... and then FOX canned it after only airing half of the six shows taped. (Then again, considering how the show was pretty much televised torture, perhaps someone at Fox realized it was a bad idea?)
- After the success of Family Double Dare, FOX ordered a second season of 13 episodes. However, according to host Marc Summers, FOX executives wanted to do themed episodes such as Playboy Playmates vs. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. President of Nickelodeon Gerry Laybourne balked at this idea, and the show walked out.
- FOX screwed over both Greed and It's Your Chance of a Lifetime because the then-current network president hated game shows. Chance got it the worst because it was barely advertised, and what little advertisement there was only appeared mere days before the show was due to air. Chance was supposed to become a regular weekly series, contestants were being interviewed and everything, and FOX just pulled the plug for no reason whatsoever. Full details here.
Game Show Network/GSN:
- Quite a few Game Show Network/GSN originals. The typical formula for an original game here: A) introduce it with some fanfare, B) constantly jack its time slot around, C) show a metric buttload of reruns while the show's still making new episodes, D) announce the new seasons rarely if at all, and E) gradually stop making new episodes. Small wonder that, out of all of their original programming dating back to the late 1990s, Lingo was one of the only ones to be a bona-fide hit... and even that was a revival.
- Perhaps the most notorious example came in 2004 when the network, which had previously been known on-air as Game Show Network, decided to try to appeal to a younger demographic by changing its programming up with dozens of non-game show-related series, including Kenny vs. Spenny, the unsurprisingly short-lived Fake-a-Date and Vegas Weddings Unveiled, and various blackjack/poker games. In the ensuing change-up, all of the network's original programming that wasn't named Lingo was canceled. Said original programming, which included Friend or Foe?, Russian Roulette, and a revival of Press Your Luck, were some of the network's most popular programs, and likely would have gone on for more seasons had GSN not screwed them (and, in effect, themselves) over.
NBC:
- The 2000 revival of 21 was performing quite well, yet it was abruptly canned out of nowhere for no reason, and the finale wasn't even advertised.
- NBC head Lin Bolen became the enemy of fans for her insistence on ousting games hosted by middle-aged men on technologically-obsolete sets.
- In 1973, as CBS' Price Is Right reboot was trouncing it, she refused to move the original Concentration from being its competitor. note
- In 1974, she killed the three-year-old Bob Stewart game Three on a Match, which had done respectably in the 1:30 PM timeslot that had been a revolving door after Monty Hall took Let's Make a Deal to ABC in December 1968. The replacement, Winning Streak, was a failure.
- Once TOAM ended, Bolen moved Jeopardy! to the 1:30 slot, causing it to lose a good portion of its audience. In one of the biggest aversions of this trope, in exchange for ending Merv Griffin's show a year before the contract stated, the remainder of said contract was given to the culmination of over a year's development and Bolen putting her job on the line - Wheel of Fortune.
- The NBC version of Dream House ran against the second half of The Price Is Right and was holding its ground, being the third-highest rated game show at one point. However, the series was replaced by Scrabble which would go on to run for six years. To make matters worse, Scrabble took over its time slot and stayed there for the first three years.
- After a disastrous pilot, series creator Bob Stewart persuaded reluctant NBC execs to give The Price Is Right at least 13 weeks on the air. The network, evidently having zero faith in the program, put it on at 10:30 AM against CBS' Arthur Godfrey Time, then one of the biggest things on television. A month later, Price was moved to 11 AM against the second half of Godfrey's hour-long show. note Despite this and several negative reviews early on, Price beat Godfrey in the ratings by the end of those initial 13 weeks and remained a powerhouse for much of the next seven years.
- The nighttime Price flourished Wednesdays at 8:30 PM, making it the top-rated primetime game show. In September 1961, the sponsors wanted to tinker with it, so NBC moved the show to Mondays at 8:30. Ratings slid, so a year later the show was moved up an hour to 9:30 PM...opposite The Andy Griffith Show. Price hemorrhaged ratings, so on February 1, 1963 it was moved to Fridays at 9:30. NBC wanted a show that attracted a younger audience than Price sponsors wanted, so they optioned the sitcom Harry's Girls to replace Price that Fall.
- ABC stepped in and acquired both versions of Price for an amount NBC wasn't willing to match, although the move was costly as ABC couldn't afford either version in color and not every market had an ABC affiliate (48 markets aired Price on their CBS station).
- The American version of The Weakest Link proved to be a big hit upon its premiere, but the second season saw the series collapse in a ratings freefall in the aftermath of 9/11. In an effort to bring the ratings back up, NBC produced "celebrity" episodes for the third season featuring personalities rather than standard contestants. The gambit backfired horribly on the network, leading to its cancellation.
Challenge (UK)
Challenge could easily be classified as the worst example of this trope in Game Shows. Sky, their owner, deems any show that isn't named The Chase or Bullseye as this, especially after 2015:- When Challenge aired the final seasons of American Ninja Warrior in 2019, they aired them on Sunday mornings without promotion. By the end, it got even worse as it was moved to 4am, and soon removed entirely.
- The Australian version of The Chase was first shown at 9 pm, but after a few weeks, it was moved to 2 am, when absolutely nobody was awake. It later received some reruns a few years later before disappearing for good sometime in 2020. It was quite ironic, considering it was named The Chase. In contrast, the original British version is easily their favourite show.
- The US version of The Chase got this treatment too, in a good timeslot and then moved to 4am when nobody was awake.
- In 2015, Countdown was quickly moved from its original 7pm slot to 4pm, and was pulled a few weeks later. It briefly came back in an early morning slot a few months later, but that didn't last.
- The short-lived BBC One show The Link aired on the channel in 2016 at a 7pm weeknight slot, but was soon moved to a 4:00pm slot in April. It never aired again afterwards.
- Even Family Feud got the same treatment. The show was put in the same 7pm weeknight slot. However, at the end of the year, the show was gone from the channel as well.
- A likely reason was that the episodes had to be heavily edited for watershed purposes, hence the time slot it was in.
- Even Family Feud got the same treatment. The show was put in the same 7pm weeknight slot. However, at the end of the year, the show was gone from the channel as well.
- Millionaire Hot Seat was treated very similarly to The Chase Australia, only this time it didn’t even get reran.
- Scrapheap Challenge premiered in November 2022, and was given a good weekday timeslot of 3pm before being booted off to the graveyard slot of 4am after 6 weeks. It's 9am Saturday & 5pm Sunday slots stayed the same for another 3 weeks. Currently, it only airs on Sundays at 7am, with three episodes airing at once, and this ended in July 2023. It has since returned to broadcast with the same broadcast pattern.
- Timeline ended up suffering from this as well and is likely what led to original game shows being killed off on the channel completely.
- Sky gave the show a lot of promotion and advertising on not just Challenge, but some of their other networks. However, Sky thought that in order for the show to be successful, it should air at 9pm, even though the tone of the series didn't fit its timeslot. Because of this, the series failed in the ratings and after the initial 10 episodes had aired in 2014, the show wasn't renewed for another season, with the show being removed entirely in 2015.
- Challenge as a whole seems to be doing this more and more in 2024. Many longrunners like Supermarket Sweep, Catchphrase and Family Fortunes have been placed into very erratic slots which last normally a week or less, while the graveyard slots continue to be filled up with nothing but Bullseye and The Chase reruns.
Other Examples
- Family Game Night was canceled after its fifth season in 2014 due to The Hub becoming Discovery Family, though its final episode would air after the rebrand that November.
