TFTP Game Shows: "Wheel of Fortune" from NBC (Dec. 4, 1979)

Posted to YouTube by user 'The Fun & Games Channel'
Length - 27:03

"Wheel of Fortune" is a game-show juggernaut that in 2017 celebrated its 35th anniversary as a nightly syndicated program. Many people might be aware that it also existed as a daytime game show in its early years before and after its launch in syndication. What most people probably do not know (or remember) is that its original host (from 1975-1981) in its daytime version was game-show stand-by Chuck Woolery.

In the classic game-show precincts of YouTube, these early, Woolery-hosted episodes are known as "Woolery Wheel", and here we have a 1979 episode of "Woolery Wheel" that also features original letter-turner Susan Stafford. Contestants Susan, Lea, and Ginger face off in a version of the game that seems terribly quaint and retrograde to us today, with letters that actually had to be turned, a returning champion similar to many other game-shows of the era (and thus no bonus round), a wheel with much fewer bells and whistles, and the original bazaar-style shopping segment at the end of each game. Because of the need to physically turn the letters, the show is considerably slower-paced than it is now. But the core of the game is already there--and is one of the things that has made the game so perennial.

This recording includes original commercial breaks, with many interesting late-1970s era ads. These include: Nestle Bowl O' Noodles, Mueller's Spaghetti, a Sears commercial for women's clothing, Purina Moist & Chunky and Gravy Train dog foods, Metamucil, Chiffon margarine, Maxwell House coffee, Sunlite sunflower oil, Rice Krispies cereal, Milk Mate chocolate milk mix, and Cross Your Heart bras. In addition, there is a bumper ad for Ben Franklin Five and Dime stores and a WNBC local program promo for "The Newlywed Game".

TFTP Special: "Vincent Price's Once Upon a Midnight Scary" from CBS (Oct. 1979)

Posted to YouTube by user 'mrprice07'
Length - 46:56

Vincent Price was, of course, legendary for being associated with spookiness and horror, based on his appearance in a number of such films in the 1950s and 1960s, including "The House of Wax" in 1954 and several films based on Poe stories in the '60s. By the end of the '70s, Price's identification with such themes had reached near-camp levels, a status that certainly informs this 1979 Halloween special that he hosted.

The program is an anthology of three separate ghost stories, one classic and two contemporary: "The Ghost Belonged to Me" by Richard Peck (from 1976), "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving (from 1820), and "The House With a Clock in Its Walls" by John Bellairs (from 1973). Price doesn't actually appear in any of the stories themselves, rather he appears in segments bookending the stories and provides a little bit of voiceover narration during them.

Price exploits his image to good effect in his segments, levitating a book off of a table, waking up inside a coffin, and holding a raven on his arm. As we celebrate Halloween tonight, the figure of Vincent Price and his spooky image helps us to appreciate the holiday.

TFTP Kids: "Ray Rayner and His Friends" from WGN/Chicago (May 16, 1980)

Posted to YouTube by user 'The Museum of Classic Chicago Television'

"Ray Rayner and His Friends", despite the fact that it seems incredibly bizarre to us now, was a venerable and long-running children's program on Chicago independent station WGN. Many local stations had similar programs in the 1960s and '70s, in which a human host interacts with puppets or other anthropomorphic characters while introducing cartoon short subjects. This episode is from 1980, the final year (due to Rayner's retirement) of a run that started in 1962.

There is a certain slapdash quality to the show--from Rayner's strange coveralls (upon which he has pinned various notes, a Rayner trademark) and the laughably low-budget set, to the decidedly low-tech (even for 1980) use of a chalkboard for displaying weather info and sports scores. Rayner brings a definite improvisational feel to his performance as MC, seemingly (and probably actually) making it all up as he goes along. Kids most likely didn't care, as the Rayner segments were just interstitial to the cartoons they tuned in to see--and which also provided adults in the room with a little weather info with which to plan their day.

This episode has most of the cartoons themselves cut out (except the bulk of a 1930s-era "Flash Gordon" serial), but some of the commercials included (such as a great McDonald's ad featuring Ronald himself).

TFTP News: "11 Alive Newsroom" from WXIA/Atlanta (Apr. 13 1980)

Posted to YouTube by user 'NewsActive3'

From Apr. 13, 1980, is the local newscast--titled "11 Alive Newsroom"--from WXIA-TV in Atlanta, which at this time was the Atlanta ABC affiliate but later in 1980 would switch its affiliation to NBC, which it retains (along with the "11 Alive" branding) to this day. Curious local news tidbit: the painted portraits of newsmakers that are utilized as graphics in several of the stories here.

Stories featured in this newscast: demonstrations related to racial strife in the town of Wrightsville, GA; Ted Kennedy wins the Arizona primary in the 1980 Democratic presidential race in his run against incumbent president Jimmy Carter; a local rodeo in the Atlanta area; final results from the 1980 Masters golf tournament; flooding in Louisiana; and details related to severe weather in the Atlanta and north Georgia region, including a recent tornado watch.

Most of the commercials and interstitial elements have been edited out here, with a few significant exceptions: there is a Cadillac ad at the very end, an ad for the regional Krystal fast food chain midway through, and at the very beginning there is a brief bumper promo for local syndicated airings of "Star Trek".