Michael Russnow - Split Second Episode 4 - Part One

[centuryboatfan]

I wonder what happened to these contestants 40 years later?

[mrgiosb123]

By The Way Does Anybody Know The Hope Lange Movie That Aired On Channel 7 That Day?

[mrgiosb123]

The Footage Came From KABC-TV In Los Angeles.

[thefirefighter2011]

that episode aired on november 8th 1972

[kerrloy]

No, all of the episodes were aired in May, 1972.

[thefirefighter2011]

oh, yeah right, thanks, but it's still a great game show from stefan hatos/monty hall produtions aired on abc from 1972-75 and that theme tune with the horn arrangements are great too.

[68lincoln]

@thefirefighter2011 I agree! The Split Second theme song is very lively. And Tom Kennedy as host adds real class. I always loved Split Second, Let's Make A Deal and Three On A Match in the 1970s. Then the 1980s came around and there was nothing left of the great game shows. And don't even get me started on the new wave of game show crap that Game Show Network airs today as their own original programming - their new game shows pale in comparison to the great game shows of the 1960s & 70s.

[Hondo20132]

Good news, everyone. Michael just uploaded all the rest of the episodes!!!!

[ur2sensitive]

Excellent find, though! It's getting harder and harder to find 70's game shows just because of time and wear. there will never be another time in TV when so many games show were on. Now it's just cut and dry talk shows :(

Let's treasure these no matter the condition...It's what we got.

[rwagoner]

And so many of the ABC game shows were simply erased because no one at ABC saw the value ... and videotape was expensive for the then struggling 3rd-place network.

[Tubewings]

@rwagoner I think ABC was #1 in daytime in 1972.

[rwagoner]

@Tubewings Maybe number 1 daytime but distant third overall. They became the top network overall starting around 1976 (promoting all their shows during the Olympics as I recall, is what many believed helped them). And generally, none of the networks thought of saving much around this time.

[GarfieldnPyramid]

Wow! back when there was only one commecial during the commecial break.

[katmusic2006]

split second here is a *very* rare instance in game shows in which the host comes on the set sans glasses then seconds later is wearing the darn things to read stuff. I found that so intriguing.

[ChrisK42]

Actually, I've seen Alex Trebek do it on Jeopardy recently...

[Hondo20132]

Was this the first show in which he wore his famous glasses?

[lamccaugh]

I think so

[gameshowfrk]

Actually, I noticed Peter Marshall did that quite a bit on the "Squares" during the mid-70's.

[GarfieldnPyramid]

That happened on Jeporday one time.

[pacmanindy]

Tom Kennedy sans his famous glasses. He was handsome, like his brother Jack Narz. Very much like Wink Martindale.

[lamccaugh]

Holy guacamole! I thought I was the only one on the face of the green earth that thought Tom was handsome. Cyber high five to you pacmanindy!!!! WOOO!!!

[denny906]

We used to tape Split Second on our school's Concorde video tape machine in the audio visual dept back in 1972 when I was a senior there. The open reel video tapes recorded 40 minutes each in B&W and we had several dozen shows complete with commercials that was shown on KABC-7 in Los Angeles. To this day I wonder what ever happened to those tapes.

[Stratman78]

Oh man, you got to find them! They need to be here on either YouTube or need to go to the Game Show network. They could probably colourize them.

[Hondo20132]

I don't care how bad the quality is; just find them and upload them!

[Hondo20132]

They could colorize, but they still couldn't air them, as I see quite some tape lines, making it bad for broadcast.

[secondchance1977]

GSN has aired worse. They aired a pilot of a game show that was in poor condition.

[Hondo20132]

Name the pilot.

[secondchance1977]

Second Guessers.

[GarfieldnPyramid]

That's the reason GSN skipped over an episode of $10,000 Pyramid. They aired only 14 of the 15 episodes. Must have been in poor quality.

[tyrese3745]

@Hondo20132 Many ABC affiliates, despite that the network switched to color for primetime in the fall of 1966 and for daytime in January 1968, could not (or chose not to) upgrade to color until at least the early 70s because it was expensive at that time. And many folks didn't have that kind of money to purchase color TVs because most of the U.S. of A. was in a recession. I.E. The Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal, and high crude oil (gasoline) prices all played a huge factor.

[Hondo20132]

@tyrese3745 Actually, the guy who uploaded this says he has color copies, but he doesn't think the quality is worth it. Or at least I think that's what he said.

[kerrloy]

@Hondo20132 No, he said the color copies kept breaking up in the reel to reel tape player (old 1/2 inch videotape), whereas it looked okay on a friend's b&w machine and felt it was better than nothing at all. Still trying to find a machine that will work and see whether the tapes still hold the image.

[bpot22]

I wish that somebody out there would give us more of split second episodes on youtube.

[MNManiac]

I started watching Split Second when I was in 2nd grade. I was a hyperactive kid. My teacher often made me stay in with her during recess as punishment for disrupting the class. Split Second came on at 11:30 Minnesota time and she would always have it on as she was at her desk, correcting papers. Though hyper, I was also a smart kid. I soon became interested in trivia by watching.

This is exactly how I remember watching the show on the RCA "industrial" classroom black & white TV!

[WarioBarker88]

...Wow. THIS IS AWESOME! Man, wasn't expecting more of this classic to actually, you know, SURVIVE.

[Stratman78]

Now this early episode of Split Second, is this episode one of the three episodes that are in existance?

[kerrloy]

I have no idea about the other episodes in existence, but I do have the other three episodes pertaining to this contestant and will try to put them up when I redub them, because they are not in the best shape at the moment. I am also trying to redub them in the original color.

[Hondo20132]

The other ep.s from the Kennedy version known to exist in the trading circuit:

1. 5/8/75; Marvin Shakeman's 5th and final day (mshakeman, Marvin's daughter, is on the 'tube!).

2. 6/27/75; Finale of this version of Split Second.

Both ep.s are up here.

[Stratman78]

Although ABC 'destroyed' the tapes of this show, there could 'other copies' out there. There was someone that said on my Split Second video collage (which I erased by accident) said that a New York ABC station affiliate during it's three year run moved the show to 4pm (actual ABC time slot was 12:30pm Eastern time). In other words, there might be more (then again, maybe all of the episodes exist if that station did that).

[secondchance1977]

I have names of some boxes i found in a new york studio on yoru video

[megamanj2004X]

When was this ep. you were on?

This must be from early on the run in 1972.

[kerrloy]

Mid-may 1972.

[Hondo20132]

So the show was only on for 2 months by this point, right?

[kerrloy]

Yes, it was pretty new and when I saw the trivia format, I knew it was something I had to try -- plus I desperately needed the money!

[heine71]

Split Second on ABC replaced daytime reruns of "That Girl".

[TonyDuMont]

I thought that the jackpot started at $1000 and went up by $500 every day it wasn't won. And Blue Suede Shoes was a Carl Perkins song.

[gameshowfrk]

Yes, Carl Perkins wrote and originally recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" (and his version actually charted higher than Elvis'). But Elvis still recieved a gold record for it. Also, they might have initially only increased the cash jackpot $200 at first and increased it later in the run (I've also noticed that there is no "singleton" bonus prize here either).

[TVLubber]

About the jackpot, this is one of the earliest episodes. The jackpot started at $200 and grew by that much each day until a car was won. It was later changed to $1,000 (+$500 each day).

[heine71]

Notice a "Hope Lange 6:30 Tonight on KABC 7" slide? What show is this for regarding Hope Lange?

[kerrloy]

I have no idea.

[bpot22]

Yo, You have anymore episodes of Split Second?

[kerrloy]

Nope.

[epaddon]

So to clarify your other episodes can't be uploaded?

[kerrloy]

There is a lot of break-up on the other 3, and episode 3 of the 4 had rolls even in original (don't know why). Rather than upload episodes that don't look that good, I am attempting to redub them from the original spools onto DVD if I can get hold of a reel-to-reel (even better if it dubs from the original color, which may be a problem as noted above)

[gameshowfrk]

Well, I know it isn't "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (even though its second season was on ABC, although that was in 1969, and "Split Second" didn't debut until 1972).

[kerrloy]

I was fortunate (in those pre-VCR times) to have a friend with a reel-to-reel video tape recorder, attached to a monitor. It was also a color machine, so we taped all the episodes in color. Unfortunately, when VCRs came around, the tapes did not transfer well in color, so I settled for B&W, as better than nothing. I will soon be trying one more time with another friend's old machine to see if the color is salvageable. I will also try to upload the other episodes by rerecording the master.

[paulluvz269xxx]

Wow! I'd love to know how this copy of Split Second survived! Split Second was always in color and ABC erased virtually all the tapes. It brought back great memories from my childhood. Thanks for posting it.

[heine71]

Funny question: "I WANT NO TEA"!

[zachhoran]

The singleton, as per ATGS posts, didn't appear until later in the run.

[heine71]

Also: In the later of Split Second's ABC run came visual/audio clues to Split Second questions and the Split Second Memory Buster question.

[heine71]

When I saw Split Second on TV, I normally have seen 5 Chevrolet Cars or 5 Pontiac cars. But never 5 Cadillac Cars.

[NEPatriot]

What happened to the Singleton rule, where the first to be the only one to get a right answer wins a bonus prize? Must've come later on in the run.

[zachhoran]

This is only the third episode of 70s Split Second to turn up for the game show internet trading circuit, and the first in about a decade.