Success breeds imitation. So, it was no surprise that ABC wanted its own version of NBC’s then red-hot Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In care of Turn-On, a half-hour sketch comedy from Laugh-In creator George Schlatter. Billed as “the first computerized TV show,” Turn-On had no sets except for a white backdrop, where sketches generated by an artificially intelligent computer would be acted out. The writing staff included Albert Brooks, the first host was Tim Conway, the cast included Teresa Graves and Chuck McCann, and the official start date was February 5, 1969.
ABC ordered 13 episodes of Turn-On and the highly anticipated debut was supposed to feature two back-to-back episodes.
Flash to that infamous night and Turn-On was, pun intended, turned off midway through the first episode. Specifically, Turn-On was abruptly cut off after just 10 minutes, between the first and second commercial breaks, by a programmer at WEWS in Cleveland stating that the remainder of the program would “not be seen this evening…or ever.” Word traveled across the country and the show was canceled before the episode even aired on the West Coast.
Ultimately, ABC officially canceled the show, buying out Schlatter’s contract with a clause that Turn-On would never be seen again.
Now, 54 years later, George Schlatter will release two of the three completed episodes of Turn-On via YouTube through the comedy curation team at Clown Jewels. Included will be a newly shot on-camera introduction from Schlatter where he shares his story and provides context for the first two episodes. Both are set to be released on Monday, October 9 at 7 p.m. ET. The host address is www.youtube.com/@clownjewels.
Here is a look at the teaser trailer:
In addition to releasing the first two episodes of Turn-On, Schlatter is working on an updated version that will incorporate the best pieces from those installments with never-before-seen content from the third episode.
ABC eventually replaced Turn-On with a revival of variety hour The King Family Show. In an interesting twist, the controversy surrounding Turn-On led ABC to reject a pilot written by Norman Lear featuring a “foul-mouth and bigoted” lead character (aka Archie Bunker) that might anger its affiliates again. That sitcom, All in the Family, ended up on CBS and the rest is history.
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