Voting Station

Turn-On

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TV Series

The Resume

    (February 5, 1969-February 5, 1969)
    Sketch comedy show
    Aired on ABC
    Cast members included Teresa Graves, Chuck McCann and Hamilton Camp
    Only episode aired hosted by Tim Conway

Why Turn-On might be annoying:

    The editing was so fast paced that an exec at CBS (which had passed on the pilot episode) noted, ‘Some our people actually got physically disturbed by it.’
    Most of its humor consisted of crude, lowbrow sex jokes.
    Even worse: crude, lowbrow sex jokes that weren’t funny.
    It was cancelled after one episode.
    In a couple of markets, the series did not even make it all the way through the first episode: in Cleveland, the ABC affiliate refused to return to the show after the first commercial break, with the station sending network management an irate telegram, ‘If your naughty boys have to write dirty words on the walls, please don’t use our walls.’
    Several of the network’s West Coast affiliates, seeing how badly the show was going over in the Eastern Time Zone, decided not to air it at all.
    A network exec told TV guide, ‘There wasn't any sort of identification with the audience -- just a bunch of strangers up there insulting everything you believe in.’
    The ‘Turn-On’ controversy later caused ABC to pass on All in the Family as network brass figured a show centering on a loud-mouthed bigot might trigger another revolt by their affiliate stations.

Why Turn-On might not be annoying:

    Its producers, Ed Friendly and George Schlatter, had previously created Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.
    Cast member Theresa Graves went on to join ‘Laugh-In.’
    One of the writers was a young Albert Brooks.
    It did not use a laugh track.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying