Of course, those old shows might never have made it to GSN if the wipe monster hadn't been stopped in its tracks. Long long ago in a galaxy far far away, video tape was expensive. So networks wiped their old shows to make room for newer shows, which in turn got wiped. Or sometimes they just dumped the tapes to make room.
Game shows felt the monster's wrath very harshly. Thousands of classic game show episodes disappeared into the dustbin of history. You Bet Your Life, Groucho Marx's game (and/or talk) show, almost met the terrible fate. Luckily, Groucho's grandson Andy helped save the tapes for posterity.
Andy has written an account of the rescue, which does sound a bit self-serving. But anybody who helped save Groucho's work should pat himself on the back a little. Too bad Andy couldn't have been around for Art Fleming's Jeopardy, or Chuck Woolery's Wheel of Fortune, or so many others.
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