History Series / TurnOn

It wasn't all bad, though -- for one, cast member Teresa Graves would eventually show up on ''Laugh-In,'' and go on to a modestly successful career. Reportedly, the fallout from ''Turn-On'' left ABC gunshy about putting more taboo topics on the air, so they wound up turning down a sitcom pilot written by Norman Lear, that prominently featured a foul-mouthed bigot. So Creator/{{CBS}} picked it up instead. That show? ''Series/AllInTheFamily.''

The combination of all these elements, combined with the show's penchant for shock value (a swastika appeared in a gag within the first two minutes), proved to be far too much for audiences at the time. The show premiered with plenty of hype, and the legendary Creator/TimConway as the SpecialGuest, but the premiere met unprecedented levels of pushback. Stations in the eastern regions got an extremely negative response from viewers in the form of hundreds of complaints -- when people weren't offended by the envelope-pushing humor, they were disoriented by the presentation -- and many affiliates in the western regions opted not to air the show at all, once they saw what kind of show they had on their hands. One affiliate, WEWS in Cleveland, cut the premiere after fifteen minutes, after which general manager Donald Perris sent the network a telegram stating "If your naughty little boys have to write dirty words on the walls, please don't use our walls. ''Turn-On'' is turned off, as far as WEWS is concerned."

''Literature/WhatWereTheyThinkingThe100DumbestEventsInTelevisionHistory'' ranked ''Turn-On'' at number 25. It was also featured prominently in the 1980 book ''The Worst TV Shows Ever'' by Bart Andrews. For years, the only way to watch ''Turn-On'' was at the Paley Center For Media in New York. To the surprise of pop culture aficionados, Schlatter posted two completed episodes to his Platform/YouTube channel in 2023 -- see them [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDpum0Jp7Gw here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwRYpqTpCU4 here.]] A heretofore unthinkable ''third'' episode (culled from unused material from the Conway episode and bits from an uncompleted episode with Creator/SebastianCabot) was completed and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWn1hNTwXn8 put online]] in February of 2024.

''Literature/WhatWereTheyThinkingThe100DumbestEventsInTelevisionHistory'' ranked ''Turn-On'' at number 25. It was also featured prominently in the 1980 book ''The Worst TV Shows Ever'' by Bart Andrews. For years, the only way to watch ''Turn-On'' was at the Paley Center For Media in New York. To the surprise of pop culture aficionados, Schlatter posted two completed episodes to his Platform/YouTube channel in 2023 -- see them [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDpum0Jp7Gw here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwRYpqTpCU4 here.]] A heretofore unthinkable ''third'' episode was completed and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWn1hNTwXn8 put online]] in February of 2024.

''Literature/WhatWereTheyThinkingThe100DumbestEventsInTelevisionHistory'' ranked ''Turn-On'' at number 25. For years, the only way to watch ''Turn-On'' was at the Paley Center For Media in New York. To the surprise of pop culture aficionados, Schlatter posted two completed episodes to his Platform/YouTube channel in 2023 -- see them [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDpum0Jp7Gw here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwRYpqTpCU4 here.]] A heretofore unthinkable ''third'' episode was completed and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWn1hNTwXn8 put online]] in February of 2024.

Where ''Turn-On'' differed, however, was its aesthetic, which was simultaneously more out-there and more minimalist than ''Laugh-In'' was. There was very little in the way of proper sets, and most sketches were done against a pure white background, with no studio audience or laugh track. The whole idea was that it was "the first computerized TV show," whereas two men running the vintage 60s computer would turn switches, causing cast members and sketches to appear out of thin air. The show's soundtrack was done with early Moog synthesizers, with a primitive drum machine playing under a good chunk of the show, and many punchlines of sketches being punctuated by a loud synthesizer sound.

''Literature/WhatWereTheyThinkingThe100DumbestEventsInTelevisionHistory'' ranked ''Turn-On'' at number 25. For years, the only way to watch ''Turn-On'' was at the Paley Center For Media in New York. To the surprise of pop culture aficionados, Schlatter posted two completed episodes to his Platform/YouTube channel in 2023 -- see them [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDpum0Jp7Gw here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwRYpqTpCU4 here]]. A heretofore unthinkable ''third'' episode was completed and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWn1hNTwXn8 put online]] in February of 2024.