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Turn-On is an American television series that aired for only one episode in 1969 and is considered one of the most infamous flops in TV history.
The show was created by Ed Friendly and George Schlatter, the producers of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and picked up by ABC after NBC and CBS rejected it; a CBS official confessed, "It was so fast with the cuts and chops that some of our people actually got physically disturbed by it." Production executive Digby Wolfe described it as a "visual, comedic, sensory assault involving animation, videotape, stop-action film, electronic distortion, computer graphics—even people." The Bristol-Myers company bought advertising for a projected 13-week run . The show's premise was that it was produced by a computer, though this was not the case. Distinguishing characteristics of the show were its synthesized music and lack of sets, except for a white backdrop. The show consisted of various rapid-fire jokes and risqué skits but no laugh track. The program was also filmed instead of presented live or on videotape. Also, the production credits of the episode appeared after each commercial break, instead of conventionally at the beginning or end (Monty Python's Flying Circus would similiarly play around with presenting the credits).
Turn-On's sole episode aired on Wednesday, February 5, 1969, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern and 7:30 p.m. in other markets. Among the cast were Teresa Graves (who would later join the Laugh-In cast that autumn) and Chuck McCann (longtime kiddie show host, character actor, and voice artist). The guest host for the first and only episode was Tim Conway, best known for his long run on The Carol Burnett Show. Conway was dogged for years by the story that he was the "host" of the show - he was not, he was merely the highest profile guest star on the first show - and there was no second show. The writing staff included a young Albert Brooks.
A multimedia presentation satirizing sex, politics, and everything else, splattered across the screen at blinding speed. One producer called it "A visual, comedic, sensory assault involving animation, videotape, stop-action film, electronic distortion, computer. Written by Molly Malloy




