There are some incongruous things to be found in the annals of TV history. Like the time when Rod Hull sat down next to Richard Pryor on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, or when Bruce Forsyth appeared on Magnum P.I.
Wait, what?
(Many thanks to the Cheapshow podcast for the heads up)
This marked an interesting end to Bruce’s time on US screens, as we will see.
But first, let’s travel back a bit further, to 1981, where the Daily Mirror breaks the big news that Bruce is about to make a pilot for the ABC network, based on The Generation Game.
The format was tinkered with, and it was renamed A Piece Of Cake, but it was not picked up for series.
Fast forward to 1985, and the Mirror once again has this little nugget of information.
It’s interesting that Bruce made a pilot of the show in 1984, which was another attempt by Reg Grundy Productions to sell an earlier format called Party Line in 1983.
Hot Streak was picked up as a mid-season replacement at the start of 1986.
You could even apply for tickets to be in the audience.
Here’s the full first episode, which aired on the 6th January.
It was scheduled in the 11am Eastern Time slot, against the giant shows on the other networks The Price Is Right and Wheel Of Fortune. Nonetheless, it ran for a full 65 episodes, before it was cancelled.
And so, the final episode aired on the 4th April, the morning after Bruce appeared in Magnum over on CBS. Bruce returned to the UK, and began work on his sitcom Slinger’s Day.
