Chicago Tonight - WGN announces the Cancelation of The Bozo Show

After 40 years on Chicago Television, WGN Cancels The Bozo Show
A Panel discussion with Chicago's Bozo & Media Experts

[@steve0mania284]

It should have never been canceled. Long live Bozo the Clown and long live Joey D’ Auria 💯💪🏾

[@BrianRetro]

Actually, it should have been canceled years before it actually was.

[@truckdriver402]

Amen. He was the Bozo I grew up with and the best!

[@jesshill1007]

Blame the federal Educational Informative (E/I) mandate for the cancellation too.

[@joeybaseball7352]

Bozo was great. But the real tragedy isn't that the show ended. It's that little-to-none of the original shows still exist. They are gone forever. So Bozo had 2 deaths.

[@Jimmersaunt]

When I watched the show it was Bob Bell doing Bozo, but I’m glad Joey D’Auria was able to continue the magic for later generations of kids.

[@bradleycotton3237]

I remember when they showed “Hardrock, Coco & Joe,” “Suzy Snowflake,” and “Frosty the Snowman” at Christmas.

[@harrymann5523]

No Cubs and no Bozo means WGN is no longer relevant

[@milepost4846]

WGN no longer shows the Cubs either???

[@harrymann5523]

@@milepost4846 No they don’t

[@milepost4846]

@@harrymann5523 Wow, I have been out of the loop. As a kid and with cable, when we got WGN here where I live in SC, I thought having Bozo in the morning and watching the Cubs with my grandpa was the greatest thing and Chicago had a awesome station.

[@harrymann5523]

@@milepost4846 It was a great thing. Bozo in the morning. Harry Caray and the Cubs in the afternoon. Sad when good things end.

[@milepost4846]

@@harrymann5523 oh yeah. Harry Caray and the 7th inning stretch! Loved that too.

[@richardr5928]

It’s too bad that WGN TV gave up their children’s daytime programs.

[@Musicradio77Network]

During Bozo’s amazing run on WGN-TV, they ran WB cartoons like Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and other “Looney Tunes”. Nowadays, they’re on Boomerang, MeTV and now Discovery Family where it follows suit long after the demise of “Bozo’s Circus” and the “Bozo Show”.

[@jeremyfoley7385]

Enjoyed watching the Bozo show growing up. Hated to see the show be canceled.

[@Jimmersaunt]

They don’t make shows like Bozo anymore. I do wish they would’ve given it a better chance.

[@christiangonzales7429]

Tribune, the owner of WGN just felt it was time to retire him.

[@BrianRetro]

@@christiangonzales7429 There's a theory that WGN had wanted to cancel the show for years. If they had their way, the show would have been canceled when Bob Bell retired in 1984. However, due to the show being so popular (number one in its time slot) and the wait list for tickets being a decade long, they decided to continue with a new actor playing the Bozo character. After the wait list was caught up, they brought in new actors who didn't have the talent that the original performers had. Then they move the show to Sunday mornings and the final nail in the coffin was turning the show educational. By that time, hardly anybody was watching and the studio was like, "Okay, now we can axe it!" Which they did.

[@kennethraymondmoore]

Was anybody else wondering the whole time if Joey D'Auria would be in full makeup when they got to the panel?

[@bryanm7953]

I was on the Bozo Show as a kid. I was selected to play some games. Bozo team vs the Cookie team. Years later I contacted WGN asking about finding a copy of the episode I was on. WGN did not record any of the years Bozo was on. They say they do not have tapes of old episodes. SMH!!! My 1 vhs recording was lost years ago. So disappointed I'll never get to watch my episode again.

[@user-zw9ko2qx5x]

That's a crime. I can't believe they never saved them episodes! What fools.

[@c.rutherford]

Interesting way for Joey D'Auria to describe it, as one of the last TV vaudeville acts. And its true if you think about it!

[@nicholasmardis9846]

Well at least ,it lasted a long time. I just wish they would release all the episodes on d.v.d so we can watch the show when ever we want.

[@BrianRetro]

Most of the episodes don't exist. There's just a few that survive and most of them are in poor quality.

[@nicholasmardis9846]

@@BrianRetro How do you know this.

[@BrianRetro]

@@nicholasmardis9846 I've talked with people in the industry and it has been confirmed multiple times of the lack of preserved episodes from the early years of the show. It was very common during Television's early years for stations to re-use their video film to save on costs. WGN did it not only for Bozo but also for Garfield Goose and Ray Rayner. There's a lot less existing footage for Garfield Goose and Ray Rayner as there is for Bozo. Now, I believe there is more footage than the network thinks there is. There's a new special coming out this Sunday on WGN called, "Bozo's Circus, The 1970s." I think a lot of their footage is from a special they did a number of years ago called, "The Lost Tape." This special also has footage from a 1974 airing. I guess you can say this is another one of those "Lost Tapes." So, while I do believe that there is not a lot of known footage to exist, I do believe there is more footage than we believe. With the ownership of the licensing to the character now under someone other than Larry Harmon Productions (David Arquette now owns the rights), we can only hope that more footage from the different Bozo Shows, especially from Chicago, can be remastered, re-released, or at the very least, be uploaded to sites like KZbin and not be taken down because of copyright issues.

[@nicholasmardis9846]

@@BrianRetro Well ,thanks for confirming the details of why the show cant be uploaded .To sites like KZbin ,been trying to find full episodes online but they don't have very many, may be one that someone uploaded a couple of days ago .It's the one with Joey D' Auria,an it's a full episode from 1990.

[@Musicradio77Network]

WPIX-TV (channel 11) had Bozo back in the 1960’s, but moved to WGN-TV in the 1970’s where it remains until March 2001, just 6 months before 9/11.

[@justinroark88]

I grew up watching Bozo as a kid in Hot Springs, Arkansas in the 90s.

[@redmanr5522]

March 18, 2001, the final Bozo Show, the abrupt cancellation.

[@bigga3095]

I LOVED THE BOZO SHOW>>USE TO WATCH IT ALL THE TIME WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BOY!!🥰🤩🤜🤛💪👊🎁😘😎🔥🔥🔥🤡🎈🎈🎆🎇🎊🎉🎥🎬😲😲

[@nicholasmardis9846]

Ahh ,me to I was addicted to the show. I even have the Bozo The Clown dolls.

[@ul7185]

The All New Bozo Show Not-So-Cancelled

[@kevinbutler1955NYC]

There is talk of bringing "Bozo"back to tv..via the new owner of the character and the franchise..Mr.David Arquete..Cliff Arquette's("Uncle Charley Weaver's)grandson..but? I doubt that the show can make a come back to kids tv.

[@FTRHOODFRESH8984]

My childhood

[@Scottwilkie18]

Rare wttw Chicago commercials and broadcast

[@txmetalhead82xk]

This was fascinating and quite sad. I loved this show.

[@codym8897]

At 5:30, do you have The Bozo Super Sunday Show opening credits from 1994? It starts with The Bozo Super Sunday Show logo on a blue background. Then, Bozo blows his whistle, and invites the viewer to come along. Then, it shows the rest of The Bozo Super Sunday Show gang, as well as a shot of the grand prize game, and another shot of Bozo. This was followed by The Bozo Super Sunday Show logo again, as we see different angles of the audience. The announcer said: "From Chicago, "The Bozo Super Sunday Show" is on the air". Then, The Bozo Super Sunday Show logo breaks into pieces, Bozo makes his entrance, and says "good morning" to the audience.

[@keithstras5200]

yes, i have the very first airing of the Sunday show

[@Trebor1415]

@@keithstras5200 Are you familiar with the "Fuzzy Memories" channel also known as The Museum of Classic Chicago Television? The guy that runs it would be very interested in helping you transfer those episodes kzbin.info/door/-ssAZ6qVu0glgFUIsC8VSA

[@justinroark88]

@@keithstras5200 can we see it?

[@DanAVC]

David arquett brought Bozo he said he wants to do something with Chicago and Bozo

[@michaela.mccracken4461]

2001, WGN's Bozo ends

[@HermannTheGreat]

From Indiana. Watched the Bozo show before school whenever possible in the 90s and it was a party like start to the day, I think they canceled it due to it's popularity making all the other programming look bad, and it couldn't draw the same amount of advertising dollars in the time-slot as compared to cartoons or talk-shows/news.

[@zt1053]

Was Bozo not allowed to be picked up by another cable channel? I wonder if the producers were not allowed to pitch it to the family channel or syndication and

[@ToyGuruMan]

I think it was because of licensing to the owner of the bozo copyright at the time Larry Harmon and also because probably no one else would want to market it

[@TELEVISIONARCHIVES]

I recorded every show from 1970s up till the end. I posted one and youtube flagged it and removed it.

[@KR-fh4fx]

Interesting. Do you by chance happen to have the episode of Ned Locke's Final show in 1976? Or the complete show that included the famous pie fight of 1978 that saw Frazier Thomas get bombed with pies by the cast? Classics!!!

[@TELEVISIONARCHIVES]

@@KR-fh4fx I haven't seen every single episode but I'm sure I've got it just the time of transferring it

[@keithstras5200]

Yes, I havethem both

[@jamelwilliams6453]

Do you have this special call Mistletoe Bear’s Musical Christmas with Bozo?

[@TELEVISIONARCHIVES]

@@jamelwilliams6453 What year was that?

[@BabyBunch]

This was such a sad day man

[@juliemcarthur3004]

I grew up with bozos circus

[@richcar3434]

That bozo doll at 6:20 looks just like "IT"... yikes!

[@nicholasmardis9846]

I know, I just purchased that same 1999 A & A Aurora Talking Bozo Doll from ebay, brand new with tags .Its the last of the talking Bozo dolls made in 1999 as they were discountinued that year. An it's better looking then the 1963 Mattel Pullstring Bozo doll .

[@BabyBunch]

Wow 2001 yikes

[@user-mu8vl5wh4j]

The real reason that the bozo show was not popular any more because wgn thought that if they just put bozos costume on any man that it would be fine but if they would have found someone who sounded like Bob bell then maybe it would have been popular if they were really wanted it to last they also should have made the new guy act like Bob bell I stopped watching it when they hired the new guy I was disgusted it also lasted so long because kids grew up and wanted their kids to experience what they grew up with but parents didn't like it so they didn't carry it on to thier own kids

[@Scottwilkie18]

2001

[@milepost4846]

What is the obsession with all the constant news, sports and talk shows? Sheesh I enjoy when there was a bit more better programming on local stations besides talk shows and news all day.

[@booberry349]

Clowns are so funny you got them in Washington D C

[@fjccommish]

Useless show.

[@nicholasmardis9846]

The Bozo show ,was not useless it was a fun show.An am a big Bozo The Clown fan. Your dumb for saying The Bozo Show was useless.

[@fjccommish]

@@nicholasmardis9846 Kids would do better doing something productive.

[@nicholasmardis9846]

Well The Bozo Show was fun, an it was not useless.

[@milepost4846]

Useless shows are all these stupid talk shows on TV now.

[@theoriginalpsychocharlie]

Useless comment from a useless person