ABC Wide World of Riots - 1967 Gold Medal Round

From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.

Wide World of Riots was a television program broadcast by ABC during the turbulent 1960's. Originally, it showed civil disturbances and police situations around the world. In 1967, the show's producers held a "Tournament of Hooligans" designed to end with a "Gold Medal Round" in Detroit. The winner was to have received a lifetime pass to any football game in America.

Unfortunately for the producers, the selection of Detroit for the Gold Medal Round was perhaps the worst possible one. After spending only one day in the city, all of the contestants chose to give up their warlike ways and concentrate on happy things. The "Gold Medal" episode of "Wide World of Riots", which was also the final one, became the lowest rated program in the Nielsen ratings up to that time. The events of the "Gold Medal" episode were later written into an episode of The Andy Griffith Show.