Turn-On (1969) episode 2

When initially presented to CBS, a network official stated that Turn-On was "so fast with the cuts and chops that some of our people actually got physically disturbed by it." Tim Conway has stated that Turn-On was canceled midway through its only episode, so that the party that the cast and crew held for its premiere as the show aired across the United States also marked its cancellation.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Conway later claimed that the Cleveland ABC affiliate, WEWS-TV, replaced the show after the first commercial break and utilized an "emergency protocol" of a black screen with live organ music.

Ten minutes into Turn-On, WEWS general manager Donald Perris called ABC's headquarters by telephone to notify them that they would no longer air the show and sent to ABC president Elton Rule an angry telegram: "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. You tried too hard."

After the program aired, a WEWS spokesman claimed that the station's switchboard was "lit up" with protest calls, and Perris derided Turn-On as being "in excessive poor taste".

George Schlatter would later accuse Perris of actively lobbying other affiliates prior to the broadcast to force a network cancellation after objecting to it replacing Peyton Place on the Wednesday night schedule.

However, Perris told The Cleveland Press that neither he nor the station's then-current program director, Ernest Sindelar, had gotten a chance to preview the show prior to its broadcast, saying that:

It was previewed by a member of our staff whose judgment is usually good. Last night it wasn't very good. The show shouldn't have gone on. It's all right to be racy—but this was just plain dirty. This was a hate show. Its spirit was dirty. I watched it at home and I felt very bad that it was on.

At the same time, WAKR-TV in Akron, Ohio—the Cleveland market's other primary ABC affiliate—did not receive any negative phone calls but their general manager criticized the show's "questionable taste".