The pilot aired February 5, 1969. Two stations refused to air the rest of the program after the first commercial break, 10 minutes into the show. A few stations on the West Coast refused to air it. Though it wasn't officially canceled for several days, it became the shortest-running US TV series ever.
The station manager of WEWS, Cleveland's ABC affiliate, who series creator George Schlatter referred to as a "wacko" in a 2010 interview, pulled the show off the air after 15 minutes. The affiliate notified ABC that the good people of Cleveland would no longer receive "Turn-On" with a telegram: "If your naughty little boys have to write dirty words on the walls, please don't use our walls." A local organist on a never-exercised retainer was then called upon to do his duty, for the first time in 20 years of employment, and filled the remaining airtime with sprightly organ music while the screen remained pitch-black, leaving the viewers still watching totally confused.
According to an article by website Vulture in April 2019, after "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" (1968) was a huge hit for NBC, ABC wanted a piece. That year, the top brass brought series creator George Schlatter and his production partner Ed Friendly in for an offer they couldn't refuse: Make another "Laugh-In", but for us. If NBC was going to use skin, taboos, and insouciant anti-establishmentarianism to carve out a reputation as the hippest place on television, ABC would do them one better with the most daring, button-pushing, censor-baiting show the small screen had ever seen. The lure of higher budgets and near-absolute creative control proved sufficient to lure Schlatter and Friendly across town to ABC's studios, where their next brainchild would be born and their TV empire could begin in earnest. In a randy wink to their earlier success, they named this new endeavor "Turn-On." "I could do anything," Schlatter recalled in a 2010 video interview, "and the arrogance of power took over. I'm cocky now, but 40 years ago, with a 50 share? Forget about it. That's how we sold Turn-On." So long as the ideas were coming from his own brain, Schlatter was certain they were worth pursuing all the way into the avant-garde fringe. But he had been written a blank check on what would turn out to be a faulty line of credit. The format of joke-after-joke, delivered at breakneck speed quickly turned off audiences and network affiliates. Schlatter said, "The whole idea was to arrest the viewer's attention, without letting them be comfortable in a place." But it failed miserably.
During or after the first and only episode, 75 ABC affiliates refused to air any further episodes.
Because of the time difference between the East and West Coasts, the show never aired in many West-Coast cities.