Both "The New York Times" and the Associated Press gave the show poor reviews. An ABC executive stated that "creatively, "Turn-On" didn't work". He compared the show negatively to the comedy of Dean Martin, "Laugh-In", and the Smothers Brothers, which the executive described as "absolutely beyond belief ... awfully blue", but were popular and less controversial because unlike "Turn-On", "they're funny". After "Turn-On"s cancellation "TV Guide" called the show "The biggest bomb of the season". It stated that both CBS and NBC had rejected the show due to its perceived lack of quality, and that its sexual content was an important reason why viewers rejected the show. The magazine quoted a source who lamented "Turn-On"'s lack of a regular host or interlocutor: "(T)here wasn't any sort of identification with the audience -- just a bunch of strangers up there insulting everything you believe in."