Game Show Corner

[Flowgli]

Merry Christmas, everybody! This is Festive Flo, and welcome to a special Christmas edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

Boy, do I have a great Christmas present for you boys and girls. It's a game show that I said last week I will talk about this week when I was talking about 50 Grand Slam. I hope you're all ready for this. Here we go. It's time that I talk about the Allen Ludden-hosted game show from 1976 called Stumpers!

Stumpers! actually preceded 50 Grand Slam on the schedule on NBC. Like the show it preceded, this one aired on NBC from October 4, 1976 to December 31 on that same year. I explained how host Allen Ludden and 50 Grand Slam host Tom Kennedy briefly appeared in each other's shows on the premiere episodes of these shows in last week's edition, and I also explained the connections of these shows to Password Plus in that edition, so I'm not repeating myself in this edition. Also, the show was announced by Bill Armstrong--with Charlie O'Donnell filling in for some of the episodes--and produced by Lin Bolen.

I have to say something about a certain part of the show's set before I get to the gameplay, just like I did last week when I talked about a couple of parts of the set for 50 Grand Slam before I got to talking about the gameplay on that show. This one particular part of the set for Stumpers! is the big wall in the center of the set. It tilts down to make it a ceiling, and it has a screen on the tip at the top, which faces forward when it's in ceiling mode, and it tilts back up for the bonus round called "Super Stumpers".

Now, the gameplay. The gameplay in this show is similar to that of Password, another game show that Allen Ludden hosted.

Two teams, each one consisting of one contestant and one celebrity, play two rounds. In each round, a team is shown three clues to a word puzzle called a "Stumper", and that team gives the clues to the opposing team, one at a time, starting with the clue they think will be least likely to help the opposing team correctly solve the Stumper. While a Stumper is in play, the three clues to it are displayed on the cluegiving team's side of the screen at the start, and a given clue is moved to the opposing team's side of the screen. After a clue is given, the opposing team has five seconds to make as many guesses on the Stumper as they can. If the opposing team correctly solves the Stumper, they score points; but if they fail to solve the Stumper within the five seconds, another clue is given to them. Each additional clue decreases the point value of a Stumper by one third of it. If the opposing team fails to solve the Stumper after all three of the clues were given to them, the team that gave the clues gets to solve the Stumper themselves. It should be noted that the cluegiving team is never shown the correct answer to the Stumper along with the clues. If the cluegiving team correctly solves the Stumper, they score the point value of the correct guess on the first clue given to the opposing team.

In round one, each team member works individually in giving clues and making guesses. Each team member gives clues to their opposing counterpart, meaning that a contestant gives clues to the other contestant and a celebrity gives clues to the other celebrity. Solving a Stumper is worth 15 points on the first clue, 10 points on the second clue, and 5 points on the third clue. If a member of the opposing team fails to solve the Stumper after all three clues were given to them, then their cluegiving counterpart gets to solve the Stumper for 15 points, and failing to solve the Stumper awards no points to either team. There are eight Stumpers in this round, with each and every team member giving clues to two Stumpers and solving them themselves if their opposing counterpart fails to solve one.

Round two is called the "Double-Up Round", because the point values are doubled in this round. This time, solving a Stumper is worth 30 points on the first clue, 20 points on the second clue, and 10 points on the third clue, not to mention that if the opposing team fails to solve a Stumper after three clues, the cluegiving team gets to solve it for 30 points. Also, both members of each team work together in giving clues and making guesses, and there are only two Stumpers in this round, with each team giving clues to one Stumper and solving it themselves if the other team fails to solve it.

The team with the most points at the end of round two wins the game and advances to the bonus round. If the game ends in a tie, then Allen will read clues to a Stumper, one at a time, and the teams have to use buttons on their podiums to buzz in. Teams can buzz in at any time during the tiebreaker. The team that buzzes in with a correct guess wins the game. But if that team makes an incorrect guess, the other team gets a chance to guess. If neither team correctly guesses what the answer to the Stumper is, more tiebreaker Stumpers are played until a team makes a correct guess on one.

The winning team plays the bonus round called "Super Stumpers". There are ten Stumpers in this round. The celebrity gives the clues, while the contestant solves the Stumpers. Because Super Stumpers is the bonus round of the show, meaning that it is played only by the winning team, the celebrity on that team has to give the clues in the order that will help the contestant on that team solve the Stumpers, not in the order that will stump them. After the celebrity gives a clue, the contestant gets to make one guess on what the correct answer to the Stumper is. The clues can only be given one at a time. To receive another clue, the contestant must ask for it by saying the word "clue". If the celebrity gives an additional clue without the contestant asking for it, then the Stumper is taken out of play, and the team's chance to win this round is gone, but they can still play the remaining Stumpers within the remaining time to win consolation money for the contestant. The contestant has 60 seconds to correctly solve all ten Stumpers; doing so wins the contestant $10,000, while failing to do so wins them $100 for every Stumper correctly solved. After this round, the contestant plays another game with the celebrity on the opposing team from the previous game. But if a contestant wins Super Stumpers twice, they retire from the show undefeated, and the next game will be played by two new contestants.

That's the game, but before I give my thoughts on the show, I want to take the time to explain why I saved this show to be talked about for a special Christmas edition. In the show's series finale, which aired on New Year's Eve in 1976, the set is decorated and lit up with Christmas colors and decorations. Speaking of the show's series finale, Allen gave a speech to the studio audience and the home viewers after the final playing of Super Stumpers, saying that he and everyone else who worked on this show have heard that from several people that some schools have used this game as a teaching device, and saying that it was delightful for Allen himself to come back to a game like Password after fourteen years of hosting that show, even though he actually hosted that show for ten years in total prior to hosting this show. After that announcement, everyone applauded to the people who made this show possible as their names are shown in the credits--which were rolled on the clue screen for the main game at the end of every episode--at Allen's asking. After the credits, Allen was joined again by Bill Bixby and Anita Gillette--the two celebrities who appeared on that episode--so they could all have a toast with each other. After Allen finished speaking to the studio audience and the home viewers, he, Bill, and Anita got showered with confetti and balloons.

Now, I can get to my thoughts on this show. The gameplay is pretty good. It does have some elements of gameplay that are similar to those of Password. The differences here, however, are that the team giving the clues have the clues provided for them, and they give the clues for their opponents. Also, the fact that the team giving the clues isn't given the answer to the Stumper in play and gets a chance to solve that Stumper themselves if they successfully stump their opponents is good, too. The only problem I really have with the game overall is that there are way more Stumpers in round one than there are in round two. Round one has eight Stumpers, while round two only has two Stumpers. That's no good, especially when round two begins with one team trailing the other team by a lot of points and don't have much of a good chance to catch up with the leading team. The two rounds in the main game should have four Stumpers each. That's more fair, right? Now, about the bonus round, it is really good. It is similar to the Alphabetics bonus round on Password Plus, another game show that Allen Ludden hosted a few years later.

That's all I've got to say about Stumpers! Now, I am going to conclude this edition by saying that next week is New Year's Day! So, because New Year's Day is going to be on a Friday, I will be talking about a game show hosted by Dick Clark in next week's edition. And why Dick Clark? Because he hosted an annual television special that was originally called Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. That was one of the shows he was best known for hosting aside from American Bandstand and the many versions of Pyramid. But besides those shows, he did host other game shows in his lifetime. I'll reveal which game show hosted by him I'll be talking about in next week's edition. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of this Christmas Day with your family and friends. I'm sure I will.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a Merry Christmas.

[Flowgli]

Happy New Year, everybody! I'm Flo, and welcome to a special New Year's Day edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

Like I said in last week's edition, the game show that I will be talking about in this week's edition is one hosted by America's oldest teenager himself, Dick Clark. The reason for talking about a game show hosted by Dick Clark today, on New Year's Day, is because he hosted an annual television special called Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, and that was one of the shows he was best known for hosting, along with American Bandstsnd and the many versions of Pyramid. Since his death, that annual television special has been simply called New Year's Rockin' Eve, and it has been hosted by Ryan Seacrest, with Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas and Jenny McCarthy joining him. Dick Clark hosted more game shows than the many versions of Pyramid, and I'm going to go into one of them, right now! I'm going to talk about Winning Lines.

Winning Lines is based on the UK game show of the same name. It aired on CBS from January 8, 2000 to February 18 on the same year, lasting ten episodes, with one of those episodes left unaired. It was considered to be CBS's answer to ABC's primetime version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, just like Greed was considered Fox's answer to ABC's primetime version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? It was produced by Stone Stanley Entertainment and Celador, and it was announced by Chuck Riley. No, that's not Charles Nelson Reilly's name for short; that's actually a completely different person. It is also the last game show that Dick Clark ever hosted.

The game is started off with forty-nine contestants, each of whom is assigned a two-digit number from 01 to 49. The forty-nine contestants are asked six questions, each of which has a numerical answer. On each question, the contestants have five seconds to lock in their answers by typing it in and pressing "enter" with a keypad, the contestant who locks in with the correct answer in the fastest time advances to the next round called "Sudden Death". The forty-three contestants who failed to lock in with the correct answer to a question in the fastest time are eliminated.

The six remaining contestants play the next round called "Sudden Death". In this round, each contestant has their assigned number from the previous round carried over, and all questions asked in this round each have one of those six answers as correct answers. The contestants buzz in to answer the questions, but only the contestant who buzzes in first gets to answer a question. If a contestant buzzes in with the correct answer, the contestant who is assigned that number is eliminated, unless the contestant who is assigned that number is the one who buzzed in and answered correctly, in which case all the contestants in play remain in the game. But if a contestant buzzes in with an incorrect answer, they are eliminated, no matter whose number it is. If no one buzzes in on a question, the correct answer is revealed, and the contestant who is assigned that number is eliminated. This round is played until only one contestant remains. The last contestant remaining wins the game, receives $2,500, and advances to the bonus round. The other five contestants each receive $1,000.

The winning contestant plays the bonus round called "The Wonderwall". In this round, the contestant is seated in front of the Wonderwall, which consists of three screens that display forty-nine answers that are numbered 1 to 49; at the same time, the home viewers are shown the answers on a screen that scrolls side by side throughout the round and automatically jumps to exactly where the correct answer is when it is given by either the contestant if they are correct or by Dick if the contestant is incorrect. The contestant has 15 seconds to study the answers on the Wonderwall before the round begins. Afterwards, the contestant has three minutes to answer questions using those answers. To answer, the contestant has to say the number first and the answer right after that. Both the number and the answer have to be given in order for the contestant to be asked the next question, not just one or the other. Each correct answer earns the contestant more money. However, each incorrect answer or failure to answer a question within 15 seconds after that question is read in its entirety gives the contestant a strike. The contestant can pass on a question if they get stuck, but they can only pass on up to two questions. During this round, the contestant has two buttons that they can press at a few points; one of the buttons is a hand button that allows the contestant to take a "pit stop" when pressed, while the other button is a standing button next to the contestant that allows them to "bail out" when pressed. During a pit stop, the clock stops for 15 seconds, allowing the contestant to study the answers again, but the contestant cannot answer during a pit stop. The clock continues to count down after a pit stop. The contestant is allowed to take up to two pit stops. The "bail out" button lights up when the contestant either gets their second strike or has 15 seconds left on the clock; at that point, the contestant can press the "bail out" button, which ends the game for the contestant, and the contestant keeps all the money they have won up to that point. If the contestant either receives their third strike or run out of time before they press the "bail out" button, they lose all the money they have won up to that point and receive only the $2,500 they were awarded for winning the previous round. The amounts of cash won in this round are in the following order: $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, $25,000, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, $60,000, $70,000, $80,000, $90,000, $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, $400,000, $500,000, and $1,000,000. There's one million dollars to play for here, and in order for the contestant to win that money, they have to answer twenty questions correctly before either getting three strikes or running out of time.

That's the game, but there's also a home game in which home viewers have a chance to win money themselves. In this home game, the home viewers have to watch for seven numbers that appear on a winning line, as those seven numbers can make up a home viewer's phone number. The seven numbers come from the second digit of each of the six first-round winners' assigned numbers and the number of the last correct answer given in "The Wonderwall". If a home viewer has all seven of those numbers in either their home phone number or their cell phone number--not including their area code--they call the show, and they enter a drawing for $50,000.

Now, that's the show overall. I think the gameplay is really good. The first round is a simple qualifying round, the "Sudden Death" round is an interesting buzz-in round that uses contestants' assigned numbers as correct answers to all questions, and the bonus round is one of the most interesting ways for a contestant to win up to $1,000,000 on a game show. I also like how they have a home game for the home viewers to use their phones and get a chance to enter a drawing for some big money. For me, the bonus round steals the show. It's a fast-paced round where a winning contestant has to think fast, has to make snap decisions, and has little room for mistakes. Sure, this round on this show has more room for a contestant to make mistakes in than Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Greed, both of which have big money for contestants to play for and no room for contestants to make any mistakes at all, as in each of those shows, the game ends with just one incorrect answer, causing contestants to lose some or all the money they won in the game, depending on which show the game is played in and how far they have gotten in that game.

While we're still on the subject of big-money game shows that were made due to the success of ABC's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire back in 1999 and the early 2000s, I'll be talking about Greed in next week's edition. Keep an eye out for that.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Flowgli]

Hello, fans of big-money game shows! I'm Flo, and welcome to another edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? started out as a game show in the UK. The original UK version premiered in 1998, and it became a big hit on the following year. By that time, the show brought in up to 19,000,000 viewers, which was one in three of the population in the UK. Because of how popular the show was, its original production company, Celador, sold worldwide rights to the show, and the US is clearly one of the countries that the rights to the show was sold to. Celador is also the production company that produced Winning Lines, which I talked about the US version of in last week's edition. The fact that I bring up Winning Lines here leads me to the next thing I have to say about Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? When Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was brought to the US as a primetime game show on ABC, it became so popular that other television networks in the US tried to cash in on the success of the show by making big-money game shows of their own, and they do it by making an original big-money game show, reviving a game show and making that a big-money game show, or buying the rights to game shows that originated in the UK or Australia. Like I said last week when I talked about Winning Lines, Winning Lines was considered CBS's answer to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, and Greed was considered Fox's answer to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? And because I talked about Winning Lines and announced that I will be talking about Greed next in last week's edition, I'm going to fulfill what I said I will do in this week's edition, and that is talk about Greed.

Greed aired on Fox from November 4, 1999 to July 14, 2000. It was hosted by veteran game show host Chuck Woolery and announced by Mark Thompson. It was produced by Dick Clark Productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox Television.

The game is started off with a qualifying round that is played by six contestants. In the qualifying round, the six contestants are asked a question that has a numerical answer between 10 and 999. Each contestant locks in their answer using a keypad in front of them. After all six contestants have locked in their answers, the correct answer to the question is revealed, and the five contestants who come closest to the correct answer moves on into the game to play for the big money, with each of those five contestants being stationed at a podium based on how close they are to the correct answer to that question. The contestant whose answer is the closest is stationed at the captain's podium, the contestant whose answer is the second closest is stationed at the podium in position number one, the contestant whose answer is the third closest is stationed at the podium in position number two, the contestant whose answer is the fourth closest is stationed at the podium in position number three, and the contestant whose answer is the fifth closest is stationed at the podium in position number four. The contestant whose answer is the furthest away from the correct answer is eliminated, but they go back to the contestant pool with the possibility to return to the qualifying round and play another question. If more than one contestant locks in with the same answer, then the contestant who locks in with that answer in the fastest time is stationed at the podium in the higher ranking.

In the game, the five surviving contestants work together as a team to win big money. What they have to do is answer eight multiple-choice questions correctly. The first four questions each have one correct answer, while the last four questions each have four correct answers. The first two questions each have four answers to choose from, the next two questions each have five answers to choose from, and the last four questions have six, seven, eight, and nine answers to choose from, in that order. The amounts of cash to play for in this game are in the following order: $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, $100,000, $200,000, $500,000, $1,000,000, and $2,000,000. That's right. In this game, the top cash prize is not one million dollars, but two million dollars!

The game may be played for $2,000,000, but it hasn't been that way for the entirety of the show's run. In earlier episodes, the top cash prize is a jackpot that starts at $2,000,000 and increases by $50,000 each time it hasn't been won. After the jackpot reached $2,550,000 and wasn't won, the top cash prize was changed to a flat $2,000,000; by that point forward, the show was called Greed: The Series.

Now, I'm going to explain how the questions are answered in the game, and some of the questions are answered quite differently from others, so here we go.

On each of the first four questions, one of the team members whose ranking is lower than the team captain chooses which answer they think is correct, and the team captain decides whether to accept the answer that the lower-ranked team member has chosen if they think that answer is correct or change it to another answer if they think it is incorrect. The first question is asked to the team member in position number four, the second question is asked to the team member in position number three, the third question is asked to the team member in position number two, and the fourth question is asked to the team member in position number one. After the team captain makes the final choice of answer, the correct answer is revealed. If the final choice of answer is correct, the team wins the money, and the team captain decides whether to stop or continue playing. If the team captain decides to stop playing the game, the money won up to that point is equally split among the five team members. But if the captain decides to continue playing, the money won up to that point is put at risk, and one incorrect answer given or accepted not only ends the game, but also causes the team to lose all the money.

Before each remaining question, starting after the fourth one, Chuck gives a category to help the team captain decide whether to stop or continue playing. If the team captain decides to continue playing, a challenge called "Terminator" will take place before the question. To start, Chuck activates the Terminator by hitting a button on his podium, causing the lights on the front of the contestants' podiums to rapidly light up at random, one at a time, until the lighting stops after a few seconds. The contestant who has the light on the front of their podium remain on is the one chosen by the Terminator, and that contestant has a chance to eliminate one of the other contestants, and they get to decide whether to take the challenge or move on to the next question without taking the challenge. However, Chuck tries to convince the randomly-selected contestant to take the challenge by offering $10,000, which is theirs to keep no matter what happens in the rest of the game, that is, if they decide to take the challenge. In the Terminator challenge itself, the randomly-selected contestant and another contestant of their choice meet at the buzzers, and there, they are asked one question. Whoever buzzes in with the correct answer stays in the game and takes the other contestant's share of the team's money, while that other contestant is eliminated from the game with nothing, unless that eliminated contestant is the randomly-selected contestant who received $10,000 for taking the challenge; the $10,000 received by that contestant after accepting to take the challenge is not part of the money that the team is working to raise. But if a contestant buzzes in with an incorrect answer, they are automatically eliminated, and their share of the team's money is surrendered to the other contestant. If one of the contestants involved in the challenge is the team captain, and the team captain is eliminated, the other contestant is stationed at the captain's podium and becomes the new team captain.

Originally, contestants at the buzzers for the Terminator challenge have to wait for the question to be read in its entirety before they can buzz in, and a contestant who buzzes in before the question is read in its entirety is eliminated from the game immediately. Later on, contestants at the buzzers for the Terminator challenge are allowed to buzz in before the question to be read in its entirety as soon as they think they have the correct answer.

On the fifth question, the team captain receives a card called a "Freebie" right after the question and the six answer choices are given. The team captain can use the Freebie to eliminate one incorrect answer on any question from that point forward.

On the fifth, sixth, and seventh questions, the lower-ranked team members each choose an answer that they think is correct, and those contestants go in order from the lowest-ranked team member to the highest-ranked team member. If there are only four contestants or less remaining on the team during any of these questions--which, often, there are at those points--the team captain answers last, and, if necessary, chooses afterwards whether they want to choose the remaining correct answers or have their teammates choose them. After four answers in total are chosen, the team captain has the option to change one of the chosen answers if they think that answer is incorrect. Then, the four chosen answers are each revealed to be correct or incorrect, one at a time. If three of those answers are correct, Chuck offers a cash buyout to the team captain to quit the game before the fourth chosen answer can be revealed to be correct or incorrect. The cash buyouts offered are $20,000 to be split among the team on the fifth question, $50,000 to be split among the team on the sixth question, and a car and $25,000 for each team member on the seventh question. On the fifth and sixth questions, Chuck hands the cash buyout to the team captain, who must decide whether to stop the game with that money and split it equally with their teammates or give the money back to Chuck and find out if the remaining chosen answer is correct or incorrect. On the seventh question, each team member makes their own decision on whether they want to stop and take the car and $25,000 or continue and find out if the remaining chosen answer is correct or incorrect, and they each make their own decision by pressing one of two buttons; one of the buttons is yellow and has the word "CAR" next to it, and the other button is green and has the word "GO" next to it. If the team captain on the fifth and sixth questions and at least one team member on the seventh question decides to continue, either the team wins the money that was played for on that question if the remaining chosen answer is correct, or the team or any individual team members--depending on the question--loses all the money raised by the team and the game is over if the remaining chosen answer is incorrect.

The car in the buyout on the seventh question is a 2000 Jaguar XK8 Convertible, and the $25,000 in cash is inside the trunk of the car, making the total of the buyout on this question approximately $100,000.

After the seventh question, each team member makes an individual decision on whether they want to stop or continue on to the eighth and final question. Each team member makes their own decision by pressing either the green "GO" button or the third button that is red and has the word "STOP" next to it. Each team member who chooses to stop at this point goes home with their share of the money raised by the team, while each team member who chooses to continue on to the eighth question has their share of the money put at risk and plays for the top cash prize.

On the eighth question, any contestants who choose to continue has thirty seconds to think about their answers after the question and the nine answers to choose from are given and choose which four answers they think are correct. After four answers are chosen, they are all locked in, and none of the answers can be changed. Then, all four chosen answers are each revealed to be correct or incorrect, one at a time, with no buyout offered after three of those answers are revealed to be correct. If all four chosen answers are correct, the remaining team members win the top cash prize. If the top cash prize is won by only one contestant, that contestant wins the entire cash prize; but if it is won by more than one contestant, the money is split among them. Regardless of how many contestants are answering the eighth question, they leave the show with nothing if at least one of the four chosen answers is revealed to be incorrect.

During the show's run, only one person has ever made it to the eighth question and gone for the top cash prize, and that person is Daniel Avila. This was during the time in which the top cash prize was a progressive jackpot, and when Daniel Avila was playing his game, the top cash prize was at $2,200,000. Daniel Avila was the team captain in his game, and prior to the eighth question, he had Curtis Warren and Melissa Skirboll were his remaining teammates. Before becoming a contestant on Greed, Curtis Warren was a contestant on Sale Of The Century and Win Ben Stein's Money, with the latter game show already talked about in the previous year. At this point of the game this team was playing, Daniel had $200,000, and Curtis and Melissa each had $400,000 plus $10,000 for accepting a Terminator challenge, for a total of $410,000 each. Daniel decided to risk his share of the team's money for the top cash prize, but Curtis and Melissa each made their individual decision to stop and take their share of the team's money. The category on the $2,200,000 level was "odors", the question was "According to a Yale University study of the most recognizable smells, which four of the following nine topped the list?", and the nine answers to choose from were as follows: baby powder, peanut butter, moth balls, tuna, coffee, dry cat food, chocolate, cinnamon, and Vicks VapoRub. The four answers that Daniel chose were tuna, peanut butter, coffee, and Vicks VapoRub. Three of those four chosen answers were correct; the incorrect answer chosen was tuna, and the fourth remaining correct answer was chocolate. So, Daniel lost on that question and left the show with nothing.

That's how the game is generally played. Now, I used the word "generally", because there are special episodes in which the game is played a bit differently. Four of the episodes that aired on February 2000 each ended with a "Million Dollar Moment", and the show became Super Greed for a whole month on May on that same year.

In the "Million Dollar Moment" episodes, two contestants who appeared earlier on the show are asked a sudden death question at the Terminator buzzers. Whoever wins the question advances to play for $1,000,000. To win the $1,000,000, the contestant is asked a question and given eight answers to choose from, and they have thirty seconds to think about their answers and another ten seconds to choose which four answers they think are correct. Like on the eighth question for the top cash prize in a regular game, all four chosen answers are each revealed to be correct or incorrect, one at a time, with no buyout offered after three of those answers are revealed to be correct and no chance to change any answers. If all four chosen answers are correct, the contestant wins $1,000,000, which is added to the money they won earlier on the show, if any. If at least one of the chosen answers is incorrect, no additional money is won.

Curtis Warren was one of the contestants to answer a question for $1,000,000 in a "Million Dollar Moment". He was asked a question about television shows that have theatrical motion pictures based on them, and he successfully chose all four correct answers; this brought his total winnings up on this show to $1,410,000, making him not only the biggest money-winning contestant on this show, but also the biggest money-winning contestant in the history of game shows, that is, until he was surpassed within a week by David Legler, who won $1,765,000 on the short-lived revival of Twenty-One on NBC. Daniel Avila was another contestant to answer a question for $1,000,000 in a "Million Dollar Moment". He was asked a question about cities in the US that were visited by the most overseas travellers in 1999, and like in the episode where he was playing alone for the $2,200,000, three answers of the four he chose were correct, resulting in him leaving the show with nothing again! However, he appeared as a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? years later and won $100,000.

In Super Greed, the game is played the same way as it is in the regular episodes, but with a few exceptions. First, the qualifying round is eliminated, and the positions for the contestants are determined at random in a draw that took place backstage; it remains that way for the rest of the show's run after it reverted to its previous format. Second, the dollar values of the sixth, seventh, and eighth questions are doubled to $1,000,000, $2,000,000, and $4,000,000, respectively. Yes, the top cash prize in Super Greed is four million dollars! Third, the cash buyouts offered on the sixth and seventh questions are increased to $100,000 and $150,000, respectively. Originally, the $150,000 buyout on the seventh question consisted of a car and $75,000 in cash; but later, that buyout was all in cash. And fourth, answering the sixth question correctly guarantees a team $200,000, regardless of the outcome of the game.

The furthest that a team went on Super Greed was seven questions. That team had three contestants remaining at the time the seventh question was answered correctly. The team captain was Phyllis Harris, who appeared as a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and won $64,000 on that show a year later. Her teammates at this point were Lauren Griswold and David Juliano. Like Curtis Warren, David Juliano was a contestant on two game shows prior to Greed, and those game shows were Jeopardy! and Win Ben Stein's Money. Also, like Daniel Avila and Phyllis Harris, he later appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? at two different times; he was a Phone-A-Friend for former Greed teammate Phyllis Harris on the first time he appeared on that show, and he was a contestant on the second time he appeared on that show and won $1,000. Phyllis, Lauren, and David were the only contestants to win $2,000,000 in the history of the show and split it among themselves. Each of these three contestants made their individual decision to stop and take their share of the money. Phyllis stopped with $400,000, Justin stopped with $800,000, and Lauren stopped with $800,000 plus $10,000 for accepting a Terminator challenge, for a total of $810,000.

And that's the entire explanation on how the game is played overall. Now, before I get to my thoughts on the show, I'd like to explain something about the host, Chuck Woolery. Along with hosting game shows, he is known for his catchphrase "Two and two", complete with a gesture that involves two fingers on one hand held up. This catchphrase is used when a show he's hosting is about to be taken to a commercial break, and that catchphrase defines the length of time a commercial break would usually last, which is two minutes and two seconds. This catchphrase was created and first used on Love Connection when he was hosting that show from 1983 to 1994. Now, about the game shows he hosted other than Greed, the game shows he hosted after that are a revival of Lingo on GSN from 2002 to 2007 and a one-off special on GSN called Think Like A Cat; the game shows he hosted before Greed are Love Connection, a revival of The Dating Game in syndication from 1997 to 1999, a lottery game show in California called The Big Spin in 1985, both the original run and the short-lived revival of Scrabble, and Wheel Of Fortune from 1975 to 1981. Speaking of Wheel Of Fortune, the fact that Chuck hosted that show was brought up on Greed on two episodes. On one episode, a team was asked which game show did not feature Chuck as a regular host. Wheel Of Fortune was one of the answers to choose from, and it was chosen by a contestant whose ranking was below the team captain, after which the team captain agreed. That answer was incorrect, and the team left the show with nothing. The correct answer of the four answer choices on that question was Singled Out. That question was that team's first and only one in their game, making it the one time on this show that a team lost on the first question! On another episode, a team consisting of college students was asked which game show was based on the game of Hangman. Hollywood Squares was one of the answers to choose from, and it was chosen by a contestant whose ranking was below the team captain, after which the team captain disagreed and changed it to another answer of the four answer choices, which was Wheel Of Fortune. The way the team captain responded when making that answer change made Chuck feel a bit uncomfortable. That response was "Give me Wheel Of Fortune, Pat", and Chuck held up the Freebie card, jokingly announcing that he would like to use it to get rid of one contestant. That question was that team's second one, and thanks to the answer change made by the team captain, the team was saved, allowing them to continue on in the game.

Now, I can give my thoughts on this show. I think this show is really interesting, and it's not just because the game is played for a multi-million-dollar cash prize; it's also because it has a group of contestants playing as a team but getting a chance to eliminate a team member and take their share of the money at a few points. The game has really lived up to its name. I find it awkward, though, that many rule changes were made for specific questions, and that they were only revealed at those points of the game if reached. I also find it awkward that the buyout on the seventh question worth $2,000,000 on Super Greed was $150,000 instead of $200,000, since all the other buyouts, whether on Greed or Super Greed, are exactly one tenth of how much a team is currently playing for. I'm guessing they thought it was best to have at least one cash prize that is equally divisible of three, since there are times when a team is playing their game with only three members left, not to mention that the cash buyouts on the fifth and sixth questions are split equally by the team if taken instead of split according to their shares like the money that the team has been working to raise. I like how a contestant is given $10,000 for accepting a Terminator challenge, and that it is theirs to keep after receiving it, even if they lose the Terminator challenge or they, along with the rest of the team, lose all the money that the team has been working to raise by answering a question incorrectly. That would leave someone on a team with a good consolation cash prize should that team's game end by missing a question and losing the money accumulated by them at that point.

Greed had some international versions, particularly a UK version in 2001 hosted by tabloid talk show host and former mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio Jerry Springer, who hosted a dating show on GSN called Baggage and its spin-off called Baggage On The Road years after the UK version of Greed had its run ended. Really interesting how a big name host of a long-running tabloid talk show from the US hosted a British adaptation of an American big-money game show, but then again, Jerry Springer is part British. But going back to the US version, It's very interesting how some of the contestants were contestants on other game shows before they became contestants on Greed like Win Ben Stein's Money, and became contestants on other game shows after they became contestants on Greed like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Speaking of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, I'll be saving the other big-money game shows that were made to cash in on the success of that show for much later times. Next week, I'll be talking about a game show that Belchic first suggested to me back when this series premiered. Keep an eye out for that.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Flowgli]

Hey, there, longtime game show fans! I'm Flo, and welcome to this week's edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

The Price Is Right is the longest-running game show and one of the most popular game shows in the history of game shows. It is a very successful game show. In fact, it is so successful that it has many international versions--some are still in production as of this release, while others have ceased production--and multiple versions in the US. The version in the US that is the most familiar to people who watch it is the CBS daytime version that premiered in 1972 with Bob Barker as the host, and is still in production to this day, but with Drew Carey hosting the show since 2007. This version is the only one that has episodes with an hour-long runtime, but until 1975, the episodes of this version have a half-hour runtime. All the other versions have ceased production a long time ago, and all their episodes have a half-hour runtime. Two of these other versions are both syndicated nighttime versions. The first syndicated nighttime version ran weekly from September 10, 1972 to September 13, 1980. That version was originally hosted by Dennis James, but he was replaced by Bob Barker in 1977. The second syndicated nighttime version ran daily from September 9, 1985 to September 5, 1986. That version was hosted by Tom Kennedy. Another one of these versions is the original version that aired originally on NBC and later on ABC, having ran altogether from 1956 to 1965 and hosted by Bill Cullen, making this version of The Price Is Right the longest-running game show that Bill Cullen hosted. I mentioned the fact that Bill Cullen hosted The Price Is Right when I talked about Child's Play in the previous year. Also, the way the game is played on the Bill Cullen-hosted version of The Price Is Right is a lot different from the way it is played in every version that premiered thereafter. I'm thinking of covering that version in the future, since it is a rare show and a different show altogether for the most part due to its format being different from the format that we all know and love. The final version, which is also somewhat a different show and the version that I will be talking about this week, is a short-lived version from the 1990s called The New Price Is Right.

The New Price Is Right is actually simply known as The Price Is Right, for that's exactly the words in the title that the logo consists of when shown on the superimposed graphics, the show's monitor, and a few other parts of the show's set. However, for the sake of keeping this show separate from the CBS Daytime version, I'll refer to this show as The New Price Is Right. This version aired in syndication from September 12, 1994 to January 27 1995. It was hosted by Doug Davidson, who is best known for playing Paul Williams from The Young And The Restless. The announcer was Burton Richardson, and the models were Julie Lynn Cialini, Ferrari Farris, and Lisa Stahl. Game show producer Jay Wolpert was the senior executive producer, and Kathy Greco, who was the associate producer of the CBS daytime version at that time, was one of the two producers of this version, with the other being Phillip W. Rossi. It was packaged by Mark Goodson Productions and distributed by Paramount Domestic Television.

Basically, the game is played the same way as the CBS daytime version. Contestants seated in the studio audience play pricing games on the stage to win cash and prizes, and after three pricing games, a Showcase Showdown takes place to determine which contestant will move on to the Showcase, where the winner of the Showcase Showdown gets a chance to win a prize package worth thousands of dollars. However, there are many changes made to distinguish this version from the CBS daytime version.

The first change I have to talk about is the area at the foot of the stage called Contestant's Row. They have that...sort of, but it is made for three contestants instead of four, not to mention that it is not made for One Bid, but for a Showcase Showdown game called "The Price Was Right". So, because that area made for "The Price Was Right" instead of One Bid, there is no One Bid taken place before each pricing game. Instead, when a contestant is called by Burton to "COME ON DOWN!", they are to immediately come up on stage and play a pricing game. I find this strange, seeing as how a contestant technically has to come up on stage after they are told to "COME ON DOWN!" without having to earn the right to come up on stage and play a pricing game by playing One Bid. I mean, I know that "COME ON DOWN!" is one of the most well-known quotes in the history of The Price Is Right or even in the history of game shows altogether, but if they are going to use that quote in this version, then it would be necessary to have One Bid in place. But since this version does not have One Bid, then it makes sense to change the phrase from "COME ON DOWN!" to "COME ON UP!"

The game is played by three contestants, with each one playing a different pricing game. All the pricing games played in this version are the same ones as those that were in the rotation of the CBS daytime version at the time. However, changes are made in the rules, the designs, and the names of the games, some of which were carried over to the CBS daytime version years later. One of the most notable changes in the pricing games is that the ones that use grocery items in the CBS daytime version use small merchandise prizes that are generally valued at less than $400 in this version instead. The pricing games and the changes made to them for this version are as follows:

Barker's Markers - The name was changed to "Make Your Mark" in this version, as Bob Barker is not the host of this version. This name change was carried over to the CBS daytime version after Drew Carey replaced Bob Barker as the host of that version.
Clock Game - The clock used in this version is in the form of superimposed graphics instead of a physical prop. The game frequently uses prizes with prices that have four digits, and contestants are given a $1,000 range in which to guess the price of each of those prizes. Occasionally, a third prize is thrown in as a bonus for winning the first two prizes; this is a rule that was carried over to the CBS daytime version in 2009.
Hole In One (Or Two) - I've read in a couple of articles that the change made for this game in this version is that after an item is chosen, its price on its flag is immediately revealed and placed on the next line of the golf course if the price on it is higher than the price on the flag placed before it. However, after watching that game being played in a few episodes of that version, which I found on YouTube, that change didn't happen. In this version, this game did what it did and still does today in the CBS daytime version, and that is have all six flags be placed on the golf course in the order they are chosen by a contestant, and then, the prices on the flags are revealed. The real change made for this game in this version is the exclusion of the $500 flag, but a contestant can still receive a $500 cash bonus for having all six flags placed in the correct order.
Magic # - The prices of the two prizes are held by a prop similar to the one used in Double Prices instead of the models, and the superimposed graphic of the magic number set by a contestant is shown between the names of the prizes on the prop and the revealed prices instead of above the prizes and the models holding the prices.
Plinko - Today, up to $50,000 can be won in this game, but back when this version was in production, this version and the CBS daytime version both have contestants play this game for up to $25,000. Back then, the amounts of cash on the slots of the Plinko board in the CBS daytime version were $100, $500, $1,000, $0, $5,000, $0, $1,000, $500, and $100, in that order. But in this version, the amounts of cash on the slots are $2,500, $500, $1,000, $0, $5,000, $0, $1,000, $500, and $2,500, in that order, except on the first playing of this game in this version, which are $2,500, $1,000, $0, $5,000, $0, $5,000, $0, $1,000, and $2,500, in that order. Also, instead of choosing which one of two digits of the price of an item is correct, contestants earn extra Plinko chips by guessing whether the correct price of an item is higher or lower than the price shown below it.
Punch-A-Bunch - I've read in a couple of articles that the change made for this game in this version is when the slips with cash prizes on them are taken out of the holes punched by a contestant. In some playings of this game in this version, a slip is immediately taken out of its hole as soon as that hole is punched, and the contestant has the option to keep the amount of money on that slip or have it thrown away and punch another hole. Other playings of this game in this version did what all playings of the same game in the CBS daytime version did and still do today, and that is have a contestant make all the punches that they earned, and then, the slips in the punched holes are revealed in the order the holes are punched. I checked every episode of this version that I was able to find on YouTube to see if this change really did happen, but none of those episodes have this game played in them, with or without this change.
Safe Crackers - Only the more expensive prize is inside the safe, while the less expensive price is outside the safe; this is opposed to both prizes being inside the safe in the CBS daytime version.
Super Ball - This is one of the pricing games that is retired. It's a game of skee ball where contestants earn balls by choosing the correct price of three small items, and then roll a ball up to a ring to win some money or a prize. In this version, a contestant immediately rolls a ball as soon as it's earned. This is opposed to in the CBS daytime version, where a contestant has to guess the prices of all three items, and then, the earned balls are rolled.
3 Strikes - The first number of the price of a car is revealed at the start of the game, and that number can be repeated in any of the remaining four places in the price. This change was used from 2008 to 2009 in the CBS daytime version, where contestants don't get any numbers placed in the prices at the start of the game.

There may have been more games that have some changes made to them for this version, but I think I mentioned and explained enough of the games and changes. Let's now get to the Showcase Showdown.

Unlike the previous half-hour versions of The Price Is Right, this version has a Showcase Showdown that determines which contestant will advance to the Showcase. All the other half-hour versions before this one have the two contestants with the highest total winnings advancing to the Showcase; those versions do not have a Showcase Showdown to determine which one contestant will advance to the Showcase.

The Showcase Showdown featured in this version is called "The Price Was Right". This Showcase Showdown features not only a modified setup of Contestant's Row, but also similar rules to One Bid. The way "The Price Was Right" is played is that the three contestants are shown a vintage commercial of a product and the year that commercial initially aired, and each contestant makes a bid on that product, with those bids being what the contestants think the product advertised would have costed that year. After the three contestants make their bids, the actual retail price of that product is revealed, and the contestant whose bid is closest to the actual retail price without going over wins the Showcase Showdown and advances to the Showcase; however, that contestant does not receive the product advertised, nor do they receive a cash bonus for getting the actual retail price right on the nose. If all three contestants overbid, then all their bids are cleared, and they have to make bids that are lower than the lowest of the original bids.

"The Price Was Right" is not always featured as this version's Showcase Showdown. In earlier episodes, the Big Wheel is featured as this version's Showcase Showdown. The Big Wheel works the same way as it does in the CBS daytime version, except that the order in which the contestants spin the Big Wheel is from highest winnings to lowest winnings instead of from lowest winnings to highest winnings. However, just like in the CBS daytime version at the time, contestants who reach exactly one dollar in one spin or a combination of two spins receive $1,000 and a bonus spin for a chance to win either an additional $5,000 for landing on the five-cent space or the fifteen-cent space, or an additional $10,000 for landing on the one-dollar space.

This version is the only one in the US that features only one contestant taking part in the Showcase instead of two. There is no bidding in the Showcase in this version; instead, the contestant plays a modified version of Range Game. During the commercial break that takes place prior to the Showcase, the contestant randomly selects a concealed range that is as low as $4,000 and as high as $10,000. After the Showcase is presented, a price scale is revealed, and the price scale has values that are as low as $10,000 and as high as $70,000. The red area that covers the randomly-selected range starts at the bottom of the price scale and moves up it from there. As soon as the red area is on the value the contestant thinks is the value of the Showcase, they stop the red area at where it is by pulling a lever instead of by pressing a button like in Range Game. The actual value of the Showcase is then revealed, and for the contestant to win the Showcase, the red area has to be stopped on the actual value of the Showcase. If the red area is stopped on the actual value of the Showcase, it means that the actual value of the Showcase is within the range. If the actual value of the Showcase is within the range, the contestant wins the Showcase on top of the prizes they won earlier, if any.

So, that's The New Price Is Right. It's not that bad of a version of The Price Is Right. It's mostly good due to the majority of the gameplay that has been featured in the CBS daytime version for years. I'm okay with most of the changes made to the pricing games, for those changes are minor. What I really have a problem with this show is that the bidding part of the game isn't done in where it's supposed to. The Price Is Right is well known by many people for many years for bids made by contestants, both at Contestant's Row and the Showcase, but not at the Showcase Showdown, especially when the Showcase Showdown doesn't stay the same every episode. With the Showcase Showdown being the traditional Big Wheel in some episodes, no bidding done by contestants is featured at all. I actually have a problem with the lack of bidding before each pricing game more than I have a problem with the lack of bidding in the Showcase. In One Bid, not only do contestants make bids to earn the right to play a pricing game, but also to win the item up for bids. In the CBS daytime version, when a contestant wins One Bid, the item up for bids is the first prize they win, and they are guaranteed to walk out of the show with at least that prize. So, even if that contestant doesn't win anything in their pricing game, in the Showcase Showdown, or in the Showcase, they still get to take home a good prize instead of a consolation prize that contestants receive when they do not appear on stage. In this version, however, contestants are not guaranteed to take home a good prize because of the lack of One Bid. Because of this, a contestant can end up walking out of the show with nothing but a consolation prize if they end up not winning anything in their pricing game, the Showcase, or in some cases, the Big Wheel when it's used as the Showcase Showdown. However, just months after the cancellation of this version, Bruce Forsyth's run of the UK version called Bruce's Price Is Right premiered, and some of the changes made for The New Price Is Right were carried over to that version. Not only that, but Bruce's Price Is Right is exactly what The New Price Is Right should've been, and that is a half-hour version of The Price Is Right that features One Bid, the Big Wheel as the only Showcase Showdown, and bidding in the Showcase but still being within a randomly-selected range and not going over. While The New Price Is Right lasted only sixteen weeks, Bruce's Price Is Right lasted from 1995 to 2001.

In some markets, The New Price Is Right was paired up with another Mark Goodson-produced game show called Family Feud, which, at that time, had original host Richard Dawson returned as host after Ray Combs got fired due to sagging ratings. The New Price Is Right and Family Feud with Richard Dawson returning as host have a lot of things in common. They both have darker sets, they both have jazz-influenced re-recordings of their main themes and music cues, they both were produced by Mark Goodson Productions, and they both lasted from 1994 to 1995, though Family Feud with Richard Dawson returning as host got cancelled eight months after The New Price Is Right got cancelled. After the cancellation of The New Price Is Right, its main theme and music cues were carried over to Bruce's Price Is Right. However, before The New Price Is Right even premiered, an unsold pilot called Cash Tornado was made. Cash Tornado is a lottery game show that never went anywhere. It was hosted and announced by host-announcer team of the original run of Card Sharks Jim Perry and Gene Wood, with the host of that pilot having died of cancer at age 82 two months ago. Just like The New Price Is Right, Family Feud, and let's not forget to mention Card Sharks, Cash Tornado was produced by Mark Goodson Productions. The reason why I am bringing up Cash Tornado is that it uses the same set, the same main theme, and some of the same props that are used in The New Price Is Right afterwards. Also, Lisa Stahl, one of the models of The New Price Is Right, was a model of Cash Tornado.

Now, it's interesting to see something new done on The New Price Is Right, but The Price Is Right has several things in it that are so memorable and make it as good and run as long as it has that they are just too sacred for anyone to mess with. So, the next time a half-hour version of The Price Is Right that is separate from the full-hour CBS daytime version is going to be made, which I don't think is ever going to happen, the people who are planning to make a version like that must first take the time to think over the things that make The Price Is Right a good, popular, and long-running game show in the first place. And that's all I have to say, and no, I'm not going to close with the phrase about controlling pet population like Bob Barker did and Drew Carey is doing at the end of every episode of the CBS daytime version; I'm going to close the way I always do, so here I go.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Flowgli]

Hey, there, dog lovers! This is Flo, your game show pup, and welcome to a special edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

Now, this edition is a special one, because I'm going to do something that I haven't done in the other fifty-seven editions before it when I started this series. In this edition, I have a special guest who will be talking about a game show with me. That special guest is Thunderbolt!

Hello, everybody! Hi, there, Flo!

Hi, Thunderbolt. Thank you for coming here to do this week's edition with me.

I'm happy to be here for this.

Great. Now, the reason I have Thunderbolt here as a special guest is that the game show we're gonna be talking about this week is all about dogs. You ready to hear it? Well, I'm gonna have Thunderbolt say what it is.

Thanks, Flo. The show that we're gonna talk about is That's My Dog!

That's My Dog! ran for four seasons from September 1, 1991 to September 30, 1995 on The Family Channel, which is known until ten days ago as ABC Family. I already talked about this particular network's many name changes six weeks ago when I talked about Shopping Spree, but ten days ago, that network had its name changed yet again; today, it is known as Freeform. That's My Dog! was filmed in Orlando, Florida. Specifically, the show was filmed outdoors near Residential Street at the backlot of Disney-MGM Studios--which has been known as Disney's Hollywood Studios since 2008--in season one, on Soundstage 23 at Universal Studios Florida in season two, and on a soundstage at Disney's Hollywood Studios in seasons three and four.

The show was hosted by Steve Skrovan in the first two seasons and Wil Shriner in the last two seasons, announced by Dean Miuccio--except on the early episodes of the Steve Skrovan-hosted episodes, which were hosted by Gene Wood--and co-hosted by Roxie Stice in season one, Susan Pari in season two, and a dog named Tiny in season four; there was no co-host in season three.

The game is played by two teams, each one consisting of three or two family members and a dog of theirs. The two teams compete in a series of dog-oriented games for prizes.

In round one, the two dogs compete in a game that has a specific time limit, which is either 60 seconds or 90 seconds. The dogs usually score points for each success they make, and the dog who makes more success in that game scores an additional 10 points, unless the game ends in a tie, which awards the additional 10 points to neither dog. For example, the two dogs have 60 seconds to take hats that are put on them by one member of their families over to the other two members of their families, who then remove the hats from their dogs and put those hats on their own heads. Each hat placed on a family member's head is worth 5 points.

However, not every game in this round is played according to those general rules. There's one game in this round called "Doggie Bag", where each dog has on a shirt, and they and one member of their families race inside giant bags, exchange shirts while inside those bags, and come out of those bags wearing each other's shirts. The first team to do all that scores 20 points. Not only that, but this game is played within a time limit of 60 seconds, which I find odd, because this game is a race, and the object of a race game is to beat your opponent by being faster than them and being the first to complete it; a time limit really isn't necessary for something like this. Now, there are some race games in Legends Of The Hidden Temple that each have a time limit of 60 seconds, but there are two ways to win in each one of them; one of those ways is to be the first to complete the race, while the other way is to be further along than your opponent if time runs out before anyone completes the race. In those race games, we are able to tell clearly who is further along everytime time runs out, but not in "Doggie Bag" in That's My Dog, because we can't even see the teams while they are in the bags. So, how can we tell which team is further along in "Doggie Bag" when time runs out if we can't even see how the teams are doing in it so far? Anyway, "Doggie Bag" is a race game in round one played for 20 points in a handful of episodes. This is the case for the games played in the episodes of season one, with only 10 points scored if the race isn't completed.

Round two is where the two dogs play separately from now on. In this round, a game is played usually within 30 seconds by each dog. An example of such a game is called "The Attack Of The 50 Foot Dog!!!" In this game, each dog has a small city where they have to pretend to be a giant dog and knock over the buildings in that city like monsters do in Japanese monster movies. They should've called this game "Dogzilla", but that name is given to Angie for her movies. Anyway, each building knocked down is worth 2 points, and if a dog knocks down all the buildings in their city before time runs out, they score an additional 10 points.

Now, a game like that may sound too easy for a dog to complete, but the dogs playing it are likely to go past the buildings without even knocking any of them down. That's why they have their families to communicate with them in order to direct them to the buildings and have those buildings knocked down. Communication with their dogs is important to the families in a game like this. Also, in season one, this round is known as "Have A Ball". The way this round is played in season one is that the two dogs have to fetch balls back to their families, with each ball fetched worth 5 points. There are six balls in total, and they are all on a tray at the start of this round.

Round three is called the "Mixed-Up Maze". This round goes by a number of other names, but regardless of what name this round goes by, this round is played just the same. In this round, each dog has to go through a maze within a time limit. In most of the episodes, the time limit is 45 seconds. But in the later Wil Shriner-hosted episodes, the time limit is 60 seconds. Each dog starts at the starting gate and must work their way through the maze to get to the finish line, where one member of their family will be waiting for them. The maze itself is filled with distractions that can keep a dog from completing the maze in time, like the funhouse mirror, the shortcut bridge, and the secret mouse hole, just to name a few. A dog who completes the maze scores 20 points, but if both dogs complete the maze, the dog who completed the maze faster scores a bonus of 10 points. If a dog gets out of the maze illegaly in any way, such as jumping over the outer wall, they are disqualified, and they don't score any points.

In season one, this round is played differently. Instead of the "Mixed-Up Maze", it's called the "Canine Quiz Round". In this round, the dog's families are asked dog-related questions, and they get a chance to answer a question by buzzing in--or "barking in", as they call it--with a correct answer scoring a team 5 points and an incorrect answer giving the other family a chance to answer. In the later episodes of season one, a correct answer on the last question is worth a special prize from the doggy bag.

Round four is called the "Talent Showcase" in the first three seasons and "Doggy Bowl" in season four. In the "Talent Showcase", which is played in round two and called "Tricks N' Treats" in the early episodes of season one, each dog performs a talent with their family within a time limit of 30 seconds, and they will be judged by a panel of three members of the studio audience. After a dog's 30 seconds runs out, each studio audience member in the panel gives that dog a score from 1 to 10 points and a reason behind the given score. Each dog can score up to 30 points, and the studio audience members receive prizes for taking part in this round.

In "Doggy Bowl", a game with a usual time limit of 30 seconds by each dog and their family, very much like in round two, each dog scores points based on their performance in that game. For example, each dog jumps over six hurdles, with each hurdle having a different height and point value. The point values on those hurdles range from 1 to 6. The higher a hurdle is, the more points it's worth. Each dog can jump over each hurdle as many times as they want, and they score the points each time they jump over the hurdle with that point value. If a dog knocks over a hurdle, that hurdle is out of play for the rest of that dog's turn.

Round five is the final round of the entire game, and it's called the "Doggy Decathlon". In this round, each dog has a certain time limit to run an obstacle course and complete all the obstacles in it. There are eight obstacles in season one, seven in seasons two and three, and ten in season four. The time limit for each dog to complete all the obstacles in the obstacle course is 60 seconds in the first three seasons and 100 seconds in season four. Some examples of such obstacles are jumping over a stuffed fox, following lines between fire hydrants, going through a pup tent, running up and down a two-sided ramp, and jumping over a water fountain. By late 1993, the last obstacle is always a wall that bears the show's logo with a hole in the letter "O" for a dog to jump through. Each obstacle completed is worth 10 points, and in the first three seasons, bonus points are scored for completing all the obstacles within the time limit. Completing all the obstacles within the time limit is worth 20 points in season one and 30 points in seasons two and three. So, up to 100 points can be scored by each dog in this round regardless of season. Obstacles can be skipped, but once the final obstacle is completed, a dog running the obstacle course is done, and they can't go back to the obstacles skipped, even if they have any time remaining.

Just like in the games for round two, the obstacles in the "Doggy Decathlon" may look very easy enough for a dog to complete them all, but some dogs are likely to not even try an obstacle, which is why they have their families to communicate with them in order to get them to complete an obstacle. Communication with their dogs is just as important to the families in this round as in the games played in round two, if not more important. A family communicating with their dog helps guide that dog through the obstacles and may lead that dog to victory. After each dog has a turn in the "Doggy Decathlon", the dog with the most points wins the game and receives a gold medal and a year's supply of dog food, while their family receives prizes such as camping equipment and stoneware. Originally, the brand of dog food won is Iams; later, the brand is Kibbles N' Bits.

What? No Kanine Krunchies?

Sorry, Thunderbolt. There's no such brand of dog food as Kanine Krunchies where the show takes place.

Man, what a letdown!

That's the show. Now, let's get to my thoughts on it. I think it's a really fun game for families and their dogs to play. Not only that, but we get to see how skillful the dogs are on certain abilities in the games that test those dogs' abilities. The "Canine Quiz Round" is okay, but it doesn't involve dogs taking any action. I'm glad that they replaced that round with the "Mixed-Up Maze" when season two started. Every single round should have dogs taking action in it. The show is called That's My Dog!, after all, and the dogs are the main focus of the show. Everything else is just fine. The dogs must've had a lot of training in order to compete in the games and score as many points as they could, and a lot of time is needed for a dog to go through a lot of training before getting to compete in this game, which is why none of the dogs competing are puppies. There's a special episode called "Puppy Love", where puppies compete, and it was announced in that episode that one of those competing pups was only ten days old at the time. Yeah, only ten days old! I'm not kidding. And in this episode, not many points were scored by the puppies. The puppies tried the best they could, but they weren't able to bring their scores up to two digits before the "Doggy Decathlon". Speaking of the "Doggy Decathlon", neither puppy completed the final obstacle before time ran out, and the puppy who was closer to the final obstacle completed less obstacles than the other puppy.

Seriously?

Yes, seriously.

Oh, well, that's just great. Now, the fact that a year's supply of Kanine Krunchies was never won is the least of my complaints.

Now, see, everything I said that happened in that episode is why it's important for families to take a lot of time to train their dogs before bringing them to the show and having them competing in it. A lot of dog training before the show is as important as communication with the families' dogs.

I'll bet Patch and any of his brothers and sisters would've done well enough in those games and end up scoring over 100 points if any one of them is competing on that show. Maybe even over 200?

That really would've been interesting. It's a shame that that would never have happened anyway, because like you, Patch and his siblings are characters.

Just like Kanine Krunchies is a fictitious brand of dog food?

Exactly. This show consists of real families and their real dogs playing real games for real prizes. However, there's a special episode where celebrity dogs play for charity. One of those dogs is Rudolph Von Holstein III, who played the role of Rudy in a show from Canada called Katts And Dog, but that show is known in the US as Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop, and the name of Rudolph's character is changed to Rinty. The other dog is Bear, who played the role of Dreyfuss from Empty Nest.

Really? Well, that's good to hear when it comes to knowing which dogs played the game in any episodes. I would make a comment on how I would've competed on that show for charity and done a very terrific job at it, but I know what kind of response I'd be getting for that.

All right, then. Now, this show is actually an adaptation of the UK game show of the same name. The UK version aired in the 1980s, while the US version aired in the 1990s. Also, a year after this show's run ended, Wil Shriner hosted another game show on The Family Channel, and that show is called Small Talk, which is also a US adaptation of the UK game show of the same name. I'll be talking about Small Talk next week, but just like in the other fifty-seven editions before this one, I'll be going it alone.

Well, it's been nice having me here.

Thanks, Thunder. I'm glad to have had you talk about That's My Dog! with me.

Thank you, Flo.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Belchic]

Thank you for doing That's My Dog! That was one of my favorites.

Though one thing you forgot to mention is that the third and fourth seasons of the show had animated segments. There was an animated intro, and they had some animations that served as commercial bumpers.

Overall, good job, Flo.

[Flowgli]

Thanks for reminding me that, Belchic. Sometimes, when I work on these editions, I leave out some certain stuff in which game shows I'm covering out, just like how I left out the celebrity episode of Debt when I was talking about that show and the mock argument that Bill Armstrong and Sarah Purcell had in the introduction of The Better Sex when I was talking about that show. Something like this will be happening occasionally.

[Flowgli]

Hi, kids! I'm Flo, and welcome to another edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

Last week, I had Thunderbolt here as a guest, and we talked about That's My Dog! together. As explained in last week's edition, Wil Shriner was the host of that show in the third and fourth seasons, and he hosted another game show a year after the run of That's My Dog! ended. Both of those shows aired on a network called Freeform, which was known back then as The Family Channel. This show that I'm gonna be talking about is Small Talk.

Just like That's My Dog!, Small Talk is an adaptation of the UK game show of the same name. Small Talk aired as part of a game show block along with Shop 'Til You Drop--which was known back then as The New Shop 'Til You Drop--Family Challenge--which was known back then as The New Family Challenge--Shopping Spree--which I already talked about seven weeks ago--and Wait 'Til You Have Kids. This show is the last one in the US to be produced by Reg Grundy Productions. It aired from September 30, 1996 to January 3, 1997. Like the host of the UK version, Ronnie Corbett, Wil Shriner introduced himself in an announcer-like fashion.

The game is played by three contestants, with contestant one standing at the red podium, contestant two standing at the yellow podium, and contestant three standing at the blue podium. The contestants face a speech bubble-shaped game board with seven monitors on it, and on each monitor is a child with their name below. Just like Child's Play, which I talked about in the previous year, each child was recorded talking before the show. However, instead of describing answers, the children were answering questions and sometimes giving reasons behind their answers. In the show itself, the contestants have to predict how the children individually answer questions, with each question having two answers to choose from.

In rounds one and two, a question that is either dilemma-type or opinion-based and two answers to choose from are given to the contestants, and each contestant secretly locks in which answer they think the majority of the seven children gave. Examples of such questions and choices of answers are "Would you like to be a rock star? Yes or no?" or "Would you rather clean your room or do your homework?" The contestants then take turns choosing children to hear from. Each contestant has two turns, and each of the two rounds begin with the contestant in the red position taking their first turn, with play of each of these rounds going down the left from the perspective of the contestants. After a child is chosen, a filler question related to the main question and asked to that child before the show is asked aloud by Wil, and a video of that child answering that filler question is played. For example, if the main question is "Who spends more money? Men or women?", a child would be asked, "How much money do you hope to earn one day?", and that child would answer "$1,000 a year". That child's answer to that filler question may or may not be a clue to their answer to the main question for the contestant in turn. Afterwards, the contestant in turn makes a prediction on which answer the chosen child gave, and a video of that child giving their answer to the main question is played. If the contestant in turn has made a correct prediction, they score points. Each correct prediction on a child's answer is worth 10 points in round one and 20 points in round two. After six of the children are heard from, the answer given by the majority of the children on the main question is announced, each contestant's prediction on which answer the majority of the children gave is revealed, and each contestant who makes a correct prediction on which answer the majority of the children gave scores a majority bonus, which is worth 20 points in round one and 40 points in round two.

Round three is the speed round. This round is played in the same way as the first two rounds, but with a few differences. First, instead of going down the left from the perspective of the contestants, the order of play goes from the contestant with the lowest score to the contestant with the highest score. Each contestant still gets two turns, but there's an exception to that, which I'll explain in a minute. Second, the question is either general knowledge and the contestants have to predict if the children do know the correct answer or don't, or that of a physical skill and the contestants have to predict if the children can perform that skill or can't. Examples of such questions are "What is poison ivy?" or "Can you play the kazoo?" Third, there are no filler questions. As soon as a contestant chooses a child, they immediately get to predict how that child answers that question. Fourth, each correct prediction is worth 60 points, but there is no majority bonus to play for. And fifth, if a contestant is trailing the leader by more than 60 points after all three contestants each get their first turn, then that contestant does not get their second turn, as that contestant would still be trailing after making a correct prediction at that point. That is the exception to the two-turns-per-contestant rule in this round.

After three rounds, the contestant with the most points wins the game, receives $500, and advances to the bonus round. If the game ends in a two-way tie, the winner of a coin toss before the show has to predict how the first remaining child answers a question. A correct prediction gives that contestant the win, but an incorrect prediction automatically gives the other tied contestant the win. If the game ends in a three-way tie, all three contestants advance to the bonus round.

In the bonus round played by the winning contestant only, that contestant has to make three correct predictions in order to win. Regardless of which contestant won the main game, they are moved to the red position for this round. A light flashes on the outlines of the seven monitors, one at a time, and the contestant stops the light by hitting a button, just like in Press Your Luck. As soon as the light stops on the outline of one of the monitors, the contestant has to predict how the child on that monitor answered a question. Originally, all seven children were asked the same question; seven weeks later, each child was asked a different question. If the contestant makes three correct predictions before they make a certain number of incorrect predictions, they win an additional $1,000, for a total of $1,500. But if the contestant makes a certain number of incorrect predictions before they make three correct predictions, they win nothing extra. Originally, a contestant loses this round by making three incorrect predictions; three weeks later, a contestant loses this round by making two mistakes.

In the bonus round played by all three contestants, each contestant hits a button to select a child at random like before, and each contestant secretly locks in a prediction on which answer the randomly-selected child gave. A video of that child giving their answer is played, and the contestants' predictions are revealed after that. Each contestant who makes an incorrect prediction is eliminated from the game, and the last contestant remaining receives the entire $1,500 cash prize.

So, that's Small Talk. What are my thoughts on it? Well, I think it's okay. It's a pretty good game with simple gameplay. The children can bring some humor to the show with what they say about themselves in their introductions, their answers to filler questions in the first two rounds, and maybe even their reasons behind their choices of answers to the main questions, but it's not even close to being as funny or amusing as what we hear from the children in Child's Play. Now, about the gameplay, there are some things in round three and the situation in which the game ends in a tie that really bother me. The big, red buttons on the contestants' podiums are never used in the main game; they could have been used to select children at random in round three. And no matter which contestant wins the game, they have to use the button in the red position; they can play the bonus round just as well using the button in the position they've been standing in for the entirety of the main game. Also, round three doesn't deserve to be referred to as a speed round, because there's no fast action taking place, and a speed round in a game show requires fast action for the entire round, not to mention that there's a time limit in a speed round, and contestants have to act fast and add as much as they can to their scores within that time limit. That is not the case for this particular round of this particular game. It should've been referred to as a catch-up round, as the maximum amount of points that can be scored in this round is equal to the maximum amount of points that can be scored in rounds one and two combined, and a trailing contestant can end up coming out on top if they make a correct prediction in both of their turns and the contestant in the lead ends up losing if they make an incorrect prediction in at least one of their turns. And for the tiebreaker, the tied contestants should secretly lock in their predictions on how the remaining child answers a question, with the contestant who locks in with the correct prediction in the fastest time winning the game. This tiebreaker should've been used, whether the game ends in a two-way tie or a three-way tie. Now, I'm going to talk about the one big problem I have with this show, and that's the cheapness of the prizes. In game shows that aired on The Family Channel, prizes that were good enough for the time were played for, along with some cash in some of those game shows. In this game show, however, cash is the only prize played for. All a contestant can win on this show is either $1,500 for winning the bonus round or only $500 for losing the bonus round. Those amounts are really low, even for a game show that aired on a cable network in the mid-1990s. The children probably had gotten more than $1,500 apiece for college. This is something I should've mentioned earlier; at the end of the main game, Wil said to the children that they will get a contribution to their college education. I think it would've been better if the winning contestant was awarded ten times their winning score in cash and a prize for each correct prediction made in the bonus round, with the third prize awarded being the grand prize.

Okay, that's all I have to say about Small Talk. Now, in game shows, not only did Wil Shriner host two game shows, both of which aired on The Family Channel, but he also composed the theme music for a syndicated music-themed game show called Triple Threat with Joey Carbone. I'll be talking about Triple Threat next week. Keep an eye out for that.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Flowgli]

Hello, music fans from all generations! I'm Flo, and welcome to this week's edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

In the past two editions, I talked about two game shows that not only aired on a network that was known back then as The Family Channel, but also were hosted by Wil Shriner. And at the end of last week's edition, I mentioned that Wil Shriner composed the theme music for a syndicated music-themed game show with Joey Carbone, and that's the game show I'm gonna be talking about this week. The game show that I'm gonna be talking about in this week's edition is the musical game that the entire family can play, Triple Threat.

Triple Threat had two runs. The original version aired weekly from October 8, 1988 to October 1, 1989 in syndication. It was the last game show to be hosted by Jim Lange before his retirement in 1989 and his death in 2014. In some episodes, Alan Hunter substituted for Jim Lange. It was announced by Sam Riddle, who was also the supervising producer and the host of the pilot episode, which was announced by Johnny Gilbert. The revival aired daily from September 14, 1992 to September 17, 1993 on BET. It was hosted by Spencer Christian and announced by John Walker. Both versions were produced by Television Program Enterprises, which is simply known as TPE.

Both versions are generally played the same, with some differences between the two, but those differences don't seem to be that big to me. I'll explain the general gameplay first, and I'll get to the details that differentiate the two versions after that.

The game is played by two teams of three, with each member of a team in a different generation. In each round, songs, music videos, and theme music--all in three different eras--are played. On each song, three questions pertaining to it are asked, and each question has four multiple-choice answers to choose from. As the four answer choices are read out loud by the host, they appear on the game board, one at a time. Contestants buzz in to answer the questions, but they can only buzz in as soon as they see the answer they think is correct appear on the game board, not before. If a contestant buzzes in and chooses the correct answer, they add to their team's score; but if they buzz in and choose an incorrect answer, or if they buzz in before at least one answer choice appears on the game board, they deduct from their team's score, all the remaining answer choices appear on the game board at the same time, and the other team gets to answer without penalty for an incorrect answer.

The two teams play three rounds. In rounds one and two, three songs--each one in a different era--are played, and one member in each team--both in the same generation--play on one song. The three generations play in order from youngest to oldest. In round one, each generation plays on a song that was played in their era. In round two, each generation plays on a song that could have been played out of their era. Round three is called the "Free For All" round, which takes me back to a game show I talked about earlier this year called Free 4 All the more I think about it. In this round, all three members in each team each have their own buzzers, so anyone can buzz in on any question. If a team buzzes in and chooses an incorrect answer, the members of the other team are allowed to confer before answering. The teams go through as many songs as they can within an unspecified time limit, and the team in the lead at the end of this round wins the game and advances to the bonus round called the "Triple Threat Relay Round".

The "Triple Threat Relay Round" is played just like a relay race. At the start of this round, the host talks about three artists or bands, with each one in a different generation. Each artist or band has their name on a board, and each name has a column of three spaces underneath it. There is also an area somewhere on the board that is labeled "Out Of Play". What the three members of the winning team has to do first is line up in the order they want to play in. Then, the round is played within a time limit of 60 seconds. In this round, the host holds up thirteen cards, one at a time, with each card having a song title on it. The team member in turn takes the song title that is read out loud and held up by the host, and that team member takes that song title to the board and places it on either one of the spaces in the column underneath the name of the artist or band that they think made that song a hit or the "Out Of Play" area if they think that song was not made a hit by any of those three artists or bands. After the team member in turn places the song title somewhere on the board, they go to the back of the line, and the next team member in line takes the next song title and places it somewhere on the board. The three team members take turns taking song titles and placing them somewhere on the board, and if a team member in turn sees a mistake on the board, they can make a change, but only one change can be made per turn. Also, the two team members waiting in line can help the team member in turn by yelling out where on the board to place the song title and what change to make. As soon as all three song titles are correctly placed in the column under the name of the artist or band that made those songs hits, that column lights up. To win this round, the winning team has to get all three columns lit up before time runs out by placing all nine correct song titles in the correct columns.

That's the basic gameplay. Now, I'll get to the details. I'll go over the details about the original version and it's pilot episode first, and I'll go over the details about the revival.

In the original version, each team consists of one contestant, one celebrity, and one relative of that celebrity. Each question in the main game is worth money, with the dollar values being $50 in round one, $100 in round two, and $200 in round three. Music videos are played in round two of the episodes where Alan Hunter sub-hosted, and there are only two questions for each music video instead of the usual three. The contestant on the winning team keeps the money after the main game is over, and winning the "Triple Threat Relay Round" triples that contestant's money, while failing to do so adds $100 to their winnings for each correct song title placed in its correct column. And on the board for the "Triple Threat Relay Round", there are two "Out Of Play" areas on the left and right sides, and each column has a series of chasing lights above it. The game in the pilot episode is played exactly the same way as it is in the series. There are a few differences featured here, and they are the fact that all three members in each team share the same buzzer in round three instead of each team member having their own buzzer, the "Triple Threat Relay Round" has fifteen song titles for the winning team to work with, and the board used in the "Triple Threat Relay Round" has one "Out Of Play" area on the right side.

In the revival, each team consists of three members of a civilian family. Each question in the main game is worth points, with the point values being 5 points in round one, 10 points in round two, and 20 points in round three. Music videos are generally played along with songs for the entirety of this run. The winning family receives a prize package after the main game is over, and winning the "Triple Threat Relay Round" wins that family trips to Disneyland and Walt Disney World and retires that family from the show, while failing to do so wins them nothing extra but brings them back to the show on the next episode and play against another family. And on the board for "Triple Threat Relay Round", there is one "Out Of Play" area that covers the left, right, and bottom sides, and each column has a light border around it. Also, on the final week of this version, a tournament of champions is held. The family that wins the tournament wins a trip to Euro Disney Resort--which is known today as Disneyland Resort Paris--while the family in second place wins a trip to Walt Disney World.

Those are all the details that differentiate both versions of the show, so that's Triple Threat altogether. I will say it's a great music-themed game that tests people from three different generations on how much they know about music, movies, and television. There are a couple of problems I have with it, though. One is that the original could've been a daily game show with returning champions, just like the revival did. When I looked up info on this show and watched all the episodes of this version of the show that I was able to find on YouTube, I wondered why this version of the show aired weekly and has new sets of teams on each episode. But after watching those episodes and taking some time to think it over, I think I understand why. It's maybe because if this version of the show aired daily and has returning champions, then they would have to constantly replace a celebrity/relative pair on a team every single time a new contestant in a generation that's different from that of the previous contestant who played on that team. That would've been the case for when a contestant retires undefeated and when a contestant gets defeated by the contestant on the other team. If so, then maybe they could've had the same two teams play against each other for an entire week, just like what was done in the final eleven weeks of the run of Go, which I already covered in the previous year. The other is the cash payouts in the bonus round in the original version of the show. When a winning contestant successfully triples their winnings, it's brought up to a total that is less than $5,000. And a contestant still receives consolation money for failing to triple their winnings. What if a contestant wins the game with a low amount of money and successfully triples their winnings? Their winnings will be increased, but it will still be a low amount of money. And what if that same contestant fails to triple that low amount of money they won the game with and instead gets consolation money added to it? There's a chance that they will win more money in consolation money than how much they can win by tripling their main game winnings, as a contestant can win up to $800 more at $100 for every correct song title placed in its correct column without winning the bonus round. They could've awarded contestants who win the bonus round with an additional flat cash prize like $5,000 at the very least instead of tripling their main game winnings. I have no problem with this game being played by teams of three in either version of the show. In the original version, it's because each team consists of one contestant, one celebrity, and one relative of that celebrity, and in game shows where contestants are teamed up with celebrities--and also relatives of those celebrities, in this case--all money won goes to the contestants. In the revival, it's because prizes are won instead of money, so with each team being civilian families and all prizes being non-monetary, there's no trouble in having all three members equally splitting any amount of cash, divisible of three or not, in three ways.

Well, Jim Lange's game show hosting career has ended with a good music-themed game show that could've been better during its original run. So far, I have covered two game shows that Jim Lange hosted. The other game show hosted by him that I covered was $1,000,000 Chance Of A Lifetime, and that was in the previous year. There are more game shows hosted by him that are unknown by many, and I'll be getting to those in the future.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Flowgli]

Hello, bachelors and bachelorettes! I'm Flo, your host, and welcome to another edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

Okay, picture this: you're on a blind date, and it just ain't happening. Don't you wish you could just push a button and make them disappear? Well, that can happen on a short-lived dating show called Bzzz!

Bzzz! is like a fast-paced version of The Dating Game. It ran for two seasons in syndication from January 22, 1996 to September 5, 1997. It was hosted by Annie Wood, who also co-produced it and introduced herself in an announcer-like fashion, just like Wil Shriner did in Small Talk and Chris Harrison did in Mall Masters, both of which I already talked about in this series. This show was created and produced by Ralph Edwards-Stu Billett Productions and distributed by Tribune Entertainment.

The game features a bachelor and a bachelorette, each meeting four potential mates of the opposite gender. In most of the show's episodes, the bachelorette meets four men first, and the bachelor meets four women next; but in earlier episodes, the bachelor meets four women first, ant the bachelorette meets four men next. On each meeting, the central person meets the four potential mates, one at a time, seeing each potential mate in silhouette form behind a heart-shaped screen on a wall. Each potential mate tells a little bit about themselves and answers a question asked by the central person. After hearing from all four potential mates, the central person chooses which potential mate they like the least and explains why they like that potential mate the least. Afterwards, the central person has two minutes to sit down with the other three potential mates and interview them, one at a time. If a potential mate gives an answer that the central person does not approve of, the central person presses a button called the "Bzzzer", causing the set to go dark and the show's logo to appear in red on a wall, and Annie escorts the potential mate off stage where they can't hear anything, and the central person explains why they "bzzzed" the potential mate. But if a potential mate gives an answer that the central person does approve of, the central person rings a bell, and they are teamed up for the next round. If the central person "bzzzes" all three of the remaining potential mates, or if the two minutes run out--with the latter rarely happening--they end up with the potential mate they earlier said they like the least. If the central person rings the bell before seeing all four potential mates, the remaining potential mates come on stage to reveal themselves and give comments to the central person, one at a time. After the first central person's meeting with four potential mates, the second central person has a meeting with another four potential mates. The first round is over after both central people are each teamed up with a potential mate.

The second round is called "Simpatico". In this round, each team is asked a set of questions that each have the same two answers to choose from. Both the central person and the accepted potential mate each have a paddle that has one of the answers on one side of it and the other answer on the other side, and they each stand by a different side of a divider so they can't see each other's choices of answers. Seven questions are asked in this round in season one, and only five are asked in this round in season two. After a question is asked, each member of the potential couple answers it by holding up their paddle with their choice of answer facing forward. If both of the couple members' answers match, they win cash. In some episodes of season one, each correct match is worth $50, while each correct match in other episodes of season one is worth $100. In all episodes of season two, each correct match is worth $100. Regardless, if a correct match is made on each and every question, the potential couple's total winnings are increased to $1,000. In season one, both potential couples play this round after both potential mates are approved in the previous round. In season two, each potential couple plays this round immediately after the potential mate is approved in the previous round.

After "Simpatico", whichever potential couple has the most money wins the game, receives a prize package, and advances to the final round. If "Simpatico" ends in a tie, a tiebreaker question whose answer in the form of a percentage is asked. In season one, one potential couple guesses a percentage, and the other potential couple guesses whether the correct percentage is higher or lower than the percentage guessed. If the potential couple who makes the higher/lower guess is correct, they win the game. But if they are incorrect, or if the couple who makes the percentage guess got the correct percentage right on the nose, the couple who makes the percentage guess wins the game. In season two, both potential couples each make a percentage guess, and whichever potential couple's guess is closest to the correct percentage without going over wins the game. If both potential couples go over, the one who went over the least wins the game.

The final round is called "Final Bzzz!", and in this round, the roles that the central person and the accepted potential mate of the winning potential couple had in round one are reversed. The accepted potential mate asks the central person one question, and if the central person gives an answer that the accepted potential mate approves of, the accepted potential mate rings the bell, and the two receive an all-expenses paid date. But if the central person gives an answer that the accepted potential mate does not approve of, the accepted potential mate hits the "Bzzzer" and receives a prize package for their trouble, and the date is off.

And that's Bzzz! This dating game show really has an interesting idea of how contestants get to know each other and decide whether they like the person they met or not. There are a few elements of gameplay in this show that are similar to those in shows that premiered years before this show did, but those elements of gameplay work well in this show. "Simpatico" is similar to an answer-matching stunt game played in the Pat Finn-hosted episodes of Shop 'Til You Drop, the tiebreaker question asked in season one is similar to the high/low toss-up questions asked in Card Sharks back in the 1970s and the 1980s, and the tiebreaker question asked in season two is similar to the reveals of the final score predictions to break the tie in The Newlywed Game. This game also features an element of gameplay that would have a variant of it used in another dating game show called Baggage years later. That element of gameplay is where a central person and the potential mate they chose earlier have their roles reversed, and the accepted potential mate makes the decision to either accept a date with the central person or turn them down after hearing an answer or an explanation from them. I have no problems with the gameplay or the show overall. What I do have a problem with is the set, which looks kinda sloppily built, and those annoying superimposed text graphics that appear when a contestant gets turned down. Everything else is okay to me.

I'm glad to have talked about a dating game show in this week's edition, since Valentine's Day is coming up in two days. So, I like to wish everybody in advance a Happy Valentine's Day, and also a Happy Singles Awareness Day to be fair to the people who don't have lovers. I wish you all a good February 14.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Flowgli]

Hey, people! I'm Flo, and welcome to another edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

I haven't talked about a game show that aired entirely in black and white in a while. The last time I did so, the show I talked about was Funny You Should Ask!! The only other game shows I talked about that aired in black and white were Everybody's Talking and the early episodes of the original version of Split Second. So, I'll be talking about another game show that aired in black and white in this week's edition, and that game show is Number Please.

Number Please is the first word game in the history of game shows, and it is said to be the predecessor of Wheel Of Fortune. It aired on ABC from January 30, 1961 to December 29 on the same year. It is a production of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. It was hosted by Bud Collyer, who was best known for being the original host of To Tell The Truth and Beat The Clock, both of which are also productions of Mark Goodson and Bil Todman, with the latter show being replaced by this show after its run ended. The show was also announced by Ralph Paul, and it was co-hosted by Nancy Kovack, Suzanne Storms, and Reggie Dombeck, with the last mentioned co-host's real name being Penny Wright.

The game is played by two contestants. The contestants face a game board that consists of two rows of up to twenty numbered spaces, and each contestant has their own row to work with. The game starts off with each contestant choosing three spaces by number on their own row, with each space chosen having either a letter or a blank revealed in it. From that point on, the contestants take turns choosing spaces on their own rows, with only one space chosen at each turn. Spaces that go past the last letter of the last word on each row are out of play. Each space chosen has either a letter or a blank revealed in it, like I just said, and the letters and blanks in both rows make up the names of prizes. The prizes are won by a contestant who buzzes in and solves both puzzles exactly as they're shown. On each puzzle, the solving contestant is asked by Bud to repeat their solution after giving it the first time to have it confirmed that that's exactly what they're saying. If both puzzles are solved correctly, the contestant who solved them wins the prizes, and sometimes, they win additional prizes related to those prizes.

Contestants can stay on the show until they're defeated, or until they win a maximum of five games. Originally, a contestant who wins against their opponent immediately plays against a new challenger after every single game, and they retire undefeated after winning five games. But somewhere in May, the format is changed to a best-two-out-of-three match for each game, with contestants still staying on the show until being defeated in a match or winning a maximum of five games.

And that's all there is to the show. Just like many other game shows produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, this one has a format that is simple but done in a way that makes it work. It does have gameplay that is similar to that of Hangman; both of these games have people playing them making choices that fill spaces in puzzles with letters. The difference between these two word games is that letters are chosen to fill in the spaces in Hangman--which is what is also the case for Wheel Of Fortune, the game show that is based on Hangman--while numbers are chosen to reveal letters and blanks in Number Please. This show lasted almost exactly eleven months, and before it premiered, it was delayed due to President John F. Kennedy's State of the Union Address. During the show's run, a board game made by Parker Brothers was released. After the show's run ended, more game shows that are also word games came in, some lasting longer than this show and others having shorter runs than this show did. I think we wouldn't have any game shows that are word games, past or present, had it not been for the existence of Number Please. Not even Wheel Of Fortune.

This show is also very rare, for only one episode of it is known to exist. It was an episode that was taped somewhere in May 1961, and most recently, it was shown on GSN on the morning of October 9, 2006.

Well, that's all I really have to say about this show. Sorry that this edition seems short, but that was Number Please explained as in full detail as I or anyone else can explain it. That's all.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Flowgli]

Hi, there, everybody! I'm Flo, and welcome to another edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

There have been some game shows recorded and aired in places outside the US, and they aired in the US at the same time they were airing in the places they were recorded during their original airings. Because of this, these game shows were counted as US game shows. I found articles of these game shows in a site called the US Game Show Wiki, one of the places on the Internet I use to do research on game shows I talk about in this series. One of the countries that had their game shows airing there and the US both at the same time during those shows' original airings and being included into the library of US game shows because of this is Canada, a country that is just above the US. I'll be talking about one of those game shows this week, and I don't have to cross the border to Canada to do that. The game show that's like this that I'm gonna talk about today is All About Faces.

All About Faces is a hidden camera game show that was produced by Dan Enright, just like Hold Everything!, another hidden camera game show that I talked about in the previous year. It aired concurrently in syndication in the US and on CTV in Canada from August 30, 1971 to an unknown day in September 1972. It was packaged by Screen Gems and hosted by Richard Hayes.

This show has many similarities to Hold Everything!, but there are some things in this show that are different from those in that other hidden camera game show. Instead of three celebrities playing for charity, this game is played by two celebrities playing for charity, with each celebrity teamed up with with a friend or relative of theirs. The two teams each start off with $50. Just like in Hold Everything!, four rounds are played, and in each round, a video featuring an unsuspecting person being put into a situation that was put together by actors is played, that video pauses after that unsuspecting person is asked by one of the actors whether or not to do a certain favor for them, the celebrities each make a prediction on whether or not that unsuspecting person will do that favor for that actor, the rest of the video is played, revealing the outcome of that situation, each celebrity adds to their score for a correct prediction or deducts from their score for an incorrect prediction, the celebrity with the highest score after four rounds wins money to donate to their charity, and the show is over.

Now, here are some details in All About Faces that differentiate it from Hold Everything! One is the way each video pauses. In Hold Everything!, the name of its show is said out loud while its logo pops up as a video pauses. But in this show, a video pauses right after a close-up of an unsuspecting person's face. Another is that each team on this show not only makes a prediction on whether or not an unsuspecting person will do a favor that an actor asked them to do for them, but also decides on how much of the money in their score they want to wager. Each team can wager up to $50 on each of the first three videos and any or all of their money on the fourth video. Also, on the fourth video, each team secretly locks in their predictions and writes down their wagers, both of which are not revealed until after the outcome of that video is revealed. And the final thing about this show that makes it different from Hold Everything! is that this game is a winner-take-all game; the winning team receives both their money and the other team's money to donate to their charity, while the losing team receives nothing to donate to their charity.

And that's all there is to the show. Well, this show is just as bad as Hold Everything!, if not worse. Both of these shows have similar gameplay, and many other hidden camera game shows have gameplay similar to that of these two shows. Also, the crazy situations that unsuspecting people are put in are intended to be hilarious but turn out to be unfunny, boring, and cringeworthy. And I don't care that US dollars and Canadian dollars are different currencies, I don't care that this show aired in the 1970s, but this is a game show played by celebrities and their friends or relatives who are playing for charity, and the cash played for is way too low to be won and donated to charity. It also doesn't help that Dan Enright, the partner of Jack Barry in producing game shows such as Twenty-One and Tic-Tac-Dough, was involved with this show, for he was the one who caused the quiz shows scandals in the 1950s by rigging the two shows I just mentioned and providing contestants with the answers to the questions for those shows in advance. After the quiz show scandals, Dan Enright went into obscurity, and he would slowly make a comeback on television years later. He started making that comeback by producing game shows in Canada, and this one game show called All About Faces is one of them. After producing this and many other game shows in Canada, he made a comeback on US game shows when he was taken in by Jack Barry to produce the final season of the CBS version of The Joker's Wild, another game show that the duo produced and a game show that Jack Barry himself hosted at the time. The theme song sung at the opening, which introduces Richard Hayes just like the theme song sung at the opening of a UK game show called Chain Letters would introduce Jeremy Beadle, sucks, too.

I'm thinking of making editions about The Joker's Wild, Twenty-One, and Tic-Tac-Dough in the future. However, since those shows are probably the most popular of all shows produced by Jack Barry and Dan Enright, I will save those for later and go for the lesser-known ones first. The lesser-known of these shows should be talked about in great length before I get to the more known of these shows.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Flowgli]

Hello, babies! I'm Flo, your nanny, and welcome to another edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

There are plenty of game shows that have children as contestants, and so far in this series, I talked about nine of them. I talked about Wheel 2000, I talked about Jep!, I talked about I'm Telling!, I talked about Off The Wall, I talked about Mad Libs, I talked about Click, I talked about Peer Pressure--or Pressure 2--I talked about Pressure 1, and I talked about Secrets Of The Cryptkeeper's Haunted House. I'll be talking about another game show played by children today. However, the game show that I'm gonna be talking about in this week's edition isn't played by just any children; it's played by toddlers. Yes, you heard right. Toddlers. The game show that I'm gonna be talking about today is called Baby Races.

Baby Races is yet another game show that aired on The Family Channel--now known as Freeform. It ran from September 12, 1993 to August 27, 1994. It was hosted by comedian and impressionist Fred Travalena and announced by Gene Wood, but it's not a production of Mark Goodson; it's a production of Robert Sherman, and it's also packaged by Family Productions.

The game is played by two toddlers, with each one being assisted by their family. The two toddlers play a variety of events that are designed specifically for them. A few of the games are played by both toddlers, while most of them are played by only one toddler, with both toddlers playing the same amount of solo games. Most of the games are played within a time limit of either 45 seconds. Sometimes, the games are played within a time limit of 30 seconds. In each game, a toddler scores one point for each success they made. In one game or two, each success made is worth two points. In the last two games, the point values are doubled, meaning that each success made is worth two or four points.

Some of the games played on this show are as follows:

Cow Catcher - Each child wears a cowboy/cowgirl hat and rides on a family member's back, and they have to pick up plush cows and hand them to another family member of their's, who has to put them in a corral.
Sit On It - A child's family members make sand mounds using pails, and that child has to destroy the sand mounds by sitting on them.
Wacky Woodpecker - A child wears a cone-shaped beak made out of paper over their nose and stacks more beaks like those on it by pulling them out of either of two props that represent trees.
Worm Toss - A child throws rubber worms across a mat that represents water to a family member of theirs, who has to catch them with an oversized pair of pants they are wearing.
The Sandtrap - A game of miniature golf where a child uses a golf club to scoot golf balls through a sand-covered miniature golf course and putt them so that they go into a giant hole at the end of the course.
Spill The Beans - A child wears a hairnet with a plate on the top, a family member of theirs fills the plate with beans, and the child balances the plate of beans to the other family member of theirs and pours the beans on a bowl that is placed on the other family member's lap. At the end of this game, the bowl is placed on a scale, and the result is rounded to the nearest pound on the scale.
Thermometer Ball - A child is picked up by a family member of theirs, and they have to pick up small basketballs from the floor and "slam dunk" them into a tube that represents a giant thermometer.

After the two toddlers play the games, they each receive a certificate of achievement that shows how many points they have scored in total, and they and their families go to an area in front of the video wall called the "toy store". At the toy store, each toddler chooses a prize, with the toddler who has the higher score choosing first. Also, each toddler receives a $300 gift certificate, and each toddler's family receives prizes, as well.

All contestants on this show are winners, despite the total scores revealed in the end. Even Fred himself said that everyone's a winner on this show. The game overall is played for fun and not competition.

So, that's Baby Races. I don't know why this show is called that, though. Baby Races? Really? That title is completely misleading. For one thing, the contestants on this show are not babies; they're toddlers. I was able to find only one episode of this show on YouTube, and surprisingly, the person who uploaded it was one of the contestants on that very episode of the show. But anyway, each contestant on that episode was three years old, and a three-year-old is not a baby. And for another thing, the games played in this show are not races. Any games that have both contestants playing at the same time have each of them make as much success as possible within a time limit, not try to be the first to complete a game. And in each of the games that have only one contestant playing, a contestant plays within a time limit, sure, but it's not like the object of any of those games is to race against the clock and complete a game before time runs out like in Beat The Clock. Now, about the gameplay, it's good for a game played by toddlers, and because it's played by toddlers, it makes sense having it being played for fun and not competition. What I have a problem with about this show other than the misleading title are the cartoonish sound effects played when certain actions are performed in some of the games and the inconsistent scoring. In every game before each contestant's last one, everything is worth one point, except for one of those games, which has everything worth two points. In each contestant's last game, either both games have everything worth two points, or one game has everything worth two points, while the other game has everything worth four points. That seems unfair. It really does seem unfair when a game played for double the points is played by only one contestant. Why would they want to have one contestant play for more points in one game than how many points the other contestant gets to play for in another game? The show should just have everything in every game worth one point, except for each contestant's last game, and everything in both of those games should be worth two points.

Well, that's all I have to say about Baby Races. This show was one of two game shows that Fred Travalena hosted. That other game show that he hosted was Anything For Money, which aired about a decade before this one aired, and that show is...a hidden camera game show. Oh, boy. You know what? I'll be talking about Anything For Money in next week's edition. That'll make it the third hidden camera game show to be talked about right here on Game Show Corner, with the first one being Hold Everything!--which I talked about in the previous year--and All About Faces--which I talked about two weeks ago. What will I say about Anything For Money? You'll find out next week. Just you wait and see.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Flowgli]

Hello, people who may be bored as I am. This is Flo. Welcome to another edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

Now, last week, when I talked about a game show hosted by Fred Travalena called Baby Races, I mentioned that he hosted another game show years before that, and that game show is a hidden camera game show. I talked about two of those game shows before. I talked about Hold Everything! in the previous year, and I talked about All About Faces two weeks ago. They both have similar gameplay, and the game show that I'm going to talk about today is no different. The game show that I'm gonna be talking about today is Anything For Money.

Anything For Money aired in syndication from September 17, 1984 to April 19, 1985. Not only was it hosted by Fred Travalena, but it was also announced by Johnny Gilbert and produced by Bernstein/Hovis Productions, Impact Studios, and Paramount Television Domestic Distribution. It was originally going to air for twenty-two weeks, but eight more weeks' worth of episodes were ordered over the course of its one and only season, bringing the episode count up to one hundred and fifty, all of which have aired before the run ended.

Like in the other two hidden camera game shows I talked about before, contestants are shown videos of unsuspecting people being put into situations that were put together by actors, the videos pause before the outcomes of them are revealed, each contestant makes a prediction of the outcomes of those videos, the rest of those videos play to reveal the outcomes of them, each contestant who makes a correct prediction adds to their score, and whoever is in the lead at the end of all the videos wins the game.

Now, there are some details in this show that make it different from the other two hidden camera game shows that I talked about before. One: There are no celebrities playing for charity. The contestants playing the game are civilians. There are two of them, and they both are playing for themselves. Two: The game is played in three rounds instead of four. Three: There are no deductions from scores for incorrect predictions. And four: There's a bit of variety in the questions asked on the videos for the contestants to make predictions on. Just a little bit. Not only are the contestants asked if the unsuspecting people will do a favor for one of the actors who asked them to do so or won't, but they also will be asked which of two unsuspecting people being put in the same situation will do a given favor for an actor or how much money an unsuspecting person will receive for doing a given favor for an actor.

Now, this show is called Anything For Money, and it's called that because the unsuspecting people are offered money to do a given favor for an actor, and if they show any signs of turning down the money to not do that favor, the actor offering the money will increase the cash offer, hoping that it will convince the unsuspecting people to change their minds and do that favor. The contestants themselves each score $200 in round one, $300 in round two, and $500 in round three for correct predictions. The contestant with the most money at the end of the game wins and receives a prize.

And that's the show. Just like Hold Everything! and All About Faces, this show has the weakest, flimsiest, and most boring gameplay in the history of game shows. I will say that it's nice that there aren't any celebrities playing the game for charity. However, despite that, the cash scored by the contestants are still kind of low. A contestant can win up to $1,000 in cash. Sure, a prize worth more than $1,000 is thrown in for the winning contestant, but a game show with a title like Anything For Money should be all about the money, and a lot of it, too. Actually, instead of this show being a hidden camera game show, it probably should've been a game show where contestants are offered big money to do tasks that are based on what they said in advance they will never do. That would've been a better idea for a game show with that title. But no. Instead, we get a cheap hidden camera game show with weak and flimsy gameplay, not to mention boring and unfunny situations that unsuspecting people are put into in the videos.

Now, there's a controversy caused regarding this show. Gary Bernstein said Larry Hovis may have produced this show, but the idea for this show was developed by Ralph Andrews Productions, and that idea was brought up there in 1983. At that time, Gary Bernstein was working at Ralph Andrews Productions, and Ralph Andrews himself had an agreement with Columbia Pictures Television, giving it the right to present projects produced by him from 1980 to 1986. Anything For Money was one of those projects, but Columbia Pictures Television turned it down outright, and Andrews then got Bernstein to go sell the idea of the show to Paramount Television, and Bernstein succeeded. There is a problem to this, though. When Bernstein was selling the idea of this show, he told Paramount Television that he himself owned the rights to it, not Andrews. He and Larry Hovis were both hired by Paramount Television to produce the show in 1984, and that caused Andrews to file a lawsuit against Paramount Television for taking his idea. Paramount Television won summary judgment, but Andrews won a reversal in 1990 after years of appeals. But even after the summary judgment was won by Paramount Television and sometime before the reversal was won by Andrews, Andrews and Bernstein were still able to work on Yahtzee, which I already covered in the previous year.

All right. Now, after having talked about three hidden camera game shows that have the same objective, I'm not gonna be talking about any more hidden camera game shows for a while. Maybe I'll get back to doing so somewhere in the end of the next year. I don't know for sure. But I do know one thing, for sure, and that is that I'll be talking about a game show that is not a hidden camera game show in next week's edition.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.

[Flowgli]

Hi, everyone! It's me, Flo, and welcome to this week's edition of Game Show Corner, where we take a look at the obscure side of the world of game shows.

Remember when I talked about a game show called Yahtzee? I may have done so in the first half of the previous year, but I brought that up a few times in later editions, and the most recent time I brought it up was in last week's edition. If you happen to have checked out last week's edition, you would've known that I brought that show up. Now, I brought it up yet again, and, as always, I have a good reason for it. The reason I brought it up this time is because the earlier episodes of it and the entire run of the show that I'm gonna be talking about in this week's edition were both taped at Trump's Castle, which is known today as Golden Nugget Atlantic City. The game show that I'm gonna be talking about this week is Trump Card.

Trump Card premiered two years after Yahtzee got cancelled. Not only that, but it premiered on the same day that The Quiz Kids Challenge, the Pat Finn-hosted revival of The Joker's Wild, and the Patrick Wayne-hosted revival of Tic Tac Dough premiered. It aired in syndication from September 10, 1990 to September 6, 1991. It was hosted by Jimmy Cefalo, co-hosted by Debi Massey, announced by Chuck Riley--who later became the announcer of a game show I already covered called Winning Lines--produced by Telepictures Productions, Createl, Ltd., and Fiedler-Berlin Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros. Television.

The game is played by three contestants, with each one having a 3x5 Bingo-style card displayed on a monitor on the front of their podium. Contestant one has numbers 1 to 15 on their card, contestant two has numbers 16 to 30 on their card, and contestant three has numbers 31 to 45 on their card. What the contestants have to do is mark off numbers on their cards by buzzing in and answering questions correctly. The game is based on a UK game show from the 1980s called Bob's Full House, which immediately makes me think of the sitcom that Bob Saget starred in called Full House everytime I see or hear that title. Anyway, Bob's Full House was hosted by UK game show veteran Bob Monkhouse, and its run ended about eight months before Trump Card premiered.

Round one is started off with four categories, with each one having four questions, and the contestant who has won a drawing before the show makes the first choice of category. A question from a category chosen is asked, and only the contestant who buzzes in first gets to answer it. A correct answer marks off a number on one of the corners of the contestant's card and gives them the right to make the next choice of category, but an incorrect answer locks that contestant out for the next question, which is in the category listed after the one in which a question is just answered incorrectly. The first contestant to mark off all four numbers on the corners of their card ends the round and receives a cash prize of $750, which is theirs to keep no matter what happens in the rest of the game.

Round two is started off with Debi handing out a Trump Card to each contestant, and the contestants can use those Trump Cards anytime during the remainder of the game. Not only that, but there is a new set of four categories, and each of them has five questions. This round is played the same way as the previous round, except that each correct answer marks off one of the five numbers in the center row on a contestant's card. The first contestant to mark off all five numbers in the center row on their card ends the round and receives a cash prize of $1,500, which is theirs to keep no matter what happens in the rest of the game.

Also, a correct answer in this round allows the contestant who gave it to use their Trump Card on one of their opponents before making the next choice of category if they wish. When a Trump Card is used on a contestant, that contestant is "trumped". The trumped contestant has their number card blocked by a capital "T", and they have a half-second delay in buzzing in. If the trumped contestant buzzes in with the correct answer to a question, the "T" is removed, but a number is not marked off on their number card at that point. That contestant does get to continue trying to mark off numbers on their number card afterwards.

Round three is a speed round, where there are no categories, and each correct answer marks off one of the remaining numbers on a contestant's card. Each contestant who has not used their Trump Card in the previous round has the option to use it on one of their opponents before the next question is asked. The first contestant to get all fifteen numbers marked off on their card wins the game and receives $3,000. If time for this round expires before a contestant gets all fifteen numbers marked off on their card, then the contestant who is closest to doing so wins the game and receives the money.

The highest amount of money a contestant can win in the main game is $5,250. The winning contestant advances to the bonus round for a chance to win an additional $10,000.

The bonus round is started off with the winning contestant facing a game board with twenty-five monitors in a 5x5 grid and numbered from one to twenty-five, and Debi holding out twenty-five numbered cards to the winning contestant, with the numbers on the cards ranging from one to twenty-five and facing down. What the contestant has to do first is pick out one of the cards, and the number on that card is marked off on the game board. However, if the contestant wins the game without having used their Trump Card at all, they get to pick out two of the cards, and the two numbers on those cards are marked off on the game board.

Now, the contestant has to make a complete row of five marked numbers within a time limit of 45 seconds. This round is similar to the bonus rounds played in Wordplay, Blockbusters, Catchphrase--which I already talked about in the previous year--and the short-lived NBC revival of the Art Fleming-hosted Jeopardy! from 1978 to 1979 known as The All-New Jeopardy! Yes, there was one version of Jeopardy where a bonus round was played, even though there wasn't one in any other version of Jeopardy! Anyway, the contestant chooses one of the remaining numbers, and a question is asked to them. The time does not start until after the contestant's first choice of number is made. Answering a question correctly marks off the number in gold like in the main game, while answering it incorrectly or passing it blacks the number out, blocking the contestant's progress. After each question, the contestant must choose another number before another question can be asked. Getting five marked numbers in a row--either up and down, across, or diagonally--before time runs out wins the contestant an additional $10,000 and maybe a spot in the tournament of champions at the end of the show's only season, while running out of time before getting five marked numbers in a row wins the contestant nothing extra.

That's the game, and I'll get to the tournament of champions in a minute. Right now, I will talk about the audience game, which takes place all the way through an episode of the show.

Each member of the studio audience is given their own number card, just like the one each contestant has. What the studio audience members have to do is mark off the same number on their cards as the one marked off on the card of the contestant after a correct answer is given. Just like with the contestants in the main game, the studio audience members have to mark off all four numbers on the corners of their cards in round one, mark off all five numbers in the center row on their cards in round two, and mark off all their remaining numbers on their cards in round three in order to win money. Each time a studio audience member wins a round the same way a contestant is required to, depending on what round it is, that studio audience member wins $10. In the bonus round, the studio audience members flip their cards over to the other side, where there is another grid of fifteen numbers for them to work with. If the number picked out by the winning contestant at the start of the bonus round is on a studio audience member's card, the money won by that studio audience member is increased by 50%. But if the contestant wins the game with their Trump Card still in their possession, and both numbers picked out by that contestant are on a studio audience member's card, the money won by that studio audience member is doubled. After all that, the studio audience members mark off the same numbers on their cards as the numbers marked off on the game board by the winning contestant answering questions correctly. If a studio audience member is able to get three marked numbers in a row--either up and down, across, or diagonally--the money won by that studio audience member is doubled. The highest amount of money a studio audience member can win is $120.

Now, I can get to the tournament of champions. It starts off with twenty-one contestants who each won the bonus round earlier in the show's only season. These twenty-one contestants play seven preliminary matches, where no money is awarded for winning the first and second rounds, but $3,000 is still won for winning the game, and each contestant who has won the preliminary match they played in plays the bonus round for an additional $10,000, and the seven winners of the preliminary matches are joined by the two best playing non-winners in the semifinal matches where the payoffs are exactly the same as they are in the preliminary matches. After the semifinal matches, the winners of those matches play the final match, where the winner receives $10,000 for winning the game instead of $3,000 and plays the bonus round for the last time, while the two contestants who lost the final match each receive a consolation cash prize of $2,500. Winning the bonus round in the final match is worth an additional $100,000.

All right, now, that's all there is to the show. Overall, the gameplay is simple, but great. I feel the same way about the set; it's simple, but great. The cash prizes are great, and I like that no matter which contestant wins how many rounds, the winner of each game gets more money than the two losing contestants. $3,000 is a good minimum amount of cash for winning contestants to receive. There are only two things that I don't like in this show. One is the change in cash payoffs for winning the bonus round that occurred towards the end of the show's run. With this change, a contestant can only win $10,000 by getting five marked numbers in a row within the first ten seconds, and doing so within the next ten seconds wins the contestant $5,000, while doing so within the last twenty-five seconds wins them $2,500. I think it's really stupid that less money is won the longer it takes for a contestant to win the bonus round. Another is that the bonus round has to be played in the final match of the tournament of champions. There are game shows like Family Feud, Supermarket Sweep, and The $100,000 Pyramid, which have bonus rounds and hold tournaments of champions, but the final matches of those tournaments do not have the bonus rounds played. Instead, the winners of those tournaments of champions win the top prizes that have been up for grabs. In this show, however, the bonus round was played in the final match of the tournament of champions, and the contestant who made it that far did not win the $100,000 cash prize that was up for grabs. A similar problem occurred in the tournament of champions in the Donny Osmond-hosted Pyramid over a decade later.

Overall, Trump Card is a good game show with good gameplay that's simple to follow and thousands of dollars in cash won in every episode. It's also nice to see Donald Trump make an appearance at the beginning of the premiere episode. I don't know how well the show would've been if Donald Trump was hosting the show instead of Jimmy Cefalo, but I think it would still be a good game show either way.

So, that does it for this week's edition of Game Show Corner. Thank you, everybody, and have a great day.