Game Show Graveyard

[Flowgli]

Hello, my fast friends. I’m Dr. Flo-enstein, your fast friend, and welcome to the year four premiere of Game Show Graveyard, where we take a look at game shows that died before they were born.

Bob Goen is a very underrated game show host. He hosted multiple game shows, all of which were short-lived. The one game show that he is best known for hosting was the CBS daytime run of Wheel Of Fortune, and even then, not many modern audiences, especially of Wheel Of Fortune in general, don’t seem to know this. I already covered many of the game shows he hosted on Game Show Corner, such as The Hollywood Game, Blackout, The Home Shopping Game, Born Lucky, Perfect Match—the syndicated game show that was a rip-off of The Newlywed Game—and That’s The Question. He also hosted some pilot game shows that ended up unsold, with the exception of this week’s subject, which later was adapted into a short-lived series in the UK. So, here we go. Let’s make friends really fast as we look into…Fast Friends.

Fast Friends was shot for presumably NBC on November 28, 1984. It was hosted by Bob Goen, announced by veteran game show announcer Bob Hilton, and created by Jay Wolpert, who was the executive producer and one of the writers. It was packaged by Metromedia Video Productions Inc. and Jay Wolpert’s production company Jay Wolpert Productions.

The game is played by two contestants, one of them being a returning champion in the orange position, and the other being a challenger in the blue position. Each contestant has a chance to make a team of five, with the contestants themselves being the team captains, and each one getting up to four teammates. There are thirty-two members of the studio audience, all of whom are chosen to be potential teammates before the show and seated in eight rows of four in a special section of the studio audience at the front of the set.

In round one, each contestant has a total of 30 seconds to make up to four “friends”—in other words, teammates—by running to the potential teammates, one at a time, and having them answer questions correctly, with the champion going first and choosing one of two sets of four questions labeled “A” and “B”, and the challenger going afterwards and taking the remaining set of questions. On each contestant’s turn, that contestant is shown the four questions in their set on cards, while those questions are shown on the bottom of the viewer’s screen. The questions, of course, come into play, one at a time. After being shown a question, the contestant decides how much of their 30 seconds they want to wager on that question in getting one of the potential teammates to answer that question correctly. Once the contestant makes their wager, the wagered seconds are gone for good, especially any seconds leftover after the question is answered correctly by one of the potential teammates if that happens. The contestant then chooses one of the potential teammates to attempt to answer the question first by running to them with a handheld microphone, at which point that potential teammate stands up. The question is then read out loud by Bob, and the wagered time starts counting down. If the chosen potential teammate answers the question correctly, the clock stops, and that potential teammate wins $200 and becomes a member of that contestant’s team. If that potential teammate answers the question incorrectly, the contestant must go to a different row and choose a potential teammate from there. The contestant keeps choosing potential teammates in different rows until one of them answers the question correctly, or until the wagered time runs out, whichever comes first. If the wagered time runs out before the question is answered correctly, the contestant doesn’t get anyone added to their team on that question. On the contestant’s fourth and final question, all of that contestant’s remaining seconds are used. The round ends after both contestants have had their chance to get up to four teammates for their teams.

In round two, the special section of the studio audience is removed from the set—with the remaining potential teammates having returned to their seats in the regular studio audience—and two newly-formed teams answer multiple-choice questions to keep the members of them in the game. Each question has three possible answers, with the third one always being “neither”. The first question of the round is a toss-up between the contestants, who are the captains of their teams. Whichever contestant buzzes in and chooses the correct answer gets to choose which team will play first in this round, but if that contestant buzzes in and chooses an incorrect answer, the other contestant will get to make that choice. After that choice is made, members of the team that’s playing take turns answering questions, starting with the furthest downstage member and going upstage. Answering a question correctly keeps a team member in the game, while answering a question incorrectly eliminates that team member from the game. However, if the contestant answers a question incorrectly, their teammate who is furthest downstage at the time is eliminated from the game. A contestant who has no teammates left in the game is eliminated for answering a question incorrectly. After all the members of the team in turn have attempted to answer their questions, the other team plays the next set of questions.

The two teams take turns answering sets of questions until all the members of one of the teams have been eliminated, at which point the round ends, and the other team wins the game.

The losing contestant receives a consolation prize, while their teammates each keep their $200. The winning contestant receives a prize, while their teammates, eliminated or not, each receive an additional $300, for a total of $500 each. The winning contestant also advances to the bonus round called the Foto Finish.

In the Foto Finish, the winning contestant is shown an image from a film, and then, they face a board that displays images of eight celebrities, one of whom pertains to a fact related to the film in question. The contestant must choose up to the seven celebrities who do not pertain to that fact. If the contestant chooses all seven of the celebrities who don’t pertain to that fact, they win $10,000. But if they choose the celebrity who doesn’t pertain to that fact, the round ends immediately, and the contestant wins $100 for each irrelevant celebrity chosen up to that point. Regardless of the outcome of this round, the contestant gets to return on the next episode to play against a new challenger.

And that’s Fast Friends. It’s really flawed, and even though it didn’t make it past the pilot stage for an American game show, it did end up becoming a British series, albeit a short-lived series, but I’ll get to that in a bit. Now, what are my thoughts on the unsold pilot? Well, contestants trying to form teams by choosing members of the studio audience and hoping that those members of the studio audience answer questions is a good idea. It’s well-paced, and it fits the name of the show completely. That’s just round one, though. Round two is pretty much a drag. It keeps the “friends” part, but it drops the “fast” part. Maybe if they make it so that each time someone answers a question correctly, they choose one of the opposing contestant’s teammates to eliminate, then it would’ve had a faster pace. The bonus round is a complete disconnect from what the game is about, for it drops both the “fast” part and the “friends” part. It’s played a lot like Gas Money from The Price Is Right and the first round of Trivia Trap during its first format, but with celebrities. If the bonus round involves the winning contestant’s teammates and all the people on that team having to answer a specific number of questions correctly within a time limit, then it would’ve worked for a game like this. Bob did a good job hosting, as always, the set looks good enough to be used for an actual series, and the prizes that the contestants and their friends win are good for the time. I have to question the choice of music for the pilot, though. The pilot’s main theme is “Far From Over” by Frank Stallone, which is fine, but its music cue for commercials is “You Gotta Have Friends” by Bette Midler, which, while it fits into the “friends” part, doesn’t sound like it belongs in a game show as one of its music cues, even a game show that is an unsold pilot.

Now, I just mentioned that while this pilot didn’t sell in the US, it did become a series in the UK. It was short-lived, having lasted for one season consisting of fourteen episodes on BBC One from March 30, 1991 to June 28 on that same year, hosted by actor and comedian Les Dawson. This version is mostly played the same as in the unsold pilot, but with some differences. First, there are thirty people seated on the set instead of thirty-two, and those people are split into two groups instead of eight rows, with one person in each group chosen to be a contestant, or rather the captain of their team by the other people in that group. Second, each team captain can choose any person they want to answer a question, just as long as that person is in their own group. Third, there’s no toss-up question at the start of the second round. Fourth, the third multiple-choice answer is never “neither”. Fifth, each team captain has a lifeline that they can choose to use if one of their teammates answers a question incorrectly. If a team captain chooses to use their lifeline, they will be asked a question; answering that question keeps the teammate who has just answered incorrectly in the game, while answering that question incorrectly—or choosing to save their lifeline—eliminates that teammate from the game. Sixth, teammates who answer incorrectly are sent to a bench behind them, referred to by Les as the “Dump Dock”. Seventh, the game is over when a team captain has lost all their teammates instead of when a team captain has answered a question incorrectly while they have no teammates left. Finally, in the final round, the captain of the winning team is joined by their teammates, with each teammate being chosen by the team captain to choose one of the eight celebrities on a video wall, and the team captain choosing whether to go with that teammate’s choice or go with a choice of their own; seven of the eight celebrities are the correct answers, and the other one celebrity is the incorrect answer, with each correct answer chosen winning the team captain and their teammates an amount of cash behind it—with the cash amounts being £25, £50, and £100—and a trip—or a holiday, as it is referred to as in the UK—is won on top of the £300 cash maximum if all seven correct answers are chosen before the one incorrect answer is chosen. Members of the winning team each receive a pocket television. Win or lose, both team captains and their teammates each receive an address book with the show’s logo on it.

Just like most of the pilots I have covered here on Game Show Graveyard, this one was uploaded by Wink Martindale in his YouTube channel. The upload of the pilot there has the introduction to the pilot made by host Bob Goen himself at the beginning. There, he explains the history behind the pilot and what he did in his television career prior to the pilot. If you want to know exactly what he said, check out that video, specifically the first few minutes of it. I explained enough about the pilot as it is.

Next week, I’ll be covering a pilot with the same title as that of the pilot I covered on that exact day two years ago. Yes, it’s called Second Guess, but this one that I’ll be covering next week was hosted by the veteran game show host best known for hosting the many versions of Pyramid.

So, that does it for this week’s edition of Game Show Graveyard. Thank you, everybody, and have a great night.

[Flowgli]

Hi, there, second guessers. Dr. Flo-enstein here, and welcome to this week’s edition of Game Show Graveyard, where we take a look at game shows that died before they were born.

Two years ago, I covered an unsold pilot called Second Guess, hosted by the veteran game show host best known for hosting Jeopardy! Today, I’m gonna be covering another unsold pilot called Second Guess, hosted by the veteran game show host best known for hosting the many versions of Pyramid. So, let’s not waste any time. This is Second Guess…the other unsold pilot with that title.

It’s unknown what network it was shot for, but Second Guess was shot on May 6, 1982. It was hosted by veteran game show host Dick Clark, announced by veteran game show announcer Jack Clark, and produced by Bob Stewart in his production company Bob Stewart Productions.

Two contestants play against each other in two games. Each contestant is teamed up with a celebrity. The celebrities in this pilot are Lynn Redgrave and Jay Johnson.

In each game, up to three subjects are played. On each subject, one member of each team goes into an isolation booth behind the game board in the back of the set and puts on a pair of headphones. Then, the screen on the game board closes, and the remaining member of each team is given the subject by Dick. The two onstage team members must give six statements associated with that subject—three statements each, taking turns giving the statements—and they must make these statements as obvious as possible so that their teammates can guess them when the time comes.

After six statements have been given, the screen on the game board opens, and the team members in the isolation booth remove their headphones. The statements are superimposed in two rows at the top and bottom of the screen, and the team members in the isolation booth have 25 seconds to guess, or “second guess”, the statements that their teammates have given to the subject after that subject is revealed, taking turns doing so. At each turn, a guesser makes as many guesses as possible until they correctly guess one of the given statements, at which point the guesser on the other team gets their turn. Synonyms and other forms of the given statements are acceptable. A guesser scores a point when time runs out during their opponent’s turn. If the two guessers correctly guess all six statements before time runs out, they split a cash bonus of $1,000, each receiving $500.

The first subject is played with the celebrities being the givers and the contestants being the guessers. After each subject, both members of each team switch places and roles. This goes on until a team scores two points, with the first team to do so winning the game. The contestant on the winning team receives $300, and the winning team advances to the bonus round.

In the bonus round, there are five podiums, each one having a digit in the $10,000 cash prize on the front of it and a monitor behind that digit. The winning team has the celebrity at the podiums and the contestant in the isolation booth with a pair of headphones on. The celebrity starts at the podium with the number one on it, and they are given a subject, which they must quickly give the most obvious statement about. Afterwards, they must run to the next podium, where they will be given another subject, and must give the most obvious statement about that subject. The celebrity keeps running to each podium and giving the most obvious statement about a different subject on each podium until five statements—one about each subject—are given, at which point the clock stops. The clock starts at 60 seconds, and when the clock stops, the contestant is brought back on stage, and they must go to each podium to guess the statement given by the celebrity about the subject on that podium within the remaining time. The contestant is shown the subject on a screen on each podium. The contestant is allowed to pass and go to another podium if they get stuck, and they will have to go back to the podium which they have passed if there’s still time left on the clock. Each correct guess earns the contestant the digit at that podium. Because one podium has a one and the other four podiums each have a zero, the only way for the contestant to win any money in the bonus round is to make a correct guess on a statement about the subject on the podium with the one, which is referred to by Dick as “the all-important one”. A possible $10,000 is at stake in this round, and the contestant can achieve this by making correct guesses on the statements about the subjects on all five podiums before time runs out. Otherwise, depending on how many podiums they make correct guesses on statements about subjects on and which podiums they have done so when time runs out, they will end up winning $1, $10, $100, $1,000, or nothing in the bonus round.

After the bonus round is played, the contestants switch celebrity teammates for the second game. The highest possible amount of cash a contestant can win is $23,600, provided that the maximum of three subjects are played in both games, both teams correctly guess all six statements about each of those three subjects in both games, one contestant wins both games, and that contestant wins the bonus round both times.

And that’s Second Guess. After having checked this pilot out and covered it, I can safely say that the title fits better with this one than it does with the Alex Trebek-hosted pilot that I covered two years ago. Unlike that other pilot, this one is all about second guessing what team members’ teammates said. The way it’s done here is great. It’s simple to follow and quick. Unfortunately, the cash bonus for correctly guessing all six given statements about a subject was never won. From what I saw of how the game is played, it is possible for all six statements about a subject to be guessed correctly by two opposing team members within a time limit, but because of how hard it can be to achieve this, it makes sense to have a cash bonus offered to any pair of opposing team members who can achieve this. I have to say, though, that 25 seconds is a random number for an amount of time. Maybe have the time limit be 20 seconds or 30 seconds; neither of those numbers are random for an amount of time, especially for guessing up to six given statements about a subject. Also, they should’ve made it so that the person in the isolation being randomly chosen has the option of whether they or their opponent will go first to add some strategy to the game. The bonus round is great, as it gets the members of the winning team to think fast, move fast, and guess fast. It also helps that the Winner’s Circle clock countdown music from the many versions of Pyramid is used as the clock countdown music for the main game and the bonus round in this pilot, which is fine, considering that this pilot and Pyramid were both produced by Bob Stewart. The cash payouts, though, left me disappointed. I mean, $10,000 is a great cash prize for winning the bonus round, especially twice on an episode of any game show in the 1980s, but the problem is that when a contestant doesn’t win the bonus round in this pilot, they win money from whichever digits of that cash prize they have earned. Since one of the digits is a one and the rest of the digits are zeroes, guessing one to four statements can be considered meaningless if none of the digits that they have earned is a one, resulting in them winning nothing in the bonus round, no matter how well they did there. I think it would help if each podium had a full cash amount attached to it, just like how each category in the Winner’s Circle on Pyramid has a full cash account attached to it, instead of one of the digits of the top cash prize. Have the five subjects be worth $100, $200, $300, $400, and $500, respectively. That way, the contestant actually wins money for each statement they have correctly guessed, regardless of which podiums they have made a correct guess at, if they fail to win the $10,000 top cash prize. Also, $300 is a bit too random to be a cash prize a contestant receives for winning the game. Why couldn’t it be $500 for winning the game? There’s also no mention of returning champions, as this looks like a game show that would’ve been likely to have returning champions during that time. Was this pilot meant to have two new contestants appear on each episode if it got sold? Maybe not. Nothing has been said anywhere about it.

I really like the set. Its use of neon lights makes it have that futuristic look and really lets you know that this pilot was from the 1980s. The island that Dick and the teams are on in the main game sliding forward to the area with the five podiums for the bonus round is cool, too, and so are the bonus round podiums themselves, with the neon light digits at the front sliding down to reveal the monitors on the front of the podiums. My favorite part of the set is the isolation booth; I really like its design, the way it opens and closes, and how the clock and the teams’ scores are displayed on the glass, not to mention how the given statements are superimposed on separate spaces on the isolation booth.

One more thing about this pilot that I have to mention is that the theme music, which is “Super Supertrain” by Bob Cobert, was originally used as background music from the notorious NBC flop Supertrain. This piece of music would later be used as a win cue for when a contestant wins the bonus round on Your Number’s Up, which I already covered on Game Show Corner during its third year.

And that’s it for Second Guess. Next week, I’ll be covering a panel game show pilot that was hosted by a veteran game show host who is best known for hosting Celebrity Sweepstakes and the already-covered The Game Game.

So, that does it for this week’s edition of Game Show Graveyard. Thank you, everybody, and have a great night.

[Flowgli]

Hello, stars! I’m Dr. Flo-enstein, keeping all of you in a cluster and welcoming you to this week’s edition of Game Show Graveyard, where we take a look at game shows that died before they were born.

Remember when I covered Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour on Game Show Corner during its third year? Well, that’s just one way to combine Match Game and Hollywood Squares, two iconic panel game shows to make into one game show. A couple of years after that hybrid show’s run ended, there was another way to combine those two panel game shows to make into one game show. As you’re about to see here, it didn’t work out at all, and we’re gonna look into it and see why it didn’t work out. This is Star Cluster.

Star Cluster was shot in 1986, though the exact date and which channel it was shot for is unknown. It was hosted by veteran game show host Jim McKrell and announced by Bill Armstrong—who was also the executive producer and one of the writers—and produced by Four Star Television in association with Bill Armstrong’s production company Bill Armstrong Productions.

The game is played by two contestants, who face a panel of six celebrities. The celebrities in this pilot are Abby Dalton, Bob Ridgeley, Jm J. Bullock, Doug Davidson, Shelley Taylor Morgan, and Linda Blair, and they are seated in three rows, with one celebrity in the top row, two in the middle row, and three in the bottom row, as well as aligned so that they appear to be stacked in a way that they resemble a pyramid.

The game is played in two rounds. In each round, the contestants take turns choosing celebrities, with each contestant having three turns in that round. After a celebrity is chosen, a multiple-choice question about that celebrity with three possible answers labeled “A”, “B”, and “C” is asked, and the other five celebrities play along by each locking in which answer they think is the one chosen by that celebrity by pressing a button that corresponds to their choice of answer. Then, the contestant in turn verbally makes their choice of answer, and the chosen celebrity reveals their choice of answer. Each of the other celebrities raise their hand to show that they have chosen the answer that the chosen celebrity has chosen. If the contestant in turn makes a correct guess, they win money, and they win even more money for each of the other celebrities who have locked in with a correct guess. On top of that, the star in front of the chosen celebrity is lit up. If the contestant in turn makes an incorrect guess, no money is won on that question, and the star in front of the chosen celebrity in not lit up.

A contestant can win bonus money by forming a star cluster, which can be done by having three stars lit up in a way that they form a triangle, whether pointing up or pointing down.

Each round ends after all six questions are played or a star cluster is formed.

In round one, the questions asked are about what best fits the celebrities’ personalities, each correct answer is worth $25 plus another $25 for each celebrity who has guessed correctly, and a star cluster is worth $250. In round two, the questions asked are about how the celebrities react to real life situations if they really happened to them, each correct answer is worth $50 plus another $50 for each celebrity who has guessed correctly, and a star cluster is worth $500.

After two rounds, the contestant with the most money wins the game and advances to the bonus round called the Superstar round.

In the Superstar round, the winning contestant is asked a yes-or-no question, which is answered “yes” by four of the celebrities and answered “no” by the other two celebrities. The contestant must choose the four celebrities who have answered “yes”, one at a time. Each time the contestant chooses a celebrity who has answered “yes”, they win a prize, and they have the option to play on and choose another celebrity or stop and take everything they have won in the round up to that point. The first celebrity chosen who has answered “yes” wins the contestant $250 in cash, the second one chosen wins them $500 in cash, the third one chosen wins them a cruise, and the fourth one chosen wins them a car. If the contestant chooses to play on, and they choose a celebrity who has answered “no”, they lose everything they have won in the round up to that point. If the contestant chooses a celebrity who has answered “no” on the first try, they get to keep playing the round for $100 per chosen celebrity who has answered “yes”.

That’s Star Cluster. So, you see why this didn’t work? It has the idea of combining the concept of matching celebrities’ answers—pretty much like in Match Game—and the concept of “capturing” celebrities—pretty much like in Hollywood Squares—and it just doesn’t pay off. It really makes the game become more of a drag the further someone watches it. Scoring money for each correct match on a celebrity’s answer and even more for each of the other celebrities who correctly matches that celebrity’s answer is good, especially since a star cluster was never formed. Actually, forming a star cluster can be an impossible task to accomplish if too many questions are missed, since there are only six questions in each round of the main game. It also depends on which contestant has gotten which stars lit up, since contestants attempt to block each other from forming star clusters as a strategy in the game. Why couldn’t they just have an unlimited number of questions per round, with each round ending until a star cluster is formed or all six stars are lit up, in which case of the latter, the contestant who lights up the last remaining star wins the round if a star cluster in not formed by either contestant. The contestants are also color-coded, with one contestant in the blue position, and the other contestant in the red position, and yet, the stars they lit up are not lit up in their respective colors, which can cause some confusion, since it makes it hard to tell which star is lit up by which contestant. And no, the stars lit up are not shared by the contestants. The Superstar round is also kind of flawed, as the contestant playing it bombed on the first pick. They could’ve made it so that the contestant could keep choosing celebrities risk-free until one of them who answers “no” is chosen, at which point the contestant has the option to stop and take what they have won in the round up to that point after each successful choice of celebrity who has answered “yes”, and loses it all if they choose the other celebrity who has answered “no”. The set looks okay, though they could’ve done a better job with it, especially the color-coding of the contestants, if they really wanted this pilot to sell. The car played for in this pilot, which is a Chevrolet Spirit, doesn’t look like a car that’s actually worth playing for, even back in 1986.

Like with many of the unsold pilots that I cover here, this one is uploaded on Wink Martindale’s YouTube channel. Also, at the start of the upload, there’s a message from Jim McKrell right by a trade ad for the pilot, saying that even though the pilot didn’t get picked up, he and the others involved had a ball doing it. Well, good for them, but honestly, this isn’t something that I would get into if it did get picked up. I wouldn’t even consider it the ideal sitcom alternative, as it is claimed in that trade ad. There are game shows involving a celebrity panel, even if they’re unsold pilots, that are worthy of being classified as that, but this is not one of them. Yeah, Star Cluster deserves to be part of a cluster of pilots that never got picked up and never will get picked up.

Well, that pilot sure was a folly. Will the pilot that I will be covering next week be just as much of a folly? We’ll see next time when I cover this pilot, which was hosted by an English television host, with this pilot being this person’s only attempt at hosting a game show in the US. See you then.

So, that does it for this week’s edition of Game Show Graveyard. Thank you, everybody, and have a great night.

[Flowgli]

Hello, families. I’m Dr. Flo-enstein, your family judge, and welcome to this week’s edition of Game Show Graveyard, where we take a look at game shows that died before they were born.

There are ideas for game shows that are so good that they are featured in many game shows, some of which are still being featured in game shows and will continue to be featured in game shows in the years to come. There are also ideas for game shows that are so bad that they are never featured in game shows again after it is featured in one game show. One of those bad ideas has family members presenting their cases about each other to the host and the studio audience like how plaintiffs and defendants present their cases about each other to the judge and the spectators in a court show, except the issues brought up are things they can work out on their own or take to a therapist or a counselor or a psychologist, and not worth taking to court. This idea for a game show is so bad that it never even made it past the pilot stage, let alone got featured in game shows again, unsold pilot or full series. Yes, there’s an unsold pilot for a game show like that, and that’s the subject of this week’s edition of Game Show Graveyard. This is Family Follies.

Family Follies was shot for NBC Daytime on July 29, 1985. It was hosted by English television host Jeremy Beadle, announced by veteran game show announcer Charlie O’Donnell, and produced by Little Joey Inc. and Lorimar.

There are two games in the pilot, each one played by two members of a family. One family member in each game presents their case to Jeremy and the studio audience—the latter of which is referred to as the “jury”—explaining the disagreement they have with the other family member in that game, such as their spouse being lazy and not doing any of the household chores when they get home from work, or a sibling of theirs coming to their apartment and rearranging their furniture without their permission. After the accusing family member has made their first statement, the accused family member defends themselves by explaining their actions that they have been accused for and presents a problem they have with the accusing family member in return. The two family members go back and forth about each other until a bell rings, at which point the members of the jury cast their votes on which member of the family in that game is more convincing and deserving of winning the game. Then, the votes are revealed, and the family member with the most votes wins the game and receives a prize, while the opposing family member is forced to pay the penalty that’s made to teach them a lesson pertaining to the case presented.

In the penalty portion of each game, the losing family member is given the task to do something pertaining to the case presented in that game, while the winning family member watches. The tasks showcased in this pilot are dressing up as a woman and doing household chores before a guest arrives for dinner, and rearranging furniture by driving a bulldozer blindfolded. All the props used in each penalty are those made specifically for the pilot or items bought from stores.

That’s Family Follies. I think everything I said about it proves my point. There’s no actual gameplay in this pilot. It functions more as a court show than a game show, except that in court shows, it’s the judges who have the final say, not the studio audience. Seriously, who wants to watch a game show where family members complain about each other and watch each other do humiliating and mean-spirited things as punishment after they lose? All this is why the pilot never got picked up. Not only that, but I guess it’s also why this was Jeremy Beadle’s only attempt at hosting a game show in the US. I will say that the set looks good with the use of colors and the chasing lights. It sure looks ready to be used for a game show, even a comedy game show involving celebrity guests, but it didn’t deserve to be wasted on something like…Family Follies!

One more thing to talk about here, and that’s the music cues. The one heard in the opening spiel and the contestant introductions, composed by Score Productions, was also used on another unsold pilot game show called Puzzlers, as well as Celebrity Charades and Mindreaders, the latter of which I already covered on Game Show Corner during its first year. The main theme is “Great Ovation” by Steve Gray, a portion of which can be heard in “Feature Presentation” bumpers on Disney VHS tapes.

That’s all there is to say about Family Follies. It’s nothing but a folly, and it’s probably why he never attempted to host a game show in the US again for the rest of his life. Now, Halloween is coming next week, which means that the next edition is the year four finale of Game Show Graveyard. So, let’s end this year with something good, okay? How about a pilot that would’ve been counted as a spiritual successor of two game shows based on Charades that I covered on Game Show Corner, both during its third year? Yeah, that’ll make a really good treat.

So, that does it for this week’s edition of Game Show Graveyard. Thank you, everybody, and have a great night.

[Flowgli]

Hey, there, body talkers! This is Dr. Flo-enstein, and welcome to the year four finale of Game Show Graveyard, where we take a look at game shows that died before they were born.

How about we play a game of Charades? But as we do so, I will be covering an unsold pilot that’s based on Charades, just like Body Language and Showoffs, both of which I already covered on Game Show Corner during its third year. I will use my words to talk about this pilot rather than let my body do the talking. The name of the game is Body Talk!

Body Talk consists of two pilot episodes, both shot for ABC Daytime. These pilot episodes were shot on October 11 and 12, 1990. It was hosted by Vicki Lawrence—credited in this set of pilots as Vicki Lawrence-Schultz—announced by veteran announcer of Mark Goodson-produced game shows Gene Wood, and produced by Mark Goodson in his production company Mark Goodson Productions, who, prior to these pilot episodes, produced Body Language and Showoffs, the latter of which was also produced by Bill Todman, Mark Goodson’s producer partner. This pilot was also taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood, California.

The game is played by two teams in a battle of the sexes, each team consisting of one contestant and two celebrities. Members of the women’s team wear red shirts, and members of the men’s team wear blue shirts. The celebrities in the pilot episodes are Elaine Joyce and Marcia Wallace on the women’s team and Richard Simmons and Bill Kirchenbauer on the men’s team, though in one of the pilots, Jacklyn Zeman is one of the celebrities on the women’s team instead of Elaine Joyce. The two teams play three rounds of Charades, each one played differently.

In round one, the celebrities do the acting, and the contestants do the guessing. Four pairs of answers are played, with the answers in each pair labeled “A” and “B”. The two teams take turns choosing from the pairs of answers by letter. On each pair, two celebrities, one on each team, are shown the answers in that pair, and one of those celebrities chooses the answer for the other team to play. The celebrity on the opposing team acts out the answer for their contestant teammate while the clock counts up from zero. The celebrity on that team can have the other celebrity on that team join in on acting out the answer if they need them to. The contestant on that team makes as many guesses as they can until they correctly guess the answer, at which point the clock stops, and the team that has chosen that answer plays the remaining answer, with the clock counting down from where it has stopped from the correct guess made on the answer played first in that pair. If the contestant on the team playing the remaining answer correctly guesses it before time runs out, they score $100; but if time runs out before that answer is correctly guessed, the other team scores the money.

In round two, which is called the Panic Round, the contestants do the acting, and one celebrity on each team does the guessing. Each team has a set of five answers and 30 seconds to act out and guess as many of those answers as possible, with each correct guess worth $100. A contestant can pass on an answer if they get stuck, and they will return to that answer if there’s still time left.

In round three, which is called the Bidding Round, once again, the celebrities do the acting, and the contestants do the guessing. Each answer in this round is shown to two celebrities, one on each team, and one of the celebrities makes a bid on how many seconds they can get their contestant teammate to say that answer within, while the celebrity on the other team chooses whether to force the bidding team to play that answer or try to get their own contestant teammate to say that answer in one second less than the bid made. Afterwards, the team playing that answer must act out and correctly guess it within the time limit determined by the final bid. If the answer is correctly guessed before the time runs out, that team scores money; but if the time runs out before that team can correctly guess that answer, the other team scores the money. Pairs of opposing celebrities take turns making bids on answers, and both celebrities on a team playing an answer act out that answer together.

The first answer is worth $300, and each answer thereafter is worth $100 more than the previous answer. This round is played until one team reaches $2,000 or more, with the first team to do so winning the game, and the contestant on the winning team keeping the money their team has scored. The winning team advances to the bonus round called the “Big Money Lineup”.

In the Big Money Lineup, ten members of the studio audience come up on stage, and they do the acting, and the winning team does the guessing, with the members of the team taking turns guessing and rotating positions after each answer. Each audience member on stage acts out a different answer, and each of them whose answer is correctly guessed wins $100. If the team passes on an answer—which they can do if they are stuck—that answer and the audience member acting it out are out of play and unable to be returned to if there’s still time left. The team must correctly guess seven answers within 60 seconds in order to win the round, meaning that they can pass on up to three answers. Winning the round wins the contestant on the winning team $7,000, while failing to do so wins that contestant $100 for each answer guessed correctly.

And that’s Body Talk. It’s a shame that this pilot didn’t sell, because it looks like a good, fun game show based on Charades and a worthy spiritual successor of Body Language and Showoffs. Each round is played differently, and they’re all well done, as they involve speed, strategy, and smart decisions that the teams must make. I will say, though, that the game would’ve worked better if the first two rounds were switched, since the actual second round is more straightforward than the actual first round, and each answer in what I think should’ve been round two were worth $200. Round three is fine how and where it is; it’s a great way to decide who will win the game, though when it comes to bidding, I don’t know why they don’t have opposing pairs simply taking turns making bids until one person challenges their opponent to fulfill their bid. That’s how it’s been in game shows with the bidding mechanic instead of just choosing whether or not to get a correct guess in one second less than the original bid. Actually, since each round in the main game is played differently from each other, each of those rounds should’ve been made so that all three members of each team has an equal turn to act out and guess answers, since there’s not much of a balance in that. The bonus round is good, too, especially with the involvement of members of the studio audience doing the acting. It’s also nice that the participating studio audience members win money for having their answers correctly guessed by the winning team, though I thought that it would be more fair if all ten of those studio audience members split $100 for each answer correctly guessed, since, by having each of them whose answer is correctly guessed receive $100 and the winning team needing to correctly guess seven answers within 60 seconds in order to win the top cash prize, it makes at least three of those studio audience members have to end up receiving no money from this whatsoever. And while we’re on the subject of cash prizes, why is the top cash prize for winning the bonus round a random number like $7,000? Considering that this pilot was shot for a major television network in 1990, shouldn’t the top cash prize be $10,000?

The set does look nice, and the music cues sound good, too. Actually, the pilot’s theme music, composed by Edd Kalehoff for Score Productions, is also the theme music for other Mark Goodson-produced projects, such as lottery game shows Illinois Instant Riches and Bonus Bonanza, and an unsold pilot called TKO. The sound for when time runs out in the Fast Money round of Family Feud is used for when time runs out in this pilot, and the timer cue in this pilot is similar to that of the Winner’s Circle in Pyramid and the speed round and the Winner’s Big Money Game in Sale Of The Century, even though the latter two weren’t produced by Mark Goodson.

Pilot #1 of Body Talk, which was the one I found on YouTube and used to work on this edition, aired twice on Buzzr, the first time on September 11, 2015 during its “Lost And Found” week, and the second time on September 14, 2017. Also, the contestant on the men’s team in that episode is Bruce Lanoil, who would later go on to do puppeteer work for movies and shows from The Jim Henson Company and The Walt Disney Company—most notably Dinosaurs and the first season of The Wubbulous World Of Dr. Seuss—and provide the voice of Timon in the Disney educational short film series Wild About Safety, among other Disney projects.

One more thing about this pilot that I need to talk about is the runthrough. Actually, there are two runthroughs, one of which Vicki hosted. The other runthrough was hosted by Chuck Henry. The game in both runthroughs is basically the same as in the pilots, but with a few differences. There is no Panic Round in the runthrough Chuck hosted, leaving the main game in have only two rounds. The runthrough hosted by Vicki does have the Panic Round, and there, each team has two turns, and each correct guess is worth $50. Also, in the runthrough hosted by Vicki, the first answer in the Bidding Round is worth $200. The bonus round is mentioned in both runthroughs, but it isn’t shown being played in either one. There’s also a maximum of 30 seconds for the first answer of each pair in round one, which is never made clear in the pilots themselves, but it’s possible that that’s the case.

Well, that’s it for Body Talk and year four of Game Show Graveyard. This series has been more manageable for me this year than it has been for me last year. I’m now hoping that I’d be able to keep releasing editions for this series at this pace for next year, or maybe at a better pace. We’ll see what happens next year when I get ready for year five of Game Show Graveyard. I’d like to say that most of the pilots that I covered here this year and in this series altogether were posted by Wink Martindale in his series Wink’s Vault on his self-named channel on YouTube. Had it not been for him posting those pilots on there, the editions for those pilots, as well as Game Show Graveyard altogether, wouldn’t have been possible. Wink has been posting pilots at a fast pace as of late, and I should follow his example, though not exactly, since uploading videos on YouTube and releasing typed editions on a forum are two different things, but you get what I mean. But anyway, I’m gonna try to have each edition for year five prepared months in advance, spending one month on each edition before the time to start releasing them for the next year comes. Yeah, I think that will work. I’ll try that out, but right now, since year four of Game Show Graveyard has just come to an end, I will be resting for a while. Goodness knows I could use a break.

So, that does it for this week’s edition of Game Show Graveyard. Thank you, everybody, and have a Happy Halloween.