What's the most fanboy-ish game show fact you know?

[davemackey]

Clementson's called me several times on my arcane knowledge of who was working at each of the networks' technical departments.

[The Pyramids]

Dick Clark would tape ten 'Pyramid' shows a day.

Chuck Woolery's later day 'Love Connecton' wardrobe was furnished by Bernini.

GSN has been airing 'Blockbusters' on weekend mornings for nearly 5 years.

I'll stop.

[Johnissoevil]

Family Feud's game show host week.

[DoorNumberFour]

The staging of the host/panel desks for "What's My Line" was reversed for "I've Got A Secret" because Goodson and Todman knew IGaS was a ripoff of WML, and therefore wanted to make the show look as different from Line as possible.

The first episode of I've Got A Secret was staged like a courtroom, and it looked so terrible that the set was burned the next day.

When writing clues for the "Jeopardy!" board, the writers fit no more than 7 lines and 13 letters on each line for a clue.

[Jimmy Owen]

The formats of "Double Talk" and "Celebrity Double Talk" were identical.

[RMF]

Just by viewing, I have determined the original preservation materials for over a dozen of the programs held at the Paley Center, and will supply them on demand.

[TwoInchQuad]

[quote name=\'Johnissoevil\' post=\'169828\' date=\'Nov 18 2007, 12:39 PM\']

Allen Ludden hosted a pilot for TJW before the show made it to the air.

[/quote]

Actually, he hosted at least two pilots for TJW before the show's premiere.

-Kevin

[Robert Hutchinson]

There's the old standby of "Blackout was the only game show (TV show?) to both replace and be replaced by (all in first-run) the same show, $25,000 Pyramid."

You can count on prices in the TPIR games Ten Chances and Safe Crackers to always end in zeroes.

And there's something about 1.5 million colors of light, I think . . .

[davidhammett]

[quote name=\'GameShowFan\' post=\'169841\' date=\'Nov 18 2007, 04:41 PM\']
"Sale of the Century" is the only game show known where a husband and wife pair were both undefeated champions and/or won the top prize. (IIRC, Richard and Rani White; Richard during the Winner's Board format, Rani during the Winner's Big Money Game format.) (Can I say I remember seeing this in a library book at university?)
[/quote]
I misinterpreted the first line of this, and was about to be very impressed that Brian (or anyone) could remember that much detail about the 70s $otC, which IIRC did eventually feature married couples.

Yeah, the dates thing is what I probably specialize in, most notably that the Monday after the original J! went off was when WoF premiered.  And does anyone else remember the great two page spread in the TV Guide that week... decent shots of Celebrity Sweepstakes, WoF, Blank Check, and (who cares, but it was) How to Survive a Marriage.

There's also this... the premiere date of Match Game '73 was pushed back a week, apparently because of Watergate coverage.  (At least that's how I understand it...)

[dzinkin]

This one's most frequent for me since GSN came into existence:

Someone asks why GSN doesn't rerun a particular show, and I can tell them that most of the run is gone and how many episodes are known to exist.

[DoorNumberFour]

On Jeopardy, if you buzz in before Alex finishes reading the clue, your buzzer will be locked out for three-tenths of a second after the ready-light around the board goes on.

[Steve Gavazzi]

Until the set was rebuilt this summer, Price's doors still had a jack in them to plug The Phone Home Game into.

[Speedy G]

I'm sure my worst ones probably involve Nickelodeon game shows...

The Purple Parrots won exactly twice in season one Legends of the Hidden Temple, and far and away won the fewest episodes over the whole series.

Edd Kalehoff wrote the music to every Nick gameshow until Wild and Crazy Kids premiered.

Also (mostly because it makes me laugh), on What Would You Do?, the audience never let a contestant go to the Pie Pod without receiving the maximum number of pies available.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'169862\' date=\'Nov 18 2007, 03:58 PM\']
You can count on prices in the TPIR games Ten Chances and Safe Crackers to always end in zeroes.
[/quote]
I weep, for I remember a day when that was NOT the case.

I'd say, knowing that the object for the players is to get three stars in a row, either across, up and down, or diagonally, and that it is their job to determine if the star is giving the correct answer or making one up, for that's how they get the square. Further, that each game is worth $100, and that they play a two-out-of-three match (they play for $200), and that there is also a Secret Square game. which is played after completing the one in progress.

/with a tip of the Le Show Chapeau to Myron Meyer

[comicus]

I've never been so grateful to just be a simple casual fan of game shows with a limited-at-best knowledge of the inner workings and obscure trivia tidbits of the genre.

/fanboy in denial