Money for nothin'

[pyrfan]

How many game shows can you think of where it was possible for a celebrity to show up and never have to do anything for the entire show? I can only name a few off the top of my head (and I've seen it happen with all of them): "Hollywood Squares," "Battlestars," and the '70s "Break the Bank."

I guess "All-Star Blitz" could technically fit this category, but it seems unlikely that this ever would have happened. I'm thinking that "Celebrity Sweepstakes" could qualify, as I think Greg Mullavey only got called on once during one episode.

Can you guys think of any others?


Brendan

[Kevin Prather]

Someone else can confirm or deny, but didn't one or two celebs go a whole WEEK of HS without ever getting picked?

[PYLdude]

Someone else can confirm or deny, but didn't one or two celebs go a whole WEEK of HS without ever getting picked?

Seems like a hard thing to pull off...on average you'd have, what, at least 12 games a week on HS? I'm interested to hear the answer to that myself.

(My reasoning? Unless you have one or two real smart contestants and a bunch of dingbats it'd be pretty hard to not have to pick a celebrity in a weird spot on the grid.)

[Dbacksfan12]

Someone else can confirm or deny, but didn't one or two celebs go a whole WEEK of HS without ever getting picked?

(My reasoning? Unless you have one or two real smart contestants and a bunch of dingbats it'd be pretty hard to not have to pick a celebrity in a weird spot on the grid.)

A long time ago, someone, Steve Beverly, I think wrote a piece on HS.  I remember reading that Chuck Woolery was complaining that he hadn't been picked in some time and that's when the series went to rotating people around.

[whewfan]

Here's some that come to mind...

$1.98 Beauty Show- For this show all you had to do was show up, and at least feign some degree of interest. None of the "celebs" (most of the people on the show were bottom of the barrel, or Chuck Barris cronies) ever spoke. The celebs didn't even have to pick a "winner", as this was a parody of a contest with no actual prizes given away.

1 vs 100- Besides Bob Saget giving the celeb players a brief mention, the celebs featured on the show had little to say or do, and if the celeb(s) are eliminated early that's it.

Make Me Laugh- Sit in a chair and try not to laugh at the comics... sounds like easy money to me.

Break the Bank (Rayburn)- The celebs often would not get a chance to "perform" in the stunts

Rhyme and Reason- I don't know if this qualifies, but it's possible to win a game without having to pick all 6 celebs. Bob usually asked some of the unpicked stars to come up with a rhyme for certain phrases, so I guess all 6 celebs had some degree of participation, but I've only seen the pilot so I wouldn't know for sure.

[colonial]

Someone else can confirm or deny, but didn't one or two celebs go a whole WEEK of HS without ever getting picked?

Seems like a hard thing to pull off...on average you'd have, what, at least 12 games a week on HS? I'm interested to hear the answer to that myself.

(My reasoning? Unless you have one or two real smart contestants and a bunch of dingbats it'd be pretty hard to not have to pick a celebrity in a weird spot on the grid.)

The closest I can remember this happening was during the week of Bergeron HS where Robin Williams and Billy Crystal appeared as squares for three of the week's five episodes.  IIRC, comic Sarah Silverman was brought in as one of the two "replacement" celebs for the Thursday and Friday shows, and was never picked by the contestants.

JD

[Jimmy Owen]

Celebrity Family Feud pre-lollipop tree.

[TimK2003]

ISTR on the Davidson Squares that with the exception of Friday shows, when everyone came down, the under-picked or non-picked celebs of the day seemed to wind up next to the civilians more often than not when the winner tried to start a car.

I also remember Davidson referring to said star(s) as the contestant's "Good Luck Celebrity" (Wha???).


Another game show could be "Match Game 7x".  Sure you have to write down 3-4 answers per match and reveal your answers, but you don't have do do much else in the Super Match or the pre Star Wheel days if you were sitting like a lox, because nobody would call on you.   (See: Karas, Alex).

[clemon79]

The celebs didn't even have to pick a "winner", as this was a parody of a contest with no actual prizes given away.

And, thus, not a game show.

1 vs 100- Besides Bob Saget giving the celeb players a brief mention, the celebs featured on the show had little to say or do, and if the celeb(s) are eliminated early that's it.

They had to answer at least one question.

Make Me Laugh- Sit in a chair and try not to laugh at the comics... sounds like easy money to me.

Not even remotely relevant. In fact, the booked celebrities did all of the heavy lifting here.

[Ian Wallis]

Someone else can confirm or deny, but didn't one or two celebs go a whole WEEK of HS without ever getting picked?

It's unlikely that they'd go a whole week, but in the Marshall version it was more of a possibility.  Since celebrities usually stayed in the same squares the whole week, if you weren't in a corner there's a chance you could go several shows without being picked.  On the Davidson version they usually changed squares on each show so it was less likely.  I actually remember an episode of the Marshall version where 3 stars weren't picked in one show - but I think it might have been a nighttime show.

Re. Break the Bank, on the second week of the show (which GSN aired back in the good old days), Tom Bosley went through the first three shows of the week without getting a question.  Finally, on the Thursday show he changed places with Alex Karras and got called on a couple of times.  Oddly enough, Alex didn't.  On the Friday show Alex complained about not getting picked on Thursday!  A few weeks into the run they started changing some seating around between shows to make this scenario less likely.

[whewfan]

The celebs didn't even have to pick a "winner", as this was a parody of a contest with no actual prizes given away

And, thus, not a game show.

True, but oddly enough the Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows lists it as one.

1 vs 100- Besides Bob Saget giving the celeb players a brief mention, the celebs featured on the show had little to say or do, and if the celeb(s) are eliminated early that's it

They had to answer at least one question.

Yes, but in the somewhat unlikely event that they were eliminated on the first question, that was it, they leave the stage.

Make Me Laugh- Sit in a chair and try not to laugh at the comics... sounds like easy money to me.

Not even remotely relevant. In fact, the booked celebrities did all of the heavy lifting here.

I mean the celebs playing as contestants, not the comics. Arguably it's a challenge NOT to laugh at the comics, and there were prizes at stake so the celeb had to keep a straight face for the sake of an audience member. Bert Convy was on once, and he laughed at Garry Shandling's joke before he had a chance to get to the punchline, and this was only 5 seconds or so into the first round! Bobby Van asked if Bert could get a second chance and they let him start over.

[TLEberle]

Matt, are you undoing the quote tags for some reason? It makes the posts terrifically hard to decipher.

[clemon79]

True, but oddly enough the Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows lists it as one.

Um, so?

Yes, but in the somewhat unlikely event that they were eliminated on the first question, that was it, they leave the stage.

It's still doing something. It seems for one of these laundry-list topics, the stricter people try to keep to the original question, the better.

I mean the celebs playing as contestants, not the comics. Arguably it's a challenge NOT to laugh at the comics, and there were prizes at stake so the celeb had to keep a straight face for the sake of an audience member.

By the very nature of the celebrities being contestants and playing the game, they're doing something. Just so happens that the "something" in this case is the unnatural action of "not laughing at a comedian." They have to make an effort to do it.

I leave the question of whether or not it is natural not to laugh at Bruce Baum as an exercise for the reader.

[Matt Ottinger]

Matt, are you undoing the quote tags for some reason? It makes the posts terrifically hard to decipher.

You talkin' to me?  Because if you are, the answer is no.

[TLEberle]

Matt, are you undoing the quote tags for some reason? It makes the posts terrifically hard to decipher.

You talkin' to me?  Because if you are, the answer is no.

No sir. Believe me, if I was addressing you, I would have kicked off with "Your eminence," or something befitting a gentleman of your caliber. Whewfan is also a Matt, isn't he?