Most obscure game shows

[vtown7]

Another short-lived ABC show was "The Big Moment" where a family member had one week to perform a certain task-like memorizing Pi to the 100th decimal, answering 10 questions on the movie "Ghost" Identifying 12 flavors of Baskin Robbins Ice Cream while blindfolded, etc. It was pretty fun and Brad Sherwood was a great host.

It has been playing on Radio-Canada for four years, although the last time I saw it, they had changed to a more serious tone in S4 as opposed to the light atmosphere of the first three seasons.

I very nearly ended up on the show... unfortunately there was a scheduling issue with one of my teammates and thus we couldn't make the audition.  Shame!  Ah well.

I did however go to a taping... having been to several tapings in my lifetime I have to say this was one of the most exciting.  One game required players to recall trivia questions which we in the audience couldn't see... so we had no idea of the progress.  However, when they won, the host proclaimed "You did it!" and the roof got blown off.

R.

[The Ol' Guy]

Hold Everything was little more than Dan Enright's attempt to repackage an equally obscure game he produced in Canada, All About Faces - which had a short syndicated run in the states with host Richard Hayes. This and All About The Opposite Sex were Dan's last shots at post-Barry success. I think those were still listed as Barry & Enright Productions - though a couple of years later, I get a letter from Susan Stafford in an envelope marked Stafford-Enright Productions. He left us not long after that.

[Robert Carter]

Another short-lived ABC show was "The Big Moment" where a family member had one week to perform a certain task-like memorizing Pi to the 100th decimal, answering 10 questions on the movie "Ghost" Identifying 12 flavors of Baskin Robbins Ice Cream while blindfolded, etc. It was pretty fun and Brad Sherwood was a great host.

It has been playing on Radio-Canada for four years, although the last time I saw it, they had changed to a more serious tone in S4 as opposed to the light atmosphere of the first three seasons.

I very nearly ended up on the show... unfortunately there was a scheduling issue with one of my teammates and thus we couldn't make the audition.  Shame!  Ah well.

I did however go to a taping... having been to several tapings in my lifetime I have to say this was one of the most exciting.  One game required players to recall trivia questions which we in the audience couldn't see... so we had no idea of the progress.  However, when they won, the host proclaimed "You did it!" and the roof got blown off.

R.

Both were versions of "The Moment of Truth," a British show hosted by singer Cilia Black. Ran for four series from 1998 to 2001 on London Weekend Television. (Thanks, as always, to UKgameshows.com.)

[vtown7]

Another short-lived ABC show was "The Big Moment" where a family member had one week to perform a certain task-like memorizing Pi to the 100th decimal, answering 10 questions on the movie "Ghost" Identifying 12 flavors of Baskin Robbins Ice Cream while blindfolded, etc. It was pretty fun and Brad Sherwood was a great host.

It has been playing on Radio-Canada for four years, although the last time I saw it, they had changed to a more serious tone in S4 as opposed to the light atmosphere of the first three seasons.

I very nearly ended up on the show... unfortunately there was a scheduling issue with one of my teammates and thus we couldn't make the audition.  Shame!  Ah well.

I did however go to a taping... having been to several tapings in my lifetime I have to say this was one of the most exciting.  One game required players to recall trivia questions which we in the audience couldn't see... so we had no idea of the progress.  However, when they won, the host proclaimed "You did it!" and the roof got blown off.

R.

Both were versions of "The Moment of Truth," a British show hosted by singer Cilia Black. Ran for four series from 1998 to 2001 on London Weekend Television. (Thanks, as always, to UKgameshows.com.)

Which in turn came from the original Japanese format "Happy Family Plan".

R.

/credit where credit is due!

[calliaume]

There was another religious game show called Genesis, it only ever aired once as a pilot on PAX TV, like "Inspiration" it had the grand prize of a trip to holy site, there's more info on here.  My link

Yes, hosted by Jim McKrell of "Celebrity Sweepstakes" fame. It wasn't very well done, as I recall.

I actually spoke with Jim on the phone a couple of weeks before this aired.  (It was a fluke, and it hasn't happened since.  Still, how often did George Takei allow a Trekkie to call?)  Anyway, he was excited about this, but they only made one episode (which was an hour for reasons unknown), and he had to have known that Pax had money issues (Reel to Reel Picture Show), so in effect the pilot was being aired.  And it wasn't a very good game at that.

Susan Seaforth Hayes was one of the contestants -- not a celebrity guest, just a member of one of the two church groups represented.  Her acting history and status on Days of Our Lives wasn't mentioned.

[Robert Carter]

I actually spoke with Jim on the phone a couple of weeks before this aired.  (It was a fluke, and it hasn't happened since.  Still, how often did George Takei allow a Trekkie to call?)  Anyway, he was excited about this, but they only made one episode (which was an hour for reasons unknown), and he had to have known that Pax had money issues (Reel to Reel Picture Show), so in effect the pilot was being aired.  And it wasn't a very good game at that.

Susan Seaforth Hayes was one of the contestants -- not a celebrity guest, just a member of one of the two church groups represented.  Her acting history and status on Days of Our Lives wasn't mentioned.

I think Hayes' day job was mentioned, but only briefly. Again, the game was not well done.

[Jamey Greek]

Dueling For Playmates[ and Everything Goes both on The Playboy Channel.  Also, NO It Alls a local game show in New Orleans as well as the Indiana version called Hoosier Kniw-It-It-alls.  Brandon Tartikoff was involved in both those shows.

--VH1's Rumor Has It which quizzed contestants on Celebrity Gossip.

[Kniwt]

OK, if we're resuscitating a nine-year-old thread, I've got one that I've wanted to know more about for years:

Chooz A Route, which aired locally in Rochester, N.Y., in 1968 on Channel 13. It was played on a big board that was essentially a map of the Rochester area on which the players moved to get somewhere (where?) to win something (what?). Spaces were different lengths, with expressways and freeways obviously moving you faster. (For a city its size, Rochester had a very well developed freeway network by the late 1960s, including a full "inner loop," part of which was recently demolished.) I seem to remember obstacles on the game board such as stop lights -- which, I believe, could be either red or green with changing lights that fascinated Young Me.

Other than that, I don't remember any other details. The only online images I've ever seen are newspaper listings that confirm the 1968 air date, but never any set photos or fuller description of the rules.

Go for it, kids.

[GameShowGuru]

A friend who lurks here e-mailed me to suggest a different way of looking at this question.  Rather than local shows, which are by their very nature obscure to the rest of the country, or recent, short-lived shows that frankly, every single one of us remember, a truly obscure show would be one for which no video or audio evidence survives.  I'm thinking that list would be somewhat small, and probably not include anything from the mid-seventies to the present.

I got a few that fits that bill right off the top of my head:

"Family Figures" hosted by Melvin and Mario Van Peebles; aired on BET in 1990.  If having Sweet Sweetback as a game show host isn't obscure, nothing is.
"Love Between the Sexes" hosted by Harold McCoo and Sherry Carter; aired on BET in 1992
"Get the Hook Up" hosted by Russ Parr, aka Bobby Jimmy and Alfredas; aired on TV One in 2003.

[BrandonFG]

I remember “Love Between the Sexes” very vaguely. I think it came on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30, after Spencer Christian’s “Triple Threat” revival.

From what I remember, a panel known as the “Peanut Gallery” was divided into two teams, Men and Women. They voted or discussed a date that happened between a couple, and the winning team split $500. Again, vague.

The one thing I do remember was a guy stood up a woman on her date, or didn’t show up to the taping or something, and the co-host (I guess Sherry?) looked at the camera and said “Your check will NOT be in the mail!”, which left everyone howling.

Apologies if these were mentioned. Two more obscurities from 1994: “Sports Snapshot” and “Perfect Match”. SS was hosted by Jimmy Cefalo and aired weekly. I don’t remember much except it was sports trivia and featured a home shopping element where viewers could purchase memorabilia, I’m guessing based on the day’s subject matter. It aired very sporadically here on Sunday afternoons.

PM was an ESPN game* that aired in fall ‘94, and was hosted by Ken Ober. IIRC, it was similar to Tomarken’s “Wipeout”. In round 1, two men competed, in round 2, two women. In the bonus round, they teamed up to play for a trip. I think I got that right.

*/“Obscure ESPN game show” is redundant

[TLEberle]

PM was an ESPN game* that aired in fall ‘94, and was hosted by Ken Ober. IIRC, it was similar to Tomarken’s “Wipeout”. In round 1, two men competed, in round 2, two women. In the bonus round, they teamed up to play for a trip. I think I got that right.

*/“Obscure ESPN game show” is redundant

Much like Trivial Pursuit on Family Channel, Perfect Match would take time out from the proceedings* to entreat home viewers to play a version of the game from home with an eye towards a cash prize for the Friday winner. Given that the game play was four rounds of 45 seconds for each semi-final heat, then a final round with a trip prize for matching all of the elements on the board to Ken's clues there was a lot of time for ads and interactive games.

For me the ESPN game shows go: Two Minute Drill, Sports on Tap, Dream League, (field).

[The Ol' Guy]

Man, this thread brings back a lot of memories, having seen a handful of these shows, like Telequest, Alumni Fun, and Tell Me Something Good. Some other awfully obscure ones come to mind - an old satellite network ran The Shopping Game, hosted by Art James. A Nicholson-Muir production, this was one of the earliest shows to merge a game show with call and order shopping, before the Home Shopping Game later with Bob Goen. 4 players answered questions to build up a bankroll, which they would use to bid for the items that, after the bidding, would be offered to home viewers. The idea was, since none of the players knew how much money each other had, a player could attempt to bluff a bid, offering more than they had, to win the prize. IIRC, a player's bid could be challenged. Memory fades a bit from there. If I had two Holy Grail shows I'd like to see in this category, it would be Barry & Enrights "High-Low", and Ed Wolf's "Keep Talking". I believe a touch of video exists for both, as "Gilmore Box" has the High-Low open on You Tube, and another famous collector included a tiny clip of the Carl Reiner version in a montage of shows. There's hope. One more oldie comes to mind - a CBS Saturday afternoon kids quiz around the early to mid-60s following all the cartoon blocks called "Do You Know?" Had a vocal theme song.

[Jamey Greek]

Love at First Sight a short-lived dating-relationship show with Jeff MacGregor as host from 1992.

[Blanquepage]

If I had two Holy Grail shows I'd like to see in this category, it would be Barry & Enrights "High-Low"

Well now, I could arrange that one. Keep an eye out on the video forum page, I coincidentally just re-digitized an episode of this recently.

[The Ol' Guy]

And with that, Blanquepage, I thank you very much! Watching it after reading the "Misdemeanors" book mentioned in another post was interesting. Truly appreciate you serving that up.