"In a moment...the game that intrigued a nation..."

[wdm1219inpenna]

What I often wondered was, why was Tic Tac Dough a game that intrigued a nation?  Was this referring to the very long and successful run Lt. Thom McKee had back in 1980?  Did it refer to the 1950s version being tainted by the Barry & Enright quiz show scandal?  Was this opening referring to both things?

If the 1990 version had a better host & set, kept the 1978 CBS bonus game (sans the Dragon Slayer), and not emptied the pot after every tie game, I believe this program could have had a much better run than it did.  About the only thing I did like, other than the updated main game board, was the players having a little bit of control on stopping the shuffle of categories.

[SamJ93]

My guess is they wanted to do something a little different and more "mysterious"-sounding than a standard game show opening, to try and make the show stand out a little.  It just came off as awkward, though, especially introducing Wayne as "the man who will guide you through the next 30 minutes of TTD" instead of just "the host"...and then there's that theme music (seriously, was that piece of garbage really written by Henry Mancini?)

What's funny now though, is that the show used to be held up as the gold standard among crappy game shows, yet I can think of at least two others that have aired since that actually make TTD90 seem palatable.

[wdm1219inpenna]

My guess is they wanted to do something a little different and more "mysterious"-sounding than a standard game show opening, to try and make the show stand out a little.  It just came off as awkward, though, especially introducing Wayne as "the man who will guide you through the next 30 minutes of TTD" instead of just "the host"...and then there's that theme music (seriously, was that piece of garbage really written by Henry Mancini?)

What's funny now though, is that the show used to be held up as the gold standard among crappy game shows, yet I can think of at least two others that have aired since that actually make TTD90 seem palatable.

Would Match Game '98 and Card Sharks 2001 be those two other shows?

[WarioBarker]

What's funny now though, is that the show used to be held up as the gold standard among crappy game shows, yet I can think of at least two others that have aired since that actually make TTD90 seem palatable.

Would one of those be Thousand-Dollar Bee? (The only other ones I can think of, other than those WDM said, are Peer Pressure, Donnymid, and the American Temptation.)

The problem with Tic-Tac-Dough '90 was that, while it kept the same basic format, it was brought down by pretty much everything else -- host, sound effects (the addition, partway through, of a rapping Dragon and Dragonslayer), theme, set (thing as a whole looked way too large given where the host/contestants/board were {which in turn made it look like there was no audience}; contestant podiums specifically looked like Enright recycled them from some unsold pilot), the freaking Divorced Couples Week (done much better on Family Feud), etc.

[Dbacksfan12]

set (logo didn't need to be that far out in front of the board; contestant podiums looked like B&E recycled them from an unrelated, unsold pilot), etc.

Mabel!  Tic Tac Dough is back on the air!  Oh look--the logo is placed awkwardly.  Let's watch Quiz Kids Challenge instead.

[ITSBRY]

Patrick Wayne was truly awful, but the rest of it wasn't overly objectionable to me. I thought the set was quite neat looking and pretty modern for its time. The theme was bizarre, but it grew on me. It always seemed like an attempt to poke fun at a preschool game being played on TV by adults. It just had that children's show sound to it...like the Child's Play theme. With a good host, I think the weird gimmicks would have seemed less distracting. Wayne just amplified them with his delivery, making the overall presentation seem super corny. Ultimately, I don't think anything could have saved the show in the end though. The early 90s was dead man walking for a whole lot of game shows thanks to trash talk.

I actually liked the revivals of TJW and TTD. They had their problems for sure, but were entertaining nonetheless...for me anyway. TJW in particular had some elements that I thought were improvements. It had a more Jeopardy!-like feel because the material was challenging. With some tweaks, I think both shows could have been worthy successors in an environment that was more friendly to game shows.

[clemon79]

What I often wondered was, why was Tic Tac Dough a game that intrigued a nation?  Was this referring to the very long and successful run Lt. Thom McKee had back in 1980?

Yes.

Did it refer to the 1950s version being tainted by the Barry & Enright quiz show scandal?

No.

About the only thing I did like, other than the updated main game board, was the players having a little bit of control on stopping the shuffle of categories.

So they push a button to generate a random event instead of just having the random event. Whee.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

In retrospect, I liked the opening to the show. I like to think of it as a nod to the ending of the CBS TJW finale (except backwards).

/Those who have seen the CBS TJW finale will know what I mean.

[TLEberle]

/Those who have seen the CBS TJW finale will know what I mean.

What about those of us who haven't?

[clemon79]

/Those who have seen the CBS TJW finale will know what I mean.

What about those of us who haven't?

Then we won't. I'm pretty at peace with that.

[golden-road]

/Those who have seen the CBS TJW finale will know what I mean.

What about those of us who haven't?

For those who haven't, the finale ended with the set darkening piece by piece. TTD'90 starts with the set lighting up piece by piece.

[Johnissoevil]

What's funny now though, is that the show used to be held up as the gold standard among crappy game shows, yet I can think of at least two others that have aired since that actually make TTD90 seem palatable.

I can probably think of about 5 or 6, maybe more, that make TTD '90 look like TPIR by comparison.

[alfonzos]

The best thing about this version of the game was the opening schpiel. The set looked incomplete, the graphics were bland, and the whole half-hour seemed to drag. If I hadn't lived through the first revival, I would have wondered what the fuss was all about.

[MikeK]

I would guess bad time slots also killed TTD90 even more than the crappy host, resetting the pot after ties, and the other problems with the game.  In Cleveland, WJW aired TTD90 at 4 AM, followed by Quiz Kids Challenge.  I saw it once in its original run, out of morbid curiosity.  It was once too many.

[TLEberle]

I would guess bad time slots also killed TTD90 evenmore

In Seattle Tic Tac Dough was on at 7:30, against another quiz show that was six years old and hitting the peak of popularity. I don't think anything at 7:30pm was going to win the timeslot, and certainly not Tic Tac Dough. Fixing the host, the money, the set, the music, the everything would have made a better product but it wouldn't have won that particular battle.