(Non-Celebrity) Hot Potato Episode Guide

[gamed121683]

I'm aware this question might sound a bit geeky, but I have a feeling that I've come to the right place to have it answered. I know that there's an episode guide online for Celebrity Hot Potato, but there isn't one for the civilian version of the show that ran from January 23 to April 20, 1984. Below I've compiled a list of the ones that I've been able to identify so far.

If you can help me fill in the blanks and/or have a clue as to which teams played on Episodes 38-65, I'd greatly appreciate it .

1. 1/23/84 - Moms To Be vs. Teachers

2. 1/24/84 - Teachers vs. Fireman

3. 1/25/84 - Fireman vs. Dental Hygienists

4. 1/26/84 - Dental Hygienists vs. Waitresses

5. 1/27/84 - Waitresses vs. Air Force

6. 1/30/84 - Waitresses vs. Coaches

7. 1/31/84 - Waitresses @ Bonus Game (Subject: Noise)

8. 2/1/84 - Moms of Twins vs. Telegram Singers

9. 2/2/84 - Telegram Singers vs. Redheads

10. 2/3/84 - Telegram Singers vs. Checkers

11. 2/6/84 - Checkers vs. Softball Managers

12. 2/7/84 - Beer Tasters @ Bonus game (Subject: Doctors)

13. 2/8/84 - Flight Attendants @ Bonus Game (Subject: Length)

14. 2/9/84 - Flight Attendants @ Bonus Game (Subject: Animals)

15. 2/10/84 - Phone Reps vs. Computer Reps

16. 2/13/84 - Computer Reps @ Bonus game (Subject: Weight)

17. 2/14/84 - Computer Reps @ Bonus game (Subject: Jobs)

18. 2/15/84 - Computer Reps vs. Bus Operators

19. 2/16/84 - Computer Reps vs. Insurance Agents

20. 2/17/84 - Insurance Agents vs. Moms To Be

21-25. 2/20/84-2/24/84 - Special Celebrity week feat. Miss Americas vs. All American Sportsmen

26. 2/27/84 - Moms To Be vs. Travel Agents

27. 2/28/84 - Clowns @ Bonus game (Subject: Money Making Movies)

28. 2/29/84 - Dentists vs. Air Traffic Controllers

29. 3/1/84 - Dentists vs. Cookie Makers

30. 3/2/84 - Dentists @ Bonus game (Subject: Real Names)

31. 3/5/84

32. 3/6/84 - Little League Coaches @ Bonus game (Subject: The Oscars)

33. 3/7/84

34. 3/8/84 - Private Eyes vs. Paralegals

35. 3/9/84

36. 3/12/84

37. 3/13/84 - Bartenders vs. Beekeepers

[TLEberle]

13. 2/8/84 - Flight Attendants @ Bonus Game (Subject: Length)

People watch this in the daytime, y'know.

/if Bill Cullen was going to stoop to that joke you can bet that it would be clever and not direct. So there's that.

[WarioBarker]

I can confirm two more:
64. 4/19/84 - 411 Operators vs. Reporters (next team: Auctioneers)

65. 4/20/84 - Reporters vs. Auctioneers (next team: Artists)

[TLEberle]

More seriously I recall from the reruns a team of Beekeepers (dressed up in the jump suits) failing at the bonus round repeatedly until finally knocking it off for $30,000, so they would have been on for at least a week. Also, a team of Accountants won forty grand, so they would also have to be on for a while.

[Adam Nedeff]

More seriously I recall from the reruns a team of Beekeepers (dressed up in the jump suits) failing at the bonus round repeatedly until finally knocking it off for $30,000, so they would have been on for at least a week. Also, a team of Accountants won forty grand, so they would also have to be on for a while.

No, the Beekeepers LOST without capturing the bonus round. Audience audibly deflated when their opponents beat them in the next game. Biggest end game win of the series was episode #7, with the waitresses getting the softest of softball questions to claim $20,000.

[TLEberle]

The biggest end game in the series came two weeks in? Huh.

This is why the internet is great. Thank you for the correction.

[PYLdude]

Maybe I'm just being overly cynical, but while Hot Potato was a fine game and one I still enjoy, I never understood the reasoning behind the teams being composed of people with a common occupation.

[MikeK]

Maybe I'm just being overly cynical, but while Hot Potato was a fine game and one I still enjoy, I never understood the reasoning behind the teams being composed of people with a common occupation.

All family members had been done and was still on the air in 1984.  I think having three strangers could lead to awkward moments.  It seemed like a good percentage of the teams were co-workers, or at least knew each other through networking.

Also, they're three of a kind.  Charlie O even says it in the open.

[Eric Paddon]

The common occupation thing was frankly what made it distinctive to me.    Once it was eliminated the whole show became exposed for its weak format (made weaker with bad celeb play).

[Dbacksfan12]

Maybe I'm just being overly cynical, but while Hot Potato was a fine game and one I still enjoy, I never understood the reasoning behind the teams being composed of people with a common occupation.

All family members had been done and was still on the air in 1984.  I think having three strangers could lead to awkward moments.  It seemed like a good percentage of the teams were co-workers, or at least knew each other through networking.

I also wonder if Barry & Enright had tried this, say five years earlier, whether it would have lasted longer.  From what Richard Dawson said during his speech on the Feud was on its last legs, even then.  Perhaps people had tired of the team vs team format by this point.

[PYLdude]

Maybe I'm just being overly cynical, but while Hot Potato was a fine game and one I still enjoy, I never understood the reasoning behind the teams being composed of people with a common occupation.

All family members had been done and was still on the air in 1984.  I think having three strangers could lead to awkward moments.  It seemed like a good percentage of the teams were co-workers, or at least knew each other through networking.

I also wonder if Barry & Enright had tried this, say five years earlier, whether it would have lasted longer.  From what Richard Dawson said during his speech on the Feud was on its last legs, even then.  Perhaps people had tired of the team vs team format by this point.

I doubt it...outside of their big two, nothing they did seemed to stick except Bullseye and even that didn't make two full years before they effed it up.

/if it wasn't already effed up to start
//how in the hell do you not time the show properly enough to where you have to end DURING the bonus round? (Hi original Lingo!)

[aaron sica]

/if it wasn't already effed up to start

I think it was. When I watched it as a child (I was around 6 when it came on), I always rooted against a 5-question contract as that was boring. Re-watching it as an adult, I felt the same way. It's too long to drag out one turn. I couldn't have been the only one who felt that way.

[BrandonFG]

I think it was. When I watched it as a child (I was around 6 when it came on), I always rooted against a 5-question contract as that was boring. Re-watching it as an adult, I felt the same way. It's too long to drag out one turn. I couldn't have been the only one who felt that way.

You weren't...I remember watching one of the Celebrity episodes during one of those GSN marathons, and thought it dragged, esp. since you had to get to $2,000. I don't remember which episode it was, but they didn't even get to the Bonus Island during the episode. That's bad television IMO.

[aaron sica]

they didn't even get to the Bonus Island during the episode. That's bad television IMO.

Definitely. I can understand no bonus round due to tie games (a la TTD or MG) but not because one game dragged out that long.

[JasonA1]

.I remember watching one of the Celebrity episodes during one of those GSN marathons, and thought it dragged, esp. since you had to get to $2,000.

Just to tamp down an oft-repeated bit of logic about Bullseye's format - the values on the wheels doubled when they went to the $2,000 goal. So the game was as slow as it ever was, just richer

//how in the hell do you not time the show properly enough to where you have to end DURING the bonus round? (Hi original Lingo!)

Match Game says hello. The original Lingo never bothered me, because that was, for its era, more of a big decision game like the Deal or No Deal-era prime time games. "They're risking their $8,000 for $16,000! See if they can do it, next time..." That's a far better cliffhanger than "tomorrow, it will be spin number 4, as the champion risks $800, with one frozen bullseye, on their way to that $2500 living room set."

-Jason