One could argue that Hot Potato was another "pulling the wagon" show, especially when they switched to celebs. The format itself was simple enough, if not derivative of Family Feud. The bonus game, however, had some originality. I think I had mentioned on a fairly recent post that when I played this game at a GSC years ago, I noticed how bland of a game it was without a "Bill Cullen" hosting.
You can tell Bill isn't really having as much fun with the celebs, in fact when he announces they are switching to celebs, you can almost see the look on his face thinking "okay, we'll see what we can do to make that work." The "three of a kind" setup worked fine, especially with the threesomes dressed to look like the occupation they did.
The show didn't need celebrities, and some looked like they'd rather not be there. When Arte Johnson was on, if there was a question he liked, he'd be enthusiastic and funny, however, if there was a question he didn't like, he would just give a nonsense answer and retreat to the bench in the back, like he didn't care. For example, there was a question about Dennis the Menace, which he clearly knew nothing about, so instead of passing the hot potato and hoping the opponents know less than him (which would've been a much better strategy), he gives a nonsensical answer, thus making his team one less person. Jan Murray did this too, he'd play more for laughs, but at least he looked like he kinda wanted to be there. (In fact I would've passed it to Jan, who would be more likely to give a funny answer instead of one that fit the question) The final episode also had the worst editing for the end. At the end, the celebs gathered together on one side of the stage, leaving one contestant standing alone, but yet they inserted shots of the contestant and celebs all standing where they should be, which looked very awkward. The final show also had more frantic pacing because they knew it would be the last show for the season, and they wanted to fit in at least 2 full games.
