Besides budget problems, the show had other problems...
Peter did say in his book that "it sounded like a good idea". My take is, he put himself in a position where he actually had to act as a "game show host. The material didn't allow Peter to play off the celebs (if you want to call the likes of Lainie Kazan and Abe Vigoda celebs) so the format was entirely foreign to him.
It seems Peter wasn't 100% clear on the rules, and botched up the bonus game on at least one occasion by giving away answers when he shouldn't have.
Reel the Reel had obvious problems booking A list (heck, none were even C list) celebs, not to mention celebs that had a vast knowledge of movie trivia. Tom Poston was very embarassed not knowing most of the material being asked.
Reel to Reel could've been reformatted into a HS-like format. Perhaps something similar to Celebrity Sweepstakes where celebs wrote down answers to questions, and the players had to determine who had the right answer.
