Local Game Shows

[sshuffield70]

We had "Bowling For Dollars" twice (once with Verne Lundquist in the 70s before "PM Magazine" premiered, and once the 80s with Terry Dorsey, who's still active in country music radio.)

We've also had "Whiz Quiz" in the 80s which became the basis for the "Texaco Academic Star Challenge".

ObGS:  WQ host, Charles "Chip" Beal was a three time J! champion in 1991.

[uncamark]

In Chicago, "TV POWWWW!" was on WGN during "Bozo" and "Ray Rayner."  They only played the Channel F Shooting Gallery game, for simplicity's sake, no doubt.  Instead of running the animation at the top of the segment, they just ran a freeze frame of the title.

Seems like I'd seen somewhere that *Jack Clark* hosted the LA incarnation of "TV POWWW!"

In Chicago, you had "It's Academic" on WMAQ with Ed Grennan as quizmaster for years and years, until it moved to WBBM and John Coughlin replaced Grennan.  When WFLD was owned by Field Enterprises, who included the World Book as one of their properties, they had "Prep Quiz Bowl," which was the "College Bowl" format for high schools.

PBS station WTTW did a local Jewish religion panel quiz called "Toss Up," which was hosted by Paul Barnes, who had played "Captain Midnight" in the old days of radio.  There was also another high school quiz show (where they recycled the desks from "Toss Up"), but I don't remember the title.  They also did a pilot for PBS called "The Fictionary Game," which was supposedly based on BBC Radio's "My Word!" and had Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert as panelists (when they were dong "Sneak Previews" for WTTW) along with the veteran Chicago radio host Eddie Schwartz, with WTTW chief announcer/pledge drive noodge Marty Robinson hosting.  Have never seen the pilot, didn't make it to network.

Back in 1967, WBKB (now WLS) aired a show that was produced by Ralph Edwards and was hosted by Bill Leyden.  It was called "Let's Face It" and was similar to "The Face is Familiar" but a little different.  Don't remember a lot about the show, other than it was probably the first Ralph Edwards show not to have any live music of any kind, band or organist.  I assume they were competing with other ABC O&Os for eventual national syndication and didn't get it (KGO won with "Anniversary Game").

And whenever Black History Month comes around in February, you can bet that the high school quiz "Know Your Heritage" will be popping up somewhere in unsold Saturday or Sunday time periods.  WLS has aired it in recent years, with news anchor Hosea Sanders the very sharp-dressed host (not a putdown--he is).

[DrBear]

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'Mar 21 2005, 08:22 AM\']Wasn't this on at some obscene time? I believe it was Saturday at 10:30 central, but I could be wrong. I just remember I could hardly stay awake as a kid to watch them spin the wheel (the reason I watched it in the first place).

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Depended on the city. It was taped Fridays at WISN-TV in Milwaukee and then sent around the state - in Green Bay it usually aired at 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon, but if sports ran long, it would get delayed.

[ChuckNet]

Begging might explain how John got his many hosting assignments.

But it certainly made for some "great entertainment!" :-)

Back on topic...how about the original Illinois Lottery GS, $100K Fortune Hunt? Just the contestants picking numbers over and over again, w/the top scorer getting their total bumped up to $100K, although the board's containing both positive and negative $$$ amounts made it a little more interesting than the similarly-formatted Cash Explosion Double Play (though the latter gets the edge for me, since its board does have such little kicks as new car and $25K bonus spaces).

Item of note: Celebrity Ding-Dang-Dong, the fictitious game show seen briefly in Home Alone 2, used the $100KFH set.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Mar 21 2005, 08:04 PM\']Back on topic...how about the original Illinois Lottery GS, $100K Fortune Hunt? Just the contestants picking numbers over and over again, w/the top scorer getting their total bumped up to $100K, although the board's containing both positive and negative $$$ amounts made it a little more interesting than the similarly-formatted Cash Explosion Double Play (though the latter gets the edge for me, since its board does have such little kicks as new car and $25K bonus spaces).

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Minor nit: Fortune Hunt did have a car space, usually a Ford Thunderbird. IIRC, you could take the car and leave, or keep playing.

Also, did runners-up keep their cash for consolation?

[ChuckNet]

Minor nit: Fortune Hunt did have a car space, usually a Ford Thunderbird. IIRC, you could take the car and leave, or keep playing.

(slaps forehead) Yeah, my bad...in fact, I think a contestant hit the car, then opted to take it and leave on one of the eps that's on the circuit.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Mar 22 2005, 08:47 PM\']

Minor nit: Fortune Hunt did have a car space, usually a Ford Thunderbird. IIRC, you could take the car and leave, or keep playing.

(slaps forehead) Yeah, my bad...in fact, I think a contestant hit the car, then opted to take it and leave on one of the eps that's on the circuit.
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

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Ah, yes! The first host of that (I forget his name) at least twice botched that part of the show up. Instead of telling the player who selected that space what his/her options were, he went to the announcer and asked, "Bill Barber, what does this mean for our Fortune Hunter?" and both times Bill said, "Itttttttttt means our contestant has to make a choice". This memory came back to me later while watching Beat The Clock when Sonny Fox asked Bern Bennett to "introduce the next two contestants" who were the same couple who had just competed sixty full seconds ago--good ol' short term memory.
Worst of the local shows I've seen on Cleveland TV: The original format to Cash Explosion--up the ladder, down the ladder, up the ladder, down the ladder. Yawn!! The best? Hmmmmm. Can't beat the Prize Movie (1975-93; 1994). Here's a mini-clip (the one featuring two kids looking at a tree and saying "Is that the tree?" comes to mind)--identify the movie.

[Craig Karlberg]

When I was in upstate New York in the early 1980's, there were 2 high school quiz shows on.  One of them was on a PBS station from Watertown.  It was called Quiz Whiz(or something like that).  Each school fielded 4-member teams.  It was basically a straight Q&A game divided into 3 rounds, one of which was for captains only I think.  Each correct answer earns points, however, an incorrect answer subtracts points ala J!.  The other one was Scholars For Dollars shot from an NBC affiliate in Plattsburgh(WPTZ-TV 5).  It too was a straight Q&A game consisting of either 3 or 4 rounds.  Correct answers earned points, but NO penalties for wrong answers.  That one had a faster pace to it than Quiz Whiz & often yield very high scores at times.  Needless to say, my high school's academic teams appeared on BOTH shows.  It fared better on Scholars than on Quiz because the rules were simpler than Quiz & because there was no penalty factored inro it.  That made me prefer Scholars over Quiz by a considerable margain.

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Mar 23 2005, 05:03 AM\']Needless to say, my high school's academic teams appeared on BOTH shows.

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They must not have had very high standards, then.

[Steve Gavazzi]

Wow...been ages since I've even thought of Fortune Hunt in any capacity besides, "gee, the name 'Fortune Hunter' sounds a lot like that."  I loved that show when I was a kid...wouldn't mind seeing it again, even though I have no memory of how half of it worked. :-)

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Mar 23 2005, 05:03 AM\']Needless to say, my high school's academic teams appeared on BOTH shows. 

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Were you on the teams Karlberg?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Mar 23 2005, 08:40 AM\'][quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Mar 23 2005, 05:03 AM\']Needless to say, my high school's academic teams appeared on BOTH shows. 

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Were you on the teams Karlberg?

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Wow...Zach has a LINE OF THE DAY!

Zach, for your sake and mine, please just take the title and shut up.

[PYLdude]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Mar 23 2005, 08:40 AM\'][quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Mar 23 2005, 05:03 AM\']Needless to say, my high school's academic teams appeared on BOTH shows. 

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Were you on the teams Karlberg?

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I say take away the Line of the Day, lock the two of them in a basement, throw away the key, and let them fight to the death.

Okay...now back to the topic.

I remember that one of the local colleges in my area has a show revolving around quiz bowl teams. It's called In The Know, and only airs on the campus TV station. The only reason I know is because my HS quiz bowl team was on the show back in 1998. As far as I know, it's still around, but I don't remember the rules or anything.

[Jimmy Owen]

We had a sustaining show in the sixties called "Science Quiz" that was produced at the NBC affil and aired on the NBC station on Sunday morning and the Public station on a weekday evening.  The set was just a curtain and desk, but I did enjoy watching it.



According to old TV Guide listings from the New York area, WPIX ran a show in the swinging '60's called "Guess My Sign."  Anybody remember seeing that one?

[aaron sica]

Although now I realize that it was probably meant more as an educational show to find out more about Pennsylvania, than it was as a game show, I remember watching "The Pennsylvania Game" when I was about 11 and being absolutely horrified at the structure (a la no prizes or bonus round)

The game itself didn't really change, IIRC, but cosmetically it did over the years...The game was simple: The host would ask a multiple-choice question about something in Pennsylvania, and the "celebrity guests" (3 of them, could be a TV or radio personality, newspaper columnist, just someone in PA) would answer, and whoever had the most right at the end of the show was crowned the winner. A la the "Password Puzzle" or "Super Password", they also did a "Mystery Pennsylvanian" in which  they would give clues throughout the program. The panel wrote down who they thought it was after each guess.

It was produced in State College (home of Penn State) in the WPSX studios, which is PSU's PBS station.

You can find out more about the show here -> http://pagame.psu.edu/default.html