Local Game Shows

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'hmtriplecrown\' date=\'Mar 24 2005, 11:08 AM\']The teams are given 2000 points to start and the highest question in the first round is 40 points?  Sounds like Mo' Points Syndrome.

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Well, you see this way, Mike, no team leaves empty handed.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'hmtriplecrown\' date=\'Mar 24 2005, 09:08 AM\'][quote name=\'TonicBH\' date=\'Mar 24 2005, 09:45 AM\']The only local game show we have here in Portland is "The High Five Challenge," hosted by former news personality Wayne Faligowski.

It's a simple high school/college bowl, except teams started with 2,000, there were five categories chosen at random, and questions were at 10, 20 and 40 points, respectively.[/quote]
The teams are given 2000 points to start and the highest question in the first round is 40 points?  Sounds like Mo' Points Syndrome.

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There are ten categories, nine with 10-10-20-20-40 (shuffled around) and the tenth category has those amounts doubled.

Merely speculation, but I wonder if the "High Five" scoreboards are incapable of displaying a blank. (no points would read '0000' or whatever).  The 2,000 means that it would be nearly impossible to lose enough points to go below 1,000,  and similarly that the teams won't go into a negative situation.  They might have started with 200 points back in the test runs, but there have been some teams that are so trigger happy that they lose more than that.   (They have a rule where you can steal the opposing team's answer, but if your team is wrong, you lose double the value.)

From the shows I've seen, 2,500 is an excellent score, and after a while I just mentally drop the 2,000.

As one of only two high school quiz shows I've seen, I can't say how it ranks with the rest, but QB is certainly a more interesting game- High Five is like "Jeopardy Lite".

[PostIt]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' post=\'79123\' date=\'Mar 23 2005, 02:06 AM\']
[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.
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Oh I remember that show! "The $100,000 Fortune Hunt". And yup you're right, it was a dreary concept, but then again, since it was a lottery game show and you only needed a dollar (the cost of the scratcher), some luck, and the IQ of room temperature to be on it, stands to reason the format couldn't be all that complicated.
And I also remember the original host. His name was Jeff Coopwood. And frankly, he was the only reason to watch the show. He actually made it fun. His ad libs with the contestants, and good sense of timing and pacing actually made the thing fun. I remember his co-host was Linda Kollmeyer, who was a kewpie doll, Vanna-type who had a voice like sandpaper. She is still drawing balls for their Lotto contests! Wow! Talk about a career move! And I also remember that chick that ran the lottery back then. Her name was Sharon Sharpe, and she was a total camera hog. She couldn't read the teleprompter for squat and always had that "deer caught in the headlights" look! Too funny, and too sad. But yeah, as I recall, Coopwood bailed after the first year and they replaced him with some dude named Mike Jackson, who had been a local tv news guy, and he was so boring he made watching weeds grow more entertaining! Besides, I remember some news story that he got the job because his wife was some state government honcho! Too funny, and too lame! As I recall, another news report said that the ratings for the show nose-dived after Coopwood left -they were actually higher than "Wheel of Fortune" in Chicago when he was there, (and Pat Sajak is FROM Chicago!) - and they just died after Coopwood left. So apparently I'm not the only person who really liked him on that show.
And I remember that faux pas about him asking the announcer "what does the contestant win", at the wrong time, because that was the format of the show, to throw it to the announcer for a description of the prize. But I also remember that was the show's pilot episode! And they shot live-to-tape without stops, so I suppose only one mistake in the pilot isn't that bad. And he only did that once, not twice. Like I said, Coopwood was the only real reason to watch this dreck. And good for him that he got out when he did, because he might be stuck still drawing lotto balls with Linda Kollmeyer! LOL

[ChuckNet]

And I also remember the original host. His name was Jeff Coopwood. And frankly, he was the only reason to watch the show. He actually made it fun. His ad libs with the contestants, and good sense of timing and pacing actually made the thing fun.

And for you Seinfeld fans out there (again, a nod to the central PA contingent...LOL), Coopwood also guest-starred in the 1995 "Fusilli Jerry" ep, as well as (ObGameShow) hosting the 1989 series of long-running Chicago HS quiz Know Your Heritage.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[uncamark]

And some years ago, Linda Kollmeyer was in a play in Chicago where she played a vapid yuppie cokehead.  Some may say that it was typecasting.

[Angus Deayton] Allegedly. [AD]

[The Ol' Guy]

I was up in Oscoda, Michigan a few weeks ago and stumbled onto a local station high school quiz game I think was called "Knowledge Bowl". I swear it was the most painful thing I've ever watched. It made the "Bee" almost look like Masterpiece Theater in comparison. I've been kidded about being no super producer, but brother...I think I filled a whole page with the horrors. Among my favorites were:

The camera doing the host close-ups wasn't balanced, and she had a lovely, glowing green complexion that became more earthly-looking in the occasional wide shot.

In the wide shot, the signs over the teams with the name of the show weren't totally in the shot, making it "owledge Bowl" on one side, and "Knowledge Bo" on the other.

If the hostess couldn't pronounce a word in the question, she's either mangle it or skip it. "Gee, I can't pronounce that one..." She seemed very uncomfortable, and probably was.

And my favorite, each player panel had four players and two microphones - like  O m O  O  m  O. The host podium was positioned between the two panels, so all players turned to their left or their right to face her and give their answer. If the player buzzing in was like the first or third player on the team, they were facing away from their nearest mike, so there were many, many questions like:

"Who was the Civil War general famous for burning buildings while marching through Georgia?"
*buzz*
"Tom, Alpena.."
" --silence-- "
"Correct for 10 points! "

Matt, clone yourself and get over there quick!

[CherryPizza]

It was before my time, but in the city where I was born there was a game show that was pretty much a game of mini-golf (or "putt-putt") on TV

[goongas]

[quote name=\'CherryPizza\' post=\'122578\' date=\'Jun 26 2006, 07:26 PM\']
It was before my time, but in the city where I was born there was a game show that was pretty much a game of mini-golf (or "putt-putt") on TV
[/quote]

Has anyone seen the current New Jersey Challenge that airs on News 12 NJ (Long Island has a similar show)?  It features local high school academic teams.  The show asks some of the most uninteresting questions I have ever seen on a game show, and the host, while doing a decent job, seems very wooden to me.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Illinois' Luckiest was pretty bad. The show looked like it was taped in a black box theatre, not to mention the 180 degree turn in gameplay.

Know Your Heritage has gone downhill as well. Gameplay is not as serious, and last time I watched, they were playing rap music in the background during the speed round...go figure.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' post=\'122566\' date=\'Jun 26 2006, 05:03 PM\']Matt, clone yourself and get over there quick![/quote]
Astonishingly, there are now FOUR high school quiz bowls on various Michigan stations.  We're often told that we're the best, but we also realize that it's virtually by default.

[sshuffield70]

[quote name=\'CherryPizza\' post=\'122578\' date=\'Jun 26 2006, 06:26 PM\']
It was before my time, but in the city where I was born there was a game show that was pretty much a game of mini-golf (or "putt-putt") on TV
[/quote]

Sounds stupid but Putt-Putt and the Professional Putters Association produced a national show for 15-20 years.  A national tournament was taped in the summer at a Carolina Putt-Putt, and the tournament then played out over the season, match play style.  Later on, as the "Skins" format proved popular, it was played as a 3 player "hole in one or else".  I haven't seen it since around '93.  Was probably cancelled at that time.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'sshuffield70\' post=\'122676\' date=\'Jun 28 2006, 06:11 AM\']
Later on, as the "Skins" format proved popular, it was played as a 3 player "hole in one or else".  I haven't seen it since around '93.  Was probably cancelled at that time.
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Naw, it's still airing....once in a blue moon I run across it on ESPN.

The problem with Putt-Putt (as opposed to Miniature) golf is that visually it REALLY isn't interesting. It's a skill game rather than a novelty game, so they're not putting around windmills and dragon mouths and the neat stuff like that, usually it's just a dogleg and a couple of block obstacles between you and the hole. Good for serious putting competition, not so good for TV.