"A-List" Celebrities on Game Shows

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' date=\'May 9 2005, 09:08 AM\']1• Who would have been a great celebrity player or part of a celebrity panel, but never appeared on any game show?

I'm with those who say Tom Hanks would've been great on a game show.

2• Who appeared on a show that you thought would never be caught on a game show stage, but did indeed appear on a show either as a player or on a panel?

The biggest surprise from "The Hollywood Squares" would have been Gene Hackman.  I think "The French Connection" was actually in theaters at the time.  Alice Cooper would've been another one, along with Ray Charles.

Someone mentioned Steve Martin and Andy Kaufman, both of whom also appeared on "The Hollywood Squares," as did Jay Leno and David Letterman.

From "What's My Line?" I guess the biggies would have been Woody Allen, John Wayne, Bob Hope and Alan Alda.

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Dixon would know about this better than anyone else - but I'm surprised Tom Hanks never did go on a game, at least between Bosom Buddies and Splash.  Admittedly, there weren't a lot of celeb games during that time, but there were a few options (the tail end of Squares and the start of MG/HS, Battlestars, Tattletales).  Maybe nobody asked.

George C. Scott surprised me more than anyone else, but I'm sure he was there to help out his wife.

Alda was a fairly regular panelist on What's My Line for a few years, probably because he was New York-based.  He also made a few appearances on Pyramid - in fact, almost all of the original M*A*S*H regulars were on the show at one time or another (exception:  William Christopher).

Nobody's mentioned Jane Fonda's recent appearance on Squares?

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' date=\'May 9 2005, 09:08 AM\']3• Which "A-Lister" would have been a perfect fit on a specific game show?

If Jerry Seinfeld had appeared on "The Hollywood Squares" with Peter Marshall when he was just starting out (would've had to be in the 1979-81 range).  Ditto Eddie Murphy (Vegas season).
Dixon

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He did the Davidson vers, right?

[Jimmy Owen]

Seinfeld was on "Battlestars," however he wasn't quite an A-lister then.  Would an "MG/Battlestars Hour" have worked better than MG/HS?

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'May 9 2005, 09:44 AM\']Seinfeld was on "Battlestars," however he wasn't quite an A-lister then.  Would an "MG/Battlestars Hour" have worked better than MG/HS?

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I just noticed Seinfeld on Battlestars in EOTVGS myself.

Can't see what difference Battlestars would have made as the second half of the show.  Besides the difficulty in selling NBC on a format that had just failed on the network twice in the previous two years (including earlier that year) and the lack of name recognition, Goodson still wouldn't have supplied joke or bluff answers to the celebrities, which was one of the main stumbling blocks.  (I suppose Alex would have been better than Jon Bauman, however.)

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' date=\'May 9 2005, 09:08 AM\']Someone mentioned Steve Martin and Andy Kaufman, both of whom also appeared on "The Hollywood Squares," as did Jay Leno and David Letterman.

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I'm not sure Jay and Dave appearing on Marshall HSq is a valid "apples and oranges" comparison here.  I'm not sure when Dave appeared on HSq in relation to his first Carson appearance (although I do know that his appearance on GONG was about a year and a half before he appeared on the TONIGHT SHOW; his P+ appearance was about six months after Johnny), but to call them "A-listers" at that point is probably not correct.  I would count it as more like a "Before They Were Stars"-type appearance.

Just my two Lincolns.

Doug -- and the countdown to 1200 continues

[Jimmy Owen]

One thing that just occured to me.  The basic "agree or disagree with the star" concept appeared in every year of the 80's.  80-81 HS, 81,82,83-Battlestars 83-84 MG/HS, 85-ASB, 86,87,88,89-Davidson.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'calliaume\' date=\'May 9 2005, 09:32 AM\']George C. Scott surprised me more than anyone else, but I'm sure he was there to help out his wife.

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IIRC, the Scotts had just made an independent film back in the days when there really wasn't such a thing as American independent cinema (well, outside of American International and Roger Corman's New World) and made it with his own money.  Obviously, they were willing to do anything to promote the film, including going on "Squares."

And after checking the IMDB, that film would be 1974's "The Savage is Loose," which he also directed and filmed in Mexico (with some Mexican money, no doubt).