ABC Carnival '74 Across the Board Baloney Bamboozle Be What You Want Beat The Genius Beat The Odds (1962) Beat The Odds (1975) Bedtime Stories The Better Sex The Big Money The Big Payoff Big Spenders Blank Check Body Language Body Talk The Buck Stops Here Bullseye Call My Bluff Card Sharks (1996) Casino Caught in the Act Celebrity Billiards Celebrity Doubletalk Celebrity Secrets Celebrity Sweepstakes Chain Letter (1964) The Challengers (1974) Change Partners Child's Play The Choice Is Yours Combination Lock (1996) Comedy Club Concentration (1985) The Confidence Game Cop Out Countdown (1974) Countdown (1990) The Couples Race Crossword Decisions, Decisions Dollar a Second Duel in the Daytime The Fashion Show Fast Friends $50,000 a Minute Finish Line (1975) Finish Line (1990) Get Rich Quick Going, Going, Gone! Head of the Class High Rollers Hollywood Squares (1965) Hollywood Squares (1985) The Honeymoon Game Hot Numbers Hot Potato House to House How Do You Like Your Eggs? Jackpot (1984) Jeopardy (1977) Jokers Wild Jumble Key Witness Keynotes (1986) King of the Hill Let's Make a Deal (1963) Let's Make a Deal (1990) The Love Experts M'ama Non M'ama Match Game (1962) Match Game (1973) Match Game (1990) Match Game (1996) MatchGame (2008) Mindreaders Missing Links Monday Night QB Money Words Money in the Blank Moneymaze Monopoly (1987) Nothing But the Truth Now You See It (1986) Oddball 100% PDQ Party Line People On TV Play For Keeps Play Your Hunch The Plot Thickens Pot O' Gold Pressure Point The Price Is Right (1972) Pyramid (1996) Pyramid (1997) A Question of Scruples Quick as a Flash Razzle Dazzle Riddlers Run For The Money Says Who? Scrabble (1990) Second Guessers Second Honeymoon Sharaize Shoot for the Stars Shoot the Works Shopping Spree Show Me Showoffs Simon Says $64,000 Question (2000) Smart Alecks Smart Money Spellbinders Spin-Off Split Decision Star Cluster Star Play Strictly Confidential TKO Talking Pictures (1968) Talking Pictures (1976) Tell It to Groucho Temptation (1981) $10,000 Sweep Three of a Kind Tic Tac Dough Tie-Up Top Secret Twenty One (1982) Twenty Questions Twisters Up and Over The Waiting Game We've Got Your Number What Do You Want? What's On Your Mind Wheel of Fortune Whew! Whodunit Whose Baby Wipeout Word Grabbers Write Your Own Ticket You Bet Your Life (1988) You Bet Your Life (1991) You're Putting Me On Show a Random Pilot Show Unreviewed Pilots Bob Stewart Flow Chart | Beat the Odds (1975)Producer: Bill Carruthers/ABC Host: Chuck Henry Judge: Dr. Robert Stockwell Taping Info: 1975 Made it to Air: This particular pilot did not make the air, but this aired as a local show on KTLA in Los Angeles in the early 1960's with Warren Hull and a one year syndicated effort with Johnny Gilbert in 1968. Other Pilots: An episode of the KTLA run was used as an attempt to get national distribution in the 1960s. Availability: Trading circuit The concept that would not die (at least until 1975), Beat the Odds, a third-generation revival of a word game, was taped in 1975 by young Los Angeles news reporter Chuck Henry. Like its predecessors, the object was to come up with words of various starting letters, terminating letters and lengths as determined by a spin on the board. However, unlike previous versions, you did not keep playing until you either froze or hit a whammy. Every word combination was tossup, and the point value was determine by the previous player called for (either $100, $200, $300 or $400, but the player could not ask for an amount higher than their current total). A player could also freeze once, which set a base score the player would return to if they hit a whammy (rather than zero). Reaching $1,000 won a game, while winning two games won the match and moved you on to the bonus game. The bonus game involved a player trying to guess 10 five letter words within 60 seconds based on a beginning letter, a terminating letter and a clue given by Chuck. Standard 70's scoring of $100 per word and $5,000 for all 10 applied. Chuck seemed fine as a host, very smooth for a first time effort. However, the constant buzz-in way of playing rather than holding your turn seemed to penalize the better player, since they would be spinning to determine the word parameters more than 50% of the time, meaning their chance for a whammy was greater. Plus, the whammy was just a boring lightning bolt instead of the wacky cartoon character. Because of these, it cannot rate as high as the 60's pilot.
This pilot has been viewed 6354 times since October 6, 2008 and was last modified on Dec 12, 2009 14:46 ET |