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
The Confidence Game
Producer: Heatter-Quigley
Host: Jim McKrell
Announcer: Kenny Williams
Taping Info: October 28, 1976, NBC Burbank #3
Other Pilots: No
Made it to Air: No
ESP was a hot concept in the 1970s. Many of the major production houses gave it a shot, whether it was Jack Barry's Blank Check, Goodson-Todman's Mindreaders or this effort from Heatter-Quigley. The patron saint of the Pilot Light, Jim McKrell, is your host in this test of figuring out what people you have never met knows.
In the main game, four players are seated in a semi-circle, each with their own podium. On the podium are two hidden buttons and a non-hidden phone. Yep, a phone. It's like Donato's Pizza now has a home game. Each player is asked a question from McKrell while the phone receiver is planted on his ear. They can press a button and be given the answer, or they can choose to go it alone. The other players then guess whether that player got it on their own ("knew it") or didn't ("got help"). The one player then gives an answer, and if they're correct, they get $100 for every player they were able to fool into thinking they knew it or not.
In the first round, the two male players each were able to fool two of their fellow contestants, and tied at $200 each. The tiebreaker consisted of one of the players hearing a question, with the other guessing "knew it" or "got help". One player was able to successfully bluff the other, and moved on to the "Challenge Round".
The champion and the winner of the main game face off in the Challenge round, there was a money tower with values of $50-$75-$100-$200-$300-$400-$500-$1,000-$1,000 (yep, 2 at $1,000). A question is asked, and the champion may try to answer for $50. If he declines, the challenger then may try for $75, and then the champion at $100, and so on until someone decides to answer the question. If they're right, they get the money, otherwise, $300 is given to the opponent. The round continues until someone amasses $1,000 or two minutes elapses. This round went like this:
- The champion answered for $500.
- The challenger answered for $500.
- The challenger answered for $400.
- The challenger answered incorrectly, giving the champion $300.
- The challenger answered correctly for $200 more and won.
For the second Challenge Round, the money tree increased to $300-$400-$500-$1,000-$2,000-$3,000-$5,000-$5,000, with the incorrect answer penalty increasing to $1,500. The target in this round was $5,000 or two minutes, and the winner also received a new Chevrolet-Heatter-Quigley Vega. It was unclear if this higher total was for just the Friday show or for the second round on every show.
The game had some nice elements, but the presentation and scoring system botched any chance of it being successful. In the second main game, the first player was able to fool all three players, meaning the other players only had a hope of tying. The scoring system should have been $75 for each successful fool, and $50 for each successful guess. This would have eliminated ties and kept players in the game longer. The screen indication of "Got Help" in full Tempest-style vector graphics was incredibly cheesy. The challenge rounds lost all level of suspense with the hokey stare-downs.
A picture of the ticket for the pilot can be found on Dixon Hayes' Classic Squares site here.
This pilot has been viewed 12905 times since October 6, 2008 and was last modified on Jan 09, 2010 13:05 ET
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