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 Choice Is Yours
Producer: Hatos-Hall
Host: Bill Cullen
Announcer: Jay Stewart
Celebrities: Melvin Belli, Meredith McRae, Nipsey Russell
Taping Info: November 28, 1970
Made it to Air: No
Who can turn on the world with his smile? Who can take that nothing game show pilot, and make it seem all worthwhile? Well, it's Bill Cullen. And he takes another pilot that should have never had left the development stage, does his magic, and it least makes it watchable. Barely.
It's game show in the round, as the crowd encircles Bill Cullen and his three celebrity panelists: Melvin Belli, Meredith McRae and Nipsey Russell. After the obligatory poem, the game can begin. The first round involves a yes/no question on a hot topic of the day (in this case, sex education in the schools), and each celebrity gives a brief speech before giving their answer. The audience, all clad in cheesy straw hats that would remind most people of a political convention (but me of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour, the chain that gave my Dad diabetes).
The scoring was a tad skewed. If the celebrity had matched the audience, they could get 5, 10 or 15 points, depending on whether s/he was the only one to match (15), was one of two to match (10) or was one of all three to match (5). So, if an odd number of celebrities matched, there were 15 points up for grabs, otherwise, there was 20. For those of you devising scoring systems at home, remember your verse from the first book of Tattletales, chapter 3: scoring systems among three celebrities must be divisible by six.
This continued for three more rounds, occasionally punctuated by a skit that would be split into the first half (the dilemma) and the second half (the solution as provided by the audience). The fourth question was multiple choice with three possibilities instead of yes/no. Each celebrity was playing for a member of the studio audience, with the winning celebrity earning a TV (complete with Monty Hall's Let's Make a Deal pose) for the lucky audience member.
Although I applaud Hatos-Hall for trying to think outside the box, there just isn't much of a market that really wanted to know whether Meredith McRae would let her teenager attend an anti-war demonstration. Bill tries valiantly to save the game, but there's just nothing there.
This pilot has been viewed 12612 times since October 6, 2008 and was last modified on Dec 12, 2009 14:46 ET
Feedback? Contact me at usgs-pilot at the usgameshows dot net domain