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
Twenty Questions
Producer: Buena Vista Television
Host: Dick Wilson
Announcer: Burton Richardson
Celebrities: Markie Post, Fred Willard
Taping Info: 1989 at KTLA
Made it to Air: Nope. There was a fifties version of Twenty Questions, but the format was significantly different other than the fact there may be 20 questions involved.
Availability: UCLA
Buena Vista Television had a surprise hit in the late 80s with Win, Lose or Draw. Falsely sensing that parlor games were back in vogue, they took another game out of mothballs and came up with Twenty Questions, an unrelated non-revival of the 50s show. The one thing Win, Lose or Draw had for it (at least in the beginning) was mega-wattage star power for a game show, so the biggest, most recognizable name to host the show was found. Nope, that didn't happen, so they went with local Kansas City radio host Dick Wilson.
Teams were paired up "Bob Stewart style" (one celebrity and one civilian) and were to try to get their partner to guess what the subjects (such as "Groucho Marx" or "Honda Accord") were based on simple yes or no questions. Each team took 10 second cracks at the subject, with the host interjecting a clue in between the pass offs from one team to the other. The team that guessed correctly won $50. There were three games in this round.
Round two involved the host giving all of the clues (the yes-and-no format gives way to one sentence facts) to both teams buzz-in style. $50 for a correct buzz-in, but you gave $50 to the other team if you were wrong. After three of those, a bonus round played where the round one version was played by the winning team in a 60 second speed round, with $100 per correct subject and $10,000 for getting five. Contestants did not leave the show until they lost their second match.
Nothing fancy, but nothing exciting either. The clues in the second round were not purely hardest-to-easiest, and the format would become stale fast if the celebrity mix wasn't just right. And I thank Dick Wilson for actually including this on his on-line r�sum�, otherwise, I would have had no idea which Dick Wilson this was.
This pilot has been viewed 8788 times since October 6, 2008 and was last modified on Dec 12, 2009 14:46 ET
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