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Author Topic: Ten Pin Alley  (Read 3067 times)

rugrats1

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Ten Pin Alley
« on: March 21, 2007, 08:34:36 AM »
In a Radio-Info thread about ABC's Bingo show ( http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,66248.10.html ), it mentioned that in the 1980s, there was a game show about bowling called "Ten Pin Alley", which was co-hosted by Ron Ely and Lisa Donovan, and produced by Tommy Oliver (without his band).

Could anyone shed some light on this?

weaklink75

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Ten Pin Alley
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2007, 12:38:23 PM »
This may not be 100% right, but here's what I can remember of it....

-There were two different competitions with different players.

-One competition had two challengers compete in a 3-frame game (8th, 9th, and 10th frames). Before they started, they both played a game where they tried to stop a board with flashing lights on it. Some were white, worth nothing, others were colored, worth bonus money ($250-$1,000) if the player threw a strike in one of the frames. They could also win a bonus ($500) if they got a perfect score of 90. A tie was broken by a one ball shootout. The winner of that game won $500 and played against the returning champion in the same way.

-The winner of that game became or remained the champ, won $1,000, then spun a wheel with money amounts on it (between $2,000 and $10,000 I believe), which was won if they could throw a strike. Winning 10 games in a row meant they would roll for the top prize, $100,000.


-The second competition was called "StrataSpare". Two players played three rounds of challenging each other to complete spares. There were 5 levels of difficulty in this part of the game, worth between $100-$500. Once a player was challenged to succeed at a certain level, they went to a large board and were shown several possible spares, and then pressed a button to stop on one of them. If it was made, they won the money, if not, the opponent won. Whoever earned the most money won and got to go to the "Upper levels of the StrataSpare"- Levels 6-10, progressively more difficult. Now they only played one level a week. If they were successful in making the chosen spare, they won more money (can't remember the exact amounts except for the top one, again $100,000). If the missed, they lost everything but the money won in the original game. Two or three players were in that part of the game a week.

-I think there was also some sort of viewer game, but I'm not sure.

It was real cheesy I remember though, and didn't air on really great stations (this was Pre-Fox days remember). I don't think it even made it past half a season.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2007, 12:43:29 PM by weaklink75 »

davemackey

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Ten Pin Alley
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2007, 05:12:53 PM »
[quote name=\'rugrats1\' post=\'148745\' date=\'Mar 21 2007, 08:34 AM\']
In a Radio-Info thread about ABC's Bingo show ( http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,66248.10.html ), it mentioned that in the 1980s, there was a game show about bowling called "Ten Pin Alley", which was co-hosted by Ron Ely and Lisa Donovan, and produced by Tommy Oliver (without his band).

Could anyone shed some light on this?
[/quote]
I do think at least one of Oliver's band guys was involved - IIRC, his associate producer was bass player Lyle Ritz. (Ritz, now in his late 70's, is retired from studio work but continues to make music, particularly on the ukulele.)
« Last Edit: March 22, 2007, 05:19:39 PM by davemackey »

BrandonFG

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Re: Ten Pin Alley
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2019, 08:50:58 PM »
I hate the reason for this bump...

Reading a little about the Ely family tragedy brought me to a mention of this show. Googling took me to an article from 1986.

I also found this ad mentioning a January 1987 proposed debut.
"I just wanna give a shoutout to my homies in their late-30s who are watching this on Paramount+ right now, cause they couldn't stay up late enough to watch it live!"

Now celebrating his 21st season on GSF!

The Ol' Guy

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Re: Ten Pin Alley
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2019, 12:59:30 AM »
Sounds like an updated version of this old ABC time filler after Saturday Night Boxing. Fun show. No nonsense, as the shows on average ran about 15 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW4Ia6TsABY.