The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Matt Ottinger on March 15, 2022, 05:16:29 PM
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It just occurred to me that Tomarken hosted four different pilots (Rodeo Drive, Wordplay, Monopoly, Whammy!) that eventually made it to air with somebody else hosting it. Does any other host have a similarly unlucky track record of being involved with that many pilots but not in the series that followed?
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Did Jack Narz do a Family Feud pilot? If so, Tattletales, 3 W's and The Movie Game would put him at four...
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Did Jack Narz do a Family Feud pilot? If so, Tattletales, 3 W's and The Movie Game would put him at four...
Narz did a FF pilot? Never knew this...
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Narz did a FF pilot? Never knew this...
I'd wager a lot that he didn't. Maybe an office runthrough. There were 3 pilots with Richard. I don't think Feud went through 2 rounds of pilots at different times. And from context, I think other names attached to Feud, like William Shatner and Geoff Edwards, got initial overtures before the format was locked down.
But Tattle Tales + Jack Narz is news to me. I remember reading Tattle Tales starting off with the title Celebrity Match Mates with Gene Rayburn attached, but hadn't heard this one.
-Jason
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There were 3 [Feud] pilots with Richard.
Interesting. I'd love to know more about these.
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There were 3 [Feud] pilots with Richard.
Interesting. I'd love to know more about these.
Same. All I know is the one that circulates is #3.
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There were 3 [Feud] pilots with Richard.
Interesting. I'd love to know more about these.
Now's as good a time as any to reiterate that doing multiple pilots was more common than not. I imagine for most shows where "the" pilot made it to the trading circuit, we're simply seeing the best one, used to shop the show. For instance, "the" pilot of Party Line that's been traded around is actually Party Line pilot #3.
My recollection of Feud is the Madvigs and Spiers played on all 3 shows. The first pilot was taped on a different day than the other two (Greg is right that the one on the circuit is #3). As opposed to "introducing..." the opening copy said "in this corner!!", which might explain how they settled on Feud's familiar answer reveal sound.
The master shot of the board in pilot 1 had the strike counter framed in it, and not the bank. After an answer flipped over, Richard would cue the adding to the bank (with the separate "ting" sound effect and normal camera shot) for every single answer, not just the first couple at the faceoff. You can see why they changed that very quickly. Other than that, save for little things like the strike graphic not having a box around it, it was mostly what you saw in the pilot that's been around. Pilot 2 was closer (if not identical) in style to pilot 3.
-Jason
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"the" pilot of Party Line that's been traded around is actually Party Line pilot #3.
Do you know if the first two pilots differed from #3, or when they were shot? Hot Streak is an underrated game in my opinion, and any new info about its predecessor is cool.
My recollection of Feud is the Madvigs and Spiers played on all 3 shows. The first pilot was taped on a different day than the other two (Greg is right that the one on the circuit is #3).
Any recollection of when the pilots were taped? I've seen both '75 and '76 listed for the one that circulates.
As opposed to "introducing..." the opening copy [of Pilot #1] said "in this corner!!", which might explain how they settled on Feud's familiar answer reveal sound.
Huh. First thing that came to my mind was the WCW vs. GLOW specials of the Combs era, which also used that line (for obvious reasons, and as part of a more elaborate intro, but still an interesting coincidence).
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Any recollection of when the pilots were taped? I've seen both '75 and '76 listed for the one that circulates.
The one that circulates has a tape date of 5/6/76.
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That seems like a short time to reconfigure the set (the pilot set was a bit cramped), built the familiar oval game board and get episodes taped to start airing July 12. Was that short a turnaround from tape to air common?
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Was that short a turnaround from tape to air common?
It seems like it, at least for G-T: the Blockbusters pilot was taped six days before the first episode aired.
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Did Jack Narz do a Family Feud pilot? If so, Tattletales, 3 W's and The Movie Game would put him at four...
Narz did a FF pilot? Never knew this...
Narz did the Tattletales pilot? Never knew this either.
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Did Jack Narz do a Family Feud pilot? If so, Tattletales, 3 W's and The Movie Game would put him at four...
Narz did a FF pilot? Never knew this...
Narz did the Tattletales pilot? Never knew this either.
That's news to me too... I knew about Gene Rayburn and Celebrity Match Mates, but not this.
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Managed to find the relevant citation that was on my mind, an excerpt from This Day In Game Show History by our resident historian.
Among the jobs Narz missed out on: He hosted the pilot or The Who, What, or Where Game, which went to Art James; a pilot for The Movie Game, ultimately hosted by Sonny Fox and then Larry Blyden; a pilot for Tattletales, which went to air with Bert Convy at the helm; he was to host Family Feud, but Richard Dawson's contract as a Match Game panelist offered him a chance to become ad host and Dawson used that clause to commandeer Feud.
Read more Nedeff literature, y'all ;D
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Managed to find the relevant citation that was on my mind, an excerpt from This Day In Game Show History by our resident historian.
Among the jobs Narz missed out on: He hosted the pilot or The Who, What, or Where Game, which went to Art James; a pilot for The Movie Game, ultimately hosted by Sonny Fox and then Larry Blyden; a pilot for Tattletales, which went to air with Bert Convy at the helm; he was to host Family Feud, but Richard Dawson's contract as a Match Game panelist offered him a chance to become ad host and Dawson used that clause to commandeer Feud.
Read more Nedeff literature, y'all ;D
Well, it's not like Jack was unemployed. With BTC, Concentration, and NYSI he was fully employed from 69 to 79.
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That seems like a short time to reconfigure the set (the pilot set was a bit cramped), built the familiar oval game board and get episodes taped to start airing July 12.
To be fair, 6 weeks seems like an ample amount of time to build the game board considering all of the other elements (the scoreboards, the survey board) were already built- they just needed new housing.
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Read more Nedeff literature, y'all ;D
Always good advice.
So it really seems as though Jack never got to the point that he hosted a Feud pilot. Still, that's right up there with Tomarken as a pretty unfortunate track record of shows that got away. Nevertheless, it's clear he was a G-T favorite in the seventies, and certainly didn't starve.
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It just occurred to me that Tomarken hosted four different pilots (Rodeo Drive, Wordplay, Monopoly, Whammy!) that eventually made it to air with somebody else hosting it. Does any other host have a similarly unlucky track record of being involved with that many pilots but not in the series that followed?
I thought Jack Clark was King of the Pilots -- or at least run-throughs
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I thought Jack Clark was King of the Pilots -- or at least run-throughs
This might also apply to Jim McKrell as well.
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I thought Jack Clark was King of the Pilots -- or at least run-throughs
This might also apply to Jim McKrell as well.
Matt was specifically talking about shows that made it to air.
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I only offer these names and shows that eventually made it to air in case I'm forgetting other relevant pilots these hosts did:
Jack Clark: The Face is Familiar, Now You See It
Geoff Edwards: Your Number's Up*, Fun & Fortune
Tim Vincent: Chain Reaction, Pyramid
* = This one has been passed along for a while, but I can't find specific citation. Geoff mentioned Fun & Fortune in an interview.
-Jason
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I only offer these names and shows that eventually made it to air in case I'm forgetting other relevant pilots these hosts did:
Geoff Edwards: Your Number's Up*, Fun & Fortune
* = This one has been passed along for a while, but I can't find specific citation. Geoff mentioned Fun & Fortune in an interview.
Geoff hosting the Your Number's Up pilot is cited in The Ultimate TV Game Show Book. My copy's in a box somewhere, but I'm pretty sure it also shows Geoff hosting the Make Me Laugh pilot on the page listing series' with different pilot hosts.
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Geoff hosting the Your Number's Up pilot is cited in The Ultimate TV Game Show Book. My copy's in a box somewhere, but I'm pretty sure it also shows Geoff hosting the Make Me Laugh pilot on the page listing series' with different pilot hosts.
Good call! Yes, page 190. So with Make Me Laugh, that would put Geoff at 3, at least.
There's another interesting one on the list I forgot: Art James hosted a pilot for Winning Streak. Neat-o.
-Jason
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Geoff was also considered to host TTD before Wink eventually got it.
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Geoff was also considered to host TTD before Wink eventually got it.
Where did this come from?
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Good call! Yes, page 190. So with Make Me Laugh, that would put Geoff at 3, at least.
-Jason
And it was said somewhere that Geoff was under consideration for $ale before moving forward with Jim Perry.
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Good call! Yes, page 190. So with Make Me Laugh, that would put Geoff at 3, at least.
-Jason
And it was said somewhere that Geoff was under consideration for $ale before moving forward with Jim Perry.
I'm not sure whether this was an actual pilot, or runthrough, or what, but there was this...
https://www.reddit.com/r/gameshow/comments/http1x/had_the_privilege_of_watching_host_auditions_for/
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Good call! Yes, page 190. So with Make Me Laugh, that would put Geoff at 3, at least.
-Jason
And it was said somewhere that Geoff was under consideration for $ale before moving forward with Jim Perry.
I'm not sure whether this was an actual pilot, or runthrough, or what, but there was this...
https://www.reddit.com/r/gameshow/comments/http1x/had_the_privilege_of_watching_host_auditions_for/
I haven't seen it, but from my understanding it was essentially a screen test. There was a pilot for $ale hosted by Jim, but other than footage from an early promo, it's never turned up.
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Good call! Yes, page 190. So with Make Me Laugh, that would put Geoff at 3, at least.
-Jason
And it was said somewhere that Geoff was under consideration for $ale before moving forward with Jim Perry.
I'm not sure whether this was an actual pilot, or runthrough, or what, but there was this...
https://www.reddit.com/r/gameshow/comments/http1x/had_the_privilege_of_watching_host_auditions_for/
I've seen that, and as already said, "screen test" is the more accurate term. Geoff is one of a group of hosts who came in, hosted a single mock-round on a bare stage, and then left after five minutes. Of the auditions on that tape, he's by far the best candidate.
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All I know is the one that circulates is #3.
On that subject, I was mulling over a while back whether "pilot #3" is really the most common pilot available on the circuit of those pilots on the circuit of series that had multiple pilots (I mean, I think of more "pilot #3"s faster than I do "pilot #2"s). Now that somebody mentioned it, it would make sense that your later ones are probably the better ones and thus the ones you're using the sell the show, which makes sense they would be the ones that inevitably got out among collectors.
But has anybody done any recordkeeping that it could be said definitely, "Yeah, there really are more pilot #3s out there than others"?
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On that subject, I was mulling over a while back whether "pilot #3" is really the most common pilot available on the circuit [...] has anybody done any recordkeeping that it could be said definitely, "Yeah, there really are more pilot #3s out there than others"?
I'm going to wager there's no statistical significance here. Here's a list of what I could find:
Baloney* Pilot #2
Beat the Odds (Henry) Pilot #3
Caught in the Act ('75) Pilot #1
Family Feud (Dawson) Pilot #3
Fast Friends* Pilot #2
Gambit (1979) Pilot #2
Gambit (1990) Pilot #2
Jackpot (Nipsey Rusell) Pilot #2
King of the Hill Pilot #2
Match Game ('73) Pilot A
Money in the Blank Pilot A
Now You See It (1985) Pilot #2
Party Line Pilot #3
Press Your Luck Pilot #1
Second Chance Pilot #3
Shoot for the Stars (Monty) Pilot #1
Split Decision Pilot #2
Temptation Pilot #1
The Riddlers Pilot #1 (and only)
Top Secret Pilot #3
Trivia Trap Test #1 (VTR Sept. 1984)
We've Got Your Number Show B
Whew! Pilot #3
You Bet Your Life (Dawson) Pilot #3
Best I could format it; in short, that's 8 pilot 1s, 9 pilot 2s, 7 pilot 3s.
I was trying to be fair to the question and only include stuff that was traded, or otherwise knocks on the door of being available in one copy. Those with a star are from Mike Burger's Pilot Light only, in which I couldn't discern whether it's "the one" or not. I know there's more than one Oddball, etc. etc. The Bill Cullen gang posted Punch Lines pilot 1, but I didn't include it because I hadn't seen it "in the wild" before them.
-Jason
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Pilot #3 is like your third interview before getting the job.