The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: mmb5 on June 07, 2004, 04:23:24 PM
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I recently received an E-mail from someone who asked about Addograms, a local KTLA show in the early-mid-60s. She was hoping I could find a tape for her, I told her no, they're probably all gone, but since I never had seen any reference to the show other than a TV guide ad, I asked her to explain it to me. She sent back this:
"Addograms" was a word game -- the contestants were given a letter and had to find words of increasing length; after a certain number was reached, they were given 2 letters for starting the words and it went all the way to 14-letter words; if somebody won, they were given a bonus question to which there was always a 10-letter answer and if you solved it, you got a special prize. I remember two: Clue #1: "Silver threads among he gold"; answer: SENESCENCE. And #2: "As the twig is bent"; answer: PROCLIVITY. (pretty good memory after 40 years!)
The show was on KTLA every weekday after "Leave it to Beaver". I lasted about 2 weeks, then some guy found a way to win by cheating and I was off. Right after that the show went off the air because nobody had foreseen this possibility and this smart guy had even talked about his intent before he went on.
Does this ring a bell with any of our seasoned veterans?
--Mike
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There was a 1975 pilot hosted by Jack Barry with that title [one of three, along with Double Cross and We've Got Your Number, that Barry produced and hosted that year] but I don't know if it bore any resemblences to this show. I do believe Barry was involved with the 60s show; he hosted it if I'm not mistaken.
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In our archives is that marvelous list of KTLA game shows, and yes, Addograms was hosted by Barry. Was the alleged cheating focused on the whole game, or just the jackpot word? Based on the description you give, it sounds like the game had a gaping flaw that a sharp person could take advantage of, like the Larson/PYL constant board pattern incident.