The Game Show Forum

The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: whewfan on June 27, 2005, 05:50:55 AM

Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: whewfan on June 27, 2005, 05:50:55 AM
Are there any celebs you can think of that played a game better than you expected? I can think of some

Leslie Neilson- I am sure there were viewers that thought that "Frank Drebin" would be a stumblebum on Celebrity Jeopardy!, but it was a surprise to me that Leslie played exceptionally well.

Dave Coulier- I thought Dave would waste time doing impressions instead of asking good questions on TTTT 2k. To my surprise, he played the game straight. It was Paula that was the time waster.

Dick Clark- Not that I thought he'd be a bad Pyramid player, but Dick Clark gets my vote as the Pyramid celeb that looked the most RELIEVED that he was able to win at the Winner's Circle.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: 76GMC on June 27, 2005, 08:34:28 AM
How about a somewhat rarity in game shows.......DONNA MILLS

She did a week of MG76, a good four years before her turn on KNOTS LANDING.  Of the four questions in her first show, she never gave the proverbial "rotten answer".

To those who have an ep:  Was she just as good on $50k Pyramid in 1981?

Rick
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: Matt Ottinger on June 27, 2005, 11:30:55 AM
Cheech Marin probably surprised a lot of people with his strong showing on Celebrity Jeopardy as well.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: Jimmy Owen on June 27, 2005, 12:16:23 PM
Wouldn't you say that anybody who became a frequent guest would fall into such a category?  Who knew that one of the regulars on "The New Perry Mason" or "Hogan's Heroes" or "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" would be so vitally important to MG.  "Pyramid" kept booking some cast members from "The Associates" and "Three's a Crowd" (John Ritter version) long after those sitcoms were cancelled.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: aggieballer23 on June 27, 2005, 02:12:40 PM
[quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'Jun 27 2005, 04:50 AM\']Are there any celebs you can think of that played a game better than you expected? I can think of some

Leslie Neilson- I am sure there were viewers that thought that "Frank Drebin" would be a stumblebum on Celebrity Jeopardy!, but it was a surprise to me that Leslie played exceptionally well.

Dave Coulier- I thought Dave would waste time doing impressions instead of asking good questions on TTTT 2k. To my surprise, he played the game straight. It was Paula that was the time waster.

Dick Clark- Not that I thought he'd be a bad Pyramid player, but Dick Clark gets my vote as the Pyramid celeb that looked the most RELIEVED that he was able to win at the Winner's Circle.
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I think that Wink MArtindale did a wonderful job on PASSWORD PLUS when he and Gene Rayburn were the stars of the show (Gene did well also)
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: clemon79 on June 27, 2005, 02:14:18 PM
Coolio on Pyramid.

Yeah, he wasn't so good the first time, but you could tell when he came back to play against Dick Clark that he had done his homework and was determined not to embarrass himself. And if the game were scored under 80's Pyramid rules, he would have won, so obviously it did some good. Anytime you take down The Master, I'd say you deserve to appear in this thread.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: Matt Ottinger on June 27, 2005, 03:11:09 PM
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jun 27 2005, 02:14 PM\']Coolio on Pyramid.

Yeah, he wasn't so good the first time, but you could tell when he came back to play against Dick Clark that he had done his homework and was determined not to embarrass himself. [/quote]
I actually got to see Coolio in person the first time (even spoke to him briefly).  What was clear in the studio was that he was genuinely competitive and obviously disappointed with himself that he didn't do better.  It's so easy for jaded celebs to just be in it for the exposure that it was refreshing to see how much he actually cared.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: Kevin Prather on June 27, 2005, 04:13:25 PM
Rosa Blasi struck me as a smart lady, but I didn't expect her to do nearly as well as she did on Pyramid. She's sort of the Adrienne Barbeau of Osmond Pyramid, IMO.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: BrandonFG on June 27, 2005, 04:55:03 PM
Norm McDonald on Celebrity Millionaire. IIRC, didn't he actually see the million dollar question before walking, and actually made the right guess? I seem to remember no one expecting him to do so well.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: Kevin Prather on June 27, 2005, 05:13:17 PM
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jun 27 2005, 01:55 PM\']Norm McDonald on Celebrity Millionaire. IIRC, didn't he actually see the million dollar question before walking, and actually made the right guess? I seem to remember no one expecting him to do so well.
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Yeah, and he let Regis talk him out of it.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: clemon79 on June 27, 2005, 05:30:24 PM
[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Jun 27 2005, 02:13 PM\']Yeah, and he let Regis talk him out of it.
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The question is, did he do well because he's actually an intelligent guy, or did he do well because he was in full-blown Burt Reynolds-impression mode and didn't really give a damn? Remember, the celebrities really only had to answer five questions, they were effectively spotted the first ten, and it's awfully easy to say "What the hell, B, final answer", when it's not your money and you still go home to a nice house with a swimming pool.

You could put Koko The Sign Language Gorilla in the chair, and assuming she had an interpreter to tell her what the panel was saying for the first ten questions, she'd still have a reasonable chance for a big payday.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: Matt Ottinger on June 27, 2005, 06:31:51 PM
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jun 27 2005, 05:30 PM\']The question is, did he do well because he's actually an intelligent guy, or did he do well because he was in full-blown Burt Reynolds-impression mode and didn't really give a damn? Remember, the celebrities really only had to answer five questions, they were effectively spotted the first ten, and it's awfully easy to say "What the hell, B, final answer", when it's not your money and you still go home to a nice house with a swimming pool.[/quote]
My uninformed opinion is that he really is a smart guy who was deliberately screwing around in the Fastest Finger rounds to maintain his doofus image, but whose ego wouldn't let him goof off when he was actually in the chair.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: Casey on June 27, 2005, 11:34:25 PM
I gotta go with Coolio also.  He seemed to turn up on every game show that was on and he seemed to a) really enjoy each one, and b) played the game well.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: Tim L on June 28, 2005, 01:16:55 PM
Carol Wayne-Celebrity Sweepstakes, because of her "Dumb Blonde" Schitck on shows like Johnny Carson (Art Fern comes to mind).She wouldnt have been thought to do well..But she turned out to be the smartest one of the bunch.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: Jay Temple on June 28, 2005, 01:47:28 PM
What Carol Wayne was to Celebrity Sweepstakes, Teresa Ganzel was to the 1980's Pyramid.  (She came to mind not only because of her frequent appearances but because she was an Art Fern player as well.)
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: clemon79 on June 28, 2005, 02:56:14 PM
[quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Jun 27 2005, 08:34 PM\']I gotta go with Coolio also.  He seemed to turn up on every game show that was on and he seemed to a) really enjoy each one, and b) played the game well.
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The running joke whenever I see him pop up on Yet Another show: "Coolio....was available."

(And I do remember him being pretty horrible on Celebrity Poker Showdown.)

And a big Slauson Cutoff salute to Jay, who apparenty beat me to the punch on my thoughts on Teresa Ganzel. :)
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: Jay Temple on June 30, 2005, 10:53:26 AM
Quote
How about a somewhat rarity in game shows.......DONNA MILLS

She did a week of MG76, a good four years before her turn on KNOTS LANDING. Of the four questions in her first show, she never gave the proverbial "rotten answer".

To those who have an ep: Was she just as good on $50k Pyramid in 1981?

Rick
According to a friend of mine who was in the audience that day, she won only two games.  Sorry.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: MrBuddwing on June 30, 2005, 01:52:15 PM
I remember seeing former Miss America/former CBS TV personality Phyllis George make her debut on "The $10,000 Pyramid," and she was HORRIBLE.

I was amazed that they would ever ask her back, but they did - and she had improved considerably; still not a great player, but a competent one. Obviously, she'd practiced.

Side note: I recall Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann on Pyramid. It was his first time out, but he proclaimed himself a fan of the show, and demonstrated it by doing a fine job.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: ChuckNet on June 30, 2005, 10:09:09 PM
Quote
Rosa Blasi struck me as a smart lady, but I didn't expect her to do nearly as well as she did on Pyramid. She's sort of the Adrienne Barbeau of Osmond Pyramid, IMO.

It was her husband, football player Jim Finn, who proved clueless when they teamed up for a special Valentine's wk from the 2nd season that featured celeb couples...was there ever a WC player who gave his/her answers in J! form before??

Chuck Donegan (The Pained-At-The-Memory "Chuckie Baby")
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: zachhoran on June 30, 2005, 10:55:44 PM
[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Jun 30 2005, 09:09 PM\']
It was her husband, football player Jim Finn, who proved clueless when they teamed up for a special Valentine's wk from the 2nd season that featured celeb couples...was there ever a WC player who gave his/her answers in J! form before??


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In another all-celeb week of Pyramid, Ethan Wayne(John's son and half brother of a certain TTD host) and Bryan Genesse, who were co-starring on the Bold and the Beautiful at the time(November 1987), seemed less than geniuses on their appearances during a soap stars week of CBS $25K.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: zachhoran on June 30, 2005, 10:58:51 PM
[quote name=\'MrBuddwing\' date=\'Jun 30 2005, 12:52 PM\']

Side note: I recall Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann on Pyramid. It was his first time out, but he proclaimed himself a fan of the show, and demonstrated it by doing a fine job.
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He did better there than he did on an all-star week of Body Language in November 1985. He and partner Steve Sax failed to win any of the five games all week, while Y&R's Melody THomas(among the more game-friendly soap star-turned-game show celeb guests) and Capitol's Catherine Hickland won over $43K for the week, and winning the bonus round on all five shows.
Title: Which celebs played the game better expected?
Post by: tvrandywest on June 30, 2005, 11:09:50 PM
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jun 28 2005, 10:56 AM\']And a big Slauson Cutoff salute to Jay, who apparenty beat me to the punch on my thoughts on Teresa Ganzel. :)
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I've had many thoughts about Teresa Ganzel, only one of which I will share here   ;-)

She and Howard Morton played as celebs in the presentation of "Chain Game" to CBS that I hosted back in the 80s for All American. Teresa was absolutely a joy - she was eager to learn the game well before we played, and was brilliant in some of her clues while being wonderfully entertaining. She's the furthest thing from the "dumb blond" stereotype.


Randy
tvrandywest.com