It wasn't ALL-celebrity, 2 stars and 1 civilian. But, I agree, it ruined the game. But, this week on "The Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour", Bill Cullen was one of the panelists. And that was the week BEFORE "Hot Potato" debuted, so it got a daily plug. Maybe Fremantle can get HP? After getting MG/HS and BOTH "Concentration"s, I put nothing past them.
Interesting; if the man in the middle of the Teachers team looks familiar-if you follow civil rights law or his appearances on Fox News, it’s attorney Leo Terrell.
I didn't even know when he died until several years later. It wasn't like I was looking in the paper every day back then to see if any celeb died and you couldn't get the info as quickly as today.
This pilot was filmed in December of 1983, a mere month before the premiere of the series. Initially, this show was pitched to CBS, but they passed on it with a younger-looking host. So, NBC took on the project with a more experienced emcee. Enter: Bill Cullen. This was his last network game show gig and his next-to-last for Barry & Enright (and his overall career). Unfortunately, this show met its doom by being placed in the noon timeslot which wasn't a smart move being that it was up against "Family Feud" and would be replaced by reruns of "Diff'rent Strokes" on July 2, 1984 (which served as a place filler for the Bert Convy-officiated fifth edition of "Password" called "Super Password", which ran until 1989). All was not lost as Bill was nominated for a Daytime Emmy award in 1985.
Many stations in the Eastern and Central time zones also preempted the Noon slot for local news and those stations also offered no rebroadcasts of the game shows. So the only way I could watch Noon gameshows was either by C-Band satellite dish or if the weather was ripe for DXing an out-of-market station with a rooftop antenna.
Two things killed Hot Potato: Switching to a celebrity format three months into its run, and the time slot it was in (not only was it up against Family Feud, but the noon time slot was often pre-empted by local news, so Hot Potato wouldn't be seen at all in many areas). It ended up being canceled after only five months and replaced with reruns of Diff'rent Strokes. It deserved much better, and Bill Cullen (as usual) was an exceptional host.
Open with Donna Summer (Stop, Look, and Listen); close with Sylvester (You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)). With all those moving lights, a game show set can double as a discotheque.
13:32 and 19:41 - more cues from Play the Percentages. They didn't have Hal Hidey's music package yet - since there was no approval for series at that point.
As a kid, I was totally fascinated by this show...the steam from the sign, the lighting, the moving penalty boxes, the video screens and the host! I prefer this opening theme with the guitar riff. But the bonus round is WAY too anti-climactic...it seemed like even Bill was trying to hurry things along. Otherwise, it’s the Hot Potato I remember. This game, along with Child’s Play, were two games that made me fall in love with genre. Thanks again, Wink!
Thanks Wink. Not much changed on the pilot. I know the theme changed when it went as series (including win cues), the readout in the bonus round, the font color and Bill's screen.
_Hot Potato_ had the misfortune of getting the noon time slot. Many stations aired news at noon instead. Where I grew up, we had two NBC affiliates. One showed the news, and the other showed whatever NBC fed them.
Was also great as a panellist or player on To Tell the Truth, Match Game (plus Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour where he plugged Hot Potato) and various iterations of Password and Pyramid.
Notice that a repeat answer was automatically called wrong. When NBC picked up the series, Bill allowed one repeat answer without penalty. A second repeat was counted wrong. He would also periodically give the list of correct answers so far, and he would talk about the "three lights" in front of him: right, wrong, and repeat.
@Victor Charles a.k.a. VicGChad07 oo, drat! Here I thought I'd get to display mad Donna Summer knowledge and you beat me to it by-6 days! Good call, Victor.
The ending had the Barry & Enright logo intact rather than plastering the Columbia/TriStar TV or Sony Pictures TV logo that you see on GSN these days. This is a pilot that it was never aired on GSN back in the day. Not even on USA back in the 1980’s.
Father Greg and Bartha both appeared on tic tac dough with Wink Martindale. Father Greg in 1983 and Bartha in 1984. I think Bartha was also on name that tune in 1980.
Yes and that was almost a game ending error because the last teacher knocked out said that name, but chose the other one. His hubris almost cost them the round and the game. As far as pilots go, this was a really, really good game.
Bill says there are NINE things on a drivers license in all 50 states. The contestants named 5, Bill gave another 2. I'm curious what the 8th and 9th item are.
The contestants answered: Age (probably shown as DOB), Address, Name, Restrictions, and Expiration Date. Bill added: State Name and Signature. If I were to venture a guess on the other two, I'd guess: Photograph and ID Number?
Surprisingly, Hot Potato is my favorite game show! It's neat to see the similarities and differences from this pilot and the series, which the theme and the bonus round stakes are the two major differences (the seven-straight jackpot was added later in the series).
I have to admit I like this end game better than the one we got. Hot Potato was a good show, but it got a bad time slot and the usual bad decision by Barry Enright to switch to the celebrity format. It could work today though...... If TV liked bicycling.....
For those who signed in to TVPMM, they have the HP Bonus Walk cue that was never heard on TV, in fact was never heard until the TVPMM site was first opened. I don't recall if it was heard in the old TQ's game show music site though.
I liked the bonus round on the show itself in terms of payoff, though the more games a team won the bigger their jackpot in the bonus. The pilot, not as much. Main game play...no change. In the pilot, the payoff could be $600 doubled 4 times for $9600
IMDB says that this show had 35 episodes. Wikipedia says 115 episodes. I suspect it's 115. And yet Wikipedia says that IMDB is the source for the 115. I think it lasted longer than just seven weeks.
This game would be a good reboot candidate whether you use real people or c-list celebrities. Certainly would be more entertaining than Card Sharks. Didn't they have one regular contestant and two celebrities when NBC made that move?
Actually, some interesting trivia about that answer, too: Deke Salyton never flew a Mercury capsule for medical reasons, despite being chosen. He eventually was permitted to fly into space, though, as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Project, where the two superpower countries did a rendez-vous with their capsules, and the last time America ever flew a Saturn rocket.
