Here is the Scrabble pilot with special introduction from Steve Edwards himself. Steve is a great guy and I thank him for taking part in this vault game show special!!
I think Steve Edwards actually undersold himself on the video. Considering that he's never done this, he did pretty awesome! I loved that everything actually functioned on the pilot. The thing I didn't care for was the games were categorical. I preferred the randomness of words and along with Gary's occasional weird clues. 😂
The same Scrabble game show we know and love...BUT with Steve Edwards and Categories for the puzzles. Not too bad here. I liked this set versus the actual one for the 1993 revival. The cube itself actually rotates, something that was sorely lacking on the 1993 revival. Although to be fair I’ve heard that the track that rotated the cube around after this pilot got damaged overtime from all that moving, storing and transporting that when the 1993 revival came the cube no longer rotated. I like the starry background versus the ones they used on the 1993 series. Although I’m not fond of the categories for the clues here, at least they’re nowhere as bad as the clues the Bill Engvall revival of Lingo tried to do. Steve Edwards himself although he sounds a bit like John Laurinitis of WWE didn’t do too bad of a job. Nervous in the beginning but gradually smoothed himself over in the end. The theme music here is basically an extension of the contestant introduction cue heard here and on the 1993 regular series revival.
Well, they added some new camera angles, dumped the tiles (which I miss), and added categories to the puzzles (which made the words easier to guess). None of the changes added to the game so the production broke even. Steve Edwards was a fine host. Was that Patty Deutsch's voice during the opening animation?
The opening female voice belonged to Patti Deutch! She was always so much fun on Match Game and she and her husband, Donald were always great on Tattletales.
@Steve Kay Steve hosted another pilot back in 1977 for Bob Stewart called "Get Rich Quick". It was the first attempt at what would later be called the "Chain Reaction" bonus game and the "Go" main game.
Had Scrabble picked up on Group W on Syndication sometime in 1990 or 1991, KPIX in San Francico would've aired it in my station along with other Group W Stations in Pittsburgh (KDKA), Baltimore (WJZ), Boston (WBZ) & Philadelphia (KYW) along with WNBC in New York, KNBC in Los Angeles, WMAQ in Chicago, WTVJ in Miami, WRC in Washington DC & KCNC in Denver in which they are owned by NBC.
Thanks for posting this, Wink as I’ve wanted to see the full show for years and thanks for getting Steve to add commentary, Interesting that this was essentially the same show that ended a few months before with the players getting the bonus money instead of the jackpot like in 1993. The only real change was the themed puzzles which didn’t seem to work in the first round (too easy) but went better in the second.
That's typical of a lot of US game show pilots-- make sure the contestant wins the bonus round as it comes down to the wire. Because it's gotta be suspenseful for it to be potentially sold... right? ;-)
As Steve noted, it was around the time game shows hit a wall. Shows like MATCH GAME, LET'S MAKE A DEAL, TO TELL THE TRUTH, JOKER'S WILD and TIC TAC DOUGH didn't last very long. Talk shows were becoming the in thing.
This pilot is much decent than the previous version, but it kept the same set until 1993 when Chuck Woolery returned as the host for the second reincarnation of “Scrabble”.
When you think about it, this entire show could have been played in speedword. The Scrabble aspect was unnecessary. Loved the writing, though. Woolery did a great job.
I wish they kept that ringer for the contestant podium on the right usually occupied by the male contestants when they brought Scrabble back in 1993. I mean the ringer that's used in the main crossword game.
I thought Steve did well here. His biggest problem is that he just doesn't have a booming game show host voice like Chuck Woolery; Steve's voice sounds too raspy for hosting game shows.
I can't remember whether the first part of the production run had them playing different words or the same words in the Scrabble Sprint. They changed it at one point. Also, at one time, you had to fill in the missing letters when guessing words in the crossword round, but they got rid of that rule because people kept screwing it up. When they got rid of the spelling business, Chuck said they were bringing back "Classic Scrabble" and it's like Classic Coke.
So the only difference between this and the Chuck Woolery version is the fact that every round is a category like They're History? Also, the numbers were between the contestants before and they picked 1 or 2 at a time and dropped in a slot.
In regards to the letter "P", I have heard of contestants saying "I have to take a "P" instead of "I have to take the letter "P" to Chuck's dismay and the audience erupting into hysterics.
All things considered, this was a pretty good pilot. Steve Edwards seemed to be lacking energy at times and just a few of his transitions weren't very smooth, at least to me, but he kept the game moving nicely and understood how it worked. Since this was his first time doing a game show, I'll give him a pass. He did a pretty decent job. The game was still as good as ever, though maybe the words didn't need to be categorized. My only other gripe would be the set. It looks barren but a little better than the '93 set, due to the starry background.
@@jwgreek8606 Crap. I did forget that someone commented here that he hosted a Bob Stewart pilot. I wonder what the other pilot was. Thanks for correcting me on that.
Does anyone know why the scrabble set was drastically changed? I feel that it was changed for the worse. Perhaps they could have simply taken the old one without any cost.
This should've sold - why didn't it? The set was good and an upgrade over the 1984-90 one by this point- Steve Edwards did well as host, and it still kept the rules from the previous incarnation. Was it due to a glutted market? Or did they really want Chuck Woolery more than anything (who was busy doing Love Connection in syndication at the time?) Also - when the show came back in 1993 - why didn't the cube rotate like in the 1990 pilot?
You had about 27,000 talk shows in Syndication along with a handful of new syndicated game shows. Stations had only so much air time and so many dollars to buy programs. Most game shows that made it to air had either had big names backing them, production companies, or show has a proven track record. Yes, Scrabble did have a proven track record, but that doesn't mean it will be picked up.
@@DAPalomares I think two things worked against it. #1, there was a glut of game shows in 1990, and as we saw, not many got picked up. Also, I think the way it ended on NBC unfortunately caused station owners to not want to pick it up. Wasn't the shows fault, it got moved around to different time slots by affiliates or some didn't air them. But how many NBC affiliates would've picked it up? That knocks down the amount of potential statios. They had Group W Stations, they would've for sure picked it up. But after them, who's gonna take a chance on a syndicated game show that had finished dead last in the ratings in network daytime?
