Wink Martindale's Awesome Non-Price Clips and Episodes: The Ongoing Thread

[pricefan18]

This exists, apparently.

The 1986 pilot to Second Guess, with host Alex Trebek, uploaded in honor of Alex's 80th birthday.

Not that bad of a pilot imo. Alex did an absolutely fantastic job. Really liked the idea of second guessing your spouse, whether to trust their instinct or not. The board layout and the idea of trying to get more than your opponent overall was cool, it kept the emphasis on the bigger prizes but they took more time to earn. So there was this sort of trade-off, do you want the smaller prizes immediately or the bigger prizes later? Bonus round was pretty sweet, with the urge to quit getting bigger and bigger as the game progressed. Set wasn't bad, you can't go wrong with gold.

Just watching this, and while I think the main game format is solid.........I think number one, going by overall totals made the game more complex than it needed to be. A best 2 out of 3 rounds format woulda worked fine IMO, the best and longest lasting shows are the simplest. And two, there shoulda been more risked attached to a second guess. I would have set it up where a second guess given correctly was worth 3 spins, but gave the opponents 2 if wrong, as opposed to the usual 2 spins or 1. This woulda added intrigue in situations like in Round 2, where one team got the first two prizes, leaving the other to have to catch-up. Could also do just 1 spin for the second guess vs. 2 if you wanted to ensure a team didn't throw an answer to get 3 spins. That might make more sense come to think of it. Either way, 2 and 1 all the way through seemed a bit off to me.

I think with those tweaks the main game (haven't gotten to bonus yet) woulda been perfect.

[Grand_game2004]

I totally agree with PriceFan18. But to me, the total of the winning team should've flashed at the end of the main game, but if you ask me, the only tweak the bonus round should've had was that none of the 2 cash awards ($100 and $1000) should've been given out at the beginning. Other than that, it's an interesting game. I do like the design of the set. It looks like a combination of To Tell The Truth (Alex Trebek) and $ale Of The Century.

[pricefan18]

I totally agree with PriceFan18. But to me, the total of the winning team should've flashed at the end of the main game, but if you ask me, the only tweak the bonus round should've had was that none of the 2 cash awards ($100 and $1000) should've been given out at the beginning. Other than that, it's an interesting game. I do like the design of the set. It looks like a combination of To Tell The Truth (Alex Trebek) and $ale Of The Century.

Actually come to think of it....now that you say that....if they really wanted to do the highest total prizes thing....what they should have done then is when a team captured a prize, the value of it would then be revealed on the spot and shown on the team's scoreboard immediately. This way throughout the game, you'd have a running set of totals for the teams to base decisions off of. If you still wanted to do the rounds format you still could, but the way I'd do it then is..you play till a times up sound, vs. say 2 rounds strictly. You could do the first 2 normally as seen there, and then if there was time for a 3rd....do it to the end of the game. I think that'd make the format as given much more intriguing and less of a crapshoot.

Also as a sidenote....kinda interesting how the questions format was done sorta like Split Second, although without more than one choice to be given as an answer course.

[imhomerjay]

Not hard to see why it did not go to series.

[jmorgan]

Another pilot is up, this one being a pre-Finders Keepers Wesley Eure show from 1981 called Pot Of Gold (the same title as the Art James-hosted show). The show's rules are similar to the Gambling Debt segment of Debt. Geoff Edwards is one of the producers of this pilot.

[pricefan18]

This was taped on the day of Allen Ludden's funeral as it turns out. Wesley Eure referenced what that day was like in a Facebook post back on 2012, and can see part of what he said in the comment section. Ironic too because between the dings, buzzer and chimes the show used, Password Plus used them as well (the chimes only briefly though in the first week when a team got a puzzle, although come to think of it wasn't it a times up signal at the end of shows too?).

[pannoni1]

I find the rules more similar to TTD's Auction format though, since each team can only bid once and if the first team misses, the second team must come up with a correct answer. The "Help" call is an interesting strategy and probably my favorite feature of this show, but the gameplay otherwise is so-so, and definitely inferior to Second Guess. Still its great to see all these "could of been" shows popping up, and imagine if some of Moneywords concepts were used on Wheel of Fortune or especially Scrabble.

[bigblue999]

Wink has uploaded a pilot of Slingo, based on the 90's PC game, with Michael Burger hosting and Randy West announcing.

[imhomerjay]

Yuck.

[TPIRfan#9821]

Besides Lingo, has there been any game show based around bingo that worked well? Nothing comes to mind, or at least nothing with notable longetivity.

[pannoni1]

Wink has posted another tribute to Tom Kennedy, this time with Carol Burnett in Star*Play, with Rod Roddy announcing. Too bad it didn't get greenlit, as it seems like a suitable successor to Body Language, mixed with rebus-type phonetics.

[Alfonzo]

Wink has posted another tribute to Tom Kennedy, this time with Carol Burnett in Star*Play, with Rod Roddy announcing. Too bad it didn't get greenlit, as it seems like a suitable successor to Body Language, mixed with rebus-type phonetics.

It looks like a combination of Body Language and You Don't Say! Pity it didn't sell.

[Grand_game2004]

it was a good show, even though it never made it to air. I thought it was fun to watch.

[Alfonzo]

Premiering tomorrow:

[goldroadfanatic]

After seeing a bit of this on VH-1's Game Show Moments Gone Bananas over a decade ago, and eight years since the opening surfaced on YouTube, here's the full second pilot of 1975's Showoffs, with Larry Blyden as host. This would be the last production Blyden hosted before his untimely death not long after taping a series of pilots for this. Bobby Van was picked to be the replacement host when the show went to series on ABC.

Of all the charades formats attempted by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, this pilot's format has the best execution and the least flaws. It could work reasonably well today as an hourlong primetime show with the right host and celebrity mix, in my opinion.

Enjoy!