Looky what just rolled in! "M'ama non M'ama", hosted by Alex Trebek, was a game show pilot taped December 7, 1984 (nearly 35 years ago, can you believe it?). It was formerly available only on the trading circuit but it is now on YouTube for all to see. The pilot was reworked into "Love Me, Love Me Not", hosted by Ross Shafer for USA Network (which, incidentally, is the English translation of the Italian phrase).
Two male contestants took turns choosing from four female panelists, who read statements about love and romance, each worth different amounts of money. The male contestant would have to either agree or disagree on the veracity of that statement in order to "capture" the panelist. The first contestant to capture three panelists won the cash in the kitty and went on to the bonus round. During said bonus round, the male contestant chose a female panelist to compete with. The contestant started at petal 1 (the top) of a giant eight-petal daisy. The panelist started at petal 6. Trebek would ask true-false answers of the contestant. Answering correctly would allow the male contestant to move towards the female panelist, answering wrong would force the panelist to move one petal farther away from the contestant. If the male contestant caught the female panelist within 50 seconds, they would split $1,000 per correct answer. Lastly, there was a final collaborative answer, which, if answered correctly, would net each one of the players a car.
At first glance, this looks like a hybrid of Battlestars and Dating Game. Battlestars because of the capturing of panelists, and Dating Game for, well, the dating and love/romance questions. I am actually really surprised that Alex hosted this, considering he was already doing Jeopardy.
What are your thoughts on this pilot? Also, any insiders with information I might've missed?
