The It Was a Thing on TV Podcast Network

We usually don't include pilots of series which make it to television, but apparently someone made an exception.  Two pilots of the beloved series from the early 70s through the early 80s were done with the question format from the original series.  (The humorous questions would arrive about a year later.)  The first pilot can easily be found.  A word of warning about the second pilot:  There is at least one answer which doesn't fly in 2026, and probably shouldn't have flown in 1973.

In the next week, the legendary William Shatner turns 95 years old.  Our tribute to him is this entry from almost 20 years ago, which has Deal or No Deal tendencies but asks questions slightly more difficult than that show's title query.  It remains a classic among us, though the general population didn't agree.  We also get closure to what happened to the contestant on the final aired episode whose game was interrupted, never to be seen.

Our tribute for Joe Garagiola's birthday takes us back almost 4 decades, to a show that has been forgotten, for good reason.  Kline and Friends' second endeavor was not good, though we know one way a current generation could have gotten into it:  #nobanditnobandit.  (We have had a little too much fun with that lately.)

This Sunday, the 60th installment of "The Big Game" is occurring.  We have pulled up some gridiron gems to commemmorate this event.  First, in 1970, football became more popular due to the AFL/NFL merger that year, the start of Monday Night Football, and the booming popularity of "The Big Game."  Earlier that year saw Where's Huddles?  (See episode 451.)  Later, Bob Stewart of Password and Pyramid fame came up with this prediction game where a celebrity and a pro player play "You Make the Call."

It has taken us over 6 years and over 600 episodes to finally cover one of the biggest turkeys in television history.  You would think anything a person nicknamed "The Great One" touches would, by default, be amazing.  This show is proof that is not true.  Jackie Gleason hosted one full episode of this, then gave the TV audience a grand apology the following week because what worked in runthroughs did not transition over that well to television.

A personal favorite show of Greg and Mike's is this spiritual successor to The New Liar's Club, but with various types of lines from movies, songs, and factual statements, and without even a single mention of Shoddy Laroux.  The game is derivative, but the real reason we did the show is because someone wanted to bring up the end theme and its similarities to video games of the era.

One thing all three of us enjoy is a good game of pinball.  With the 50th anniversary of this show happening earlier this week, it was a natural for us to cover this show.  What may have looked good on paper was not, for reasons ranging from the machine often broke down to the physics which made traditional pinball fun were non-existent.

The year is 1983.  Game shows are rebounding after going through a tough spell from 1980 through 1982.  Nipsey Russell, a friend of the genre, is in a period of hosting different shows from different genres.  Why not give Nipsey a crack at a game show?  CBS and Mark Goodson Productions did just that with at least 3 pilots.  Unfortunately for Nipsey but fortunately for passionate game show fans, it appears that CBS passed on Star Words, and opted for one of the most popular games in history, Press Your Luck.

Our second and last entry into our annual foray into shows that were lost in translation takes us to this Japanese import, where a show that started with almost 1000 competitors whittled the competition until one person survived, all while traveling around the world.  Sounds sort of like contemporary shows Beast Games or Squid Game?  Nope.  Over 4 decades ago, Ultra Quiz was the biggest game in Japan.  Naturally, an American version followed.  After one attempt and two shows, the extravagant American version was grounded.

It's hard to keep a good format down.  A decade after the Robin Ward-helmed version of To Tell the Truth (see episode 139 for more), the show returned with a mix of old and new panelists, the tried-and-true format, but also a total of five hosts, including the pilots.  A formidable reboot lasted 3/4 of a year in a time when game shows as a whole were a dying breed.