Hollywood Squares Basic Rules Original Version Revivals

Although Hollywood Squares is a legitimate game show, at its best the game is simply the background for the show's comedy. The show is scripted, in the sense that the panel of celebrities know the questions in advance and are provided with answers, and suggestions for bluffs and jokes. Typically, a celebrity's first response to a question is a(n attempt at a) humorous one. This is then followed by the true answer or bluff.

The show's recurring and most successful celebrities have always been the ones with comic timing.

1 Basic rules

Although there have been variations over the years in the rules and the prize-winning aspects of the game, certain aspects of the game remained fairly consistent. Two contestants, a woman playing Os (noughts) and the man playing Xs (crosses), take turns selecting a celebrity, following traditional tic-tac-toe strategies for which square to select. The chosen celebrity is then asked a trivia question by the show's host. The celebrity answers the question, and a contestant win an X or an O on the board by agreeing with the celebrity, or disagreeing if the celebrity is bluffing or wrong. If the contestant is right, he or she gets the square; if wrong, the other contestant gets the square, unless that causes the opponent to get three-in-a-row. In that case, the opponent has to win the square on his or her own.

2 Original version

The show's greatest success was during its original run. In its heyday in the early 1970s, it was the most popular daytime show in the country, and a platform for celebrities to promote their work which seemed almost as popular as Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show.

The show got its beginning as a black-and-white pilot episode filmed for CBS in 1965. That pilot was hosted by Bert Parks , with the squares occupied by Cliff Arquette in his "Charley Weaver" comic persona, Wally Cox, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Abby Dalton , Jim BackusJim Backus ( February 25, 1913 July 3, 1989) was a radio, television and movie actor, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr. Magoo, the rich Herbert Updike of the Alan Young radio show, Joan Davis' husband, a domestic court judg, Gisele MacKenzieGisele MacKenzie ( January 10, 1927 September 5, 2003) was a Canadian born singer, most famous for her performances on the popular television program Your Hit Parade''. She was born Gisele Marie-Louise Marguerite LaFleche in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and studie, Robert Q. Lewis , and Vera MilesVera Miles (b. August 23, 1929) is a American actress. She began her career as a beauty queen and, as a result, earned a minor part in Two Tickets to Broadway ( 1951). She posed for cheesecake photos, and married her leading man from Tarzan's Hidden Jungl. The first five of the initial panelists were to later appear on the first broadcasted show ( October 17October 17 is the 290th (in leap years the 291st) day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. There are 75 days remaining. Events 1244 Battle of La Forbie: Crusaders were defeated by Khwarezmians & Egyptians 1346 Battle of Neville's Cross: King D, 1966See also 1965 in television, other events of 1966, 1967 in television and the list of 'years in television'. Events January 3 Hullabaloo shows promotional videos of The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out". January 8 Shindig airs for the l) and become some of its initial regulars.

CBS shot a second pilot hosted by Sandy Baron , but choose not to follow-up with either host. A year later, NBCSteff Geissbuhler. The feathers are said to represent the network's six divisions. NBC Universal Television is an American television network based in New York's Rockefeller Center. As of May 2004, it became part of NBC Universal. NBC supplies programming acquired the rights to the show, and chose Peter MarshallSeveral people are named Peter Marshall # Peter Marshall is an American singer and game show host, best known as the original "master" of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 1981. He also appeared in the 1982 movie Annie''. Peter Marshall is a British televis as host, a job he held for fifteen years, until 1981See also 1980 in television, other events of 1981, 1982 in television and the list of 'years in television'. Events January 20 Comedian Andy Kaufman ruins sketches and starts a brawl live on the air during ABC's Fridays''. April 11 Van Halen's lead guitar.

The daytime version of the show was replaced by NBC on June 20, 1980, by a short-lived talk show hosted by David Letterman. It ran for one more year in syndication before it was canceled for good.

Peter Marshall wrote about his experiences on the show in the 2002 book Backstage With The Original Hollywood Square [sic] (BooksEnthsiast.com).

The 1st theme song used in 1966-1969 is called "The Silly Song" by Jimmie Haskell. The 2nd theme song used in the 1969-1980 version is called "Bob & Merrill's Theme" by William Loose. The 3rd theme used from 1980-1981 was composed by Stan Worth.

3 Revivals

250px Connie Sellecca of Hotel occupies a square in a revival version.

There have been several revivals, each with variations in the prize-winning rules but still based on the core premise. For nine months starting in October 1983, Jon “Bowzer” Bauman of Sha-Na-Na hosted a version packaged back-to-back with Match Game. The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour (as it was called) not only featured celebrties of the day, but also up-and-coming new stars (such as comedian Bruce Baum, John deLancie, and Mary Page Keller) who would become famous years later.

John Davidson hosted a version called The New Hollywood Squares, produced between 1986 and 1989 by Orion Television (which by then had acquired the Filmways production company). Shadoe Stevens and James J. Bullock were featured as regulars. Most seasons featured Joan Rivers as the center square. The lower left square would feature a "special guest star", usually a musical or comedy group, or sometimes even a regular from the original Peter Marshall version.

In 1998, King World bought the format rights to the show from MGM (successor-in-interest to Orion Pictures and Filmways, who produced the respective previous incarnations of the series) and relaunched the final version of the show to date, hosted by Tom Bergeron. It starred Whoopi Goldberg in the center square; Whoopi also co-produced it for its first four years. The end game underwent numerous changes throughout the run of the Bergeron version. In its fifth season it underwent an update after Henry Winkler and Michael Levitt took over as executive producers, taking on the nickname H² and switching to a rotating series of center square occupants. The final series ended in September 2004.

4 Other versions

A UK version of the show, called Celebrity Squares and hosted by Bob Monkhouse, appeared on ITV from 1975 to 1979; it was revived with the same host from 1993 to 1994, the 1993 series named New Celebrity Squares.

Storybook Squares, a Saturday-morning children's version, was on for several months in 1969. It featured stars dressed as fairy tale and historical characters. It would later air occasionally in the 1970s during the run of the original Marshall version.

5 Other celebrity panelists

Since the center square is the most strategic in tic-tac-toe, it is treated as the position of honor on the show. Besides Paul Lynde, center square occupants in later versions have included:

Joan Rivers, who was the primary occupant in the late- 1980s version;
Whoopi Goldberg, who was the center square in the second revival for its first four years; and
Ellen DeGeneres, who took over for Whoopi.

The following is a partial list of other notable celebrity panelists:

Puppets have also appeared as panelists, including:

Alf
Bear , from Bear in the Big Blue House
Big Bird and Elmo, from Sesame Street
Kermit, and Miss Piggy, from The Muppet Show
Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, from Late Night with Conan O'Brien

6 Reruns

It was believed that NBC destroyed the whole Marshall version, but during a search for original master tapes of the soap opera Dark Shadows, at least 100 network master tapes of the classic Hollywood Squares episodes (the exact figure is still disputed) were discovered, thus the Marshall version would be seen for the first time in almost two-and-a-half decades (and to a whole new generation of fans whose previous one grew up on the classic incarnation). This discovery was a surprise to game show fans, even Peter Marshall himself. A majority of these episodes, which aired on GSN in 2002 and 2003, were of the 1970s syndication run, while others were of the network nighttime version shown in the late 1960s.
All of the Bauman version's episodes are assumed to be intact, but the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour has never been rerun on any network, primarily because of cross-ownership issues between MGM and FremantleMedia (successor-in-interest to Goodson-Todman Productions). However, in 2004, The World of Soap Themes web site featured a selected episode with soap opera stars during one of its theme weeks.
Episodes hosted by Davidson were rerun on the USA Network for a few years after the show's cancellation.
The Bergeron episodes continue to air on GSN.

7 External links

Game shows Comedy television series Tic-tac-toe

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