How was "The Challengers" played?
mdude4
gameshows.com and then saw a lot of people have episodes in their
collection. Could anyone send me a link of the game play and/or some
pictures? (Or just write it out on a reply to this message). Thanks a
lot! I really appreciate it!
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
tv_...@my-deja.com
assembled masses at this group. Basically, I recall it as Ron
Greenburg's reworking of his "Who What or Where" game. If memory serves
correctly, Doak Fairey (sp) of "Greed" fame was our all-time champ.
I really enjoyed working that show; I did warm-up to Don Morrow's
announcing and Dick Clark's hosting. Ron was GREAT to work for. The
show was shot at Hollywood Center Studios, the facility that earlier
gave us "Burns and Allen", "Petticoat Junction", "Green Acres", and
later "Sweethearts", "Winning Lines" and "VH1's "The List".
Randy West
In article <91gfiq$aqs$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
Zach Horan
>Greenburg's reworking of his "Who What or Where" game. If memory serves
>correctly, Doak Fairey (sp) of "Greed" fame was our all-time champ.
Mr. West is wrong on this count. Doak did win the first two games, and a grand
total of $9,000 IIRC. The all time winner in the show's history was Stanley
Newman who won over $112K, including a Tournament of Champions, according to
what I recall hearing a while back. I only saw the first seven weeks of the
Challengers run, as WCAU Phila. dropped the show after less than stellar
ratings at 7:30PM against WOF, replacing it with Feud.
mdude4
anyone help me out here? Thanks a lot for your help!
Mark
:)
In article <20001216195044...@ng-cl1.aol.com>,
tv_...@my-deja.com
My memory would have been sharper except for the fact that,
unfortunately, none of the players on "The Challengers" nor "Twenty-
One" ever tipped the warm-up guy... I think the Fodors guide recommends
10% for an especially supportive audience! :-)
Working when TWO of the all-time top three game show winners (David
Legler and Rahim Oberholtzer) amassed their booty was awesomely
exciting. As was keeping the energy pumped while the grips swept up the
balloons and confetti!
Randy West
Jim
years ago and the show was only broadcast in Columbus for maybe thirteen
weeks. IMHO, it was not the best show to come down the pipeline. While
slickly produced and fine looking, it was kind of dull. All the references
to current events and real time detracted from what could have been a slick
Q&A. Also, Dick Clark was too laid back as a host. They were going for
excitement of current events and Dick's mellow hosting style wasn't a good
fit. It made the show lag. He was more alive hosting Winning Lines.
The show began with an introduction of the champion and introduced his
comeptitors. The announcer did a great job of saying "Abner is the champion
and Benedict and Clara, you are (in a booming voice) THE CHALLENGERS...
The show was hyped as being an up to the minute game show based on current
events and incorporating the occurrence of real time events into the game
play. I believe they taped it the same day. Anyway, the first round was a
straight Q&A where Dick would read questions about current events to the
three players for one or two minutes. First one to buzz in gets to answer.
(Which President did they just decide to exhume from his grave? George Bush
just announced the appointment of who as his secretary of blahblah). It
worked such that you probably just saw Dan Rather discussing this or talked
about it at work or school this morning after seeing it in the paper.
Round two was patterned similarly after the original Who What or Where game,
but used more contemporary categories. They did the following several
times. Dick would announce the category the next series of questions would
be about and the subcategories associated therewith. For example, "the next
category is Lady Diana - and the three options are
1.) her life (Q: What was her father's last name?)
2.) her times (Q: She was born in the fifties, the same year "Good Golly
Miss Molly" was written. Who sang Good Golly Miss Molly?)
3.) her country (Q: England is whimsically referred to as "a very nice
place" in what famous poem written by R. T. Firefly?)
Slick pictures reflecting each subcategory were shown on a video wall.
First one shown was easiest and worth the least amount of money. I believe
lthe gradation were 300 600 - 900, and went up in a second round of these
category/subs questions. Each contestant would pick which subcategory they
wanted to try answer. If two people picked the same subcategory, it was a
jump in question for those who selected it.
There was a final round with three options a sinple question - a tougher
one- and the toughest one with a higher payout (even money, 2x, or 3x).
This was played just like the original Who What or Where. Each player
risked any or all of his money on the question he picked - only the high
bidder for each question got to answer.
At the end of all this, there was some form of bonus game. It differed as
they kept switching this. At one point, whoever three (?) games won a
jackpot starting at $50,000 and grew $1,000 each day it wasn't won. Later,
each day, the winner would join Dick center stage. If they could answer
three questions Dick read to them they won the jackpot (same rules as to
amount). (I think the contestant got to chose from two categories.)
For some reason, I remember this set of questions:
CATEGORY: Presidents - for (let's say $54,000) answer these three questions:
1.) Name the university founded by Thomas Jefferson.
2.) Name the political party Teddy Roosevelt ran in in the 1912 election
against Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft.
3.) In 1989, Ronald Reagan addressed a unit of the Soviet Union's government
while on his tour of the country. Name the body of government Reagan
addressed.
(Not the toughest questions one ever saw, but they were decent and were
rarely won. Again, as is often the case, if you don't know the category,
you're toast.)
They did a premiere episode which was broadcast the weekend before they
rolled the show out. This established for Monday's premiere who was the
champion and who were THE CHALLENGERS...
"mdude4" <mdu...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:91gfiq$aqs$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
Michael Falkner
In article <3a3cf882$0$1502$2a0e...@news.tdin.com>,
I think they gave each player $200 or so, and each correct answer in the
speed round [which _STARTED_ the game and determined who got control of
the categories first] was +$50, with wrong answers deducting $50.
(My memory is somewhat skewed too.)
> Round two was patterned similarly after the original Who What or Where
game,
> but used more contemporary categories. They did the following several
> times. Dick would announce the category the next series of questions
would
> be about and the subcategories associated therewith. For example,
"the next
> category is Lady Diana - and the three options are
> 1.) her life (Q: What was her father's last name?)
> 2.) her times (Q: She was born in the fifties, the same year "Good
Golly
> Miss Molly" was written. Who sang Good Golly Miss Molly?)
> 3.) her country (Q: England is whimsically referred to as "a very
nice
> place" in what famous poem written by R. T. Firefly?)
> Slick pictures reflecting each subcategory were shown on a video
wall.
> First one shown was easiest and worth the least amount of money. I
believe
> lthe gradation were 300 600 - 900,
100-150-200 in the first, I think, with 200-250-300 in the second.
> and went up in a second round of
these
> category/subs questions. Each contestant would pick which subcategory
they
> wanted to try answer. If two people picked the same subcategory, it
was a
> jump in question for those who selected it.
If all three picked the same one, with fanfare, it's value was increased
for a three-way jump-in. The person with the highest correct answer [or
the person with previous control, if no correct answers] got to pick the
next category. 6 in each round and I think they were all played.
This was also one of the first games which had an on-camera judge, and
he, later, was given some light banter as well.
Some real bad jokes... I remember one category "Smog, a Dog, and a Hog"
-- the categories were Los Angeles, Lassie, and...
Roseanne Barr...
> There was a final round with three options a sinple question - a
tougher
> one- and the toughest one with a higher payout (even money, 2x, or
3x).
> This was played just like the original Who What or Where. Each player
> risked any or all of his money on the question he picked - only the
high
> bidder for each question got to answer.
Right. All players got to keep their winnings in the form of a Citibank
Debit Card, I think, in the amount of their winnings.
If two tied in bidding for the same question, they re-bid.
> At the end of all this, there was some form of bonus game. It differed
as
> they kept switching this. At one point, whoever three (?) games won a
> jackpot starting at $50,000 and grew $1,000 each day it wasn't won.
Later,
> each day, the winner would join Dick center stage. If they could
answer
> three questions Dick read to them they won the jackpot (same rules as
to
> amount). (I think the contestant got to chose from two categories.)
The Ultimate Challenge -- bringing back the ascending jackpot in a day
where it was not used much.
> (Not the toughest questions one ever saw, but they were decent and
were
> rarely won. Again, as is often the case, if you don't know the
category,
> you're toast.)
I'd say good Level 3 fodder on Millionaire.
--
---
Michael Falkner San Francisco, CA
wrest...@my-deja.com
---
Zach Horan
>speed round [which _STARTED_ the game and determined who got control of
>the categories first] was +$50, with wrong answers deducting $50.
It was plus or minus 100 dollars.
>100-150-200 in the first, I think, with 200-250-300 in the second.
early on it was 150-200-250 in the first round, and 300-400-500 in the second
round. It was later lowered to 100-150-200, and 200-300-400. Values were
doubled if all three selected to play the same question.
>6 in each round and I think they were all played.
They played until time ran out in a round, they would often get all six in, but
not always from what I recall.
Don Smith
> In article <91gfiq$aqs$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
> mdude4 <mdu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > I saw a clip for the opening of "The Challengers" at www.tv-
> > gameshows.com and then saw a lot of people have episodes in their
> > collection. Could anyone send me a link of the game play and/or
some
> > pictures? (Or just write it out on a reply to this message).
Thanks
> a
> > lot! I really appreciate it!
Matt Kaiser has a page on "The Challengers"
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/5987/challengers.html
DS
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