Show Me
Showoffs
Simon Says
Shopping Spree
Shoot the Works
Second Honeymoon
Sharaize
Shoot for the Stars
Smart Alecks
Smart Money
Star Play
Strictly Confidential
TKO
Star Cluster
Split Decision
Spellbinders
Spin-Off
Second Guessers
Scrabble (1990)
Play For Keeps
Play Your Hunch
Pot O' Gold
People On TV
Party Line
Oddball
100%
PDQ
Pressure Point
Pyramid (1996)
Riddlers
Run For The Money
Says Who?
Razzle Dazzle
Quick as a Flash
Pyramid (1997)
A Question of Scruples
Talking Pictures (1968)
Talking Pictures (1976)
What Do You Want?
What's On Your Mind
Wheel of Fortune
We've Got Your Number
Up and Over
Twenty One (1982)
Twenty Questions
Twisters
Whew!
Whodunit
You Bet Your Life (1988)
You Bet Your Life (1991)
You're Putting Me On
Write Your Own Ticket
Word Grabbers
Whose Baby
Wipeout
Top Secret
Tie-Up
The Big Payoff
The Buck Stops Here
The Choice Is Yours
The Big Money
The Better Sex
Tell It to Groucho
Temptation (1981)
$10,000 Sweep
The Couples Race
The Fashion Show
The Waiting Game
Three of a Kind
Tic Tac Dough
The Price Is Right (1972)
The Plot Thickens
The Honeymoon Game
The Love Experts
Now You See It (1986)
Nothing But the Truth
Change Partners
Child's Play
Combination Lock (1996)
The Challengers (1974)
Chain Letter (1964)
Celebrity Doubletalk
Celebrity Secrets
Celebrity Sweepstakes
Comedy Club
Concentration (1985)
Crossword
Decisions, Decisions
Dollar a Second
Countdown (1990)
Countdown (1974)
The Confidence Game
Cop Out
Celebrity Billiards
Caught in the Act
Beat The Genius
Beat The Odds (1962)
Beat The Odds (1975)
Be What You Want
Bamboozle
ABC Carnival '74
Across the Board
Baloney
Bedtime Stories
Big Spenders
Call My Bluff
Card Sharks (1996)
Casino
Bullseye
Body Talk
Blank Check
Body Language
Duel in the Daytime
Fast Friends
Match Game (1962)
Match Game (1973)
Match Game (1990)
M'ama Non M'ama
Let's Make a Deal (1990)
Keynotes (1986)
King of the Hill
Let's Make a Deal (1963)
Match Game (1996)
MatchGame (2008)
Money Words
Moneymaze
Monopoly (1987)
Money in the Blank
Monday Night QB
Mindreaders
Missing Links
Key Witness
Jumble
Going, Going, Gone!
Head of the Class
High Rollers
Get Rich Quick
Finish Line (1990)
$50,000 a Minute
Finish Line (1975)
Hollywood Squares (1965)
Hollywood Squares (1985)
Jackpot (1984)
Jeopardy (1977)
Jokers Wild
How Do You Like Your Eggs?
House to House
Hot Numbers
Hot Potato
$64,000 Question (2000)
Show a Random Pilot
Show Unreviewed Pilots
Bob Stewart Flow Chart
Bedtime Stories
Producer: Heatter-Quigley
Host: Al Lohman and Roger Barkley
Announcer: Kenny Williams
Taping Info: May 27, 1979, somewhere in Los Angeles
Made it to Air: Yes, it had a six or eight week run (I've seen both quoted) in five-a-day syndication in June-August of 1979.
Availability: UCLA Archive
It is not well known, or it is purposely forgotten, that Heatter-Quigley did do some relationship shows. One, Amateur's Guide to Love, had a 13 week run on CBS in 1972. Hot Seat, complete with that isolation booth and the probes, had a 13 week run on ABC in 1976. Seeing that the network route was not working, Heatter-Quigley developed this pilot — Bedtime Stories — for five-a-day syndication. The L.A. radio team of Al Lohman and Roger Barkley, who previously hosted the Heater-Quigley effort Name Droppers in 1969-70, got the call.
Living up to the new openness of the late 70's, plus an obvious bent to be just for laughs, the show opens with a set of two bedroom sets (known as "the tacky beds") and a brief talk by Lohman/Barkley. Then, the two couples who would be playing in this game are interviewed in what are purportedly their bedrooms, one couple interviewed by Lohman and the other by Barkley. These interviews are very reminiscent of what The Daily Show interviews look like today, with answers given to questions that were added in post-production. So after about 10 minutes of these introductions, we can finally start the game.
The players are then brought out to the tacky beds, which are actually just benches with head boards as backing. Each team than is asked a question based on a survey with two possible answers (e.g.: Many couples have a special feeling when they meet. Is that feeling love or lust?) Each correct guess of the more popular answer garnered each team $500 in prizes. After three of these questions, a fourth question was asked that worth $2,000 in prizes. In this round, the couples wrote their answers down rather than giving a verbal response since they were trying to see who would be closer to a survey result.
Not much is remembered about the show when it finally aired. According to the The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows, the first two weeks of the show featured three questions played for $500 in cash, with no fourth question. After those two weeks, the format changed to each couple being asked questions before taping, with the other couple trying to guess how the first couple answered for $500 per question.
I have my doubts on whether this was a true pilot or a rehearsal show, since there was only 4 weeks between the taping of this episode and the actual airing of the show. Going into the viewing with very low expectations, I actually found the show to be quite entertaining, and maybe even ahead of its time. The byplay between the two hosts was pretty funny and they obviously played to the fact that this was fluff.
This pilot has been viewed 4292 times since October 6, 2008 and was last modified on Dec 12, 2009 14:46 ET
Feedback? Contact me at usgs-pilot at the usgameshows dot net domain