ABC Carnival '74
Across the Board
Baloney
Bamboozle
Be What You Want
Beat The Genius
Beat The Odds (1962)
Beat The Odds (1975)
Bedtime Stories
The Better Sex
The Big Money
The Big Payoff
Big Spenders
Blank Check
Body Language
Body Talk
The Buck Stops Here
Bullseye
Call My Bluff
Card Sharks (1996)
Casino
Caught in the Act
Celebrity Billiards
Celebrity Doubletalk
Celebrity Secrets
Celebrity Sweepstakes
Chain Letter (1964)
The Challengers (1974)
Change Partners
Child's Play
The Choice Is Yours
Combination Lock (1996)
Comedy Club
Concentration (1985)
The Confidence Game
Cop Out
Countdown (1974)
Countdown (1990)
The Couples Race
Crossword
Decisions, Decisions
Dollar a Second
Duel in the Daytime
The Fashion Show
Fast Friends
$50,000 a Minute
Finish Line (1975)
Finish Line (1990)
Get Rich Quick
Going, Going, Gone!
Head of the Class
High Rollers
Hollywood Squares (1965)
Hollywood Squares (1985)
The Honeymoon Game
Hot Numbers
Hot Potato
House to House
How Do You Like Your Eggs?
Jackpot (1984)
Jeopardy (1977)
Jokers Wild
Jumble
Key Witness
Keynotes (1986)
King of the Hill
Let's Make a Deal (1963)
Let's Make a Deal (1990)
The Love Experts
M'ama Non M'ama
Match Game (1962)
Match Game (1973)
Match Game (1990)
Match Game (1996)
MatchGame (2008)
Mindreaders
Missing Links
Monday Night QB
Money Words
Money in the Blank
Moneymaze
Monopoly (1987)
Nothing But the Truth
Now You See It (1986)
Oddball
100%
PDQ
Party Line
People On TV
Play For Keeps
Play Your Hunch
The Plot Thickens
Pot O' Gold
Pressure Point
The Price Is Right (1972)
Pyramid (1996)
Pyramid (1997)
A Question of Scruples
Quick as a Flash
Razzle Dazzle
Riddlers
Run For The Money
Says Who?
Scrabble (1990)
Second Guessers
Second Honeymoon
Sharaize
Shoot for the Stars
Shoot the Works
Shopping Spree
Show Me
Showoffs
Simon Says
$64,000 Question (2000)
Smart Alecks
Smart Money
Spellbinders
Spin-Off
Split Decision
Star Cluster
Star Play
Strictly Confidential
TKO
Talking Pictures (1968)
Talking Pictures (1976)
Tell It to Groucho
Temptation (1981)
$10,000 Sweep
Three of a Kind
Tic Tac Dough
Tie-Up
Top Secret
Twenty One (1982)
Twenty Questions
Twisters
Up and Over
The Waiting Game
We've Got Your Number
What Do You Want?
What's On Your Mind
Wheel of Fortune
Whew!
Whodunit
Whose Baby
Wipeout
Word Grabbers
Write Your Own Ticket
You Bet Your Life (1988)
You Bet Your Life (1991)
You're Putting Me On
Show a Random Pilot
Show Unreviewed Pilots
Bob Stewart Flow Chart
Celebrity Doubletalk
Producer: Bob Stewart/Filmways/NBC
Host: Jack Clark
Announcer: Don Pardo
Celebrities: Betsy Palmer, Bill Cullen, Florence Henderson, Darrin McGavin
Theme: "Brasilia" by Herb Alpert (same as The Face is Familiar)
Taping Info: October 23, 1967, probably New York City for NBC
Made it to Air: No
Availability: UCLA Archive
Several sources consider Cash on the Line, a Bob Stewart pilot from 1972, the original progenitor of The $10,000 Pyramid. However, the 1967 pilot Celebrity Doubletalk had an inkling of the eventual Pyramid as well. This show was intended to be a daytime offering and was backed by NBC, but considering the juggernaut lineup of games NBC had in 1967, it would have to had been real good, and this one wasn't.
The game involved two teams of two celebrities and one contestant. The contestant actually sat on the end rather than in the center. The host, Jack Clark, would tell each team that you will see a phrase on their monitor. The idea would be to say things that match the category, but not to give clues that would allow the other team to guess it. For example, if the phrase was "Something that is inflated", a team would have to say items that are inflated, but would be as misleading as possible to keep them away from the clue, such as "ego", "self-esteem" and "bra". If your team guessed the word correctly, you got the point. Otherwise, the team giving the clues got the point. Three points won the game and a prize. Sort of like the Pyramid bonus game, except you're trying to give bad clues.
The bonus game was somewhat similar to the main game of Pyramid. In one example, the category was birds. Betsy Palmer would come up with a bird on her own, and try to get Bill Cullen to say it. Once he did, he then thought of a bird and tried to get the contestant to come up with one. This would continue back and forth Go style until 60 seconds were up. The contestant got $20 per correct word. In the three bonus games on the pilot, the players got 12, 12 and 7 words respectively.
Since the game went really fast, they were able to get three complete main-bonus combos in the game. Like Password and later incarnations of Pyramid, players alternated celebrities each game and stayed for the entire game.
Snap Judgement, Concentration, Personality, Hollywood Squares, Jeopardy!, Eye Guess, Let's Make a Deal, You Don't Say, Match Game. These were the games on NBC daytime in 1967 and Celebrity Doubletalk couldn't beat any of them, which was partially the strength of the lineup and partially the weakness of the "bad clue" format. It took six years, but game show perfection would emerge from the seeds of this pilot.
This pilot has been viewed 10272 times since October 6, 2008 and was last modified on Sep 26, 2010 16:31 ET
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