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
Crossword
Producer: Payne/Hitman/Official Films
Host: George Fenneman
Model: Doreen Jorgensen
Celebrities: Carolyn Jones, Michael Landon
Taping Info: 1966, probably Los Angeles
Made it to Air: Not under this title nor this host, but it could be said that The Cross-Wits is essentially this show if you added two more celebrities.
Other Pilots: There's another one with Paul Lynde and Tippi Hendren as your celebrities. A version was also peddled in 1971 with Bob Hastings as host in five-a-day syndication. It never made it to air.
Availability: Shokus Video #845, "Lost Game Show Pilots"
Crossword is a fine example of how a good show can be positively ruined by poor execution. George Fenneman, the longtime straightman-announcer on You Bet Your Life, constantly seemed perplexed by the rules of what was pretty much a stripped down version of Chuck Woolery's Scrabble.
The game is played between two teams of a celebrity and a contestant. On this particular pilot, the celebrities are Carolyn Jones of The Addams Family and Michael Landon of Bonanza. A blank crossword is shown along with a category. To win the game, you had to guess the category based on certain clue words in the puzzle. To find these clue words, you called out a number and either across or down. George read a clue, and the contestant or the celebrity (alternating turns) attempt to guess the word. If the player got it right, their team kept control of the board. If they failed, control passed over to the other team. Also, one word that was not known to the players was the "prize word", which earned the player a prize for getting the word. On this particular show, it was a golf bag.
As far as a bonus game goes, I don't know. There was no mention of one, and George called time right after the winner won the necessary two games. Which was pretty much a theme of the entire show, everybody seemed in the dark. George didn't seem to know the rules, the sound effects people didn't seem to know when to cue for a clue word or a prize word, and believe it or not, that board actually does has numbers, but you just can't see them.
This game really wouldn't work today, but in the late 60's it could have. However, this is one of the most technically deficient pilots I've seen. In the hands of Goodson-Todman, Bob Stewart or Hatos-Hall, this would have made the air.
 Not busting their art budget, here's the opening title for Crossword. |
 The secret word is George Fenneman. |
 Here's Carolyn Jones. |
 And "Little Joe" himself, Michael Landon. I bet he was thrilled to be called that. |
 Here's the first puzzle. Believe it or not, there are actually numbers in the left-hand corner of the boxes. |
 The contestant solved the puzzle on these three words. |
 Did you select a clue word? |
 And here are the credits, drawn by a production assistant's six year old. |
This pilot has been viewed 11227 times since October 6, 2008 and was last modified on Dec 12, 2009 14:46 ET
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