$64,000 Question (2000)
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
Big Spenders
Blank Check
Body Language
Body Talk
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
Combination Lock (1996)
Comedy Club
Concentration (1985)
The Confidence Game
Cop Out
Countdown (1974)
Countdown (1990)
Crossword
Decisions, Decisions
Dollar a Second
Duel in the Daytime
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)
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)
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 in the Blank
Money Words
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
Pot O' Gold
Pressure Point
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
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
The Better Sex
The Big Money
The Big Payoff
The Buck Stops Here
The Choice Is Yours
The Couples Race
The Fashion Show
The Honeymoon Game
The Love Experts
The Plot Thickens
The Price Is Right (1972)
The Waiting Game
Three of a Kind
Tic Tac Dough
Tie-Up
Top Secret
Twenty One (1982)
Twenty Questions
Twisters
Up and Over
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
Key Witness
Producer: Bernard L. Schubert
Host: Vincent Price
Announcer/Assistant: Lee Browning
Taping Info: It has a copyright of 1959
Made it to Air: No
Availability: Some traders will have it, it is also available through Kinevideo (external link).
Vincent Price, star of stage and screen, just off his blockbuster The Fly, decides what better career move is there than to host a pilot to a game show. Lucky for Price, this 1959 clunker wasn't purchased, or his chances of appearing in all of those Roger Corman movies would have fallen by the wayside. This pilot was produced by Bernard L. Schubert, who had just finished the network run of Topper.
The show begins with Vincent Price in a den-like setting, explaining the premise of the show. Price will star in a short story and contestants plucked from the studio audience will be asked questions about elements of the story. If the contestant guesses correctly, he or she wins anywhere from $20 to $100, depending on the difficulty of the question and has a chance at the "jackpot question" at the end of the show. If he or she is incorrect, the money is added to the "jackpot question".
The story in the show — "Tall, Dark and Handsome" — was about a love triangle between a husband and wife (the roles went uncredited) and a detective (played by Vincent Price) hired by the husband to follow the wife. However, the wife falls in love with the detective and scheme to have the husband murdered. How does it play out? Well, you'll have to watch for yourself and see a plot twist so expected, you'll find it not worthy of Law and Order. In fact, it's not even worthy of The Law and Harry McGraw.
As far as the game goes, the story is stopped halfway through, and four people are picked from the audience to answer the first set of questions. In this episode (and I'm hoping the only one), only one of the first four contestants answered correctly, in this case identifying the name of the detective. Other questions like "how many people were in the opening scene" were missed. At the conclusion of the story, four more questions were asked, with this time three of them guessing correctly (although one was coached heavily by Price).
The four contestants who answered correctly were brought on stage were then given one more question to answer, trying to win the money leftover from the four contestants who didn't answer correctly. The question — what was the exact date and time of the murder? Price tells the contestants they have 30 seconds, but his frenetic counting leaves only 15 seconds to answer and the expertly written 30 second sound cue is cut off. None of the contestants guess correctly, leaving $490 in the jackpot next week, which according to Price will feature Teresa Wright (Mrs. Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees).
As you have probably have surmised, I consider this a terrible show. The story is beyond trite, Vincent Price seems horribly miscast and as Krusty the Clown can tell you, plucking people from the audience is always death. A better use of the format would come later in 1959 when Ernie Kovacs' Take a Good Look hit the airwaves with shorter stories and a comedy focus. A similar show, complete with plucking people from the audience, is 1979's Whodunit, hosted by Ed McMahon.
A Pilot Light Bonus: Vincent Price can't tell time (a clip from the show)
 The opening title. I'm surprised they used a car key motif instead of a classic skeleton key. |
 Here's Vincent Price without the moustache, although he will have one in the story. |
 Here is the scheming wife in the story. Her role goes uncredited (does anybody know who it is?) |
 Here is the first contestant, who is asked how many people were in the opening scene. He guesses incorrectly, and is chained and walled up in the dungeon (oops, thats The Cask of Amontillado — its so easy to confuse Vincent Price roles.) |
 This woman is the only correct contestant in the first round. She correctly identified the name of the character played by Vincent Price. |
 Here's another contestant being asked a question. Notice the empty seats in the background. Pretty unimpressive if you cant even fill the pilot, although from watching the show the audience were obviously actors. |
 The unawarded money is added to the endgame jackpot (which had started at $200). It would eventually reach $490. |
 The husband has been shot! But by who? The plot (mainly made of cheese) thickens. |
 Vincent Price gives the final question and tries to alter the dimension of time. |
This pilot has been viewed 11511 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