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
Star Cluster
Producer: Bill Armstrong/Four Star
Host: Jim McKrell
Announcer: Bill Armstrong
Celebrities: Abby Dalton, Bob Ridgeley, Jm J. Bullock, Doug Davidson, Shelley Taylor Morgan, Linda Blair
Taping Info: 1986
Made it to Air: No
I have a friend who has an idea for a dream job. He wants to be the guy that names operations for the Pentagon — Operation Desert Storm, Operation Provide Comfort, etc., mainly to make sure they don't pick something that is historically stupid or insensitive. I myself have gone through several naming exercises at work, only to find that it is usually in the control of marketers, and they tend not to have the cranial capacity necessary to play word games and realize that you have just picked a name that will be made fun of in several ways in about five seconds. Apparently, only marketers were involved with Four Star for the naming process for Star Cluster.
Long-suffering Jim McKrell helms this show with six "stars" in a game where two unwitting contestants had to answer multiple-choice questions about the celebrity panel. The panel was sitting in a three-tier setup, with Doug Davidson on top, Ms. Morgan and Mr. Bullock on the middle row and the remainders on the bottom. For example, one question asked to Jm J. Bullock was "if we were to describe the women you've dated as the way we would describe eggs, would we say they hard-boiled, soft-boiled, or sunny side-up" (unfortunately, egg-beaters was not an option). If the contestant and celebrity somehow matched, the player received $25 plus $25 for each celebrity who also agreed.
The round ended when either a contestant completed a cluster (really a triangle of stars) or six questions were asked. Making a cluster was a $250 bonus. The second round was just as painful as the first except the money was doubled. The player who had the most money at the end of round two moved on to the bonus game.
The bonus game involved a true-false question where four stars answered yes. The player got $200 for finding the first star that said yes, received an extra $500 for finding the second one, received a Mexican trip for the third, and a car for the fourth. If the player picked a star that said no, they lost all of the accumulated prizes in the bonus round. The player could also stop at any time.
Why do bad games happen to such good people like Jim McKrell? And how did this game even go forward? Why would anybody want to sit through a half-hour where contestants do choose-a-number-between-one-and-three for half an hour? Nobody knows these "stars" or how they would have their love lives compared to eggs. And could you at least afford a set where the stars didn't have to sit so close to each other?
This pilot has been viewed 6627 times since October 6, 2008 and was last modified on Dec 12, 2009 14:46 ET
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