"And, here's your host..."
JOHN DAVIDSON!
"And, here's your host..."
JOHN DAVIDSON!
This was a revival to the last Hollywood Squares hosted by Peter Marshall. Rulesheet may follow at a later time.
Hollywood Squares was just your usual tic-tac-toe game, somewhat like Tic Tac Dough, but instead of categories, you get celebrities. Two contestants
competed, one a returning champion. The corresponding contestant would choose a square with a celebrity in it, and a question
would be asked. The celebrity at anytime could give a bluff to that answer to try and make it a gimmick, and then try and go for the real answer. The contestant then has to decide whether to agree or disagree correctly. Correctly agreeing or disagreeing won them the
square, or else it would go to the opponent, unless it was for a win. They could not win by default. In round 2, there was a Secret Square round, which was played for a trip, announced by announcer Shadoe
Stevens. The home audience was revealed who the Secret
Square was, and if any contestant selected the celebrity
involved in the Secret Square, Davidson would toss a multiple-choice question to the celebrity, and if the contestant agreed
or disagreed correctly, they’d win the trip. Every game when a contestant makes
tic-tac-toe or 5-square win is worth $500, and originally the third game was worth $500 as well as $100 for each X and O on the board if time ran out, but it was later changed to $1,000 for game win or $200 for each X and O on the board. If there was a tie in the score when time ran out and a game ended, the champion would select one square for the tiebreaker. If that player agreed or disagreed correctly, they’d win the game. If not, the win would go to the opposer. Whoever amassed the most money
at the end of the game goes to play for the car.
bowl with 5 keys, and the winner would choose that key to try and start one of the 5 cars on display. The winner would then choose one or two good luck celebrities
from the squares, and then try to start the car. If that car started, the player retired with their winnings and the car. If not, they would return the next day with 4 cars remaining to choose from with that same key if they won the next game. Going 5 days in a row won the car automatically.
The second format, all the celebrities had keys. The winner would choose a celebrity with the key, and that celebrity would be their good luck celebrity. If the contestant did not win the car, the key would return to the celebrity, otherwise shuffle around. This process would continue, until that player won the car or was defeated.
-Joan
Rivers was usually the center square. There were others at times, but she was frequently the center square for the run
-Jim J.
Bullock, a star of Too Close to Comfort and present HIV-survivor was another frequent star on the series for John Davidson’s era. He usually occupied the upper-left square
-Shadoe
Stevens was the announcer for most of the run, whereas sometimes, his brother, Richard Stevens would fill-in on occasion. And on some occasional weeks, Shadoe Stevens would be part of the squares, unlike the times when he announced for Tom Bergeron’s era
-In April 1987, an April Fool’s Joke was pulled on John Davidson. The staff told John that the champion who was going for his 5th win fell ill backstage, and put in two new contestants, who were really professional stunt people. The act was the stunt playing “Mr. X” peeked at John’s question as John read it to Stuart Pankin. “Mrs. O” stopped the capture, and a confrontation went in-between the two stunt people, ending up where she pushed “Mr. X” off the contestant platform! John was in a stunned silence the entire time, until the entire audience yelled, “APRIL FOOLS, JOHN!” This entire segment can be seen on YouTube, posted by me.
-This is one of the greatest shows to actually go “on the road.” The Squares, when on the road would go to Hollywood Florida Resort there in Orlando, and sometimes Radio City Music Hall in New York, therein Shadoe saying at the open, “They are the New YORK Hollywood Squares!”
-On the finale on June 16th, 1989, the entire staff sung “Happy Trails” as the stars and staff shown who worked as what on the staff. And as the lights dimmed for the last time, there was a shout, “Pack your bags!”, as said by Davidson whenever someone captured the Secret Square.
-The “honk honk” game-ending car horn and square-capturing ding were carried over to Caesars Challenge with Ahmad Rashad, which was also produced by Rick Rosner Productions
*Take note that this presently reflects the Davidson era. The Marshall and Bergeron eras are to come soon*
Click HERE to return to the rulesheet database