Go (game show)

Go is an American television game show created by Bob Stewart and aired on NBC from October 3, 1983, to January 20, 1984. The show featured two teams, each composed of four contestants and a celebrity. The teams had to construct questions one word at a time to convey a word or phrase to their teammates. The concept of Go was based on a bonus round used on Chain Reaction, another game show created by Stewart.

Go
GenreGame show
Created byBob Stewart
Based onChain Reaction
Directed byBruce Burmester
Presented byKevin O'Connell
Narrated byJohnny Gilbert
Theme music composerBob Cobert
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes79
Production
Executive producerBob Stewart
ProducerSande Stewart
Production locationsNBC Studios
Burbank, California
Running timeapprox. 24 minutes
Production companyBob Stewart-Sande Stewart Productions
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseOctober 3, 1983 (1983-10-03) 
January 20, 1984 (1984-01-20)

Los Angeles and Buffalo meteorologist Kevin O'Connell was the show's host, and Johnny Gilbert was the announcer, with Jack Clark substituting for him during November 1983.

Go aired at 12:00 noon ET/11:00 AM CT/MT/PT on NBC, long a problem time slot for the three major broadcast networks at the time, as their local affiliates would often preempt network programming to air newscasts or syndicated fare. The noon slot was also home to Family Feud, which was the top-rated daytime game show carried on ABC, and in some markets CBS aired the first half of The Young and The Restless.

Since the cancellation of Password Plus, which had aired in the noon hour for most of its run, in 1982, NBC had tried three different first-run programs in the noon slot. The first was their longtime serial The Doctors, which had seen a massive ratings collapse that would eventually result in its cancellation at the end of 1982. NBC then tried two game shows in the slot; the first, Just Men!, premiered on January 3, 1983 but was cancelled after thirteen weeks, and the second, The New Battlestars, launched on April 4 and met the exact same fate. Go managed a total of sixteen weeks before it too was cancelled.

Main game

Two teams, each consisting of one celebrity captain and four contestants, competed.

The team that played first in any round selected a packet of words or phrases, with a choice of two. Four of the team's members gave clues as to the chosen words, while the fifth player attempted to offer correct answers in response, serving in this role for the entire game. The four clue givers sat in a line so as to form three clue-giving pairs. Each pair received a word to describe and constructed a clue question by building it alternately one word at a time. They then rang a bell to indicate complete formation of the question and to prompt the fifth player to offer the answer. If the answer was correct, the fifth player moved down the line to the next pair. If the answer was incorrect, or the question either was deemed to be illegally constructed or was passed, the fifth player could not advance. Once the fifth player reached the end of the line, he/she then worked back to the start.

The object for the first team was to get five correct answers as quickly as possible. The game clock counted up to 99 seconds or until the team achieved five correct answers, whichever happened first. The opposing team then attempted either to score five correct answers in less time or to score more correct answers than the first team in 99 seconds, in order to win the round. If they failed, the first team won the round. The team winning the round scored points. The first team to accumulate at least 1,500 points won the game. Play continued for up to four rounds, with each team alternating first-play honors. The point award to the winning team of a round escalated from 250 points for round one, to 500 points for round two, 750 points for round three, and 1,250 points for round four (if necessary).

The game-winning team won an amount in cash equal to their final score, and advanced to the Jackpot Round.

Jackpot Round

The Jackpot Round was played the same way as the front game, but with a twist.

The designated guesser had to identify seven subjects in sixty seconds and once again, his/her teammates constructed the questions. This time, the constructing was different. For the first subject, all four clue givers were in play. For each of the next three, one less clue giver was in play, with only one constructing the fourth question. Once the fourth subject was correctly guessed, the other three clue givers came back one at a time to finish the round. If the clue givers gave an illegally constructed question or accidentally gave the subject away, they simply moved on to the next subject. An incorrect guess from the guesser results in the teammates staying to construct the next question for the next subject.

If seven subjects were correctly guessed within 60 seconds, the host would give the team $10,000. If not, $200 was awarded for each subject identified.

If the team managed to reach the 1,500 point goal by winning the first three rounds of play (referred to as a "clean sweep"), they played the Double Jackpot Round for a chance to win up to $20,000.

Champions

Originally one of the two teams consisted of one new team and a returning champion. The champions could return until they were defeated or won five times, and the losing team received parting gifts. After the first four weeks, the format changed and both teams competed for the entire week, rotating celebrity captains each day.

The maximum amount of cash any team could win was $107,500, provided they won the front game in three rounds for all five of their appearances and won the bonus round twice on those episodes.

From November 7 to 18, 1983, Go! had an all-star "Battle of the Daytime Soaps". The first week pitted the cast of Days of Our Lives against the cast of Another World, while the second saw Another World returning to take on the cast of Search for Tomorrow, with all winnings going to charity. It was during these two weeks that Jack Clark filled in as announcer for Johnny Gilbert.

Episode status

The series has been rebroadcast on CBN Cable Network (now Freeform) and GSN at various times.

British version

A short-lived British version titled Get Set Go,[1] hosted by Michael Barrymore along with co-host Julia Gale, aired on BBC1 from September 10 to November 26, 1984.

References

  1. "Get Set Go - UKGameshows". www.ukgameshows.com. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
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