Buzzword Pilot

[sushibarset11]

About a month ago, Wink Martindale posted an ultra rare pilot from 1986 created by Merv Griffin called Buzzword. Here it is below:



And here are my overall thoughts of it.

The Good: The set (very sleek and beautiful for the time, would it hold up today? Plus it uses the red/yellow/blue motif we’d see on Wheel). The theme music (It would be used as a car cue on Wheel in the early to mid 90s, as well as Merv Griffin’s Crosswords in 2007; that one wasn’t a good show)

Not much good about it, unfortunately. Here’s the bad.

The Bad: The host (Ron Hoon; a bit too stiff and wooden. But to be fair, it’s Merv trying to get another complete unknown as host like he did with Pat Sajak.) The prize budget: (The prizes alone, had this sold to NBC, would’ve wiped out half their budget). The gameplay: (Too boring. There’s no risk, no fun, no elements to make it stand out.) Inconsistent scoring system: (Notice in one part, KK (red player) wins the grand piano worth $8,000. $100 is suddenly added to her score. Why? Same thing with Lance, the yellow player, who won the Mustang worth 16,000. 500 was added to his score.)

If I’d rework this, I would have the bouncing light travel faster, and if the player lands on the same letter, they’d be forced to solve. Overall the set can’t save this pilot from being very boring, however, I’ve seen worse pilots (Bamboozle, What are My True Colors, Truth or Consequences 2003, etc.

What are your overall thoughts on the pilot if you’ve seen it already?

[asja2002]

This is the review I posted on my Facebook page after the pilot was released on Youtube...



Here are my thoughts on the recently surfaced 1986 pilot of “Buzzword”. If you haven’t watched it yet, go to Wink Martindale’s YouTube channel.
The year is 1986, and NBC has dramatically altered their morning landscape in recent years. Their long running game show “Wheel of Fortune” is plugging along in the ratings and usually right behind the CBS standard “The Price is Right”. “Sale of The Century” and “Scrabble” are doing decently well…or at least well enough to match the output from ABC’s soap operas. “Super Password” also does okay even though a Noontime airtime gives it a hard fade in a number of markets, including Boston-which would air a news broadcast in it’s place. NBC is looking now for new ideas to add to it’s lineup.

A few pilots have been tested- such as a couples-centric word game called “MatchMates” from Reg Grundy, a Password-Esque offering called “OddBalls” from Mark Goodson, and an Acey-Deucy format called “Split Decision” from Richard Reid’s company. While interesting in their own ways, none appear ready to hit the air. NBC then turns to a longtime producer in their daytime lineup for another winner. In this case…Merv Griffin’s company gets the opportunity with a show that…..tries to put too much from its other successes into one pot. The show would be called….


“Cue the theme,record scratch”


No this isn’t a Wheel of Fortune clone, but for acute listeners, there’s the prize of a new car involved.
Nope this is “Buzzword” A shuffled letters game that offers over “$100,000 in cash and fabulous prizes” each show. Let’s start with the format. Three contestants, one usually a returning champion, play a series of “guess the word” games to win cash and prizes. At the beginning of each round, a series of three prizes are revealed that players could win that round, typical fare of Grand Pianos, big screen tv’s and a fur coat are offered In the first round. Then a series of bubbles are revealed -each with a scrambled letter in a word, grouped in a random pattern. One player at a time would stop a randomizer to reveal one letter in the word, then if nobody could guess the word from what’s revealed the next player would reveal a letter and so on. The first to ring in with their “Buzzword” bar with the solution wins a prize. What prize? Well a random light is going off over each prize, and when a player buzzes in to guess, whichever prize is lit up is what they’d win.


Couple things too. If a circle lights up around a letter, then it’s called the trigger letter, meaning it’s either the first or last letter in the word. If a space lights up “extra” then the player in control can win an extra prize- see what they did there - if they solve the word then and there. After the prize is revealed, then the value of the prize is added to the winner’s bank. And in typical fashion, the player with the highest total at the end of the game keeps the prizes accumulated and returns the next program.
In the pilot, the extra comes up in the first round and the play out is as follows. (daily double maybe?) A player can keep the prize won in the round, or risk it to win a second prize of near identical value by unscrambling a five letter word in five seconds. If successful they keep both prizes , if not… both are lost.


This continues 4 more times and different prizes are offered each round….but they start repeating prizes almost immediately.in that, only 8 prizes are on offer the whole show. Another issue… They quote a piano being valued at $8,000 but credit $8,100 to the player. Same with the trip offered. Announced value was $6,000 but a contestant was credited with $6,350. And there is no explanation for how the money was earned.


Two of the rounds featured a category for the solution, like a “Place in America” or “The first and last name of a celebrity” These clues were sporadic and not uniform throughout the presentation and could have been utilized better. The final round was called “The Big Buzzword” Which featured the opportunity to take a prize from another player. Presumably the players would have to remember how much the other prizes were worth that the opponents had in the prize bank so as to strategize a win.


The host for the presentation was Ron Hoon, who was at the time a newscaster in Arizona. His look and demeanor reminded me a LOT of Ed Byrnes. A stereotype game show host look, but not much enthusiasm. Even in a run through you want to engage your audience and I did not see enough of that in him. The announcer was named “Jim” I believe but sounded similar to Edd Hall, but his delivery was quite dull as well. Couldn’t Merv borrow Johnny Gilbert or Jack Clark to do the prize descriptions?


The set was … interesting. Except for the prize display area the studio seemed way too big. It reminded me a bit of “Fandango” If you remembered that TNN classic. And speaking of the prizes…..


On a daytime episode of Wheel of Fortune you would have to come in with a miracle to win the offered car before the bonus round. Like winning a Mustang would require you to spin up $2,000 and get eight letters in the puzzle, and then solve it. It’s akin to scoring $48,000 + in the current final spin round in prime time. Otherwise even just one of the offered gifts would be a bonus round prize …and you’d have to play and win the entire show just to have a chance at it. Here they give away a CAR for guessing a single word. The reward to work ratio is extremely skewed. And the only redeeming factor I can find….


*play the open again*
Is the opening theme….


The theme song would be more appropriately used as the car cue on later 1980’s and early 1990’s episodes of Wheel. Oh yes, and once again on “Merv Griffin’s Crosswords” so it wasn’t for not.


Altogether, it was not good. Too easy for the prizes offered, the way the scrambled letters were presented was awkward. “Caesars Challenge” would better serve that idea in 7 or so years time. It tried to take what made Merv’s mega hits in Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! And mash it into one unit. It didn’t work. NBC mercifully went with Wordplay, Win Lose or Draw, a revamp of Blockbusters, and the much superior “Classic Concentration” and most had a reasonable run before games were out of the ether save for “Price” on CBS by 1993.


You tried, Merv…. Really you did.