Double Dare (1976 game show)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Double Dare was an American television game show that ran from December 13, 1976, to April 29, 1977, on CBS. Alex Trebek hosted this Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production; Johnny Olson and Gene Wood took turns announcing. Jay Wolpert created the series for Goodson-Todman and served as its executive producer. Jonathan Goodson (Mark Goodson's son) was the producer, and Markie Post, later a regular on the NBC comedy "Night Court," was the associate producer.
This version of Double Dare was not related to the popular children's game show of the same name that ran on Nickelodeon in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (See Double Dare for more info on that version.)
Double Dare's theme music was composed by Edd Kalehoff for Score Productions. It was reused on another Goodson-Todman game show, Card Sharks, which premiered one year after Double Dare was canceled. Coincidentally, Kalehoff would later compose the theme for Nickelodeon's Double Dare ten years later. The opening sequence was also similar to Card Sharks, with a four-way split screen. Instead of an opening poem, however, Olson or Wood used the same opening spiel in every episode: "Take a risk! Take a chance! Take a dare! Play the game of Double Dare! with the star of Double Dare, Alex Trebek!"
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
The main game involved two contestants who sat in isolation booths. The object of the game was to correctly identify a person, place, or thing based on larger clues that were given to them. The subject was given to the home audience before the first clue was given; Trebek often reminded viewers not to look at the screen if they wanted to play along. After a few seconds another clue was given; each clue was less difficult than the previous clue.
Contestants hit a lockout buzzer to guess the subject; once the buzzer was hit, doors closed over the window of the opponent’s booth, and the audio turned off in order to prevent him/her from hearing the other contestant's guess. If the contestant’s guess was correct, $50 was added to his/her bank. If the guess was incorrect, that contestant’s booth was closed, and the opponent’s booth was reopened so he/she could receive a "penalty clue." The first contestant would not see the penalty clue unless the opponent guessed the subject correctly.
The contestant who ultimately guessed the correct answer was then shown a "dare" clue, the next clue in the sequence. (If the correct answer was given on a penalty clue, that clue became the "dare" clue.) They then had the choice of giving that clue to the opponent or declining. If the contestant declined to "dare," the opponent’s booth was reopened and a new subject was played. If the contestant decided to give, the opponent's booth was repoened and he/she was given five seconds to read the clue before making a guess. If the opponent guessed the subject incorrectly, the daring contestant banked $100. If the opponent guessed it correctly, he/she banked $50.
If the "dare" was successful, the contestant was presented with a "double dare" clue. This worked the same as the "dare" with the dollar values doubled to $200 for the challenging contestant, or $100 for the dared contestant.
The first player to bank $500 won the game, although losing players kept any money earned.
[edit] The Spoilers
The winner of the game competed in a bonus round against a panel of three Ph.D.s known as "The Spoilers." Each Spoiler sat in a soundproof booth that was activated whenever Trebek read a clue to them.
The contestant was presented with a subject and eight numbered clues that were randomly hidden behind the numbers 1-8 on the board. The clue was revealed once the contestant chose the appropriate number, and he/she was then given the option to give that clue to the Spoilers or pass it. The contestant could not pass more than four clues.
Each Spoiler had a chance to guess the subject if the contestant gave a clue to them. The contestant won $100 with each incorrect guess. If a Spoiler guessed the subject correctly, that Spoiler won $100 and was eliminated from the rest of the round. If all three Spoilers guessed it correctly, the game ended. If at least one Spoiler failed to correctly identify the subject after four clues, the contestant won $5,000. Like most CBS game shows at the time, champions could stay on Double Dare until they were defeated or reached the CBS limit of $25,000.
[edit] Scheduling
"Double Dare" replaced the four-year hit game "Gambit," hosted by Wink Martindale, on CBS' daytime lineup at 11 a.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Central. It did not draw anywhere near the audience "Gambit" had, however, and, even after a short-lived run at 10 a.m. Eastern (swapping places with sister show "The Price is Right"), CBS replaced it in favor of reruns of Lucille Ball's 1968-74 sitcom "Here's Lucy." "DD" was the first in a long series of unsuccessful shows CBS tried to accompany "Price" with in its morning lineup, until the arrival of "The $25,000 Pyramid" in 1982 and "Press Your Luck" in 1983.
[edit] Episode status
All of the episodes are considered to be intact, and the series has been shown on the Game Show Network. A clip from the series finale, where some risque clues to "a boomerang" were presented, appeared on VH1's Game Show Moments Gone Bananas in 2005. GSN recently aired the premiere episode as part of its weekly "Game of the Week" in October 2006.
