Each week, the show featured four celebrities, on a pair of AMF or Brunswick lanes installed inside KTTV's studios, pitted against each other in teams of two. Victorious teams won prizes for home viewers, based upon the level of winning scores; there was an additional prize for the viewer associated with the team that bowled the most strikes.
The weekly series was a by-product of The Celebrity Bowling Classic, a 90-minute TV special produced in 1969 for the Metromedia-owned stations, benefitting the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation. The series debuted at the same time the Prime Time Access Rule took effect, during which time a number of syndicated weekly programs went into production; its end came as weekly programs such as Celebrity Bowling were increasingly being replaced by twice-weekly and later stripped daily productions.
Joe Siegman created the series, and he and Don Gregory produced 144 episodes for their 7-10 Productions.
Rules
Four celebrities played each game, separated into two pairs (usually each pair included one man and one woman). The rules of the game were known as "best ball"; for each frame, both members of each team would roll a ball on their own lane. If neither of the two teammates rolled a strike, then the person who rolled the worse shot (either a split or whoever knocked down the fewest pins) would then roll for the spare on the other lane. Players alternated lanes after each frame.
Each team was tied to a person in the audience, who would win prizes based upon the score the pair accumulated in the game. The viewer would win increasingly valuable prizes, mostly home appliances, if a team scored 1, 120, 150, 180, or 210 points (with the highest category usually resulting in the viewer winning a car or vacation; the top category was reached only once in the show's history). A bonus prize would also be awarded to the audience member whose team bowled the most strikes. Another prize could be won for scoring a “Turkey” (three consecutive strikes).
To accommodate the half-hour time slot, the sixth and seventh frames of each game were typically not televised.
Cast
In addition to Jed Allan, many episodes included a bowling analyst, including PBA star Dave Davis, PWBA standout Cheryl Robinson and bowling author/expert Don Russell.
Revivals
In 1987, 26 episodes of The New Celebrity Bowling were produced for national syndication. Jed Allan again hosted.
Another version called Stars & Strikes, produced by Don Gregory, was taped at the Lucky Strike bowling center inside L.A. Live, and was scheduled to air in the spring of 2011. The format was similar to the original, with an added twist that an audience member contestant could be called to bowl in place of a celebrity.[2]
All-Star Celebrity Bowling, developed by comedian Chris Hardwick (whose father Billy was a world-class professional bowler) and hosted by Randy Sklar and Jason Sklar, was slated to air on AMC in 2014 but was canceled before making it to air as part of that channel's shift in focus toward scripted programs.[3] The show is instead an internet-only show, and episodes can be found on YouTube.
As of 2015, Weigel Broadcasting owns the broadcast rights to the series. Me-TV has made selected episodes available for streaming on their site on a weekly rotating basis.[4] Selected episodes aired on Decades (a joint venture between Weigel and CBS) March 8–10, 2015, and as part of special "binge" weekends on October 3–4, 2015, and May 28–29, 2016.
The 2008 revival was available on TVS's Web site, TV4U, which shut down in 2012.
As of December 2017, the first three seasons were available via Amazon Prime Video. 48 episodes are available on Peter Rodgers Organization's official YouTube channel.[5]
The first three seasons are currently available on Tubi.
Notable scores
In Episode 70, the team of Michael Cole and Tige Andrews scored a 266, just 34 pins shy of a perfect score of 300. Their game easily surpassed the 210 score needed to win a new car, which was the top prize at that time. Jed Allan remarked that the previous high score was a 206, which was reached by Greg Morris and John Beradino in Episode 10.[6] Cole and Andrews recorded a "mark" (strike or spare) in every frame bowled,[7] as did Morris and Beradino.
The lowest score recorded during the original series is presumed to be a 66 by the team of Charles Nelson Reilly and Robert Clary in Episode 142. Reference is made at the show close by Jed Allan to the pair having "beaten" the long-standing record of 67 which was bowled by two of the Lennon Sisters.[8]
While not a notable score, it is also noteworthy that Frankie Avalon, in Season 1 Episode 21, successfully converted the 5-7 split in the 10th frame.
Home media
A three DVD set (containing fifteen episodes) was released on June 14, 2011 by S'More Entertainment.[9] This was followed by a second volume later that year, which contained two episodes featuring the kids from The Brady Bunch playing, and a third volume of two episodes with comedians in 2012.
Related Research Articles
Match Game is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panelists to fill-in-the-blank questions. Beginning with the CBS run of the 1970s, the questions are often formed as humorous double entendres.
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes.
Name That Tune is an American television music game show. Originally created and produced by orchestra conductor Harry Salter and his wife Roberta Semple Salter, the series features contestants competing to correctly identify songs being played by an on-stage orchestra or band.
Beat the Clock is an American television game show that involves people trying to complete challenges to win prizes while faced with a time limit. The show was a creation of Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions.
Fear Factor was an American stunt/dare game show that first aired on NBC from 2001 to 2006 and was initially hosted by comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan. The show was adapted by Endemol USA from the original Dutch series titled Now or Neverland.
Bullseye is a British darts-themed television game show created by Andrew Wood and Norman Vaughan. The show features three pairs of contestants, each consisting of an amateur darts player and a quizzer, competing in darts games and quizzes to win cash and prizes.
The Cross-Wits is an American syndicated game show which premiered on December 15, 1975, and lasted for five seasons until its cancellation on September 12, 1980. The show was hosted by Jack Clark, with Jerri Fiala as hostess. Announcing duties were handled by John Harlan, Jay Stewart, and Jerry Bishop. The show was produced by Ralph Edwards Productions and distributed by Metromedia Producers Corporation.
A perfect game is the highest score possible in a game of bowling, achieved by scoring a strike in every frame. In bowling games that use 10 pins, such as ten-pin bowling, candlepin bowling, and duckpin bowling, the highest possible score is 300, achieved by bowling 12 strikes in a row in a traditional single game: one strike in each of the first nine frames, and three more in the tenth frame.
Bowling for Dollars is a television game show on which people could play the sport of bowling to win cash and sometimes prizes based on how well they bowled.
Liar's Club is an American game show, originally produced by Ralph Andrews, featuring a panel of celebrity guests who offered explanations of obscure or unusual objects. Contestants attempted to determine which explanation was correct in order to win prizes.
Starcade is an American game show where contestants competed against one another by playing arcade video games. The series originally aired on WTBS from 1982 to 1983, followed by a run in syndication for the following season.
Deal or No Deal is an American version of the international game show of Dutch origin of the same name. The show is hosted by Howie Mandel, and premiered on December 19, 2005, on NBC. The hour-long show typically aired at least twice a week during its run, and included special extended or theme episodes. The show started its fourth season on August 25, 2008, a day after NBC's coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics ended. A daily syndicated half-hour version of the show debuted on September 8, 2008, and continued for two seasons.
Gameshow Marathon is an American television program which aired on CBS from May 31 to June 29, 2006. It is based on the United Kingdom series Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon which aired on ITV in 2005. It also aired in Canada on CTV.
The Price Is Right is an American game show produced by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, wherein contestants placed successive bids on merchandise prizes with the goal of bidding closest to each prize's actual retail price without surpassing it. The show was a precursor to the current and best-known version of the program, which premiered in 1972 on CBS's daytime schedule. It makes The Price Is Right one of only a few game show franchises to have aired in some form across all three of the Big Three television networks.
Make Me Laugh was an American television game show in which contestants watch three stand-up comedians performing their acts, one at a time, earning one dollar for every second that they could make it through without laughing. Each comedian had sixty seconds to try to make the contestant laugh for a maximum of $180.
Jackpot Bowling was a professional bowling show on NBC from January 9, 1959, to March 13, 1961.
A bowling league is a group event where several teams bowl against each other over the course of a season.
Pointless is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Entertainment for the BBC hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode, four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers to four rounds of general knowledge questions, with the winning team eligible to compete for the show's cash jackpot. All questions used on the show are factual in nature and are asked of a panel of 100 individuals in a pre-conducted public survey. A correct answer scores one point for each survey subject who gave it, and the objective is to achieve as low a score as possible. "Pointless" answers are correct responses that were not given by anyone surveyed; these answers score no points and are the most desirable. Every pointless answer given during the main game increases the jackpot by £250, and the team that reaches the final round has three chances to win it by giving one such answer.
Bowling on NBC is a presentation of professional ten-pin bowling matches from the PBA Tour formerly produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States.
Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given general knowledge clues in the form of answers and they must identify the person, place, thing, or idea that the clue describes, phrasing each response in the form of a question.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
