3rd Degree (game show)

Last updated
3rd Degree
3rd Degree Logo.jpg
Genre Game Show
Created by
Directed by Richard S. Kline
Presented byBert Convy
Narrated by Bob Hilton
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes195
Production
Executive producers
  • Richard S. Kline
  • Burt Reynolds
  • Bert Convy
ProducerBurt Wheeler
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time2224 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network Syndication
ReleaseSeptember 11, 1989 (1989-09-11) 
June 8, 1990 (1990-06-08)

3rd Degree! is an American game show that aired in syndication from September 11, 1989, to June 8, 1990, with repeats continuing until September 7, 1990. The show was a panel game much in the vein of an earlier game show called Make the Connection , where two people with a specific connection would play against the panel.

Contents

3rd Degree was hosted by Bert Convy, who co-created and produced the series along with his production partner Burt Reynolds. Bob Hilton was the announcer, with Don Morrow and Michael Hanks substituting for brief periods. The series was taped at Television City Studios in Hollywood, California. John C. Mula was the art director.

3rd Degree was a production of Burt and Bert Productions and Kline & Friends Productions, the same team behind the game show Win, Lose or Draw . The series was produced in association with Lorimar Television and distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution. This was the last game show Convy would host, as he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer toward the end of 3rd Degree's run and died in July 1991.

Premise

A panel of four celebrities who were split into two teams (two men, two women) faced a team of two or more contestants who have a special relationship between them. Two rounds were played for each civilian team; in each round, each team of celebrities had a limited time to question the contestants (or give them "the third degree", hence the name of the show). In the first round, each team of celebrities had one minute to question the contestants, and in the second round, the time was cut to 30 seconds.

When the time was up, the celebrity team in control then got to guess the relationship (or when Bert Convy asked the question, "What's the relationship?" when they were getting close to the correct relationship). An incorrect guess awarded $250 to the contestants, and stumping the panel completely won $2,000 total, which includes a $1,000 bonus.

Notable contestants

Dispute

When 3rd Degree went to pilot, Peter Marshall was brought in to be the host. After the series was picked up for syndication, however, co-producer Bert Convy decided to leave his position as the host of the syndicated edition of Win, Lose or Draw and take Marshall's place on 3rd Degree without informing Marshall. Marshall filed a lawsuit against Convy for the action, but later dropped it after Convy's cancer diagnosis was made public. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Hollywood Squares</i> American television game show

Hollywood Squares is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show piloted on NBC in 1965 and the regular series debuted in 1966 on the same network. The board for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants. The stars are asked questions by the host and the contestants judge the truth of their answers to gain squares in the right pattern to win the game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Rayburn</span> American radio and television personality (1917–1999)

Gene Rayburn was an American radio and television personality. He is best known as the host of various editions of the American television game show Match Game for over two decades.

<i>Match Game</i> American television game show

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.

<i>Family Feud</i> American television game show

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.

Remote Control is an American TV game show that ran on MTV for five seasons from 1987 until 1990. It was MTV's first original non-musical program and first game show. A concurrent syndicated version of the series ran during the 1989-90 season and was distributed by Viacom. Three contestants answered trivia questions on movies, music, and television, many of which were presented in skit format.

To Tell the Truth is an American television panel show in which four celebrity panelists are presented with three contestants and must identify which is the "central character" whose unusual occupation or experience has been read aloud by the show's moderator/host. When the panelists question the contestants, the two impostors may lie whereas the "central character" must tell the truth. The setup adds the impostor element to the format of What's My Line? and I've Got a Secret.

<i>Win, Lose or Draw</i> American television game show

Win, Lose or Draw is an American television game show that aired from 1987 to 1990 in syndication and on NBC. It was taped at CBS Television City, often in Studios 31, 33, and 43 at various times. It was co-produced by Burt & Bert Productions and Kline & Friends for Disney's Buena Vista Television. It has also had two versions on The Disney Channel: Teen Win, Lose or Draw from 1989 to 1992, and a revived version known as Disney's Win, Lose or Draw which aired in 2014. New York described Win, Lose or Draw as "a knockoff" of the board game Pictionary.

<i>Ive Got a Secret</i> American game show

I've Got a Secret is an American panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson–Todman's own panel show, What's My Line?. Instead of celebrity panelists trying to determine a contestant's occupation, however, as in What's My Line, the panel tried to determine a contestant's secret: something that is unusual, amazing, embarrassing, or humorous about that person.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Convy</span> American actor, singer, game show host and panelist (1933–1991)

Bernard Whalen "Bert" Convy was an American actor, singer, game-show host, and panelist known for hosting Tattletales, Super Password, and Win, Lose or Draw.

<i>Tattletales</i> American television game show

Tattletales is an American game show produced by Goodson-Todman Productions in association with Fremantle. The program had two runs on the CBS daytime schedule between February 1974 and June 1984. It was hosted by Bert Convy, with several announcers including Jack Clark, Gene Wood, Johnny Olson and John Harlan providing the voiceover at various times. Wood was the primary announcer during the show's first run, and Olson was announcing during the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Marshall (entertainer)</span> American game show host, performer, singer

Ralph Pierre LaCock, better known by his stage name Peter Marshall, is an American former game show host, television, radio personality, singer, and actor. He was the original host of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 to 1981 and has almost fifty television, movie, and Broadway credits.

<i>Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour</i> Hybrid game show

The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour is an American television panel game show that combined two panel games of the 1960s and 1970s – Match Game and Hollywood Squares – into an hour-long format.

<i>He Said, She Said</i> (game show) American TV series or program

He Said, She Said was an American game show hosted by Joe Garagiola, with Bill Cullen occasionally filling in when Garagiola was covering baseball games. The show, which asked couples questions about their personal lives, aired in syndication during the 1969-1970 season, and was taped at NBC Studios in New York City.

<i>Shopping Spree</i> US television program

Shopping Spree is a game show that aired on the Family Channel for two seasons from September 30, 1996, to October 30, 1997, with reruns airing until August 14, 1998. Two teams of two unacquainted players went on a shopping spree at six stores, each with four prizes, on a fictional street on stage. The object of the game was to match the desired prizes with visual clues given by the contestant in the quickest amount of time. The show was hosted by Ron Pearson, announced by Burton Richardson and produced by Jay Wolpert Enterprises and MTM Enterprises.

Relatively Speaking is an American TV game show that aired in syndication from September 5, 1988, to June 23, 1989.

The Hollywood Connection is an American game show that ran in syndication from September 5, 1977 to March 3, 1978. Jim Lange hosted the series, while Jay Stewart announced. The series was produced by Barry & Enright Productions in association with Golden West Broadcasters.

<i>Make Me Laugh</i> American TV series or program

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.

Barry & Enright Productions was a United States television production company that was formed in 1947 by Jack Barry and Dan Enright.

<i>Password Plus</i> and <i>Super Password</i> American television game shows

Password Plus and Super Password are American TV game shows that aired separately between 1979 and 1989. Both shows were revivals of Password, which originally ran from 1961 to 1975 in various incarnations. With only subtle differences between them, both Password Plus and Super Password retained the format of play as their predecessor, with two teams of two people each—a celebrity and a contestant—attempting to guess a mystery word using only one-word clues. A new feature included a series of five passwords as clues to an overarching puzzle for the teams to solve.

<i>Wheel of Fortune</i> (American game show) American television game show

Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show has aired continuously since January 1975. It features a competition in which contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those in hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival wheel. The current version of the series, which airs in nightly syndication, premiered on September 19, 1983. It stars Pat Sajak and Vanna White as hosts, who have hosted the nighttime version since its inception. The original version of Wheel was a network daytime series that ran on NBC from January 6, 1975, to June 30, 1989, and subsequently aired on CBS from July 17, 1989, to January 11, 1991; it returned to NBC on January 14, 1991, and was cancelled that year, ending on September 20, 1991.

References

  1. "Marshall, Convy in Angry Dispute". TV Guide . 37. August 1989.