Fantasy (game show)

Last updated
Fantasy
Genre Game show
Created by Merrill Heatter and Earl Greenburg
Directed by Ron de Moraes
Presented by Peter Marshall
Leslie Uggams
Glenn Scarpelli
Narrated by Bill Armstrong
Johnny Gilbert
Charlie Tuna
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons1
No. of episodesapprox. 325
Production
Producer Merrill Heatter
Running timeapprox. 48 minutes
Production companies Merrill Heatter Productions
Earl Greenberg Productions
Columbia Pictures Television
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseSeptember 13, 1982 (1982-09-13) –
October 28, 1983 (1983-10-28)

Fantasy is an American game show co-hosted by Peter Marshall, Leslie Uggams,and Glenn Scarpelli, with Chris Lemmon and Meredith MacRae as remote correspondents. [1] Bill Armstrong announced the show. It aired on NBC from September 13, 1982, to October 28, 1983, and was videotaped at the network's studios in Burbank, California. [2]

Contents

Format

The hour-long show offered contestants the opportunity to "make their dreams come true". [3] Each episode typically consisted of four or five segments and was taped before a studio audience. Hosts Marshall and Uggams called audience members whose fantasies were being granted onstage. In most cases, the guests of honor were totally surprised since the show worked with family members, friends, and colleagues of the guests for several weeks in advance of the show tapings to set up the elaborate fantasies.

For example, one guest's fantasy was to finally be able to repair and restore his treasured 1971 Opel GT automobile. He never had the time or money to work on the car because he was too busy taking care of his wife and children and usually gave away any extra money he wanted to save to help someone in need. To keep the fantasy a surprise, the show worked with the man's wife, the local police department, and the man's auto insurance company. The producers of the show arranged to "borrow" the man's car without his knowledge and the wife was to tell her husband that the car had been stolen. Then the man reported the car stolen to the local police department and their insurance company, all of whom were in on the surprise. The show's producers then had the Opel fully restored exactly the way the man wanted to do it. Meanwhile, the wife lured her husband to the studio for the show's taping where he was genuinely surprised to find his car fully restored and presented to him free of charge. [4]

The show received anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 letters per week from viewers across the United States wanting their fantasies fulfilled. The show's producers carefully reviewed each request to find ones that would be entertaining enough to use on the show. Many of the letters received were simply requests for money, according to the show's mailroom supervisor, Kathy Hassett, in a 1983 TV Guide interview. Those letters usually ended up in the trash can. Hassett told TV Guide that "We're looking for human interest and funny fantasies such as people who want to find their long-lost relatives, jump from an airplane, or meet their favorite TV star." [5]

To add some variety to the show, audience members were sometimes selected at random to come onstage to receive prizes by playing a game. One popular feature of the show was a glass money booth similar to one used on the short-lived 1975 game show The Diamond Head Game . An audience member was placed in the booth while a wind machine blew around dollar bills of various denominations. The player was given a time limit to grab as many bills as possible and stuff them in a bag provided.

In another regular segment called "Fantasy Forum", host Marshall called three audience members onstage where they could voice their opinions on national TV on a topic of their choice for one minute. Audience members then voted for the person they thought did the best job, with the winner receiving a prize. Celebrity guests joined hosts Marshall and Uggams each day to help with the elaborate fantasies. Among the celebrities who appeared on Fantasy included Tom Wopat, Andy Gibb, Jed Allan, and Sylvester Stallone.

Reception

Fantasy won a Daytime Emmy Award for Uggams in 1983 for Outstanding Host in a Variety Series. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Price Is Right</i> American television game show

The Price Is Right is an American television game show where contestants compete by guessing the prices of merchandise to win cash and prizes. A 1972 revival by Mark Goodson, and Bill Todman of their 1956–1965 show of the same name, the new version added many distinctive gameplay elements. Contestants are selected from the studio audience: the announcer calls their name, invoking them to "Come on down!", the show's famous catchphrase.

<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.

<i>Taxi</i> (TV series) American television sitcom (1978–1983)

Taxi is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from September 12, 1978, to May 6, 1982, and on NBC from September 30, 1982, to June 15, 1983. It focuses on the everyday lives of a handful of New York City taxi drivers and their abusive dispatcher. For most of the run of the show, the ensemble cast consisted of taxi drivers Alex Reiger, Bobby Wheeler, Elaine Nardo, Tony Banta, and "Reverend" Jim Ignatowski, along with dispatcher Louie De Palma and mechanic Latka Gravas. Taxi was produced by the John Charles Walters Company, in association with Paramount Network Television, and was created by James L. Brooks, Stan Daniels, David Davis, and Ed. Weinberger, all of whom were brought on board after working on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Richards</span> American actor and comedian (born 1949)

Michael Anthony Richards is an American actor and former stand-up comedian. He achieved global recognition for starring as Cosmo Kramer on the NBC television sitcom Seinfeld from 1989 to 1998. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first entering the national spotlight when he was featured on Billy Crystal's first cable TV special, and went on to become a series regular on ABC's Fridays.

<i>Late Night with Conan OBrien</i> American late-night talk show (1993–2009)

Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am Eastern/11:37 pm Central and 12:37 am Mountain in the United States. From 1993 until 2000, Andy Richter served as O'Brien's sidekick; following his departure, O'Brien was the show's sole featured performer. The show's house musical act was The Max Weinberg 7 and led by E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg.

<i>This Is Your Life</i> (American franchise) American television series

This Is Your Life is an American reality documentary series broadcast on NBC radio from 1948 to 1952, and on NBC television from 1952 to 1961. It was originally hosted by its creator and producer Ralph Edwards. In the program, the host surprised guests and then took them through a retrospective of their lives in front of an audience, including appearances by colleagues, friends, and family. Edwards revived the show in 1971–1972, and Joseph Campanella hosted a version in 1983. Edwards returned for various specials in the late 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Scott Amedure</span> 1995 shooting in Lake Orion, Michigan

The murder of Scott Amedure occurred on March 9, 1995, at his mobile home in Lake Orion, Michigan. The 32-year-old was killed by 24-year-old Jonathan Schmitz, three days after the men appeared as guests for a taping of an episode of the tabloid talk show The Jenny Jones Show. Amedure had publicly revealed in the episode that he had a crush on Schmitz, who claimed that he was straight but flattered by the revelation. On the morning of March 9, Amedure left a sexually suggestive note on Schmitz's apartment doorstep. In response, Schmitz purchased a 12-gauge shotgun, confronted Amedure at his home, and fired two shots into Amedure's chest. Schmitz called 911 to report the killing and he was subsequently arrested.

<i>The X-Files</i> (season 5) Season of television series

The fifth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on November 2, 1997, concluding on the same channel on May 17, 1998, and contained 20 episodes. The season was the last in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; subsequent episodes would be shot in Los Angeles, California. In addition, this was the first season of the show where the course of the story was planned, due to the 1998 The X-Files feature film being filmed before it, but scheduled to be released after it aired.

<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>The Ellen DeGeneres Show</i> American syndicated talk show (2003–2022)

The Ellen DeGeneres Show is an American daytime televising variety comedy talk show created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres that aired for 19 seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in syndication and was produced by Telepictures. The majority of stations owned by NBC Owned Television Stations, along with Hearst Television and Tegna, served as the program's largest affiliate base. For its first five seasons, the show was taped in Studio 11 at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. From season 6 onwards, the show moved to being taped at Stage 1 on the nearby Warner Bros. lot. Since the beginning of the sixth season, The Ellen DeGeneres Show was broadcast in high definition.

<i>Mad Money</i> American syndicated investing TV show

Mad Money is an American finance television program hosted by Jim Cramer that began airing on CNBC on March 14, 2005. Its main focus is investment and speculation, particularly in public company stocks.

<i>The Sunday Night Project</i> British comedy-variety show

The Sunday Night Project is a British comedy-variety show by Princess Productions that first aired on Channel 4 in February 2005 under the title The Friday Night Project. Originally broadcast on Friday nights, the show moved to Sunday nights for its seventh series in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Uggams</span> American actress and singer (born 1943)

Leslie Marian Uggams is an American actress and singer. Beginning her career as a child in the early 1950s, Uggams is recognized for portraying Kizzy Reynolds in the television miniseries Roots (1977), earning Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations for her performance. She had earlier been highly acclaimed for the Broadway musical Hallelujah, Baby!, winning a Theatre World Award in 1967 and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1968. Later in her career, Uggams received renewed notice with appearances as Blind Al in the superhero films Deadpool (2016), its 2018 sequel and the upcoming 2024 third film, as well as a recurring role as Leah Walker on the Fox musical drama series, Empire (2016–2020) and for the comedy-drama film American Fiction (2023).

Don't Forget Your Toothbrush is a British light entertainment TV programme that aired on Channel 4 from 12 February 1994 to 25 February 1995 and was hosted by Chris Evans.

<i>The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson</i> American late-night talk show

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the Tonight Show franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, 1992. Ed McMahon served as Carson's sidekick and the show's announcer.

<i>The Bozo Show</i> Television series

The Bozo Show was a locally produced children's television program that aired on WGN-TV in Chicago and nationally on what is now NewsNation. It was based on a children's record-book series, Bozo the Clown by Capitol Records. The series is a local version of the internationally franchised Bozo the Clown format and is also the longest-running in the franchise. Recognized as the most popular and successful locally produced children's program in the history of television, it only aired under this title for 14 of its 40+ years: other titles were Bozo, Bozo's Circus, and The Bozo Super Sunday Show.

Terms of Endearment (<i>The X-Files</i>) 7th episode of the 6th season of The X-Files

"Terms of Endearment" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, and originally aired on the Fox network on January 3, 1999. Written by David Amann and directed by Rob Bowman, "Terms of Endearment" is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. It earned a Nielsen rating of 10.5 and was watched by 18.7 million people on its initial broadcast. The performance given by guest actor Bruce Campbell attracted positive comments, but the plot was criticized.

<i>Death in Paradise</i> (TV series) Crime drama television series

Death in Paradise is a British–French crime comedy drama television series created by Robert Thorogood, starring Ben Miller, Kris Marshall, Ardal O'Hanlon and Ralf Little.

<i>Late Night with Seth Meyers</i> American late-night talk show

Late Night with Seth Meyers is an American late-night news and political satire variety talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknights at 12:37 a.m. ET/PT, it is the fourth iteration of NBC's Late Night franchise.

References

  1. ↑ Terrace, Vincent (2008). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 Through 2007, Volume 1. McFarland. p. 490. ISBN   978-0-7864-3305-6.
  2. ↑ Meisler, Andy (August 13, 1983). "It's Paradise Found (if you don't look too hard)". TV Guide. 31: 36.
  3. ↑ McNeil, Alex (1996). Total television. Penguin Books. p. 278. ISBN   0-14-024916-8.
  4. ↑ Meisler, Andy (August 13, 1983). "It's Paradise Found (if you don't look too hard)". TV Guide: 36–40.
  5. ↑ Meisler, Andy (August 13, 1983). "It's Paradise Found (if you don't look too hard)". TV Guide: 36–40.
  6. ↑ "ABC leads in Daytime Emmy awards". United Press International . June 9, 1983. Archived from the original on May 8, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
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.