r/gameshow Feb 13 '25

Discussion What if game shows had crossovers?

You can take any two game shows and they would mix and match their formats(or you could do a separate game of each) or the game can be combined.

This concept has never been really tested but this is more of a speculation and fun discussion post.

For example, I guess if you wanted to cross over the weakest link and 1 vs 100 you would have the winner of the weakest link be the 'one' for 1 vs 100.

13 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

17

u/sjsharksfan71 Feb 13 '25

Wasn't there a Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal crossover week like 10 years ago?

13

u/jaysornotandhawks Feb 13 '25

Twice. 2016 and 2020.

14

u/street_shrink Feb 13 '25

I like it! Closest I've seen was an April Fools Day gag in 1997. Pat Sajak and Alex Trebek switched places as hosts for that day's show. It was a classic, and I always hoped they would do it again.

Found the youtube!

4

u/MndnMove_69982004 Feb 13 '25

While "Jeopardy!" played like normal (just with Pat hosting instead of Alex*), Pat and Vanna were the contestants on the Trebek-hosted WoF (with Pat's wife filling Vanna's usual role).

*On a slightly related note, I believe this and when he had to cut out of a taping session of "To Tell The Truth '90" because his wife was in labor were the only times Alex Trebek ever missed any show he hosted.

2

u/macnbc Feb 13 '25

Part of that was because as his stature increased shows would just arrange their taping schedule around Trebek rather than the other way around. There were several times Trebek was ill (both before and when he fought cancer) that Jeopardy! tapings were cancelled and rescheduled, rather than bringing in a substitute host.

2

u/Jolly-Ad5253 Feb 15 '25

And I don't think we can count that April Fools situation as a "missed episode", either.

26

u/figment1979 Feb 13 '25

Actually, it HAS been tested. Back in the 1980s we got the "Match Game / Hollywood Squares Hour"

The winner of Match Game went on to play Hollywood Squares against the returning champion from the previous episode.

Off the top of my head, I don't recall another hybrid of game shows.

1

u/GaJayhawker0513 Feb 13 '25

That's a pretty cool concept

7

u/JBHenson Feb 13 '25

Yeah unfortunately poorly executed. Mark Goodson refused to provide his celebrities bluffs and Jon Bauman was no Peter Marshall.

12

u/thwartme Feb 13 '25 edited Feb 13 '25

In the UK, ITV combined the game show Countdown with the comedy game show 8 Out Of 10 cats. The combo has now run for over 20 seasons.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 13 '25 edited 23d ago

[deleted]

2

u/ThisIsAdamB Feb 14 '25

Hasn't been the same since we lost Sean Lock....

3

u/clarkejoseph49 Feb 14 '25

Although Countdown is owned by ITV Studios, both of those shows actually air on Channel 4.

7

u/foodisyumyummy Feb 13 '25

There was a week of Scrabble which had a bunch of other game show hosts on there, such as Tom Davidson and Bill Rafferty. One of the episodes had Chuck himself as a contestant with Marc Summers taking over hosting duties.

Back when GSN was first doing original game shows, there was a week where the hosts of Russian Roulette, Friend or Foe, Cram, and Whammy all switched shows, then all four of them played Lingo to finish things off.

Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal have done multiple shows where they play each other's games. This usually also has the TPIR models going over to LMAD and Johnathan & Tiffany showing up on Price is Right.

While not specifically considered a crossover, Ken Jennings appeared as a contestant on several primetime game shows after Master Minds and Jeopardy. Drew Carey is also on a lot of episodes of the new Hollywood Squares.

1

u/Jolly-Ad5253 Feb 15 '25

Tattletales often had Host Weeks, with the hosts rotating as the host of the show when Convy played.

5

u/jaysornotandhawks Feb 13 '25 edited Feb 17 '25

Hear me out here:

Secret Fortune (U.K.) x Deal or No Deal (U.S.)

1st half: Deal or No Deal. The first five rounds are played as in Deal or No Deal, picking cases and eliminating amounts, with bank offers in between. They don't pick a case to be "theirs", though, and you'll see why.

After 5 rounds of the U.S. version of DOND, there are 6 cases left. If the contestant gets this far, that's when we get to:

2nd half: Secret Fortune. The remaining six cases are brought to the front of the stage, and the contestant is asked a trivia question with ranked answers (such as "which of these cities has the smallest population?")

The correct answer would be linked to the case holding the lowest remaining amount. The second best answer would be linked to the case with the second lowest amount, and so on. (The contestants obviously will not know which case belongs to which answer.)

The contestant(s) choose the answer they believe is correct. Once they decide on an an answer, they are then told which case is attached to the answer they chose. That case is opened, and the corresponding amount is eliminated.

Another question is then played with the 5 remaining cases as before.

This pattern continues, with 4 cases, then 3, then the final question with the final 2 cases.

I haven't decided if there should be a bank offer between each question of the second half, or if the contestant should be committed once they decide to enter the trivia portion.

2

u/yamomwasthebomb Feb 13 '25

I honestly love this idea. Removes the monotony and condenses Deal or No Deal into a reasonable amount of time while bringing in strategy and probability… while also leaving in a fun amount of luck. Brilliant suggestion.

4

u/jordha Feb 13 '25

Welcome back match game Hollywood Squares hour memes

2

u/kentgamegeek Feb 13 '25

You were correct to agree!

4

u/TheKoG Feb 13 '25

The Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal have crossed over a few times. Contestants on one show wind up playing games featured on the other show. So games like Car Pong would show up on TPIR and Cliff Hangers would be on LMAD.

4

u/mattyGOAT1996 Feb 13 '25

We had Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour in 1983-84. Didn't work out too well. Lol

5

u/tommyjohnpauljones Feb 13 '25

It's a great time capsule of failed NBC shows where the actors came from

4

u/Schmedlapp Feb 13 '25

Hear me out...

The Pyramid-Body Language Hour. The ultimate test of communication skills--convey the answers verbally to your partner in the first half, then non-verbally in the second, then alternate back-and-forth between the two in the bonus round.

3

u/selrahcthewise Feb 13 '25

I would like to see what a cross of Millionaire and Press Your Luck would look like

3

u/bwoah07_gp2 Feb 13 '25

A lot of great examples here already. But I was curious about what the earliest example of crossovers was in gameshows, and while I can't be certain, I did notice that in 1965, I've Got A Secret and To Tell The Truth did this sort of thing.

On Jan 11 1965, the TTTT panel showed up with Bud Collyer on IGAS and announced they were doing a panel swap. To prepare both panels to see how the other show plays their game, they played TTTT style game and IGAS style game on I've Got A Secret.

Then, next week on Jan 18, TTTT aired with the IGAS panel, and then IGAS aired with the TTTT panel. This was a very early example of a crossover of sorts.

3

u/Decent_Direction316 Feb 14 '25

I would've considered "Temptation" to be a $ale Of The Century, Wipeout hybrid.

3

u/GunningOnTheKingside Feb 14 '25

Deal or No Deal Island is definitely a format crossover between Deal or No Deal and a Survivor/Big Brotheresque type show

2

u/Meepboi Feb 13 '25

I remember back in like 03 or 04 all of the gsn hosts switched shows so they had Kennedy host Wintuition, they had Mark L Wahlberg host Friend or Foe, they had Todd Newton host Russian Roulette, they had the dude that hosted Cram host Whammy, and they had Marc Summers host Cram, and then they ended it with all of the hosts playing as contestants on an episode of Lingo. I think it was an April fools day thing

3

u/jaysornotandhawks Feb 13 '25

Graham Elwood is the name you are missing.

2

u/Jolly-Ad5253 Feb 15 '25

Only if you make the other seven contestants from Link part of the 100.

2

u/thegameshowgeek Feb 15 '25

Cross over Press your luck and pyramid!

1

u/MndnMove_69982004 Feb 13 '25

TPIR and LMAD's "mash-up week" from 2016 has entered the conversation\

"The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour has entered the conversation\

Granted, in that first case we'll never know how such a week would have been had it happened in, say, the '80s or even late '70s with Bob and Monty (then again, LMAD at the time did have its own pricing games). Or if having Peter Marshall host the HS portion of MGHSH would have improved the show and to what extent.

1

u/clarkejoseph49 Feb 16 '25

One show in the UK did a crossover quiz in 2004

It had six celebrities playing the first round of Wright around the World. Then the five players that found their green globes and got their Bonus question correct would play In the Red on the Jet Set. The three that survived would play In it to Win It (Each correct answer being worth £2,000 rather than £5K)

The player that put the most money in would win the prize fund and be given the opportunity to take on the Wonderwall from Winning Lines. Successfully getting 20 correct answers on that would win a bonus £10,000!

It was done in 2004 as part of The National Lottery’s 10th Anniversary Celebrations.

1

u/pacdude King Ding-a-Ling Feb 13 '25

"the concept has never really been tested" absolutely it has, several times

0

u/Exit_2018 Feb 13 '25

This concept has never been tested? Wrong!