Fun House (game show)

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Fun House

UK Fun House logo
Genre Game show
Running time 30 minutes
Creator(s) Bob Synes
Executive producer(s) Steven Goldberg, Scott A. Stone, Bob Synes
Starring J.D. Roth (United States)
Pat Sharp (United Kingdom)
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Original channel Syndicated (1988-1990)
Fox(1990-1991)
ITV (1989-1999)
Original run 1988–1999 (1988-1991 United States; 1989-1999 United Kingdom)
IMDb profile
For other uses see funhouse (disambiguation)

Fun House was a United States children's television game show that aired from September 5, 1988 to April 13, 1991, originally in syndication, and later on the Fox Network. A British version was also made, which screened on ITV at teatime between 1989 and 1999. Fun House was packaged by Stone (later Stone-Stanley) Productions, in association with Lorimar-Telepictures (1988-89), Lorimar Television (1989-90), Telepictures Productions (1990-91), and Warner Bros. Television (1989-91).

Contents

[edit] Hosts and Assistants

The American version was hosted by future Endurance star J. D. Roth, who was assisted by cheerleading twins Jacqueline "Jackie" and Samantha "Sammi" Forrest. The announcer on the syndicated version was John Hurley, a.k.a. "Tiny". He was replaced for the Fox version by Michael Chambers, a.k.a. "MC Mike" The UK version was hosted by Pat Sharp and also aided by twin cheerleaders, Melanie and Martina Grant. The voiceover artist was Gary King.

[edit] Main Game

Two teams of two kids (a boy and a girl) played messy games and answered questions to win a chance to run through an obstacle-strewn Fun House at the end of the show.

[edit] Round 1 (Stunts)

Both teams play three stunts (one for the boys, one for the girls and one for all players). Some games included searching through gunge in the UK, or slime in America. Other stunts resembled those on another popular children's game show, Double Dare; still others involved hitting opposing players in the face with pies. Several games, such as "Pinhead" and "Dump-O", were races to answer a certain number of questions first, with the losing player being slimed by some weird contraption. The winner(s) of each stunt win 25 points. If the stunt ended in a tie, both teams received the points. After each stunt, the teams returned to their podiums to answer a toss-up question for an additional 25 points.

[edit] Round 2 (The Fun House Grand Prix)

This was a high-stakes point earning round that decided the winning team. Team players had to race two laps around the studio; one pushing the Grand Prix "car" and the other steering. While racing, teams collected white and blue point tokens worth 10 and 25 points, respectively (tokens that are dropped are not allowed to be picked up and are considered invalid). After one lap, the contestants switched places in the car (the pushing contestant now steered and vice versa). Usually small challenges were set up around the track that each team had to complete (such as gathering each of several food items or hitting targets with a seltzer bottle).

Starting later in the syndicated version, a token bank was placed near the track on the second lap, at which teams could make a pit stop to grab as many tokens as they could. The first team to cross the finish line earned an additional 25 points. At the end of the race, the teams returned to their podiums and the host counted up the tokens, starting with the trailing team. The team with the most points after all the tokens were counted up won the game and advanced to the Fun House.

[edit] U.K. Version

Teams in the UK version originally collected tokens like the U.S. version, but later collected steering wheels. Also, unlike the U.S. version, actual go karts were used, instead of fake vehicles that had to be pushed by the other team member. The team who won the race received 50 points.

[edit] The Fun House

Contestants on the winning team took turns entering the Fun House and tried to grab a series of tags (three tags per player per turn) in each room in the Fun House. The green tags were cash tags, and the red tags were prize tags. One randomly selected tag also included the "Power Prize", which if found awarded the team with a big trip. This continued for two minutes, after which the cash and prizes were added up, and the team was told if they had won the Power Prize.

In the FOX version of the show, a "Glop Clock" was also hidden in the house; finding this specially marked alarm clock earned an additional 15 seconds to collect tags.

[edit] Rooms in the Fun House

[edit] US version

  • Balloon Lagoon (a small pool filled with water and balloons)
  • Fundromat (a giant washing machine filled with balloons resembling soap suds)
  • Tiny's Room
  • The Showers (a series of connected shower stalls with seven doors, only one of which was unlocked)
  • Zapeteria (a mock cafeteria in which the opposing team attacked the runners with whipped cream and pies)
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[edit] UK version

1998-99

  • The Bobsled (a car that runs down a hill, leading to a transparent tube slide, or in later series, some enormous steps)
  • The Flying Fox (A sit-on zipline)
  • The Wild Slide (A very steep, very fast transparent tube slide)
  • The Ball Run (A river of ball-pit balls)
  • The Fireman's Pole (A standard fireman's pole coming up through a circle in the floor)
  • The Crawl Tube (A transparent crawl-through tunnel)
  • The Giant Steps (Three yellow giant steps)
  • The Balloon Run (A tunnel filled with colourful balloons)
  • The Danger Net (A rope bridge leading to the Wild Slide)
  • The Big Drop (A zip-line seat build to carry you from the top of the Fun House to the bottom ball pool)
  • The Tim Brown (a drunken joker)
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[edit] Power Prizes

Some of the Power Prizes featured in Fun House included:

[edit] College Mad House

A version of Fun House for college students aired in weekly syndication, and was titled College Mad House. This version was hosted by future movie actor Greg Kinnear, and pitted two teams of four students each from rival colleges against each other (for example, one episode featured the University of Texas versus the University of Arkansas). Instead of cheerleaders, a male and a female "referee" assisted with the gameplay.

This version featured much more risqué content and stunts than the children's version, often involving crude college gross-out humor and games that required lewd bodily movements among the participants. The format was basically the same, but with some notable differences:

  • The stunts were changed to accommodate four-person teams; the two men from each team faced each other, then the two women, with all four players on each team participating in the third stunt.
  • The Grand Prix round was replaced with the "Finals", in which the teams lined up face-to-face at the podiums. Jump-in-questions were asked; getting a question right earned 25 points and the right to hit the opposing player in the face with a pie. These two players then rotated to the back of the line, with the next two players answering the following question. The team in the lead after a minute and a half advanced to the Mad House.
(Note: The pie in the face would carry over to the FOX version of Fun House; a correct answer to the question following a stunt allowed the player getting it right to pie his or her opponent.)
  • The format of the Mad House was changed slightly from that of Fun House. As in the original version, the team had two minutes; however, each player had exactly 30 seconds to collect as many of the 13 tags as possible. After one player's 30 seconds ended, he/she had to stop collecting tags wherever he/she was at, and the next contestant was let in immediately. If a team "cleaned house" by collecting all thirteen tags, they won a trip - this rule was used instead of the Power Prize.
(Note: the layouts of the Mad House were almost identical to that of the Fun House layouts in use at the time that show was being taped; however, many of the names of the "rooms" or obstacles were changed to reflect college life.)

Like Fun House, College Mad House was produced by Stone-Stanley; the theme music, as well as that of the run through the Mad House, would later be used on the Lifetime version of another Stone-Stanley game show, Shop 'Til You Drop.

[edit] Trivia

Leonardo DiCaprio was a contestant on Fun House in 1990. He had a pie thrown in his face on the show.

[edit] External links

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