I'm Telling (game show)
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I'm Telling was an American television game show, where siblings answered questions about each other. This children's game - which was very similar to "Newlywed Game" - aired on NBC Saturday mornings during the 1987-1988 season, and was hosted by Laurie Faso, with announcing chores handled by Dean Goss. The series was produced at the NBC Studios in Burbank. The show's theme music (supplied by Level 22, which also did the music from Wordplay) was somewhat similar to that of Press Your Luck, and also resembled the song "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins. The show was produced by Saban Entertainment and DiC Entertainment.
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[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Front game
[edit] Round 1
Three sets of siblings – usually brother-sister – competed. The front game was played in two rounds. In Round 1, the brothers were, using special effects, "teleported" to the "Isolation Zone" (or "Iso. Zone" for short) (i.e., taken off stage to a soundproof room), while the sisters answered a series of three questions. Before each question, Faso announced a series of three pun-styled topics, with the contestant choosing the question by pressing a plunger.
After each of the questions were played, the brothers were brought back and asked the same questions. If the brother's response matched with his sister's, the team won points (25 for the first question, 50 points for the second and 75 points for the third). If the responses disagreed, no points were awarded, and - much like The Newlywed Game - the siblings began arguing and Faso (just like Bob Eubanks) would take sides, use one's words against the other, etc.
[edit] Round 2
In Round 2, the sisters went offstage while the brothers answered their three questions, now worth 50, 75 and 150 points. The sisters then returned and tried to match their brothers.
The team in the lead after two rounds won a $1,000 savings bond and advanced to the "Pick-A-Prize Arcade" for a chance to win bonus prizes. A tie-breaking question was used if two or all three teams tied after the second round (e.g., "How many apples were in the basket?").
In round 2, if the leading team amassed a score that was mathematically impossible for their opponents to catch up to or beat with the remaining questions, the round and the game automatically ended.
The best possible score would be 425 points, which was done three times (two of those times on both Brothers Day episodes).
[edit] Pick-A-Prize Arcade
At the end of the game, the set was rotated 180 degrees to reveal the Pick-A-Prize Arcade. Before the round was played, the team was shown the 20 prizes available in the arcade. Both the boy and the girl on the team were asked beforehand to list 6 prizes they thought their sibling would most like to have. Once both lists were recorded, the girl was turned loose in the arcade and hit a plunger next to each of the six prizes she would like to have. If the sibling agreed, the plunger lit up, a siren sounded, and the prize was won. If the sibling didn't agree, a buzzer sounded and the player moved on to another prize. Once the girl hit six plungers, the boy was turned loose in the arcade and did the same thing.
If the boy and the girl amassed a total of 10 matches between them (out of 12 total guesses), the pair won all 20 prizes; otherwise the team only won the prizes that were matched.
[edit] Special shows
While most shows featured brother-sister teams, others featured sibling teams consisting of younger and older pairs of all brothers and all sisters. Youthful stars of NBC's prime-time shows also played with their real-life siblings for charity on two episodes. There was also one episode where all the teams were twins.
[edit] Notes
- All 26 episodes of "I'm Telling" are assumed to exist. Reruns were seen on The Family Channel during the 1989-1990 season, and again from 1994 to 1996.
- Haim Saban (creator of Power Rangers) was the co-creator and executive producer of I'm Telling! Andy Heyward (co-creator of Inspector Gadget) was also an executive producer, for DiC.
