Shoot For The Stars
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Shoot For The Stars was a modestly successful daytime game show which aired on the NBC television network. The game show aired from January 3, 1977 until September 30, 1977, and was produced in New York City. During most of its run, it had originally videotaped at NBC's headquarters in Rockefeller Center, but there were some weeks of episodes done, interestingly, at CBS's Ed Sullivan Theater, aka Studio 50, the first home of The $10,000 Pyramid. Geoff Edwards once again commuted from his home base in Los Angeles to host Shoot For The Stars. The series was created and produced by Bob Stewart. It was the last network game show for Edwards (except for his two-week stint as guest host on Chain Reaction in 1980), and the last NBC game show to originate from New York City. The announcer for the series was Bob Clayton, announcer on "Pyramid" and former host of "Concentration".
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[edit] The Main Game
Shoot For The Stars comprised of two teams, both consisting of a civilain player (one of which a returning champion) and a celebrity player; faced with a game board of 24 numbered trilons. Behind the trilons are money cards ranging from $100 to $500, a "double your score" card and four stars. With the challengers going first, each team begins the game with $100 and alternates control of the board by selecting numbers in which a dollar amount is revealed, followed by the clue. The object of the game is for one team member to provide a synonym for the top word, while the other player provides a synonym for the bottom word (example: "sizzling canine" would translate into "hot dog"). A correct response earns that team the amount shown; an incorrect guess gives their opponents a chance to answer. If a team selects one of the four stars, then that team can wager any or all of their winnings. A right answer adds that wager to their score, and a wrong answer subtracts that amount. The first team to reach $1,500 or more wins the game and exactly $1,500. Unlike The Joker's Wild, whereas full turns are used, the game ended if the challengers reach the $1,500 mark first before the champions had an opportunity for at least one final turn to catch up.
Any contestant who won five games in a row was awarded a new automobile.
[edit] The Bonus Game
In the bonus game, which is somewhat similar to Pyramid, the winning team established a number ranging from 5 to 9 by hitting a plunger, which stops a rotating solari board in front of them. That number represented how many clues were needed for one team member to successfully communicate to his/her partner. The object is for one team member to communicate two-part phrases, one part at a time, to his/her partner, describing it in any way. If the team successfully guesses the required number of words (from 5 to 9) in 60 seconds or less, that team won a cash jackpot that began at $1,000 and was increased by $500 each time it was not won.
[edit] Notes
The series theme song (composed by Bob Cobert) would later be used on two other Bob Stewart Productions: Twisters, a 1982 game show pilot hosted by Jim Perry, and Double Talk (see below). The show theme would be remixed for use the two 1980s version of Jackpot!, the latter version hosted by original host Geoff Edwards.
Shoot For The Stars would return almost a decade later as Double Talk, which aired on ABC Television in 1986. Its pilot was titled Shoot The Works, which was also hosted by Geoff Edwards in New York. The format of the front-end game would be used on other Bob Stewart produced game shows, most notably on the John Davidson version of The $100,000 Pyramid.
While the emphesis of this game show resulted in a nine-month run, the cheapness of its prize payoffs really showed in this game show, whereas teams who go over $1,500 are awarded just $1,500 and no more than that. Plus the minimum jackpot of $1,000 in the bonus round is odd, since most bonus rounds at that time usually had a minimum payoff of $5,000 or even $10,000. The car bonus (valued at around $5,000), which is normally a common practice on Barry & Enright game shows, may be the show's lone saving grace.
[edit] Episode Status
It is believed that the episodes of Shoot For The Stars are destroyed, except for only a handful. But, as was the case with the discovery of lost episodes of The Joker's Wild and the Peter Marshall-hosted Hollywood Squares over the past 5 years, it is possible that the episodes exist.
GSN has the second pilot of this show. The first pilot and one regular episode are on the trade circuit.
