The Cross-Wits
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The Cross-Wits premiered on December 15, 1975, and lasted for five seasons until its cancellation on September 12, 1980. It was hosted by Jack Clark and produced by Ralph Edwards Productions. A second version aired in 1986, and was hosted by David Sparks. The show's title in this version lacked a hyphen, so it was known as "Crosswits". The show was created by Jerry Payne.
This show pits two teams of three (two celebrities and one contestant) in a game of filling in crossword puzzles. Each word in the crossword puzzle is a clue to a master puzzle.
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[edit] Main Game
[edit] 1975 Version
At the beginning of each round host Clark announced the subject of the master puzzle. The contestant captain chose which position in the crossword puzzle to identify, and which star to play that position. Next, host Clark read a crossword clue to that word. If the star couldn't answer the clue, then the contestant could answer it, but if neither one answered it correctly then control went to the opposing team. Each correct awarded 10 points for each letter in the word (example: if the word was "SCIENTIST", then the word would be worth 90 points). After each correct answer (except for the last word), the contestant could either choose another position or solve the master puzzle (which only the civilian contestant could solve), in which case the team would be allowed a "7-second conference" before doing so.
A correct solve earned the player 100 points, and if the puzzle was solved on the very first clue (in which case, for reasons unknown, the conference time was shortened to 5 seconds), the contestant won a new car; originally, it could be won in any round when that round's first word was put on the board (and after the "seven-second conference"); later, it was changed so only the second game each day had the car, and the rules were changed so that a player going for the car had "five seconds to think it over" without talking to the celebrities, and instead of the player being behind going first in each round, whoever solved the first puzzle went first in the second one (to make sure nobody intentionally missed just to have a better shot at the car).
The game was played in an unmentioned time limit, and contestants recieved money in equivalent to their score, but the contestant with the most points/money when time expired won the game.
This version was taped before the era of computerized graphics. As a result, the gameboard was manually operated by the hostess (Jerri Fiala), and used tiles similar to Wheel of Fortune. Although, it did not use trilons like Wheel, it used lights similar and obviously had to be changed off-camera in order for the game to be played correctly.
[edit] 1986 Version
The game was played the same way as the previous version except for these changes:
- The game is played in three rounds with this scoring format:
- Round 1 - 5 points per letter, 50 points for the solution
- Round 2 - 10 points per letter, 100 points for the solution
- Round 3 - 20 points per letter, 200 points for the solution
- Contestants no longer receive money equivalent to their score.
This version's gameboard was totally computer generated.
[edit] The Crossfire Round (Both Versions)
The winning contestant played a bonus round called the Crossfire Round along with his/her choice of celebrity partner. They were shown one last crossword puzzle with 10 words, none of which were clues to a master puzzle. The host read rapid-fire clues to each of the 10 words. If they could solve all ten in 60 seconds or less, they won the grand prize.
In the 1975 version, each correct answer won increasingly valuable prizes, and solving all ten won the contestant won the grand prize, which was usually a car, but sometimes a trip or a fur coat. In the 1986 version, winning was worth a trip and a chance to win a car. Failure to win the bonus round on this version won a consolation prize package.
[edit] The Car Round ('86 Version)
The three celebrities who did not play the Crossfire Round were given boxes, each with the logo of one of three cars available to win. After choosing which car to play for, the contestant then chose a celebrity. If the chosen car matched that held by the chosen celebrity, the contestant won the said car.
During this run, midway, the format was temporarily changed (see Pilots below) where the winner picked one car and one celebrity to see if the celebrity's key fit the car's door to open it, in order to win the car. This format was short lived, only for the two pilots taped.
[edit] Trivia
[edit] Pilots
George Fenneman, the sidekick announcer of You Bet Your Life fame, did two separate pilots in 1966 called Crossword. It also featured two separate teams, each with a celebrity guest and a regular contestant. The first pilot featured Carolyn Jones and Michael Landon, while the second pilot featured Tippi Hedren and Paul Lynde (who later was the center square of the Peter Marshall version of The Hollywood Squares.)
Midway through the 1986-87 run with David Sparks, 2 pilots were aired with a different bonus round format than the actual series, featuring Arsenio Hall, Abby Dalton, Fred Willard and Martin Kove. These shows were eventually shown during its repeat run on The Family Channel.
[edit] 1975
The first aired episode on December 15, 1975 featured Ron Masak, Meredith MacRae, Conny Van Dyke and Greg Morris.
Several game show hosts appeared in this version (the revival had game show hosts as guests as well). During one week, game show couples faced off against each other. They were Allen Ludden and Betty White vs. Bill Cullen and his wife Ann. The White/Ludden teams won more games than the Cullen's teams the week they played (3-2).
During another week, the celebrity guests were career celebrity contestant Abbe Lane, old-time comic Phil Foster, and then-unknowns Robert Urich and Rue McClanahan.
All the episodes are assumed to be in the hands of the owners of the show, Warner Brothers, which owns Ralph Edwards Productions.
This run was taped at Metromedia Studios in Los Angeles, and its theme music used three different arrangements during its five year run.
In a similar act, Jack Clark was announced at the beginning of each episode of this run, as "The Keeper of The Cross-Wits", much similar to Peter Marshall was called "The Master of The Hollywood Squares".
[edit] 1986
The revival was taped at Studio 33 (now called the Bob Barker Studio) at CBS Television City in Hollywood, CA.
This version was the first game show to have a female announcer (most announcers before that time were male), Michelle Roth, who now works for the current version of Family Feud.
All the episodes of this run are known to exist. Repeats of this run of the show aired on The Family Channel (now ABC Family) for a brief time in 1993 as part of their afternoon game show block, and later resurfaced on the now-defunct American Independent Network in 1997 (albeit mislabeled in their online listings as the original version).
The celebrities on the first aired show were Kelsey Grammer, Leslie Charleson, Richard Moll and Cheryl Ann Wilson.
The theme music for the 1986-87 run was composed by Andrew Belling.
[edit] Foreign Versions
There was a United Kingdom version of Crosswits which premiered in 1985, a year before the US revival debuted. It was hosted first by Barry Cryer, then by Tom O'Connor. (See Crosswits (UK Version) for more details). It was produced by Tyne Tees and aired on ITV.
In Poland, the show was called Krzyźówka Szczęścia. This version even had a live band playing the theme tune.
