What Would You Do?

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For other uses, see What Would You Do.
What Would You Do?

What Would You Do? Logo taken from opening theme.
Genre Children's game show
Running time 30 minutes
Creator(s) Dee Bradley Baker
Starring Host:
Marc Summers
Country of origin USA
Original channel Nickelodeon
Original run 1991–1993
No. of episodes 90
IMDb profile

What Would You Do? was a 30-minute television show hosted by Marc Summers on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1993. Robin Marrella acted as the on-camera stagehand for most of the show's run. Both Summers and Marrella performed their respective duties on Double Dare, also on Nickelodeon. The show was produced in Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Florida; some early segments were produced at Universal Studios in Hollywood.

Contents

[edit] Format

Part game show and part talk show, What Would You Do? relied on studio audience participation. Audience members were polled on what they would do in certain situations. Summers picked some members, usually a parent and child, to perform stunts. Failure or refusal to complete a challenge landed an audience member into one of several pie contraptions.

[edit] Segments

During each show, the audience viewed a previously taped segment featuring kids or families put in unusual situations. The tape was stopped before the outcome and Summers asked the audience to vote on either what they would do in the same situation or what the outcome would be. After the results were tallied, the outcome was played.

Special guests, usually performers from other Universal Studios attractions, appeared on What Would You Do? and picked audience members to perform gross, silly or extraordinary stunts. Stunts could involve handling animals, painting, dancing or creating sound effects.

Additional segments included contests between two selected audience members. These contests ranged from who could finish a glass of milk the fastest, to seeing who could inflate and pop a balloon the fastest. The end result of these contests would be the winner having the opportunity to smash a whipped cream pie in the face of the loser.

The end of each episode featured the What Would You Do? Medley, where certain audience members and Summers had index cards attached to their foreheads. Each card had a different stunt such as "Hidden Talent," "Peanut Butter Jumping Jacks," or "Mashed Potato Volcano" listed on it. The participant either had to do what it said on the card, sight unseen, or be sent to the Pie Pod (explained below.) On several occasions, Summers' card told him to go to the Pie Pod.

By the end of the series run, the medley was replaced with the Wall of Stuff, a wall of numbered doors, each hiding a prize or surprise. Each audience member was assigned a number, and if their number was drawn they would receive a token to open one of the doors. Some of the doors had What Would You Do? merchandise, such as a T-shirt or a gym bag; others concealed pies that would be flung at the contestants' face (or a water cannon filled with whipped cream, which would be squirted at the contestant). In addition, an unlucky participant could receive a card that sent them to one of the pie contraptions. This card often had a corny poem written on it, such as: "We've got a one-track mind, and so will you/A trip down the Pie Coaster on What Would You Do?". On one such occasion, the card said, "We couldn't think of anything to rhyme with "Pie Wash," so just go there."

[edit] Pie Contraptions

The cream pie was central to the show's premise, and was frequently doled out as "punishment" for anything. Whenever audience members were picked to perform a stunt, they were given the option to either perform it or go to one of several pie contraptions. Alternatively, failure to complete a stunt could also send someone to one of these devices.

  • Pie Pod - The most used and most popular "pie device" on the show, this contraption could launch up to four whipped cream pies at one audience member. He or she would be set up in a pneumatic chair and covered with a clear plastic tarp, leaving his head exposed. Then the chair would be pumped up like a barber's chair up to the target. Summers asked the audience how many pies should be launched -- "4" was the usual answer -- and then released them, following a count of three. During the first season, a device called the "Crowning Glory" was suspended over the participant's head. This was a container shaped like a crown that held a small amount of pink slime. Most of the time this was only released if the audience determined that the "victim" flinched during the release of the pies; however it could be used for any random occasion Marc deemed warranted it, such as it being someone's birthday. In the second season, the Crowning Glory was removed, but a fifth pie was added; in addition, participants were no longer covered with a smock, and the large lab goggles being replaced with small swimming goggles. (Incidentally, on very early episodes, the Pie Pod could be loaded with up to six pies - but the two outer ones were never launched, and were subsequently removed.)
  • Pie Slide - An audience member was sent to the top of a playground slide which ended up in a large vat filled with hundreds of gallons of whipped cream. Most slid down feet first, but some opted to go head first. All participants had to go down the slide barefoot.
  • Pie Pendulum - A family was selected, with one family member being strapped to a long board with his face hanging over the side. Five questions were asked to this participant, with each incorrect answer reculting in a family member turning a crank which lowered the victim's face toward a large pie. Three incorrect answers resulted in the victim's face landing in the pie; three correct answers resulted in the victim being "saved" and him being able to choose another member of his family to lower all the way into the pie.
  • Pie in the Sky - Two participants were chosen. Three bowls were stacked directly above each participant's head, with the top one containing pink slime (referred to as "pie filling".) The participants were asked questions; each time a participant missed one, one of three levers was pulled, allowing the slime to be emptied into the bowl underneath the current one. Three incorrect answers resulted in the third lever being pulled, releasing the "pie filling" onto the contestant's head.
  • Pie Roulette - Borrowed from Wild and Crazy Kids, another Woody Fraser/Nickelodeon production, the chosen participants took turns being seated at a table loaded with a pie. The contestant placed his/her head in a chin rest on the table. He/she then rolled a die, and had to turn a crank whatever number of times the die showed. At any time the crank was being turned, the device could spring the pie, which would land in the contestant's face. In addition, a bucket containing the aforementioned pink "pie filling" was positioned above the contestant's head; if the audience voted that the contestant flinched at any time (whether he was pied or not), the bucket would be released onto his/her head. On at least one occasion a contestant was slimed with the bucket even though he had not been pied. (On the Wild and Crazy Kids version, this bucket was filled with actual cherry pie filling, and was "reloaded" after each use.)
  • Pie Wash - appearing in the second season only, this device attempted to spray the audience member with whipped cream while he was being spun around rapidly, before it "cleaned him or her up" using a rotating car wash styled brush. The Pie Wash often failed to get whipped cream onto the participant, as the whipped cream had either melted in the contraption (causing it to simply dribble out onto the floor), or the hoses failed to spray it out altogether.
  • Pie Coaster - this was a mini roller coaster which ended with an audience member crashing into an oversized pie which stood on its side. At first the contestant would crash through some paper What Would You Do? banners before crashing into the giant pie. The participant usually got hit multiple times as he rocked back and forth on the final dip, where the pie was located; however, since participants were required to wear a large helmet with a full-face clear shield when on the Pie Coaster, the messiness relative to the other devices was severely limited.

[edit] Personnel Change

Robin Marrella left the series in 1992, but continued to work with Summers on Double Dare (at that time, Family Double Dare). Instead of a permanent replacement, a kid from the audience was picked to be "Co-Host of the Day" for the remainder of the series' run, expanding on What Would You Do's audience participation theme.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] External links

Game Shows on the Nickelodeon Network
Channels on the Nickelodeon Network: TV Land | Nick Too | Nick GAS | Nicktoons Network | Noggin / The N
Premired between 1986-1989:

Double Dare | Super Sloppy Double Dare | Family Double Dare | Finders Keepers | Make the Grade | Think Fast! | You're On!
Premired between 1990-1996:

Get the Picture | Nickelodeon GUTS | Global GUTS | Legends of the Hidden Temple | Nick Arcade | What Would You Do? | Wild and Crazy Kids | NickAmerica
Premired between 1997-2006:

Figure It Out | Figure It Out: Family Style | Figure It Out: Wild Style | You're On! | Double Dare 2000 | Nickelodeon Robot Wars | Scaredy Camp
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