PDQ (game show)
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PDQ was an American television game show created by Heatter-Quigley Productions, which aired from 1966 to 1969. Baffle was a reworked version of PDQ that aired on NBC in 1973 and 1974.
Dennis James was the host. The contestants consisted of three celebrities and one civilian. Two celebrities were paired as the "Home Team"; the third celebrity and the civilian contestant made up the opposing team, which was known as "The Challengers".
These two teams played a word game, where the object was for a player seated in an isolation booth to guess a famous name, title, or phrase posed by their teammate who displayed letters as clues (one at a time starting with three letters) on their own individual game board. A musical tone every few seconds served as a signal to add another letter. Each team took a turn at the same puzzle, the winners being the team which correctly identified the answer using fewer letter clues (a tie was considered a win for the contestant). A prize was at stake for the contestant, should the "Challengers" team win a round. Each day there would be a "PDQ Special," a three-game match in which the challengers had to win two out of three games in order for the contestant to win special prizes. A bonus round was played by the contestant towards the end of the show in which they had to identify ten words with only three letters each to work with, with only a few seconds allotted for each word. If all ten words were guessed correctly, they would win a car. If not, they would be awarded a certain amount of cash for each correct guess ($25.00 or, if the challengers used fewer letters than the Home Team, $50.00) which was redeemed for merchandise from the Spiegel Catalog. This was one of the most difficult bonus rounds of any game show; not many cars were given away.
The initials PDQ stood for "Please Draw Quickly."
[edit] Baffle and All-Star Baffle
PDQ ran for four years in syndication, from 1966-69. In 1973, the format was revived and altered somewhat, and given a new title, Baffle, broadcast weekday mornings on NBC. The format was altered again for a further season in 1974, this time with all the players being celebrities, with a title change to All-Star Baffle. Dick Enberg was the host.
The object of the game was for a team of two players — a contestant and a celebrity player, in the original version, pairs of celebrities in the second — to guess a word or short phrase in less time than the opposing team. One player would sit in an isolation booth, and the partner would stand outside the booth in front of a rack, on which letters representing the answer were placed. These letters were out of view of the partner in the booth. When signaled by Enberg, that player would take three letters from the answer and place them on a board behind him or her where the partner in the booth could see them. (By rule, the first three letters of the answer could not be used; a player who did so was penalized, with 15 seconds being added to their elapsed time.) The player with the letters would then make gestures, similar to charades, that would aid the partner in guessing the answer. Every few seconds a bell would ring, and the player would add a letter from the rack to the board. The partner in the booth would shout out answers until the correct one was guessed, at which time the clock stopped.
The process would be repeated for the other team, using the same answer; the player in the other team's booth could not hear the show's audio when the first team was playing.
A second round was then played, with partners on each team changing roles. The team with the lowest total elapsed time won the game, and the "civilian" contestant went on to the bonus round. When it was all-stars, the winning celebrity team drew a card from the drum (filled out by the studio audience), the lucky audience member got to play the bonus round.
In the bonus round, the contestant had 30 seconds to guess up to nine words based on three letter clues given by Enberg, such as "GDN" for "garden." The value of the prize won by the contestant increased with the number of words guessed. Eight correct answers always won a new car, and all nine answers won the car, a trip, plus $5,000.
Both shows were produced by Heatter-Quigley Productions.
[edit] External links
- Page o' Clips: A clip of PDQ featuring Stubby Kaye and Gisele MacKenzie. Note: This site rotates its clip collection on a periodic basis, so this clip many not be available at a given time.
| Preceded by Concentration |
10:30 a.m. EST, NBC 3/26/73 – 1/4/74 |
Succeeded by Jeopardy! |
| Preceded by The Who, What, or Where Game |
12:30 p.m. EST, NBC 1/7/74 – 3/29/74 |
Succeeded by Celebrity Sweepstakes |
