Time Machine (game show)

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Time Machine
Genre	Game Show
Creator(s)	Reg Grundy
Starring	John Davidson as the host; Charlie Tuna as the announcer
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	80
Production
Running time	30 minutes (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	January 7, 1985 – April 26, 1985

"Time Machine" was a short-lived American game show where contestants competed to answer trivia questions about popular culture and recent history to win prizes. The show starred John Davidson and ran on NBC from January to April 1985.

"Time Machine" was part of a wave of trivia-based game shows, all which attempted to duplicate the recent success of "Jeopardy!." The critics were not kind to "Time Machine;" apparently, neither were viewers, who opted for "The $25,000 Pyramid" instead.

Most of the questions used on "Time Machine" focused on nostalgia, popular culture and recent (usually post-World War II) history, and more specifically, what year a particular event occurred.

1 Format 1
2 Format 2
3 Bonus Round
4 Trivia

[edit] Format 1

Three contestants competed in mini-games (a la "The Price is Right") to win prizes. The prizes won went into a contestant's "Prize Bank". The returning champion always played the third mini-game.

Some mini-games included:

"Tube Game" – The contestant was given the names of two shows, and had to pick which one was airing in a given year. This process was done three times; the first with two ABC shows, the second with NBC shows, and the third with CBS shows. A right answer won the corresponding network, a wrong one lost it. Behind one of the networks was a prize package; if the contestant had that network, it was added to their Prize Bank.

"3 In A Row" – In each square of a tic-tac-toe board is a different year, all from the same decade. Before the game starts, the contestant places three "Poison Cards" in a row on the board. The contestant is then shown nine events. They pick an event, and the year in which it happened lights up. If they lit three years across or up-and down, a prize was added to their Bank. If they lit three years in a row diagonally, a larger prize was added. If the three with the Poison Cards light up, nothing was added.

- This format changed later on; the Posion Cards were eliminated, and the events were drawn from a podium two at a time. The contestant picked an event from the two choices, and the year it happened in lit up. They replace it with another event, and continue until they get three in a row. Lighting a row across or up-and-down added a prize to the Prize Bank, a diagonal line added nothing.

"Sweet Sixteen" – The contestant was given sixteen $100 bills. They were then shown an old product, and had to guess which year it was introduced. For each year their guess is off, they gave up a $100 bill. This was done four times. The first three products were given specific ranges to aid the contestant (somtime in the '50s, sometime in the last 10 years), the fourth one had no range. If they still had any $100 bills left after the fourth product, the bills and an additional prize package is put in their Prize Bank.

After three mini-games, the three contestants competed in one final game, the Time Capsule. Davidson read a list of five events, all of which occurred in a specific year. (The final event was always a song popular in that year, and a clip was played for the contestants). Each contestant guessed what year they believe all the events are from. The contestant who came closest was declared the champ, won whatever was in their Prize Bank, and played the bonus round. The other two lost their Prize Bank and left the show.

[edit] Format 2

The format was completely overhauled beginning on the February 11 episode. All the mini-games underwent rule changes to fit the new format. Two contestants competed for the right to face the current champ. They played three mini-games, each one worth a prize. (The Prize Bank was scrapped; the contestants now kept their prizes regardless of how well they did.) The first two mini-games were worth one point, the last one was worth two. The one with the most points after three games won.

The new formats for the games included:

"Tube Game" – Davidson described an ABC show that was on in a given year. Players buzz in to guess what show he's describing, and a right answer wins a point. Davidson then describes an NBC show from the same year, then a CBS show. After that, Davidson asked questions pertaining to the three shows. First to five points won the game and a prize package.

"As Time Goes By" – A photo of a celebrity was shown. Similar in format to Card Sharks, one player guessed when the photo was taken, and the other one guessed whether the right answer is higher or lower. Whoever was right won a spin. This was repeated with two more photos of the same celebrity. Each player then took their spins to the Money Clock, a spinner with four spaces. The four spaces read zero, 100, 300, and 1000, with the 1000 space much smaller than the rest. The pointer moved automatically, and the contestant watched it for a few seconds. They then turned away and hit a plunger, stopping the pointer. The space they landed on was the amount of dollars they won. The player with the highest score won.

The winner of the mini-games faced the champion in the Challenge Round. Aside from the fact that this used two players, this was the exact same game as the Time Capsule. Again, the contestant who came closest won.

[edit] Bonus Round

The bonus round had to do with the year involved in the Time Capsule/Challenge Round. Two different bonus games were used during the show's run.

Bonus Round #1 – Four events were given, and only one of which happened in the given year. If the contestant picked the right event, they won a growing Jackpot of prizes. This was only played if the contestant got the answer in the Time Capsule on the nose; what happened if no one did is currently unknown.

This bonus round was gone by February, giving way to the one described below:

Bonus Round #2 – Questions were asked relating to whether a certain event happened before or after the given year. Enough correct answers won the player a new car, while an incorrect answer stopped the game.

When a champion started their reign, they had to answer four questions to win the car; for each day afterwards, they had to answer one less.

[edit] Trivia

On the series premiere, John Davidson stated the show would "be around for a long time". On its finale roughly four months later, he claimed the show was a mini-series that was supposed to last only a few months.