Make the Grade

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Make the Grade was a children's game show that aired from October 2, 1989 through December 29, 1991 on Nickelodeon.

Contents

[edit] Broadcast history

Make the Grade premiered on Nickelodeon on October 2, 1989 and ended on December 29, 1991. Reruns of Make the Grade began running on Nickelodeon Games and Sports on January 2, 2000 until dropped on April 2, 2004.

The first two seasons were hosted by Lew Schneider and taped in a small New York studio with no live audience. For the third and final season, the show moved to the newly opened Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida, with Robb Edward Morris taking Schneider's place as host. New York-based disc jockey WAXQ Maria Milito was the announcer for the entire run.

[edit] Main game

Make the Grade was a question-and-answer game that combined elements of Jeopardy! and Trivial Pursuit. On each show, three contestants -- each situated at either a red, green, or blue desk -- competed to answer trivia questions and acquire squares on a 7x7 game board (the category icons and grade levels were branded in front of each desk and lit up when a question was answered correctly). Grade levels, which ranged from elementary school and grades 7 through 12, ran along the top of the board; six subjects plus a "special elective" ran down the left. The contestants' goal was to light up all 14 squares on their desk or acquire the most squares in as many grade levels and subjects as possible in their color.

Most squares contained questions; the contestants had to buzz-in in the middle of reading a question. If a player answered the question correctly, he won that square for his desk and control of the board. If incorrect, the other two had a chance to answer once the host re-read the question. Several squares, however, contained "wild cards," panels that could ultimately alter the outcome of the game. The wild cards included:

  • Take: allowed a player to steal any square from an opponent;
  • Lose: forced a player to give up a square of their choice, which would be placed back on the board;
  • Free: gave the square to the player who picked it, no questions asked;
  • Fire: led to a "Fire Drill", a physical challenge for all three contestants.

[edit] Fire Drills

Like other Nickelodeon game shows before it, Make the Grade allowed contestants to participate in challenge stunts, sometimes messy, called "Fire Drills." Fire Drills took place when a contestant selected a square with the Fire wild card. All three contestants participated.

The goal of each Fire Drill was to complete the challenge first, thereby earning first choice at the three desks. Although a contestant could answer many questions correctly, the earned squares belonged to the desk. When the Fire Drill was completed, the first place contestant picked whichever desk he or she desired, usually the one with the most grade levels and subjects completed. The second place contestant took choice of the remaining two desks, and third place took the last desk left.

Because of this structure, a contestant could do poorly answering questions, but successfully complete Fire Drills to win the game, as was proved on one occasion when a contestant selected the last subject she needed to win the game, only to find a Fire Drill. She finished the Fire Drill in third place; the contestant who wound up winning the Fire Drill had only buzzed in once during the entire game (with an incorrect answer). He gained control of the desk with all of the correct answers, and answered the next question correctly to win the game. (Theoretically, a contestant can, in fact, not answer any questions correctly and still win the game by completing one Fire Drill by having the most spaces lit up on his or her desk when the time buzzer is sounded.)

[edit] Honors Round

After two trivia rounds, the first player to light up his/her desk, or the player with the most squares in as many grade levels and subjects as possible, won $500 and went on to the Honors Round. (The other two players received $50 and a consolation prize.)

In this round, the winner was offered three question categories, from which he/she chose one. Each category contained seven questions, and each question was from a different subject. The player had 45 seconds to answer all 7 questions.

Each correct answer won $100. In the first season, getting all seven questions right augumented the bonus round total to $1,000. Players got only one chance to answer a question from each category during that season.

During the second and third seasons, the Honors Round was changed slightly. This time, if a player answered incorrectly on a question from a category or passed on it, and got back to that category, a different question was asked. At this point, winning the Honors Round was worth $600 and a trip to Universal Studios Florida.

[edit] University Round

In second season episodes where the winning contestant won early (and, thus, there was enough time to fill), a special University Round was played. A series of 5 questions were asked -- for $50, $100, $200, $500, and $1,000, respectively. Players could stop and take the money at any time. (In the first season, extra time was filled with clips of host Schneider going to malls and asking questions, and during the third season, studio audience members were asked questions to win T-shirts). On a couple of episodes, a contestant won the game so early that they started another game with a second set of contestants, playing the second game in abbreviated time.

[edit] External links

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Nickelodeon game shows
1986-1989
1990-1996
1997-2003