Call My Bluff (U.S. game show)

Call My Bluff
Created by	Mark Goodson Bill Todman
Directed by	Mike Garguilo
Presented by	Bill Leyden
Narrated by	Johnny Olson Wayne Howell
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	125
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mark Goodson Bill Todman Robert Noah
Producer(s)	Jack Farren
Location(s)	NBC Studios New York, New York
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	March 29 – September 24, 1965

Call My Bluff was a short-lived American game show from Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions that aired on NBC daytime from March 29 to September 24, 1965. Bill Leyden was emcee, with Johnny Olson and Wayne Howell as announcers.

Call My Bluff originated from Studio 6A at NBC Studios in the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. The word editor for the series was Eric Lieber, who would later create and produce Love Connection.

Game Play

Main Game

Two teams, each consisting of two contestants and one celebrity, competed. The object was for the teams to earn points by determining the correct definitions to obscure words.

Both teams were given a word. Each player on one team was provided a definition for that word, one of which was correct and the other two being "bluffs". The opposing team had to then determine which one was the correct definition. If the correct choice was made the team earned one point, if not, the bluffing team earned one point. Both teams alternated turns bluffing and determining definitions.

The first team to earn two points wins the game and $100. Towards the end of the show's run, this was amended to three points.

Bonus Game

Both teams participated, with the winning team playing for a cash jackpot starting at $200 and the losing team playing to stay in the game. A guest with an unusual or interesting story was introduced, who then gave brief clues as to the identity of his/her story. The winning team was given three cards, one with the correct story and the other two with blank cards allowing those players to make up bluffs. The losing team then tried to determine the correct story by determining which winning player had the correct story.

If the correct choice was made, the losing team earned the right to play another game and $200 was added to the jackpot for the next bonus game. However, if one of the bluffs was chosen, the winning team won the cash jackpot and the losing team was defeated and replaced.

Celebrities

Among the celebrities who appeared on Call My Bluff were Bill Cullen, Art James, Gene Rayburn, Betty White, Peggy Cass, Abe Burrows, and Lauren Bacall.^[1][2]

Board Game

Despite its short run, Milton Bradley issued a board game adaptation of Call My Bluff in 1965.

Episode status

Call My Bluff is believed to be destroyed due to network practices at the time. Two rehearsal shows are known to exist, one of which is held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

See also

• Call My Bluff (a long-running UK version that ran for forty years on BBC Television)
• Balderdash (a board game and game show featuring similar gameplay)
• Wordplay (an American game show that also involved defining obscure words)

References

1. ↑ Ryan, Steve; Schwartz, David; Wostbrock, Fred (1999), The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows (3 ed.), New York: Checkmark, p. 31, ISBN 0-8160-3847-3 
2. ↑ ""Call My Bluff" Pilot Page". The Game Show Pilot Light. Retrieved 2009-11-08. 

External links

• Call My Bluff at the Internet Movie Database