''All Star Secrets'' is an
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
daytime game show that aired from January 8 to August 10, 1979.
A Hill-Eubanks Production, the show was hosted by co-creator
Bob Eubanks
Robert Leland Eubanks (born January 8, 1938) is an American disc jockey, television personality and game show host, best known for hosting the game show ''The Newlywed Game'' on and off since 1966. He also hosted the successful revamp version of ...
and announced first by
Charlie O'Donnell
Charles John O'Donnell (August 12, 1932 – November 1, 2010) was an American radio and television announcer, primarily known for his work on game shows. Among them, he was best known for ''Wheel of Fortune'', where he worked from 1975 to 1980, a ...
,
but due to conflicts with his announcing duties on ''
Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Art
* ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...
'', he was later replaced by Tony McClay.
For one week of shows during April 1979, the announcer was Bill Baldwin.
Game play
Three contestants were told some interesting secrets about a panel of five stars. The secrets were given to the producers beforehand in an interview, and the contestants' job was to match the secret to the celebrity that gave that secret.
[''Television Game Show Hosts: Biographies of 32 Stars'' By David Baber, page 91]
On each secret, a randomizer shuffled money amounts ranging from $120 – $300, stopping when a player pressed a button. After the secret was read, one celebrity whom the secret did not pertain to (just for fun) offered his/her opinion on which star had the secret. The contestants then secretly chose which star had the secret, and a correct answer won money according to how many contestants got it right: if two or all three players were correct, they split the money (1/3 for all three, and 1/2 for two), but if only one player got it, he/she got the whole pot.
Money values doubled for the third and fourth secrets. In the final round, all three players would attempt to identify one final secret, called the "Blind Item", which was worth $1,500. In the final round, no stars were able to guess who they thought was the person who had the secret. The player with the most money at the end of the game was the winner and received a bonus prize, while the other two contestants got to keep whatever money they earned, with a guaranteed $100 minimum, and also received parting gifts. A sudden death secret was played if two or three players were tied.
In the final segment, and during the end credits, Eubanks would sometimes bring in someone that was related to a secret one of the celebrities had or bring in an item mentioned by a celebrity during the game.
Notable celebrities
A number of people who rarely made television game show appearances participated in the show, including
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a Center (basketball), center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 yea ...
and
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
.
Pilots
The show was originally going to be called ''Celebrity Secrets'', but was changed at the last minute; had its planned 1989 revival made it to air (see below), it would have used said title.
A
syndicated revival was planned for the 1989–1990 season (as part of a game show block that included ''
Jackpot!'', ''
Talk About'', and ''
The Last Word''), but was scrapped after the show's distributor ran into financial problems.
Episode status
The episode status is unknown. Eight episodes are known to exist, including the August 1978 pilot episode, as well as a Studio Master, among private collectors.
GSN aired the June 5, 1979, episode on Sunday, October 5, 2014, as part of their ''Time Capsule'' and aired the same episode on Thursday, October 9, 2014, as part of ''Throwback Thursday''.
Foreign adaptations
A version of ''All Star Secrets'' was produced by
LWT
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...
for the United Kingdom as part of a one-off ''
Bruce Forsyth's Big Night
''Bruce Forsyth's Big Night'' is a TV show screened on ITV on Saturday nights in late 1978. It starred Bruce Forsyth. 12 episodes were broadcast between 7 October and 31 December 1978. Two further one-off specials were shown on 4 April 1980 and 2 ...
'' special that aired in April 1980 on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
. The celebrity panel consisted of
Joan Collins
Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime ...
,
Reginald Bosanquet
Reginald Tindal Kennedy Bosanquet (9 August 1932 – 27 May 1984) was a British journalist and broadcaster who was an anchor of '' News at Ten'' for ITN from 1967 to 1979.Eddie Dyj"Bosanquet, Reginald (1932–1984)" BFI screenonline
Early ...
,
Carol Channing
Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019) was an American actress, singer, dancer and comedian who starred in Broadway and film musicals. Her characters usually had a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, ...
,
Jimmy Tarbuck
James Joseph Tarbuck (born 6 February 1940) is an English comedian, singer, actor, entertainer and game show host.
He was a host of ''Sunday Night at the London Palladium'' in the mid-1960s, and hosted numerous game shows and quiz shows on ITV ...
, and
Susan George.
The series returned to
British television
Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...
as a regular series four years later, in 1985. Hosted by
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...
, it ran until 1986.
References
{{reflist
External links
American Version on IMDbBritish Version on IMDb
NBC original programming
1979 American television series debuts
1970s American game shows
1979 American television series endings
English-language television shows
1980s British game shows