''Headline Hunters'' is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

that appeared on CTV from 1972 to 1983. It was originally created by Nick Nicholson and E. Roger MuirHevesi, Dennis
"E. Roger Muir, 89, Dies; Backed Howdy Doody"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', October 28, 2008. Accessed October 28, 2008. (creators of ''

The Newlywed Game ''The Newlywed Game'' is an American television game show that puts newly married couples against each other in a series of revealing question rounds to determine how well the spouses know or do not know each other. The program, originally create ...

'', '' Spin-Off'', ''

Definition A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitio ...

'', '' Guess What'', and others). It was hosted by

Jim Perry James Perry may refer to: * James Perry (journalist) (1756–1821), journalist * James Franklin Perry (1790–1853), early Texas settler (with wife Emily Austin Perry) * Jimmy Perry (1923–2016), English actor and scriptwriter * James E. C. Perry ...

, who hosted two other Canadian game shows (''

Eye Bet ''Eye Bet'' was a Canadian television game show hosted by Jim Perry, which aired on CTV from 1972 to 1974. Perry's announcer, as with most Jim Perry game shows in Canada, was smooth-voiced CFTO-TV weatherman Dave Devall. The object of ''Eye Bet'' ...

'' and ''

'') and several American game shows concurrently with its run.

CFTO-TV CFTO-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Barrie-based CTV 2 outlet CKVR-DT, channel 3 ...

meteorologist

Dave Devall David Devall (born 1931) is a Canadian retired broadcaster and meteorologist. He served as the chief forecaster at CFTO-TV in Toronto for more than 48 years beginning in 1961, and was recognized as having had the "longest career as a weather for ...

, who worked with Perry on the aforementioned two series, served as the announcer and was a de facto co-host for this series. It was a Glen-Warren Production for the CTV Television Network and was filmed at the Glen-Warren Studios in the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

suburb of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

. During the final broadcast, Jim Perry applauded the long-running show for promoting news literacy. Perry carried many of his pet phrases with him on his later American game show, ''

Sale of the Century ''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being th ...

'', which he would host for six years.

Object

The idea of the game was for contestants to identify a newsmaker or event from clues given in the form of headlines, a format inspired in part by

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

's ''

Front Page Challenge ''Front Page Challenge'' was a Canadian panel game about current events and history. Created by comedy writer/performer John Aylesworth (of the comedy team of Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth) and produced and aired by CBC Television, the seri ...

''. Three players competed on each episode.

Rules

Host Perry would begin the game by giving the players a category in which the subject fell. Once he did so and gave the starting point value for the subject, Devall would begin reading the headlines one at a time. Four subjects were played in each round, with a total of five headlines for each. For each headline revealed, the point value would be reduced. As the round progressed, the points increased accordingly. Players could buzz in at any time, and if a player correctly identified the subject he/she earned the number of points in play. A wrong answer deducted those points and the player was locked out for the remainder of the subject. No player, however, was allowed to go below zero. In the third round, a special guest subject was featured. The special guest was always the third subject of the round and gave their own headlines instead of the announcer. In order to receive credit for a correct answer the players could either identify the person in question or something associated with him/her. After the special guest or his/her claim to fame was identified, Perry would bring him/her out for a brief interview. There was no limit on how many rounds could be played, as the game was played to time.

Point Values

Hidden Headline Word

There was one word in one of the answers that was chosen by the producers as the night’s hidden headline word. The first player to guess the identity featuring that word won a bonus prize, theirs to keep regardless of the game's outcome.

Deadline

After the time-up buzzer sounded, the Deadline was played. One final subject and set of headlines were played, starting at 500 points and decreasing by 100 for each headline revealed until either all five headlines were revealed or someone identified the subject. The player in the lead at the end of the Deadline was the night's champion and advanced to play the Rapid Round for bonus cash.

Rapid Round

In the Rapid Round, the champion is given 60 seconds to identify as many subjects as possible from a set of "Quickie Headlines", with one headline given for each subject. The champion could pass if he/she could not identify the subject, and there was no limit as to how many subjects could be played. $10 was given for each correctly identified subject.

Night of Champions

At the end of each season, the nine highest scorers of that season would compete against each other in a tournament-style format. The top three winners would then compete in a "Night of Champions", where the winner would take home two special bonus prizes including a trip, a car, a boat, etc.

Quickie Headline

At the end of each episode, Perry asked a "Quickie Headline" to the home audience, for which the answer appeared during the end credits.

References

{{reflist

External links

A 1978 "Night of Champions" Episode of ''Headline Hunters'', without opening or full closing, shown on veoh

A 1979 regular season episode, without opening, shown on veoh
1970s Canadian game shows 1980s Canadian game shows CTV Television Network original programming 1972 Canadian television series debuts 1983 Canadian television series endings Television series about journalism Television series by Nicholson-Muir Productions Television series by Glen-Warren Productions Television series by Bell Media Television shows filmed in Toronto