Game show icon and radio personality Bob Eubanks decided to give producing a try in the 80's. His first effort was reviving Groucho Marx's seminal quiz, You Bet Your Life, which ended up lasting just one season.
Part of the problem might've been comedian Buddy Hackett, a recurring panelist on Hollywood Squares, headlining his own series for the first time since the sitcom, Stanley, back in the 50's. Hackett did an opening monologue before the games began, something Richard Dawson would do in a failed 1988 revival pilot.
Unlike other iterations of the series, contestants went solo, instead of in random pairings. Apparently, Eubanks thought that might help speed the games along. That's not always true, as this sample episode shows:
Beginning with the Dawson pilot, the team of Marcy Carsey & Tom Werner (The Cosby Show, Roseanne, etc.) gained the rights to the series, and got one season out of having Bill Cosby as host.
The reason we bring this up is because Bet is returning this fall, with Jay Leno and his former bandleader from The Tonight Show, Kevin Eubanks (no relation to Bob) as host and sidekick. This one could end up failing, too.
Rating: B.
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