80s TV Game Shows

During the 80s - it seemed that TV game shows were more popular than ever with wider a variety of formats entering the arena.  More sports based game shows arrived in the UK such as Bullseye and Big Break.  The US and UK have often copied the formats of each other's game shows, with some being reproduced all over the world.

Bullseye (US) was an 80s TV game show presented by Jim Lange and aired from 1980-1982. The show did not use a darts theme - but consisted of three spinning windows and a tri-coloured plunger.  The method was to stop the windows by hitting the plunger.  The contestant would then have to answer questions based on the different categories in the windows. The Endgame was called 'Bonus Island'.

Bullseye (UK) was presented by Jim Bowen with darts scorer Tony Green risking numerous piercings from amateur arrows.  The original series ran from 1981-1995 - and then ran from 2006 onwards (presented by Dave Spikey).  The TV game show features three sets of couples, each consisting of a darts player and question answerer.  The game sections include the 'Category Round' - 'Pounds for Points' - 'Charity Interlude'- 'Bully's Prize Board' - and 'Bully's Star Prize Gamble'.

     

Blockbusters (US) started in 1980 and ran for two years - hosted by Bill Cullen and Bob Hilton(then had another brief spell in 1987 - hosted by Bill Rafferty with Rich Jefferies).  Blockbusters (UK) was a more successful version of the same 80s TV game show format (1983-1993) - it was hosted by Bob Holness.  There were two teams of students - the white team with one member, and the blue team with two.  The object of the game was to get from one side of the board to another by answering questions where the answers began with the chosen letter.  The winning team would get to try the 'Gold Run' - where they would have get from the left to the right on the board by answering questions with multiple word answers.

     

Family Fortunes began in the UK in 1980 - and was based on the American game show Family Feud.  Originally hosted by Bob Monkhouse there were two teams of five family members trying to guess the results of a survey of 100 people on different subject matters.  Games include 'Double Money' - where the points from the survey were doubled - and 'Big Money' where the first team to get 300 points in the previous round would have a chance of winning a cash prize and possibly a car.

     

Wheel of Fortune has been a very popular 80s TV game show in the US (1975 - Present) and the UK (1988 - 2001).  Three contestants attempt to solve a word puzzle similar to Hangman.  The points are decided by the spin of a big horizontal wheel in front of them - each letter guessed correctly would obtain them that number of points.  The wheel also contains a 'Backrupt' and 'Lose a Turn' segment.  At the end of the show the person with the most points gets to guess the final phrase - choosing five consonants and one vowel before the timer begins.

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