Battlestars (April 6, 1982) with Bowzer, Rip Taylor, & Betty White

The episode directly following the previous one, because why not.
Philip McKeon, Debbie Reynolds, Jenilee Harrison, Rip Taylor, Jon Bauman as Bowzer, and Betty White are the day's Battlestars.
All uploads are for archival purposes and do not intend to infringe on any copyright holders' rights. If there are any issues, please tell me so and I will comply as best I could.

[@rgrndu]

Betty White is 60 here. She’s 99 now. God Bless Her (He already has).

[@mrceleb2006]

May she rest in peace...as well as Alex Trebek and Rod Roddy, who cracked up at the end of this show!

[@bluebear1985]

Here's what aired in primetime: ABC- Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi (I Do, I Don't, I Do), Three's Company (Janet Wigs Out), Too Close for Comfort, Hart to Hart (Hart and Sole) CBS- Q.E.D. (Infernal Device), CBS Tuesday Night Movies NBC- Bret Maverick, Flamingo Road, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters In late night: Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Charles Grodin, Jerry Seinfeld, Victoria Principal) Late Night with David Letterman (Don King, John Browning, Willard Scott)

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

I love the beginning with Betty plugging _Mama's Family_.

[@mitchellries256]

Stephen Amell, Grant Gustin, Caity Lotz, Melissa Benoist, Cress Williams and Brec Bassinger. Those are the Battlestars. And here's the man in command.... Alex Trebek.

[@timglende8869]

This aired the same day as that the Metrodome had its first regular season game.

[@movieman9100]

Rest In Peace Alex.

[@cutemimi25]

And Rip Taylor & Betty White

[@RJSchex]

The double-beep sound heard when a number is selected was the same sound used on "Wheel of Fortune" to denote that all remaining letters were vowels.

[@jdb2002]

Reminds me of Hollywood Squares

[@lilbluefoxie]

its Hollywood Triangles lol

[@StFidjnr]

you upload that episode for a good reason 6 triangles out of 6 in the main game

[@BarrCode674]

Rod Roddy speaking. (sounds like he was trying to hold it together at the end)

[@crazyclimber80]

The stars seemed to have a blast on this show, and their antics regularly cracked Rod up.

[@ifermaglich4985]

Whenever you find them, please post them! I'm interviewing writer Bobby Logan on my podcast.

[@gluecement]

Why not, indeed.

[@alfonsogreen2722]

R.I.P Rod Roddy Debbie Reynolds Phillip McKeon Rip Taylor n now Alex Trebek

[@drummingdanny84]

And now Betty White. 😭😭

[@matthewcasiglio2539]

Obviously rod Roddy was the announcer for this game show just like press your luck and the price is right after that!

[@paullarue2010]

I'm from Long Beach. I've been on Queen Mary.

[@ericjonmagnuson2728]

Around 0:35, the door closing behind Mr. Trebek is definitely audible. Also, even for a H-Q/MH show, it seemed like there were a lot of fee/prize plugs--including that Las Vegas trip for "any of our departing contestants winning no cash" (after 27:15).

[@unknown-kh7dg]

BUZZR should get the rights to air "Battlestars" and "The New Battlestars" as well Alex Trebek's "High Rollers" and "The New High Rollers"

[@devares2006]

They're owned by MGM. Unless they sell it to Fremantle, I doubt if they'll ever air on Buzzr.

[@johnnyballenatl]

@@devares2006 And Amazon has just bought MGM this past week (could we see them on Prime Video?)!

[@devares2006]

@@johnnyballenatl one can hope.

[@steve760]

@@johnnyballenatl It could happen. Prime members can already watch certain episodes of certain Goodson-Todman game shows for free. The shows are provided by Fremantle and branded with the Buzzr logo.

[@PREGO1966]

Odds are they were destroyed

[@AllRequired]

Only two of them remain.

[@willmack5909]

Jon Bauman and Jennilee Harrison.

[@kristinnace7103]

jackson watson hosted on battlestars on cartoonito

[@MovieJon]

"Angie Dickinson" !!!! ha ha ha!

[@VahanNisanian]

Bowzer before hosting and playing on his own version of Hollywood Squares, playing on a Hollywood Squares variation.

[@bellantonioabraham6920]

Rod Roddy's interim announcer on NBC Game-Show Battle Stars-December 1981 thru May 1982. Then So You've Got Troubles with Jay Johnson in September 1982 thru September 1983 & Hit Men with Peter Tomarken from January 1983 for 16 weeks until April 1st 1983. Press Your Luck for {3} seasons. Daytime & Nighttime with Bob Barker & Tom Kennedy from 1985-1986 season.

[@Rlotpir1972]

Rod Roddy was also an announcer for Whew! in 1979-1980.

[@erikbunty2016]

And Soap from 1977-1981.

[@jokerswildfan1972]

I vaguely remember this show. Was this on at 11:30 after Wheel of Fortune?

[@ericsamuelson5656]

Betty is sitting at the same chair as she did on Match Game

[@Rlotpir1972]

This was Betty White first game show for Merrill Heater Productions.

[@PREGO1966]

just a coincidence

[@jamesthing6963]

Rest in peace Alex Trebek.

[@andrewwor7660]

rip betty white

[@cutemimi25]

​@@andrewwor7660R.I.P. Rip Taylor

[@therealbrentrolland]

@1:47 I believe that's Alan Kalter narrating the Chef Boyardee commercial!

[@devares2006]

You would be correct. That's Big Red himself.

[@Josh-iu8ow]

good friday morning @The Guy with the Games

[@kristinnace7103]

no credit to alex trebek 1940-2020

[@lilbluefoxie]

most of the sound effects is just someone playing with a phone

[@Matthew6418]

Anyone here from Buzzerblog announcing Tom Bergeron would be hosting a new version of this?

[@steve760]

No, he's supposed to host a reboot of Tic Tac Dough.

[@wadeboyful]

Nice 👍

[@matthewcasiglio2539]

Obviously battlestars has a similarity to Hollywood squares ⬛️ you have to agree or disagree correctly to capture a star 🌟

[@jeffreylong3963]

0:25 - And here's the man in command, Alex Trebek!

[@Mrtv1017]

R.I.P. Alex Trebek

[@timglende8869]

Were there ticket plugs/contestant plug or did they use those that didn't get on Card Sharks or Password Plus?

[@markschildberg1667]

Every production company had its own method of selecting contestants. Of course, you could apply to as many shows as you like.

[@paullarue2010]

NBC game show.

[@MrMatteNWk]

11:29 ...Friscoooo!

[@retailguy247]

Ok, so battlestars is a gameshow where several celebrities are in (triangle shaped) boxes, the host asks the celebrities a question, and the contestants have to decide if what the celebrities say is true or false. Isn't that the same concept as Hollywood Squares?

[@mitchellries256]

Correct.

[@willmack5909]

Similar. Instead of capturing 3 squares in a row, contestants had to capture 3 triangles anywhere on the board. And the celebrities saw 2 possible answers, one right, one wrong, and the contestant had to determine if they were right or wrong, vs. agreeing or disagreeing, but overall a very similar concept, which makes sense as the producers of this show did Squares too.

[@JMFabiano]

Bowzer on a second rate Hollywood Squares knockoff. And before then, he was on the panel for one.

[@steve760]

And in 1983, he hosted a second-rate Hollywood Squares knockoff.

[@steve760]

There's a reason I call this show "Hollywood Triangles." Merrill Heatter produced great gameshows, but he repeated himself here, and with the GSN game Catch 21 (which is essentially Gambit).

[@markschildberg1667]

And Gambit was a better game than Catch 21.

[@erikbunty2016]

​@steve760 As he did with All-Star Blitz a few years later.

[@booberry349]

Bowser is always funny

[@qfmarsh64]

I didn't know Kamala Harris was on a game show.

[@nicka727]

Another game show disaster of Alex Trebek in 1982. Battlestars not only ripped off Hollywood Squares it went up against the The Price Is Right on CBS in the states and It was the top rated game show. He had to travel back and forth from Burbank to Vancouver to host Pitfall. On Pitfall, Contestants did not get their winnings on the final weeks near the end of the run.

[@davidjackino8831]

Seeing that the same company produced Squares and Battlestars…

[@steve760]

But Pitfall wasn't a disaster, it was a victim of greed. Catalena Productions not only screwed everyone (Trebek AND the contestants, and, most likely, the production crew) on Pitfall, they also screwed Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall when their company contracted with Catalena to produce a Canadian version of Let's Make a Deal. The game itself was fantastic.

[@steve760]

@@davidjackino8831 This was a rare misstep. Heatter/Quigley's other shows are all classics, with one possible exception (that exception being Catch 21. Catch 21 isn't a classic, although it's a good game with a very likable host.)

[@markschildberg1667]

I didn’t care much for HQ’s game show Hot Seat, which tried too hard for a Newlywed Game vibe.

[@erikbunty2016]

​@@steve760All-Star Blitz was a flop, too, another H2 wannabe.