Body Language (1983) Pilot Episode: Jenilee Harrison & Jon Bauman

Here is one of the pilot episodes of Body Language taped in 1983.
As is usually the case with pilots, there are a few differences between this and what eventually made it to air. Let's see how Anne-Marie (familiar, eh?) and Sam fare with them!
No copyright infringement is intended.

[@bradhamilton3157]

Ann Marie Johnson played Nadine on what's happening now!! She also was in in the heat of the night.

[@malicool1304]

i cannot believe what im watching...

[@damienchance2622]

She also was a special guest on Tyler Perry house of Payne in 2007

[@drewzuhosky6826]

Don’t forget a cast member on _In Living Color_ in its last season- without the Wayans.

[@taureanmay7480]

That's right.

[@markknecht3909]

Ann Marie was a contestant on Child’s Play before this.

[@kerrij.6565]

Don't worry Ann Marie, you won't be struggling for long!

[@Lupton2000]

Tom Kennedy talked about taping the pilot to this show when he was on Family Feud's Game Show Host Week (he never mentioned the name of the show).

[@HappySnoutHour]

LOL The celebrities sure like to talk a lot while giving clues in this pilot.

[@MMB18abel]

I could see why CBS greenlighted this show, they needed a comedy-styled game show with the competitive games already on their schedule as it premiered (PRICE IS RIGHT, PYRAMID, PRESS YOUR LUCK).

[@ashleylewis4892]

Anne-Marie Johnson appeared on three game shows such as Card Sharks on NBC, Child’s Play on CBS, and now then Body Language on CBS. Just before In the heat of the night she also played Willis’ girlfriend on Diff’rent Strokes on the same year when she was a contestant on Body Language.

[@jon2849]

She was Rogers wife on what's happening now.struggling

[@tbec3011]

Glad to hear that. She seems like a genuine sweetheart.

[@mikeyhetrick]

Boy, Mark Goodson really liked that "Working Girl March" from Tootsie didn't he? He used it for this pilot, the Star Words pilot and the On A Roll pilot!

[@Jack21Spades]

Michael Hetrick THAT'S it! I was KILLIN' myself tryin' to pick the theme song out!

[@jeffeastwood15]

Michael, thanks for identifying the music. I heard it on Star Words and it was driving me crazy trying to figure out where I had heard it before.

[@taureanmay7480]

True.

[@rg8152]

@@jeffeastwood15 The only way I remember this song is from Nipsey Russell dancing to it in the beginning (and having Patty Duke and CNR do the electric slide with him to it at the end)!!

[@MegaZeldafan1]

Didn't get into watching Buzzr until June of last year during the Covid pandemic

[@calliopivogiatzis2235]

The way the high school teacher gave his partner the clues,he could've been a drama teacher

[@jwgreek8606]

That's a jammin' theme right there!

[@jeffeastwood15]

It's called "Working Girl March" from Tootsie.

[@taureanmay7480]

Thanks to Edd Kalehoff.

[@wschmrdr]

Only struggling in the heat of the night... ;)

[@paullarue2010]

Jon Bauman used that "Bowser" open mouth.

[@VahanNisanian]

"Working Girl March" from "Tootsie" is used here, just like on "Star Words" and "On a Roll". Now we can see how this song was reworked by Edd Kalehoff for the actual series.

[@LogoMan7777]

+Vahan Nisanian Why didn't they just use "Working Girl March" for BL? It's a decent enough song.

[@VahanNisanian]

Greg Palmer Rights issues, perhaps?

[@taureanmay7480]

# Score Productions.

[@mrhorgan]

I really enjoyed watching the Pilot for Body Language, of course I'm sure everyone on here did =D Wonder if Bowzer got a chance to see "E.T." after failing to guess it from Sam? lol!

[@MyGuyJustinH]

I was wondering about that.

[@chuckers40]

R.I.P. Tom Kennedy.

[@nextbarker2702]

Tom Kennedy passed away at the age 93

[@Mrtv1017]

she was on In The Heat Of The Night

[@vanessalachowski1150]

Anne Marie Johnson was a contestant on here before she became an actress.

[@booberry349]

Why couldn’t Jon Bauman do Bowzer on that show

[@supersaver87]

I'm not too big on the scoring system here...it's possible for both teams to play perfectly, but because the second and fourth puzzles are $200 and $400, the second team still wins. (Not that the one that they went with was good...) If it were up to me, I'd simply say the first to get three puzzles win. If someone sweeps the first three puzzles, take the Go route an play an extra bonus round.

[@VahanNisanian]

+supersaver87 Do you think this show might have worked better, if it was straddled instead of self-contained?

[@dexj1]

+supersaver87 I agree with the second team getting the unfair advantage with that scoring system. A better one could be $100 for the round 1 puzzles, $200 for the round 2 puzzles and the tiebreaker (if needed) being worth $300.

[@johnnytuffguyful]

+Vahan Nisanian Probably. Any game show that has celebrities works better when shows are straddled and not self-contained because the celebs love to joke and talk a lot. And that can make for a funny show that can make it to air without the fear of it being cut out for time constraints. Match Game is a perfect example of this. Super Password too.

[@taureanmay7480]

Of course.

[@marcpower4167]

​@dexj1 problem with that though, much like what the series had, the 1st round is meaningless. Maybe if they had 3 puzzles wins the match with each puzzle at $250. Sweeping 3 in a row adds a $250 bonus.

[@larrylollis5875]

They need to bring it back to bzzzr

[@paullarue2010]

Bowzer's trademark was Jon Bauman's character.

[@VahanNisanian]

Jenilee Harrison was cute back in the 80's. Who told her all this plastic surgery was good for her? Meanwhile, Anne-Marie Johnson looks exactly the same as she did in the 80's, and has had way more of a career than the two celebrities.

[@jnadle1]

Before she was on What's Happening Now and In the Heat of the Night.

[@taureanmay7480]

Good.

[@damienchance4420]

any more 1983 episodes of body language?

[@chuckers40]

It would have been interesting if "Body Language" would have been picked up before "Press Your Luck" to replace "Child's Play" Maybe Body Language would have had a longer run and Press Your Luck or Star Words would have been the replacement for "Tattletales".

[@cookiedylangamesnmore]

After this the theme was used for Star Words where Nipsey happily danced at the beginning

[@damienchance2622]

And the end

[@cookiedylangamesnmore]

@@damienchance2622 yes that too

[@taureanmay7480]

Indeed.

[@marcpower4167]

Was also used for On a roll.

[@WOBBLINDATNOLA]

is that ann marie johnson?

[@astridamongtheskies]

it is

[@PREGO1966]

That's what the man said

[@taureanmay7480]

Yes.

[@user-kp2zm7xg7z]

40 years.

[@videonut1988]

The clue board was used in Chryon and not on a placard with small sliding slots...

[@VahanNisanian]

Three Pilots were recorded on October 9, 1983, and two of them, #2 and #3 are at UCLA (Mike Burger mistakenly says #1 and #3), and were also the ones that made it into early promos. This is Pilot #2. Jon Bauman never played on the actual series.

[@IvoryM1986]

+Vahan Nisanian And I might add, the background was all-blue throughout most of these pilot episodes, much like the final 4 weeks of the series. You mentioned Jon Bauman has never played in the actual series, neither did Elaine Joyce, Jay Johnson, Fred Grandy, nor David Ruprecht, nor Levar Burton for that matter.

[@VahanNisanian]

IvoryM1986 Okay, your last sentence made no sense. None of them had anything to do with "Body Language".

[@taureanmay7480]

Nope.

[@SP84Fanatic]

The intro here reminds me of The $25,000 Pyramid's-with each celebrity coming through the entrance arch and the crane camera over the set. The scoring system is flawed since, as others have mentioned, the team that goes first and third can play perfectly and still lose with $400 to the other team's (who goes second and fourth) $600. Maybe using a best two-out-of-three or three-out-of-five, or structuring the value of each puzzle like Family Feud ($100-$100-$200-$200-$300) or Password Plus ($100-$100-$100-$200) would have been more fair. Like Star Words, it sounds like they used the win cue from Mindreaders and Puzzlers for the main game and 7 Chances round. This pilot featured a dull bonus round compared to the one they went with. The show is called Body Language, and I'd expect it to be mostly about acting, which the eventual bonus round accomplished very well.

[@paullarue2010]

"Sweet" word popped up.

[@Jack21Spades]

21:30 PIZZAAAAA!!! pizpizzapizzapizzapizzapizPIZZAAAAA DAMMIT!

[@brandypeterson7996]

Wow! Omg

[@walkingf00l]

Interesting, the background music from the movie Tootsie.

[@nextbarker2702]

This theme should've made it to air

[@kleeamd8274]

I like this show. It was very entertaining. Too bad it was cancelled so soon.

[@damienchance2622]

I wish they would stay on the air

[@taureanmay7480]

In 1986.

[@footofjuniper8212]

Anne-Marie is only the third person I've heard of who appeared on a game show before becoming a well-known actor. The other two are David Graf (Pyramid) and Aaron Paul (The Price is Right). Are there others out there? I'm guessing there has to be.

[@nelsonricardo3729]

Kirstie Alley did The Match Game. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWm7o6GklqaIedU (skip to 16min15sec)

[@footofjuniper8212]

@@nelsonricardo3729 yeah, I've seen a couple more since I wrote that. I guess it was even more common than I thought.

[@jon2849]

Vanna white TPIR

[@lynn1505]

Kirstie Alley was on Password.

[@marcpower4167]

I used to keep a list of these: Candice Bergen was on you bet your life with Groucho Marx A.J. McClean was on Nickelodeon Guts when he was a kid before becoming one of the Backstreet Boys Simon Cowell was on the UK version of Sale of The Century Lots of folks who appeared on th dating game: Bob Saget, Robert Wuhl, Steve Martin, Cheryl Hines, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Selleck, Farrah Fawcett, John Ritter Comedian & Street Smarts host Frank Nicotero was on Debt As a kid Paul Walker (R.I.P.) was on I'm Telling Joey Fatone was on Nick Arcade as a kid before joining NSYNC Then 10 year old Brittney Spears was on Star Search

[@sabster74]

This music was also used on the Star Words pilot.

[@megamanj2004X]

sabster74 as well as The 1986 On a Roll Pilot with David Sparks.

[@jeffeastwood15]

It's called "Working Girl March" from Tootsie.

[@taureanmay7480]

Wow.

[@davidlewis7267]

Anne Marie went on to do In The Heat of the Night, and Jon was about to do Match Game-Hollywood Squares.

[@kambreesuncle2]

Anne Marie actually would go on to do "What's Happening Now!!" which ran from 1985 to '88 and soon after it was cancelled, She would do ITHOTN.

[@damienchance2622]

She also appeared on Tyler Perry house of Payne in 2007

[@taureanmay7480]

Good.

[@KiddBloo86]

it's weird seeing the doors green.

[@3mango]

They used the same theme from “On The Roll” which is another Goodson gameshow

[@jeffeastwood15]

It's called "Working Girl March" from Tootsie.

[@taureanmay7480]

Wow.

[@tnawcwvictoria]

Tootsie Starring Dustin Hoffman long before he was Steven Spielberg's Hook

[@chuckers40]

The scoring system used here went on for "Super Password" (100-200-300-400) I'm glad they went to the 100-100-250-250. Also, the bonus round in the actual series was way better and you could win up to $10,000. It would have been interesting had they kept the original theme in the pilot, but the one that went to series was pretty good too.

[@taureanmay7480]

Here's a pilot episode of Body Language in 1983.

[@taureanmay7480]

Yes.

[@pem1974]

🚫💩🕵🏻

[@cutemimi25]

The end game was kinda ehhh, I mean I do like how there's a puzzle board but here's how the concept works, they get 5 free chances, or 7 and have to earn more for each word they get then the end game could work.

[@xcinder360]

Thanks for sharing, especially since I live in an area that doesn't get Buzzr. :( I assume you also got the Child's Play and Body Talk pilots?

[@theuneditedfungameschannel7295]

+xcinder360 Yes, I do. Busy, busy, busy today! :D

[@xcinder360]

+The Unedited Fun & Games Channel Outstanding! Looking forward to watching them. :)

[@taureanmay7480]

@@theuneditedfungameschannel7295 indeed.

[@nicka727]

This one is from our Buzzr station WJBK 2.3 in Detroit. Tell user televisiondetroit to upload WJBK's new channel to classic game shows Buzzr.

[@Musicradio77Network]

Over in NYC, WWOR-TV's sub-channel 9.2 has Buzzr, but sadly, DirecTV doesn't get Buzzr here. What a bummer!

[@taureanmay7480]

Also true.

[@miss_midge_]

Jon is good.

[@pinedelgado4743]

Who knew that Anne-Marie Johnson would go on to stardom as Raj's wife on WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW!! (syndicated) and Virgil Tibbs's wife on IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (NBC)???

[@MMB18abel]

In addition, she was part of the Robert Townsend/Keenan Ivory Wayans comedy troupe.

[@vanessalachowski1150]

She was on Double Trouble as well.

[@taureanmay7480]

She is.

[@jimkey920]

Oblivion certainly was the proper Network for this .

[@devinwilliams400]

Did CBS ever aired this on the network?

[@davidlewis7267]

Yes. It aired on CBS, 4:00 PM in most places, from 1984-1986.

[@taureanmay7480]

Wow.

[@paullarue2010]

Jon Bauman did his Bowser thing.

[@booberry349]

I liked his Bowzer better

[@booberry349]

I liked his Bowzer better

[@booberry349]

I liked his Bowzer better

[@booberry349]

I liked his Bowzer better

[@booberry349]

I liked his Bowzer better

[@Brentments]

This is a game so that needs to be redone in 2021. God bless chandelier. LOL God bless.

[@marcpower4167]

I've had a format in mind for a few years I call Laugh Lines. Round 1 Each team gets a puzzle, one player gives the other receives, 45 seconds to get up to 5 words each word adds $50 to the pot and reveals a word in the puzzle. To win the pot, the receiver has to solve a puzzle filling in all the blanks correctly The words when plugged into the puzzle create a pun for example (parentheses the blanked words: The (Hurricane) that (hit) the (pretzel) (factory) was a real (twister). If a team fails, their opponents get 1 chance to steal and get a free word of their choice. Round 2 is played the same but each word is now worth $100 and players swap roles. Round 3 is a speed Round, each time has 45 seconds to play charades at $50 per word. Winning team keeps their money and plays the 100 second challenge: The bonus game works like this: one player acts, the other receives, level 1: the actor has 30 seconds to convey up to 3 words at $100 each and if they get all 3, they get a $10 bonus for each unused second. Level 2: 3 words and 30 seconds but each word is now worth whatever they earned in level 1 plus a $20 bonus for each unused second. Before level 3, the actor is shown the words they will play, They may elect to quit and take the money they've won or play the 3rd level. if they choose to play level 3, they'll have 40 seconds to get all 3 words, if they succeed, their winnings are multiplied by 5. But if they fail to get all 3, their money is halved. Thoughts?

[@paullarue2010]

Tom Kennedy did "E.T." empression.

[@Whitese7en]

TANK was a kick ass movie. Never seen a wifebeater look so good before.

[@MrGingin82]

was I the only one yelling pizza at the screen and getting frustrated?

[@marcpower4167]

I had the first puzzle on the first clue (you'll just have to believe me on that)

[@kelperdude]

Eskimos, as of just recently, has been deemed offensive by the PC police. Eskimo pies have been removed. There's a little trivia.

[@marcpower4167]

The Canadian Football league's Edmonton Eskimos also caved in to years of pressure and changed their name to the Edmonton Elks starting in 2021.

[@therainmakerinsider]

The pilot episode had three actors.

[@VahanNisanian]

I must say, the endgame that was eventually used is so much better. This one sucks!

[@theuneditedfungameschannel7295]

+Vahan Nisanian I agree. Combine this front game with the revised end game, and this show would be even better!

[@VahanNisanian]

The Unedited Fun & Games Channel However, I do like this scoring system a little better (it was eventually used for "Super Password"). It's as if they originally intended this show to be straddled, but then made it self-contained for the series ("Child's Play" went the same way).

[@NickCMedia]

+The Unedited Fun & Games Channel Plus, the graphics used for the puzzles in this pilot were far better than the ones used in the real Body Language.

[@dexj1]

+Vahan Nisanian AMEN.

[@jmiller297]

+Vahan Nisanian Yeah, I agree... Stinky endgame... lol.

[@markjones1184]

This was theme in star words for this pilot ..no?

[@jeffeastwood15]

It was. It's called "Working Girl March" from Tootsie.

[@taureanmay7480]

Yes.

[@drewconway7135]

This was a dumb-off. I feel like Jon does better on these shows when he does them as Bowzer in his greaser gear

[@3mango]

Anne-Marie Johnson is very beautiful

[@kennethlocklin9271]

The white girl was on three's company

[@duncanation]

The intro eyes are creepy

[@kennethlocklin9271]

The black women remind me the actress in the heat of the night

[@hoagie1978]

It is her. She did several game shows before making it as an actress.

[@taureanmay7480]

Like, child's play.

[@CCStmac]

How do pilots work; do the contestants make any $$ at all?

[@theuneditedfungameschannel7295]

+T Mac The people get paid for working it (I believe they do, anyway), like an actor. The "jackpots" won on them don't count, though.

[@taureanmay7480]

@@theuneditedfungameschannel7295 okay.

[@KiddBloo86]

it's weird seeing the doors green.