Double Dare


Aired
Pilot, 1976 CBS Daytime, Monday, December 13, 1976 – Friday, April 29, 1977
Number of episodes
96
Run time
30 Minutes
Host
Alex Trebek
Announcer
Johnny Olson 1976-1977 Gene Wood 1977
Origination
Studio 33, CBS Television City, Los Angeles, California

Double Dare (not to be confused with the different formatted and much more successful 1980s kids game show on Nickelodeon of the same name) was a game of knowledge & nerve that tested people’s knowledge on various subjects.

Game Format[]

Main Game[]

Two contestants are placed in soundproof booths trying to guess identities of famous people, places & things. At the beginning of each subject, the home viewers were shown the answer. Alex would advise the home viewers to cover, close or look away from their TV sets should they wish to play along at home with the studio players. The contestants are read up to 10 clues to the given answer. The clues got easier as time progressed. As soon as a player buzzed in, the opponent's booth was closed and was deprived of seeing & hearing. If one should answer incorrectly, that person's booth was closed and the opponent's booth reopened and the opponent received a penalty clue. A wrong answer on a penalty clue reopened the first player's booth putting that player back into play, but never gets to see that clue. If one should buzz in and guess correctly, that person won $50 and can "dare" the other person for double value/$100 should he/she answer incorrectly (if the correct answer was given on a penalty clue, that became the "dare clue"); if successful, the other player can be "Double Dared" to try to answer again, this time for $200 to the daring player. If the dared player got the answer right, he/she won $50 if it was a dare or $100 if it was a double dare. If the daring player elected not to take the "Dare" or "Double Dare", Alex would read the "(Double) Dare" clue just for fun after which the supposedly "(Double) Dared" player made a guess just for fun. The first player to win $500 or more won the game and the right to face the spoilers for $5,000. The losing contestant kept his/her money won in addition to parting gifts.

Beat the Spoilers (Bonus Round)[]

In the bonus round, the winning contestant faced three spoilers who each had a Ph. D. The spoilers played the bonus round for the entire week. The winning contestant also faced a game board with the correct answer on top, and eight hidden clues (the arrangement & hiding of the clues do not tell the difficulty of them). The champion called out numbers; on each clue revealed, the player can either give that clue if he/she thinks any of the spoilers cannot give the right answer off the chosen clue, or pass if he/she thinks they do. Passing on a clue meant immediately choosing another clue for the contestant, but on a give, the spoilers were read the given clue, and then each spoiler had very little time to answer. An incorrect answer or failure to respond from the any of the spoilers won $100 to the contestant, but a correct answer given by any of the spoilers won $100 to the spoilers who were correct, and if all three spoilers got the correct answer, the game was over, but the champion does get to keep any cash won in that round. The player's job was to give four clues; he/she can even pass on four clues. If at least one spoiler missed on the four given clues, the winning contestant wins $5,000.

Championship players stayed on the show till they lose a game or won (at least) $20,000.

In the pilot, the board has ten clues instead of eight, and five clues are given to the spoilers instead of four.

Personnel[]

Host: Alex Trebek
Announcer: Gene Wood, Johnny Olson
Executive Producer: Jay Wolpert
Producer: Jonathan Goodson
Directors: Marc Breslow, Paul Alter
Set Designer: Henry Lickel
Music Supervisor: Bart Eskander

Trivia[]

The main theme song from the show was re-used on the original 1978-81 version of Card Sharks hosted by the late Jim Perry and was announced by the late Gene Wood much later in its lifespan. It was also remixed for the Joel McHale reboot on ABC as part of a block called "Summer Fun & Games" in 2019 until 2021.

One of the two unused cues from the series would later be used in the short-lived NBC daytime game show Hitman hosted by the late Peter Tomarken seven years later in 1983.

The "Wubba" sound when the shutters opened was later reused as a sound effect for the Penny Ante, Vend-O-Price and To the Penny games on The Price is Right (1972 version) as well as the CBS version of Tic Tac Dough, The Joker's Wild and the syndicated version of Break the Bank (1985).

This was the first Goodson-Todman game show hosted by the late Alex Trebek. His second one was Classic Concentration in 1987 and his third and final Goodson based show was a short-lived reboot of To Tell the Truth in 1991. Additionally, this was his only game show that he hosted for CBS.

In pilot #1, when a contestant buzzed in, no SFX was used for the door opening. However, it was used later in pilots #2 and #3.

In pilot #1, the Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions name and announcement were never said by the late Johnny Olson. However, it was used later in Pilots #2 & #3.

Pilot #1 was aired on September 9, 2015 as part of Buzzr's 1st Annual "Lost and Found" week. On January 17, 2023, all three pilots aired on Buzzr's as part of the 7th Annual "Lost & Found week.

Nine years later, the title of this show would share its name later to the equally shorter-lived mystery series of the same name starring Billy Dee Williams (as Billy Diamond) that aired on the same network in 1985. Some say that the premise of this show was similar to the shorter-lived 1968 action-adventure series It Takes a Thief.