"Hollywood Squares" (1998) TV series 1998-2004

Director:

Chris Darley

Writers:

Dave Boone (head writer) (2002-2004)
Andrea Hartt (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | unknown

Release Date:

14 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Game-Show

Plot:

Contestants guess the correctness of celebrities' answers in order to win spaces in a tic-tac-toe game.

Plot Keywords:

Celebrity | Tic Tac Toe | Non Fiction

Awards:

3 wins & 20 nominations

Cast

Tom Bergeron	...	Host (995 episodes, 1998-2004)
Shadoe Stevens	...	Announcer / ... (670 episodes, 1998-2004)
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Center Square (650 episodes, 1998-2002)
Bruce Vilanch	...	Regular / ... (411 episodes, 1998-2003)
Martin Mull	...	Regular / ... (405 episodes, 1998-2004)

Also Known As:

H² (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
H2: Hollywood Squares (USA) (fifth season title)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

CBS Television City - 7800 Beverly Blvd., Fairfax, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Sony Pictures Television

Trivia:

On 12 December 2002, Peter Marshall, the original "Master of the Hollywood Squares" took over the hosting duties for a day, with regular host Tom Bergeron in the center square, the first time he has hosted Hollywood Squares in over 20 years.

Quotes:

Tom Bergeron: When spelled out in Scrabble tiles, which is worth more points? "Tom Bergeron" or "sex machine"?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Big Wolf on Campus: The Manchurian Werewolf (#2.13)" (2000)

Shadow of Original For Lots of Reasons

Tom Bergeron is just not a host when you compare him with Peter Marshall. This is one of the major handicaps this revival of Sqaures has. There are some others too.

The game is basically UN-changed from the old one. The center square does not have a real talent. They tried several, most notably Whoopie Goldberg whose problem is she is a better "straight" comedy person to feed someone else the punch lines as she is poor a delivering punch lines. Goldberg is an Abbott trying to be a Costello but she needs a Costello badly. Bergeron could not fill that bill.

This show almost certainly had too much entrenched competition when it was originally syndicated at night. it could not break the grip of other shows in the time slot. It did not get an easy middle of the day time slot & a lot of practice to get established like Peter Marshall's series did.

Sadly, times had changed when this went on too. Viewers were too sophisticated & the panelists themselves are just not as talented as the ones on the original series.