Celebrity Bowling (1971–1978)

Exactly what the name implied celebrities participate in a regulation game of bowling.

Stars:

Robert Lansing, Ed Ames, Dick Martin

Cast

Series cast summary:
Robert Lansing	...	Himself (4 episodes, 1971)
Ed Ames	...	Himself (3 episodes, 1975-1977)
Dick Martin	...	Himself (3 episodes, 1975-1976)
Leslie Nielsen	...	Himself (3 episodes, 1975-1976)
Bob Newhart	...	Himself (3 episodes, 1975)
Roy Rogers	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1975)
Jan Murray	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1973-1975)
Hugh O'Brian	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1974-1975)
William Shatner	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1974-1975)
Joseph Campanella	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1975-1977)
Frankie Laine	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1975-1977)
Robert Culp	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1975-1976)
Don Adams	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1975)
Marty Allen	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1975)
George Foreman	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1975)
Gavin MacLeod	...	Himself (2 episodes, 1975)
Loretta Swit	...	Herself (2 episodes, 1975)

Storyline

Two celebrities vs two celebrities in "best ball" competition. Both players on one team roll first balls. From the result they accept the best "leave"--2 pins left on one lane better than 5 left on other. The player who did NOT bowl the "best leave" then rolls for the spare. If either player rolls a strike on their first ball, that's the best the team can score in a given frame. Each epsiode is a modified 10-frame bowling game, with some frames bowled off-camera, as time allows.

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Plot Keywords:

bowling | non fiction

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Genres:

Family | Game-Show | Sport

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 January 1971 (USA)

Filming Locations:

KTTV Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

7-10 Productions, Seven-Ten Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Series was genuine "reality" television, shot live-on-tape with less than a dozen edits made over 144 episodes. Edits were made only to accommodate jammed automatic pinsetters, and were accomplished "hot" while shooting an episode.

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Connections

Featured in I Love the '70s: Volume 2: 1973 (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Everybody Loves My Baby"
(Open Theme)
Performed by King Richard's Fluegel Knights

User Reviews

A Successful Long Running Syndicated Game Show

I remember watching Celebrity Bowling when it aired on the weekends and sometimes late at night on Channel 9 in New York before moving to Minnesota in 1972. To me, for someone who grew up watching the Pro Bowlers Tour on Saturday afternoons, it was enlightening and entertaining to see the stars bowl in order to win prizes for studio audience members. Jed Allan was outstanding as host. He interacted well with the celebrities and he even bowled in one episode when he traded places with guest Robert Lansing.

Celebrity Boweling beat the odds of a syndicated game show without a network track record lasting longer than a season. It was also known for its rigorous taping schedule where the entire season of 26 shows were taped over a three to five day period in order to cut costs. The show was also the first success for Seven-Ten Productions, who later went on to produce Celebrity Tennis, which lasted shorter than its bowling counterpart.

My only beef with Celebrity Bowling was that a lot of the games skipped one or two of the late frames because of the time to describe the prizes for audience players. Otherwise, Celebrity Bowling rolled a strike for bowling fans who enjoyed watching top stars in a popular participation sport. It's worth rerunning on a cable channel someday.