Choose Up Sides (1953–1956) User Reviews

Great Nostalgia but somehow creepy

[thundrmi · 30 April 2005]

The Game Show Nework is now showing re-runs of this rarely-seen children's show, hosted by Match Game's Gene Rayburn. Unfortunately, GSN relegated these classic shows to the wee-hours of the morning, so you may have to stay up late or set your TIVO to catch it. The 1950's nostalgia makes it worthwhile- especially if you're a baby-boomer.

The premise is fairly simple. About 100 kids are invited to the studio to compete in stunts to win prizes. Half are designated Buckaroos and the other half Sky Captains. A Jovial (but you know he had to be less than thrilled, given his later career) Gene Rayburn leads the 8 to 12-year-olds on stunts that are dictated by a weird paper-mache character with rolling eyes and collagen-looking lips (you have to see it).

Some of the well-groomed kids look absolutely horrified, and the least coordinated often are assigned tasks that require balance, speed and finesse. Still, it's good-natured and offers a glimpse into an era long past.

"Beat the Clock" for the wee ones

[bronty · 3 April 2006]

Until Game Show Network started running this in the early morning hours recently, we'd never heard of this program - and my partner was 10 years old when this aired! Apparently, this program didn't last long, and it's kind of easy to see why: its fun stems more from nostalgia than anything else. Just like its older brother, "Beat the Clock", the stage is bare-bones, with game props that are simple (footballs and cardboard boxes, in one thrilling moment) and often designed to make the contestant look more than vaguely silly. What differentiates this from "Beat the Clock" - or any number of game shows or children's shows - is that there is something if not creepy than downright sadistic, as its prepubescent contestants are asked to perform stunts or acts that are well beyond their capabilities. It's at once hilarious and disturbing. Gene Rayburn is as chipper and good-natured as he was on "Match Game" and the other game shows he presided over, and he interacts as well as any one could with his young charges, who are grouped into two teams (such as "Space Pilots" or "Bucking Broncos", say). But as the other reviewer has commented, these same young charges often seem horrified, though this could be as much due to camera-shyness as to mortification that they're expected to gleefully humiliate themselves on-camera. Even at the moment of victory, not a single child seems glad they won! There's something downright exploitive about it. Nostalgiac? Sure. Creepy? You bet! Fun? Well...that's something else entirely. Surely one of those "you've got to see it to believe it" shows - and I'd see as quickly as you can because I can't imagine it running too much longer. Definitely a curiosity piece!