History Series / HotPotato

* CelebrityEdition: The week of February 20 had Miss Americas (Susan Perkins, Kylene Barker and Cheryl Pruitt) competing against "All-American Sportsmen" (Rick Barry, Ken Norton and Vince Ferragamo).

* ProgressiveJackpot: The bonus prize started at $5,000 and increased by that much until it was won or new champions were crowned, effectively meaning that if a team could make it back and win, their previous loss(es) would be completely negated. One team blew the jackpot three times, made it back a fourth time, and won $20,000.

* CatchPhrase: "Hotttttttttttt Potato!" as steam/smoke arose from the on-set logo.

-->'''Noel Murray:''' And who knows? Stumble on the right episode and you might be treated to the poignant spectacle of four celebrities [[note]]([[Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn Arte Johnson]], [[Series/HappyDays Anson Williams]], [[Series/TreasureHunt Jan Murray]], and Lainie Kazan)[[/note]] standing on opposite ends of a podium manned by [[Creator/BillCullen a TV legend in the last years of his life]], all engaged in the last taping of a show nobody was watching, going back and forth, one-by-one, naming people more famous than they. [[note]](Referencing a question asked during the show: "When we asked people which famous living person would you like to have as your best friend, we got a list of nine celebrities. Can you name seven of those famous people who seem like they could be good friends?" The answers were Creator/ClintEastwood, Creator/JaneFonda, Creator/BobHope, Music/MichaelJackson, Creator/PaulNewman, UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, Creator/RobertRedford, Burt Reynolds, and Creator/TomSelleck.)[[/note]]

* GrandFinale: [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/celebrity-hot-potato-62984,58290/ Covered]] by The A.V. Club's "A Very Special Episode" in 2011.

* CelebrityEdition: The week of February 20-24 had Miss Americas (Susan Perkins, Kylene Barker and Cheryl Pruitt) competing against "All-American Sportsmen" (Rick Barry, Ken Norton and Vince Ferragamo). Celebrities became permanent on April 23 for the last 10 weeks, a change that is generally considered to have been a bad idea.

** The Seven-Straight Jackpot, awarded to a team that gave the required seven answers to a question without missing or passing, which began at $500 and increased by that amount after every match in which it went unclaimed. It was removed upon the addition of celebrities.

* GrandFinale: [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/celebrity-hot-potato-62984,58290/ Covered]] by The A.V. Club's "A Very Special Episode".

Two trios of players, each trio having the same occupation or other common factor, competed to guess the answers to multi-answer questions. In some cases, the contestants were predicting the most popular answers to survey questions similar to ''FamilyFeud'', but most of the time they were general knowledge ("Name seven of the ten largest countries in the world"). Each question had at least seven answers, though some had more. The player in control could either answer or challenge an opponent to answer; players were eliminated from the round when they answered incorrectly or lost a challenge.

Short-lived 1984 Creator/{{NBC}} GameShow that was both BillCullen's last network series and the last new game show format produced by Creator/JackBarry's production company before his death.

** GameShowHost: BillCullen, in his last network game.

* CatchPhrase: "Hooooooooooot Potato!" As steam/smoke arose from the on-set logo.

!!GameShow Tropes in use:
* BonusRound: Pick which of these two items weighs more, is larger, etc. Get five right, win $5,000 plus $5,000 every time it isn't won ''by that team''. (This was originally used as a far more complex main game on B&E's unsold 1979 game ''Decisions Decisions'', also hosted by Cullen.) They could pass on one question, and they had the option to stop after every question and take $500 per right answer; one wrong, and they lost the bonus.

** The Seven Straight Jackpot, which began at $500 and increased by that amount after every match in which it went unclaimed.

* OneSteveLimit: Defied by the Bee Keepers, whose nametags read "Tim 1", "Tim 2" and "Glen".
* TimeOut: Eliminated players have to sit on a bench behind their team until the current question is finished.

Short-lived 1984 Creator/{{NBC}} GameShow that was both BillCullen's last network series and the last new game show format produced by JackBarry's production company before his death.

* OneSteveLimit: Defied by the Bee Keepers, whose name tags read "Tim 1", "Tim 2" and "Glen".

* AllOrNothing: The bonus round.
* BonusRound: Pick which of these two items weighs more, is larger, etc. Get five right, win $5,000 plus $5,000 every time it isn't won ''by that team''. (This was originally used as a far more complex main game on B&E's unsold 1979 game ''Decisions Decisions'', also hosted by Cullen.)
* BonusSpace: The 7-Straight Jackpot, awarded to any team that managed to give seven correct answers without missing or passing. Thanks to the ''Celebrity'' format, it was thrown out entirely.

Short-lived 1984 {{NBC}} GameShow that was both BillCullen's last network series and the last new game show format produced by JackBarry's production company before his death.

Two trios of players, each trio having the same occupation or other common factor, competed to guess the answers to multi-answer questions. In some cases, the contestants were predicting the most popular answers to survey questions similar to ''FamilyFeud'', but most of the time they were general knowledge ("Name seven of the ten largest countries in the world"). Each question had at least seven answers, though some had more. The player in control could either answer or challenge an opponent to answer; players were eliminated from the round when they answered incorrectly or lost a challenge.

* AllOrNothing: The bonus round.
* BonusRound: Pick which of these two items weighs more, is larger, etc. Get five right, win $5,000 plus $5,000 every time it isn't won ''by that team''. (This was originally used as a far more complex main game on B&E's unsold 1979 game ''Decisions Decisions'', also hosted by Cullen.)
* BonusSpace: The 7-Straight Jackpot, awarded to any team that managed to give seven correct answers without missing or passing. Thanks to the ''Celebrity'' format, it was thrown out entirely.
* CelebrityEdition: The week of February 20-24 had Miss Americas (Susan Perkins, Kylene Barker and Cheryl Pruitt) competing against "All-American Sportsmen" (Rick Barry, Ken Norton and Vince Ferragamo). Celebrities became permanent on April 23 for the last 10 weeks, a change that is generally considered to have been a bad idea.
* Personnel:
** TheAnnouncer: Charlie O'Donnell.
** GameShowHost: BillCullen, in his last network game.
** StudioAudience
* ProgressiveJackpot: The bonus prize started at $5,000 and increased by that much until it was won or new champions were crowned, effectively meaning that if a team could make it back and win, their previous loss(es) would be completely negated. One team blew the jackpot three times, made it back a fourth time, and won $20,000.

* CatchPhrase: "Hooooooooooot Potato!" As steam/smoke arose from the on-set logo.
* OneSteveLimit: Defied by the Bee Keepers, whose name tags read "Tim 1", "Tim 2" and "Glen".

* BonusRound: Pick which of these two items weighs more, is larger, etc. Get five right, win $5,000 plus $5,000 every time it isn't won ''by that team''. (This was originally used as a far more complex main-game on B&E's unsold 1979 game ''Decisions Decisions'', also hosted by Cullen.)

* CelebrityEdition: The week of February 20-24 had Miss Americas (Susan Perkins, Kylene Barker, and Cheryl Pruitt) competing against "All-American Sportsmen" (Rick Barry, Ken Norton, and Vince Ferragamo). Celebrities became permanent on April 23 for the last ten weeks, a change that is generally considered to have been a bad idea.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The show's brief life[[hottip:*:23 weeks, to be exact. The last ten were the ''Celebrity'' format, and three of '''those''' weeks had six [[CelebrityEdition celebs playing for charity]].]] was mainly due to its Noon timeslot, where many NBC affiliates generally preempted it in favor of either local newscasts or syndicated programming. (Ironically, the show's replacement in the Noon timeslot, ''Super Password'', actually managed to thrive in that slot, even with preemptions, mainly due to independent stations stepping in to air the program in lieu of the preempting NBC affiliates.)

* OneSeasonWonder: 23 weeks, to be exact. The last ten were the ''Celebrity'' format, and three of '''those''' weeks had six celebs playing for charity.
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The show's brief life was mainly due to its Noon timeslot, where many NBC affiliates generally preempted it in favor of either local newscasts or syndicated programming. (Ironically, the show's replacement in the Noon timeslot, ''Super Password'', actually managed to thrive in that slot, even with preemptions, mainly due to independent stations stepping in to air the program in lieu of the preempting NBC affiliates.)

** GameShowHost: Bill Cullen, in his last network game.

* RuleOfThree: Three contestants on each team. For the duration of the good (i.e., not ''Celebrity'') format, the team members would have the same occupation ("They're three of a kind!").

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The show's brief life was mainly due to its Noon timeslot, where it was frequently pre-empted in favor of local news.

* BonusRound: Tell me which of these two items weighs more, or is larger, etc. Get five right, win $5,000 plus $5,000 every time it isn't won ''by that team''. (This was originally used as a far more complex main-game on B&E's unsold 1979 game ''Decisions Decisions'', also hosted by Cullen.)

* CelebrityEdition: The week of February 20-24, 1984 had Miss Americas (Susan Perkins, Kylene Barker, and Cheryl Pruitt) competing against "All-American Sportsmen" (Rick Barry, Ken Norton, and Vince Ferragamo). Celebrities became permanent for the final ten weeks of the run, a change that is generally considered to have been a bad idea.

Two trios of players, each trio having the same occupation or other common factor, competed to guess the answers to multi-answer questions. In some cases, the contestants were predicting the most popular answers to survey questions similar to ''Series/FamilyFeud'', but most of the time they were general knowledge ("Name seven of the ten largest countries in the world"). Each question had at least seven answers, though some had more. The player in control could either answer or challenge an opponent to answer; players were eliminated from the round when they answered incorrectly or lost a challenge.

* MemeticMutation: A {{troll}} on the newsgroup alt.tv.game-shows would frequently make posts asking how "[[RougeAnglesOfSatin hat putato]]" was played. Even though the first "hat putato" post was made in 2000, and the majority of the game show community migrated to a message board in June 2003 (due to the increasing number of such trolls), references to "hat putato" followed.

* CelebrityEdition: The week of February 20-24, 1984 had Miss Americas (Susan Perkins, Kylene Barker, and Cheryl Pruitt) competing against "All-American Sportsmen" (Rick Barry, Ken Norton, and Vince Ferragamo). Celebrities became permanent for the final ten weeks of the run; see TheyChangedItNowItSucks, below.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The [[http://www.gameshowthemesongs.net/sounds/Hot%20Potato/HOTPOTATOEND.mp3 theme song]] is a favorite among GameShow fans.
* DudeNotFunny: The June 25, 1998 episode of GSN's ''Faux Pause'' had its {{Jerkass}} hosts make fun of the Premiere (Moms-To-Be vs. Teachers). Among other things, they mocked the smoking logo, Oregon, Shelly Long, and New Jersey...oh, and ''Bill Cullen''.
* [=~Hey, It's That Guy!~=]: Yep, it's BillCullen. Also, a then-relatively-unknown Brad Garrett appeared on two weeks of the ''Celebrity'' format.
* [=~Hey, It's That Voice!~=]: Charlie O'Donnell was best known for ''WheelOfFortune'', and at this point was under contract to Barry-Enright; he also announced on ''[=~The Joker's Wild~=]'' and ''TicTacDough''.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: ...So on April 23, the show went from using teams of three people with the same occupation to teams of two celebrities and a single contestant. This switch worked about as well as it did on ''[[BullseyeUS Bullseye]]'' two years previous — i.e., [[EpicFail not very well at all]]. ItGotWorse when comedians were featured, since they took their wisecracks and shenanigans far more seriously than they did the game (they gave bad answers just to be funny!). The being-dumb-for-the-sake-of-"humor" answers led to the 7-Straight Jackpot being thrown out entirely, which crippled the format even more.
* TooGoodToLast: In addition to a bad timeslot and the suicidal ousting of its three-of-a-kind contestant teams, ''Hot Potato'' further suffered by being very low-key in an era when the trend was toward glitz and glamor. Nonetheless, it's fondly remembered by game show fans.

* [=~Hey, It's That Voice!~=]: Charlie O'Donnell is best known for ''WheelOfFortune'', and at this point was under contract to Barry-Enright; he also announced on ''[=~The Joker's Wild~=]'' and ''TicTacDough''.

Two trios of players, each trio having the same occupation or other common factor, competed to guess the answers to multi-answer questions. In some cases, the contestants were predicting the most popular answers to survey questions, similar to ''Series/FamilyFeud'', but most of the time, the questions were general knowledge ("Name seven of the ten largest countries in the world"). Each question had at least seven answers, though some had more. The player in control could either answer or challenge an opponent to answer; players were eliminated from the round when they answered incorrectly or lost a challenge.

* BonusRound: Tell me which of these two items weighs more, or is larger, etc. Get five right, you win $5,000 plus $5,000 every time it isn't won by that team. (This was originally used as a far more complex main-game on B&E's unsold 1979 game ''Decisions Decisions'', also hosted by Cullen.)
* BonusSpace: The 7-Straight Jackpot, awarded to any team that managed to give seven correct answers without missing or passing. Thanks to the ''Celebrity'' format, it was eventually thrown out entirely.
* CelebrityEdition: For the final ten weeks. See TheyChangedItNowItSucks, below.

* DudeNotFunny: The June 25, 1998 episode of GSN's ''Faux Pause'' had its {{Jerkass}} hosts make fun of an episode (starting with Moms-To-Be vs. Teachers). Among other things, they mock the smoking logo, Oregon, Shelly Long, and New Jersey...oh, and ''Bill Cullen''.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The show's short life was mainly due to its Noon timeslot, where it was frequently pre-empted in favor of local news.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: ...So on April 23, the show went from using teams of three people with the same occupation to teams of two celebrities and a single contestant. This switch worked about as well as it did on ''[[BullseyeUS Bullseye]]'' two years previous — i.e., [[EpicFail not very well at all]]. ItGotWorse when comedians were featured, since they took their wisecracks and shenanigans far more seriously than they did the game (they gave bad answers just to be funny!). The being-dumb-for-the-sake-of-"humor" answers got to a point where the 7-Straight Jackpot was simply ousted, which crippled the format even more.

Short-lived 1984 {{NBC}} GameShow that was both BillCullen's last network series and the last new game show format produced by JackBarry's production company.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: ...So on April 23, the show went from using teams of three people with the same occupation to teams of two celebrities and a single contestant. This switch worked about as well as it did on ''[[BullseyeUS Bullseye]]'' two years previous — i.e., [[EpicFail not very well at all]]. ItGotWorse when comedians were featured, since they took their wisecracks and shenanigans far more seriously than they did the game (they gave bad answers just to be funny!).
** The removal of the 7-Straight Jackpot, which was due to said being-dumb-for-the-sake-of-"humor" answers.
* TooGoodToLast: In addition to a bad time slot, the show also suffered by being very low-key in an era when the trend was toward glitz and glamor. Nonetheless, it's fondly remembered by game show fans.

* BonusRound: Amazingly, ''not'' B&E's standard luck-based game.

* BonusSpace: The 7-Straight Jackpot, awarded to any team that managed to give seven correct answers without missing or passing.
* CelebrityEdition: In the final weeks (see TheyChangedItNowItSucks below).

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The [[http://www.gameshowthemesongs.net/sounds/Hot%20Potato/HOTPOTATOEND.mp3 theme song]] is a favorite among game-show fans.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The show's short life was mainly due to its noon-time time slot, where it was frequently pre-empted in favor of local news.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: On April 23, the show went from using teams of three people with the same occupation to teams of two celebrities and a single contestant. This switch worked about as well as it did on ''[[BullseyeUS Bullseye]]'' two years previous -- i.e., [[EpicFail not very well at all.]] ItGotWorse when comedians were featured, since they took their wisecracks and shenanigans far more seriously than they did the game.

* AllOrNothing: The bonus round.
* BonusRound: Amazingly, ''not'' B&E's standard luck-based game.
* BonusSpace: The 7-Straight Jackpot, awarded to any team that managed to give seven correct answers without missing or passing.
* CelebrityEdition: In the final weeks (see TheyChangedItNowItSucks below).
* Personnel:
** TheAnnouncer: Charlie O'Donnell.
** GameShowHost: Bill Cullen, in his last network game.
** StudioAudience

* CatchPhrase: "Hooooooooooot Potato!" As steam/smoke arose from the on-set logo.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The [[http://www.gameshowthemesongs.net/sounds/Hot%20Potato/HOTPOTATOEND.mp3 theme song]] is a favorite among game-show fans.
* DudeNotFunny: The June 25, 1998 episode of GSN's ''Faux Pause'' had its {{Jerkass}} hosts make fun of an episode (starting with Moms-To-Be vs. Teachers). Among other things, they mock the smoking logo, Oregon, Shelly Long, and New Jersey -- then cross the MoralEventHorizon and mock ''Bill Cullen''.
* HeyItsThatGuy: Yep, it's BillCullen. Also, a then-relatively-unknown Brad Garrett appeared on two weeks of the ''Celebrity'' format.
* MemeticMutation: A {{troll}} on the newsgroup alt.tv.game-shows would frequently make posts asking how "[[RougeAnglesOfSatin hat putato]]" was played. Even though the first "hat putato" post was made in 2000, and the majority of the game show community migrated to a message board in June 2003 (due to the increasing number of such trolls), references to "hat putato" followed.
* OneSeasonWonder: 23 weeks, to be exact. The last ten were the ''Celebrity'' format, and three of '''those''' weeks had six celebs playing for charity.
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The show's short life was mainly due to its noon-time time slot, where it was frequently pre-empted in favor of local news.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: On April 23, the show went from using teams of three people with the same occupation to teams of two celebrities and a single contestant. This switch worked about as well as it did on ''[[BullseyeUS Bullseye]]'' two years previous -- i.e., [[EpicFail not very well at all.]] It was even worse when comedians were featured, who took their wisecracks and shenanigans far more seriously than they did the game.
* TooGoodToLast: In addition to a bad time slot, the show also suffered by being very low-key, in an era when the trend was toward glitz and glamour. Nonetheless, it's fondly remembered by game show fans.
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