Line #31 Series/TheNewlywedGame


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/newlywedgame1969.jpg]]
2	->''"From the Chuck Barris stages in Hollywood, California... '''here come the newlyweds'''!"''
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4	''The Newlywed Game'' is the GameShow that sent Bob Eubanks to stardom. This Creator/ChuckBarris production debuted in 1966 on Creator/{{ABC}}, coinciding with a pre-emption of Creator/{{CBS}}' then-popular ''Series/{{Password}}''. Four couples, all married for less than two years, answered questions that bordered on the bawdy. In the first round, the wives predicted their husbands' answers, and the second round reversed the roles.
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6	Some modern viewers know the show best for Eubanks' supposedly UnusualEuphemism for sexual intercourse, "whoopie". This impression is probably due to modern viewers' SmallReferencePools, since the euphemism was very well-known in the 1970s — it comes from a 1920s pop tune that was covered more than 300 times between 1930 and 1975. It was only when the popularity of the euphemism faded in the 1980s that Eubanks' use of it became notable.
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8	At the end of the show, the couple with the most points won a prize that had been selected just for them. In truth, each ''Newlywed Game'' couple declared in advance which prize they wanted to win, and each episode featured four couples who had chosen the same prize. (It was never a car.)
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10	In 1996, a revival of ''The Newlywed Game'' was created, with Gary Kroeger as host. The gameplay was different, and the grand prize for winning was a trip, announced as “a fabulous second honeymoon.” Kroeger, and the new format, failed to catch on, and both Eubanks and the original format returned the following season. The show only lasted one more season before ending again.
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12	Carnie Wilson was the original host of the Creator/{{GSN}} revival, which debuted in 2009 and reduced the competing couples to three; she was replaced by ''The View''[='s=] Sherri Shepherd in 2010. It was announced in September 2009 that the show would start featuring same-sex couples. Among its roster have been celebrities such as Creator/GeorgeTakei of ''Franchise/StarTrek'', Davy Jones of ''Series/TheMonkees'', and Christopher Knight of ''Series/TheBradyBunch''. This version ran until 2013.
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14	The Spanish version, ''Series/SuMediaNaranja'', has its own page.
15	----
16	!!This show provides examples of:
17	* TheAnnouncer: Scott Beach announced on the earliest episodes, followed by Johnny Jacobs, and finally Tony [=McClay=]. Rod Roddy announced on the 1984 version, followed by Bob Hilton for part of the 1985-89 version and Charlie O'Donnell for at least the latter part of the same era. Los Angeles DJ "Ellen K." announced the 1996 version, followed by John Cramer from 1997-99. The 2000s version was announced by Brad Aldous, then Randy West, then Gary Kroeger.
18	* BonusRound: The 25-point Bonus Question during the classic Eubanks years (originally 35 points; the 2009 revival also features two-part questions worth 15 points each). There was also a bonus round for Season 1 of the GSN version, where the winning couple faced off against a "Goldywed" couple for an extra prize.
19	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Led to the most famous answer in the show's history and one of the most famous moments in any American game show. The question: "What's the weirdest place you've ever had the urge to make whoopie?" to which a husband named Hank responded, "On the freeway" (which got laughs and remarks from Bob). No one was prepared for what Hank's wife, Olga, would answer: "In the ass" (with the profanity bleeped). Cue the uproarious laughter and Bob trying to clarify the question (a ''location'', not a body part), but Olga persisted wth her answer.
20	** For years, Bob (as well as producer Chuck Barris) denied that the incident had occurred, leading to speculation that it was all an UrbanLegend, and others insisting that a wildly different version of the incident (the answer always involving a synonym or euphemism for sodomy) had taken place, and had either aired or never made it to air (the offending question replaced and the second round re-taped). Finally, during a 2002 game show bloopers special, Bob finally admitted that the incident took place and provided the footage. Incidentally, the episode featuring the "in the ass" response -- a 1977 "maternity day" episode -- had aired several times on Game Show Network (GSN). (And for what it's worth -- Hank and Olga ''won'' the episode, and took home nursery furniture, a set of encyclopedias and a washer-dryer.). See Snopes article [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/up-the-butt-bob/ here]].
21	* {{Crossover}}: Crossed over with ''Series/TheDatingGame'' in the 1990s.
22	* DarkHorseVictory: The 1979 episode featuring (amongst three other couples) Charlie and Pat Berg, whose mannerisms, voices, appearances, and infighting gave them the lasting label of being the real life [[Series/AllInTheFamily Archie and Edith Bunker]]. The couple were hilariously bad at matching one another, and failed to score a single match during the first and second rounds of the game; they were quickly relegated to a role of reliable comic relief. However, in the final round, the Bergs were the ''only'' couple to match on the 25 point bonus question...allowing them to win the overall game by 5 points.
23	* ADayInTheLimelight: Played with on a 1978 episode where announcer Tony [=McClay=] walked out at the top of the show and began to carry on with the show as if Bob were absent — until Bob walked out and tapped Tony on the shoulder.
24	* DieHardOnAnX: The Creator/{{NBC}} game ''I'm Telling!'' was basically ''The Newlywed Game'' for kids.
25	** The Creator/{{ESPN}} game ''Teammates'' was ''The Newlywed Game'' for professional athletes.
26	** And ''The Neighbors'' was ''The Newlywed Game'' for... female neighbors.
27	* DoubleTheDollars: In a way with Round 2, where questions were worth 10 points
28	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In 1966, an era where virtually every new network show was debuting in color, the very earliest episodes of ''The Newlywed Game'' aired in black-and-white. Also, "Summertime Guy" by Eddie Rambeau was used as the original theme song (as opposed to its more famous replacement, which mixed an instrumental version of "Summertime Guy" with Mendelssohn's "Wedding March"), and ABC staff announcer Scott Beach was the first announcer. By the start of August 1966, both the more well-known theme and announcer Johnny Jacobs were in place. As no videos from those earliest shows exist, it is hard to say what other differences there were or what couples got away with.
29	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: A lot of questions seemed to be written ''intentionally'' to get a husband and wife to have a fight before bed that night. It became a running gag among the fandom of just how many couples who appeared on the show didn't make it past those two years.
30	** The Spanish version, ''Su media naranja'',[[note]]literally 'your orange half', more equivalent to 'the other half' in English[[/note]] was notorious for this. One [[BlatantLies stellar review]] from an English viewer in 1994 noted that contestants were asked such intimate questions that it was wise to expect arguments every episode.
31	** To give an example, any question about the wife's body shape, which one of her family members the husband would want to have an affair with, which of her friends he'd most like to disappear, etc. On the other end, a Sherry-era question asked wives through pizza euphemism to describe their husband's [[GagPenis endowment]]: medium mushroom, large pepperoni, or extra-large sausage. Naturally all the husbands said extra-large sausage, and two of them got it right, but one wife said "medium mushroom" because [[ComicallyMissingThePoint "We don't allow]] [[AccidentalInnuendo pork]] [[ComicallyMissingThePoint in our house."]]
32	* FreudianSlip: At least twice, Bob said "25 point boner question" instead of "bonus."
33	* GameShowHost: Bob Eubanks is the best known. Jim Lange hosted a week-long attempt in 1984, Paul Rodriguez for part of the 1988-89 season, and Gary Kroeger for the 1996-97 season. Carnie Wilson was the original host of the GSN version, followed by Sherri Shepherd.
34	* HaveAGayOldTime: A question asked of the women in the "Bunker" episode was "My husband is a closet ____". Made even better when Pat Berg — a sedate, conservative lady in her 50s who looked a whole lot like [[Series/AllInTheFamily Edith Bunker]] — replied "queen".
35	* PornStache: Tony [=McClay=] had a pretty serious one.
36	* RearrangeTheSong: The Bob Eubanks-hosted revivals from the '80s and '90s (excepting the last season of the latter) had new arrangements of the original theme, as did the first four seasons of the GSN version. The latter two arrangements were pretty close to the original, while the '80s version was more noticeably different.
37	* ReplacedTheThemeTune: The Rodriguez version, as mentioned right above. The Gary Kroeger version, the second '90s Eubanks season, and Sherri Shepherd's latter two seasons also had completely different theme songs.
38	* ShoutOut: When he appeared on ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'' in 2003, Eubanks was given the question, "Married couples spend an average of 800 hours doing what?" and answered with "I was going to say making [[StealthPun whoopie]], but [[Creator/WhoopiGoldberg she's]] no longer on the show, is she?"
39	* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: Something that's helped some contestants. For example, one notorious moment had both a woman and her husband answer that the husband's mother had lived ten decades.
40	* ThemeTune
41	** DoItYourselfThemeTune: The original theme was composed by creator Chuck Barris.
42	** ForgottenThemeTuneLyrics: It's an instrumental arrangement of "Summertime Guy". Eddie Rambeau was to have sung it on ''Series/AmericanBandstand'' but was told he couldn't because Barris was then working for ABC.
43	** InstrumentalThemeTune: As you'd typically expect from a GameShow. Averted on the short-lived Paul Rodriguez version (see the RealSongThemeTune entry below).
44	* UnusualEuphemism: "Whoopie".

Context Series / TheNewlywedGame