History Series / ChainReaction

* {{Pilot}}: [[http://www.game-show-utopia.net/crimages/chainreaction.htm One for the Cullen version]], taped October 27, 1979; here, only two celebrities were present, competing alongside two married couples, and Instant Reaction offered a possible $100,000 payout.

** The 2015 GSN run replaced Instant Reaction with the ''Superchain'', in which the winning team has 60 seconds to complete seven pairs from a common starting word for $5000.

* AscendedExtra: Rod Charlebois, who would play a quick round with Geoff Edwards at the top of each show. His ascension was mostly due to [=CanCon=] laws.

** The NBC version had ''five'' Instant Reaction payout structures. The second format had contestants start with $1 and add a half-zero for each correct response, but was changed when the most money won from this in the first week was $100.

* ShoutOut: After a contestant couldn't get the word "pyramid", Bill Cullen remarked "Well, [[Series/{{Pyramid}} the nighttime version's]] [[SelfDeprecation been canceled]]."

** The USA run merely had another chain with a ProgressiveJackpot linked to it;
the team/player was shown the first word in a chain and the initial letter of the other words. One at a time, the player(s) would guess at the next word in the chain. For each wrong guess, the next letter would be filled in and a letter deducted from their account. If the team could finish the chain before running out of letters the team won the jackpot. If not, they (or he/she) won $100 per word, including the one at the top. The ''$40,000'' season eliminated the endgame entirely.

** The USA run merely had another chain with a ProgressiveJackpot linked to it; the ''$40,000'' season eliminated the endgame entirely.
** The 2015 GSN run replaced Instant Reaction with the ''Superchain'', in which the winning team has 60 seconds to complete seven pairs from a common starting word.

** For the first USA season, the middle word in the second chain had a dollar sign (or early on, an asterisk) next to it; if a contestant managed to guess it, $250 went to their team.

* ProgressiveJackpot: For the USA-era endgame, it would be worth a base of $3,000 plus $1,000 for each day it wasn't won; the base was dropped to $2,000 when the show switched from two-member teams to solo players.

GameShow franchise created in 1980 by Creator/BobStewart (of ''Series/{{Password}}'' and ''Series/{{Pyramid}}'' fame) for Creator/{{NBC}} and hosted by Creator/BillCullen. In this game, two teams — [[SignatureStyle in true Stewartian fashion]], each composed of two celebrities and a civilian — competed to form a chain of eight words. Each chain would consist of two-word phrases with a common word. For instance, a completed chain might have CHAIN REACTION TIME TABLE TENNIS BALL GAME SHOW, forming the phrases of "chain reaction", "reaction time", "time table", "table tennis", etc. Given the first and last word of each chain, the teams would attempt to guess the missing words, which were revealed one letter at a time. The winners then proceeded to a BonusRound which was more of a cousin to the ''Pyramid'' format of using a long clue to describe a word, except the celebrities from the winning team constructed the clues one word at a time. This BonusRound was later adapted into its own game, a short-lived format called ''Series/{{Go}}''.

A later adaptation, taped in Canada, aired on Creator/USANetwork from 1986-91 with teams of two contestants each. At first, this version was hosted by Blake Emmons, a Canadian television personality and CountryMusic singer. Blake Emmons was a contestant on ''Series/TheJokersWild'' during Bill Cullen's tenure, and lasted only a few months as host of ''Chain Reaction'' before being replaced by Geoff Edwards (who had previously hosted a number of Stewart series and pilots; his most recent hosting gig up to that point was ''Series/{{Starcade}}'', plus the unsold 1985 Stewart pilot ''$50,000 A Minute''). Because of Can Con laws, ''Chain Reaction'' had to feature a Canadian personality on camera, and as a result announcer Rod Charlebois appeared on-camera in every show for the rest of the run. This version simply offered another chain as its bonus round.

GSN revived the format again in 2015 with another new host, Mike Catherwood (best known as the host of ''Radio/{{Loveline}}''); this version seemed to hark back more to the USA era, with a similar logo and format (the Speed Chains were dropped, and the contestant teams were reverted back to two players; the betting element in Round 4 was still present, however); because of the lack of a third contestant, Instant Reaction was dropped again, this time for a new endgame called the "Superchain" (see below).

There had been other versions of the format for countries outside the United States, including a French-Canadian one in Quebec called ''Action Reaction'' (taped on the same set as the Blake Emmons/Geoff Edwards run), an Italian one called ''Reazione a catena'', and a British version called ''Lucky Ladders'' on Creator/{{ITV}}.

** The NBC and first GSN run had "Instant Reaction" (only named in the NBC run), where the players chained together words, one at a time, to make a question. This was taken from an unsold Stewart {{pilot}} called ''Get Rich Quick!'' (1977), and spun off into ''Go'' (1983-84).
** The USA run merely had another chain with a ProgressiveJackpot linked to it.
** The 2015 GSN run replaced Instant Reaction with the "Superchain", in which the winning team has 60 seconds to complete seven pairs from a common starting word.

* HomeGame

* AscendedExtra: Rod Charlebois, who would play a quick round with Geoff Edwards at the top of each show. His ascension was mostly due to Can Con laws.

A later adaptation, taped in Canada, aired on Creator/USANetwork from 1986-91 with teams of two contestants each. At first, this version was hosted by Blake Emmons, a Canadian television personality and CountryMusic singer. Blake Emmons was a contestant on ''Series/TheJokersWild'' during Bill Cullen's tenure, and lasted only a few months as host of ''Chain Reaction'' before being replaced by Geoff Edwards (who had previously hosted a number of Stewart series and pilots; his most recent hosting gig up to that point was ''Series/{{Starcade}}''). Because of Can Con laws, ''Chain Reaction'' had to feature a Canadian personality on camera, and as a result announcer Rod Charlebois appeared on-camera in every show for the rest of the run. This version simply offered another chain as its bonus round.

** The GSN version began its bonus round with seven correct answers doubling the team's bank and ten correct answers tripling it. After six weeks of people stinking it up, the requirements were lowered to five (doubling) and seven (tripling).
** The GSN version also altered its Instant Reaction format multiple times in order to keep the contestants from playing loose and fast with the "alternating words" rule.

** GameShowHost: Creator/BillCullen, Blake Emmons, [[Series/{{Jackpot}} Geoff]] [[Series/{{Starcade}} Edwards]], Dylan Lane and Mike Catherwood.

** The GSN version also altered its Bonus Round format multiple times in order to keep the contestants from playing loose and fast with the "alternating words" rule.

GSN revived the format again in 2015 with another new host, Mike Catherwood (best known as the host of ''Radio/{{Loveline}}'').

** The 2015 GSN run replaces it with the "Superchain", in which the winning team has 60 seconds to complete seven pairs from a common starting word.

** For the first USA season, the middle word in the second chain had a dollar sign next to it; if a contestant managed to guess it, $250 went to their team.

* MythologyGag: The first GSN run had a blue and yellow color scheme, much like the NBC run and the first USA season; the second GSN run has a modernized version of the later USA era logo and a similar color scheme.

** GameShowHost: Creator/BillCullen, Blake Emmons, Geoff Edwards, Dylan Lane and Mike Catherwood.

In 2006, Creator/{{GSN}} (formerly the Game Show Network) revived the format with Dylan Lane as host. The rules stayed mostly the same, except the teams were always three men vs. three women. The format also included a small four-word "speed chain" after each solved chain, as well as a betting format in Round 4. In Round 4, contestants bet certain amounts on whether or not they would get the chain word right; unfortunately, this often led to contestants whittling away their lead on stupid guesses. This version also retained the NBC bonus round, but with slight rule changes.

There had been other versions of the format for countries outside the United States, including a French-Canadian one in Quebec called ''Action Reaction'' (taped on the same set as the Blake Emmons/Geoff Edwards run), an Italian one called ''Reazione a catena'', and a British version called ''Lucky Ladders''.

* ThematicThemeTune: The GSN version had a vocal theme song that explained how the game worked.

** The United Kingdom had ''Lucky Ladders'', based on the USA Network format, from 1988 to 1993.
** The Canadian province of Quebec had ''Action Réaction'' from 1986 to 1991.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The NBC/GSN bonus round had nothing to do with the front game. But, it still makes some sense, given the idea that you have to form a question by making a ''chain'' of words.

** In the Cullen version, if a word had a plus sign next to it, it was worth double the normal value. ** For the first USA season, the middle word in the second chain had a dollar sign next to it; if a contestant managed to guess it, $250 went to their team.

A later adaptation, taped in Canada, aired on USANetwork from 1986-91 with teams of two contestants each. At first, this version was hosted by Blake Emmons, a Canadian television personality and CountryMusic singer. Blake Emmons was a contestant on ''Series/TheJokersWild'' during Bill Cullen's tenure, and lasted only a few months as host of ''Chain Reaction'' before being replaced by Geoff Edwards (who had previously hosted a number of Stewart series and pilots; his most recent hosting gig up to that point was ''Series/{{Starcade}}''). Because of Can Con laws, ''Chain Reaction'' had to feature a Canadian personality on camera, and as a result announcer Rod Charlebois appeared on-camera in every show for the rest of the run. This version simply offered another chain as its bonus round.

* BonusSpace: In the Cullen version, if a word had a plus sign next to it, it was worth double the normal value. For the first USA season, the middle word in the second chain had a dollar sign next to it; if a contestant managed to guess it, $250 went to their team.

* BonusSpace: If a word had a plus sign next to it, it was worth double the normal value.

A later adaptation, taped in Canada, aired on USANetwork from 1986-91 with teams of two contestants each. At first, this version was hosted by Blake Emmons, a Canadian television personality and CountryMusic singer. Blake Emmons was a contestant on ''Series/TheJokersWild'' during Bill Cullen's tenure, and lasted only a few months as host of ''Chain Reaction'' before being replaced by Geoff Edwards (who had previously substituted on the NBC version when Bill Cullen had to fill in briefly on ''[[Series/{{Password}} Password Plus]]''). Because of Can Con laws, ''Chain Reaction'' had to feature a Canadian personality on camera, and as a result announcer Rod Charlebois appeared on-camera in every show for the rest of the run. This version simply offered another chain as its bonus round.

** The 2015 GSN run replaces it with the "Super Chain", in which the winning team has 60 seconds to complete seven pairs from a common starting word.

* RecycledSoundtrack: The theme for the first two versions had previously been used on, of all things, ''Series/{{Supertrain}}''.

** Also, before getting to host the USA run, Geoff Edwards had been a GuestHost while Bill Cullen was over on ''[[Series/{{Password Password Plus]]'' filling in for an ill Allen Ludden.

** The USA run merely had another chain with a ProgressiveJackout linked to it.

** The NBC and first GSN run had the players chaining together words, one at a time, to make a question. This was taken from an unsold Stewart {{pilot}} called ''Get Rich Quick!'' (1977), and spun off into ''Go'' (1983-84).

** The NBC version had ''five'' bonus round payout structures. The second format had contestants start with $1 and add a half-zero for each correct response, but was changed when the most money won from this in the first week was $100.

* ShoutOut: After a contestant couldn't get the word "pyramid", Bill Cullen remarked "Well, [[Series/{{Pyramid}} the nighttime version's]] been canceled."

* BonusRound: The NBC and first GSN run had the players chaining together words, one at a time, to make a question. This was taken from an unsold Stewart {{pilot}} called ''Get Rich Quick!'' (1977), and spun off into ''Go'' (1983-84).

GSN revived the format again in 2015 with another new host named Mike Catherwood (best known as the host of ''Radio/{{Loveline}}'').

!!GameShow Tropes in use:

GameShow franchise created in 1980 by Creator/BobStewart (of ''Series/{{Password}}'' and ''Series/{{Pyramid}}'' fame) for Creator/{{NBC}} and hosted by Creator/BillCullen. In this game, two teams — in true Stewartian fashion, each composed of two celebrities and a civilian — competed to form a chain of eight words. Each chain would consist of two-word phrases with a common word. For instance, a completed chain might have CHAIN REACTION TIME TABLE TENNIS BALL GAME SHOW, forming the phrases of "chain reaction", "reaction time", "time table", "table tennis", etc. Given the first and last word of each chain, the teams would attempt to guess the missing words, which were revealed one letter at a time. The winners then proceeded to a BonusRound which was more of a cousin to the ''Pyramid'' format of using a long clue to describe a word, except the celebrities from the winning team constructed the clues one word at a time. This BonusRound was later adapted into its own game, a short-lived format called ''Series/{{Go}}''.

* BonusRound: The NBC and first GSN run had the players chaining together words, one at a time, to make a question. This was taken from an unsold Stewart pilot called ''Get Rich Quick!'' (1977), and spun off into ''Go'' (1983-84).

** GameShowHost: Creator/BillCullen, Blake Emmons, Geoff Edwards, Dylan Lane.

A later adaptation, taped in Canada, aired on USANetwork from 1986-91 with teams of two contestants each. At first, this version was hosted by Blake Emmons, a Canadian television personality and CountryMusic singer. Blake Emmons was a contestant on ''Series/TheJokersWild'' during Bill Cullen's tenure, and lasted only a few months as host of ''Chain Reaction'' before being replaced by Geoff Edwards (who had previously substituted on the NBC version when Bill Cullen had to fill in briefly on ''Password Plus''). Because of Can Con laws, ''Chain Reaction'' had to feature a Canadian personality on camera, and as a result announcer Rod Charlebois appeared on-camera in every show for the rest of the run. This version simply offered another chain as its bonus round.

Not to be confused with the [[Film/ChainReaction film]] starring KeanuReeves.

In 2006, Creator/{{GSN}} (formerly Game Show Network) revived the format with Dylan Lane as host. The rules stayed mostly the same, except the teams were always three men vs. three women. The format also included a small four-word "speed chain" after each solved chain, as well as a betting format in Round 4. In Round 4, contestants bet certain amounts on whether or not they would get the chain word right; unfortunately, this often led to contestants whittling away their lead on stupid guesses. This version also retained the NBC bonus round, but with slight rule changes. GSN's ''Chain Reaction'' lasted 15 episodes into its second season. In 2015, GSN will re-revive ''Chain Reaction'', this time with Mike Catherwood (best known as the host of ''Radio/{{Loveline}}'') on board.

The show has been adapted internationally, including a French-Canadian version in Quebec called ''Action Reaction'' (taped on the same set as the Blake Emmons/Geoff Edwards run), an Italian version called ''Reazione a catena'', and a British version called ''Lucky Ladders''.

* BonusRound: The NBC and GSN runs had the players chaining together words, one at a time, to make a question. This was taken from an unsold Stewart pilot called ''Get Rich Quick!'' (1977), and spun off into ''Go'' (1983-84).

In 2006, Creator/{{GSN}} (formerly Game Show Network) revived the format with Dylan Lane as host. The rules stayed mostly the same, except the teams were always three men vs. three women. The format also included a small four-word "speed chain" after each solved chain, as well as a betting format in Round 4. In Round 4, contestants bet certain amounts on whether or not they would get the chain word right; unfortunately, this often led to contestants whittling away their lead on stupid guesses. This version also retained the NBC bonus round, but with slight rule changes. GSN's ''Chain Reaction'' lasted 15 episodes into its second season.