Information about Body Language (game Show)

Body Language
Body Language Body Language title logo.
Created by	Mark Goodson and Bill Todman
Starring	Tom Kennedy Announcers: Johnny Olson, Gene Wood
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	30 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	June 4, 1984 – January 3, 1986

Body Language is a television game show based on the party game charades which aired from June 4, 1984, until January 3, 1986, on CBS. Tom Kennedy hosted the Mark Goodson production. Johnny Olson announced until his death in 1985; Gene Wood and Bob Hilton shared the announcing duties afterward. It was the second Goodson-produced charades game, following 1975's Showoffs. Showoffs was similar to Body Language but it had no puzzles. It aired at 4:00 in the afternoon which many stations preempted the show for other programming.

Premise

The show pitted two teams against each other, each consisting of a contestant and a celebrity guest. The gameplay had two elements. The main gameplay centered around the party game charades, but contestants also had to solve word puzzles to win money. Each episode contained one full game.

Main game

Teams played separately, with one player standing behind a podium, and the other in the acting area in front of it. In each turn, the teammate serving as "actor" had 60 seconds to get his/her partner to say as many of five words or phrases as they could. They could not talk or use props including their own clothing or the acting time limit will cutoff. They instead had to "pantomime" (as host Kennedy referred to it) the words. The actor could pass on any words he/she wished and come back if time remained. If an illegal clue was given, the acting portion of the round immediately ended. The guesser then moved on to attempt to solve the puzzle portion of the round. (If, in post-acting conversation, the actor revealed a word which had not been guessed, the opposing team received the first chance at the puzzle.)

The puzzle was a sentence or question with seven blanks. Five of the blanks corresponded to the words or phrases that were acted out, and any that had been guessed correctly were revealed. The contestant then had one guess at what person, place or thing puzzle was describing. If the player was correct, they won money for that puzzle. If not, the player's opponent was called over to choose a blank to reveal and then make a guess. The two players alternated revealing blanks and making guesses until one got the correct answer and won the puzzle; if that didn't happen, the teams' "actors" would each receive one guess. Later in the show's run, parentheses were added to the two words of puzzles that weren't acted out.

After a year on the air, a $500 bonus (not counted towards the score) was awarded if a team guessed all five words before time ran out (only used in the second round).

The game had two rounds with each team acting once per round. In the first round, celebrities acted and contestants guessed, and puzzles were worth $100. In the second round, the celebrities guessed while the contestants acted, and puzzles were worth $250. If any puzzle went completely unsolved, the unclaimed money for that puzzle carried over to the next puzzle (thus, if the second $100 puzzle wasn't solved, the first $250 puzzle would then be worth $350 instead of the normal $250).

The team that reached $500 first won the game. It was common for neither team to reach that mark after two rounds, since the only way to do so would be to win one's own second round puzzle and steal his/her opponent's. A playoff would be played if neither team reached $500. In this round, there was no acting, and a new puzzle was shown. Contestants again took turns choosing a blank to reveal and guessing the puzzle until one guessed correctly, won the extra $250 and the game. The championship player was given the choice to start or have his/her opponent start.

Sweepstakes

The winning team played a bonus round. Originally the celebrity of the winning team would act; later in the run they had the choice of which team member would act and which would guess. They had 60 seconds to guess as many of ten words or phrases as they could. Like the previous rounds, only the celebrity and/or contestant (who acted) can pass on a word, and could comeback to it if time permits. Each correct word was worth $100. At the end of the first half, unlike the previous rounds, a contestant was immediately told what words he/she had missed. Illegal clues forfeited the chance to solve that word.

After the first half of the bonus game, a 20 second round was played with three words or phrases. If the team guessed all three before time expired, the money won in the first half of the bonus round would be multiplied by ten, for a possible bonus of $10,000; otherwise, they kept the money won in the first half.

Champions/Returning Players Rule

Originally, winning contestants returned for up to five games, or until winning over $25,000, before being retired and losing contestants did not return. Beginning in September 1984, a new system was implemented under which players would remain until incurring two losses. It was initially explained that each pair of contestants would play best-of-three matches, however in practice, two losses in different matches still resulted in a player leaving. Under that new system, champions could stay on the show for up to six wins. The winnings limit was increased to $50,000 the following November.

Tournaments

In the summer of 1985, Body Language had a month-long "Teen Week". The teens played the standard game, and each won a minimum of $2500; anything over that amount went into a bond that matured on the player's 18th birthday. If the player didn't win $2500 through the game, the total was raised to that amount. During Teen Week, getting all five clues in the main game within 60 seconds netted a special bonus prize, such as a Commodore 64 computer.

Episode status

All episodes are intact. GSN is airing this show on Sunday Nights/Monday Mornings at 1:00 am EST/10:00pm Pacific, effective September 10th.

Pilots

Three pilots for the series were made on October 9, 1983. The only change in the front game was the scoring, going $100-$200-$300-$400, with $500 needed for a win.

The endgame was called "7 Chances". Two puzzles were shown with the requisite 7 blanks. The celebrity chose the blank to be revealed, and the contestant tried to guess the puzzle. If the contestant got both puzzles, he or she won $7000 + $1000 per leftover chance. If they got one puzzle, he or she got $500.

External links

• The Body Language Rule Page
• The Body Language Page @ Gameshowutopia.net