FUN HOUSE / FOX’S FUN HOUSE
(Syndication, FOX, September 5, 1988-April 13, 1991)
Stone Television/Stone
Stanley Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures (season 1), Lorimar Television
(season 2-3)
(Syndication, FOX, September 5, 1988-April 13, 1991)
MAIN CAST:
J.D.
Roth – Host
Jacqueline
Forrest – Jackie the Cheerleader
Samantha
Forrest – Sammi the Cheerleader
John “Tiny”
Hurley – Announcer (season 1-2)
Michael
“Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers – Announcer M.C. Mike (season 3)
Brian
Cummings – Announcer (pilot)
Nickelodeon struck gold when it debuted its
kid-centric game show Double
Dare in 1986. Double Dare would pit two teams of two kids
against each other by having them win money answering trivia questions. If they
didn’t know an answer, or thought the other team didn’t, they could pass it
over with a “dare” for double the money. But it could be “double dared” back
for four times the money, in which case that dared team either had to answer or
take a “physical challenge”. These physical challenges often featured
deceptively simple and incredibly messy tasks; like building an ice cream
sundae on their partner’s head, popping goop-filled balloons with a needle
headpiece, plucking cherries out of gelatin with their mouths, etc. Success won
them the money; failure gave it to the opposing team. The team with the most
money then went on to an even messier obstacle course for a chance to win up to
8 prizes within a minute.
In the
world of entertainment, a success breeds imitators trying to duplicate that
success. One such attempt came in the form of Fun House, created by
veteran game show producer Bob
Synes. Tasked by Lorimar-Telepictures
with coming up with a kid’s show for syndication, Synes presented executive
producer Scott Stone with a
drawing of carnival midway games leading to a funhouse at the end. Stone scaled
down Synes’ ambitions a bit and suggested focusing on just the funhouse aspect
of it. Lorimar fronted the money to construct a massive set designed by Phyllis Hofberg, Rick Bluhm, Bill Harris and Anthony Sabatino (for which
they won an Emmy), and produce
a pilot to sell the series.
Like Double Dare, it
featured two teams of kids comprised of a boy and a girl either related or
friends. These teams were distinguished by red and gold uniforms, rather than
the wacky self-made names utilized on Double
Dare. Occasionally, young celebrity guests would appear or fill the role of
one of the teammates, including Danny
Ponce (The Hogan
Family); Staci Keanan
(My Two Dads,
Step by Step);
Danny Pintauro (Who’s the Boss?);
Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster); Jeremy Miller and Leonardo DiCaprio (Growing Pains); Sara Gilbert and Michael Fishman (Roseanne); Tiffany Brisette (Small Wonder); Josh Saviano (The Wonder Years);
Jenny Beck (Paradise); Brian Austin Green and Douglas Emerson (Beverly Hills, 90210);
Candace Cameron and Jodie Sweetin (Full House); Alexander Polinsky (Charles in Charge);
Jaleel White and Kellie Shanygne Williams (Family Matters); Benji Gregory and Josh Blake (ALF); and Tannis Valley (Head of the Class).
Unlike Double Dare, Fun
House placed a greater focus on their “stunts”, which would then segue into
a single related toss-up question asked at a colorful podium equipped with
buzzers. Three timed stunts were played each episode; either with one player at
a time (alternating for each solo challenge) or both teammates together. Stunts
could involve using their faces to lift up a pie to find a “win” symbol on the
bottom of the tin; bobbing for bagels in chocolate milk; assembling a mixed-up
image on giant blocks; batting slimy softballs into the audience; pulling “hair
extensions” off a giant model’s head to place on their own while being covered
in goop; using their teeth to remove gum from under rows of seats; turning
their partner into the world’s largest sandwich; using a giant slingshot to
fire water balloons at pictures of the announcer; and more. Synes would come up
with a title for the stunt first, and then the crew, overseen by producer Stephen Brown, had to create a
stunt to go along with that name. The type of stunts featured were usually
related to the overall theme of that week’s batch of episodes in keeping with
Stone’s philosophy of everything telling a story. The winning team—or both, in
the case of a tie—won 25 points. Answering the question correctly earned them
an additional 25 points.
The fourth and final round was The
Grand Prix Race. The teams had to race two laps on a track that circled the
studio; switching lanes on the second lap. There were two types of races: one
utilizing a vehicle of some kind that was ridden by one teammate and moved by
the other, switching between laps, and the other was a footrace with each
teammate running a lap. The races all featured a different theme with
associated challenges that had to be accomplished. For instance, a toy-themed
race saw the contestants riding/pulling little red wagons while picking up
various toys placed on the track. Additionally, the teams could snag white and
blue tokens from stations around the track for 10 and 25 extra points, respectively.
During the second season, a Token Bank was added on the second lap that
contained a pre-packaged bundle of tokens worth up to 200 points. The winning
team earned 25 points, but the ultimate winner was determined after the
acquired tokens were tallied by being dropped into slots at the podium. The
team with the most points went on to The Fun House obstacle course, while the
losing team left with consolation prizes. Ties were broken with a toss-up
question.
The titular
Fun House stood roughly 3-stories tall and featured several interchangeable
“rooms” of varying themes and obstacles. They could include toppling Styrofoam
skyscrapers; punching out thinly covered holes in a board; an “ice mountain”
climb; crawling through a tunnel full of balloons or one that’s spinning;
digging through school lockers; traversing a ball pit; etc. Each room contained
16 oversized price tags either plainly visible or hidden somewhere: 6 red
representing different prizes revealed before the course was run, and 10 green
ones representing cash amounts ranging from $50 to $300. The contestants had 2
minutes to collect as many tags as possible; grabbing three at a time before
switching with their partner. This continued until all tags were collected or
time ran out. Additionally, one tag was designated as the “Power Prize” that if
collected won them a bonus vacation along with everything else they picked up. For
the second season, the Fun House became larger and featured more intricate
elements like a swimming pool and shooting water.
Fun
House debuted in syndication on September 5, 1988. J.D. Roth served as host
for the entire run; becoming the youngest game show host in history at just 19.
Aiding Roth on the playfield were identical twin cheerleaders. They escorted
the teams to the podium, introduced them, and provided support to them based on
what color uniform the teams were assigned: Jackie (Jacqueline Forrest) for the
gold team and Sammi (Samantha Forrest) for the red. For the pilot, veteran
announcer Brain Cummings was utilized. Cummings had previously announced the
first season of the 1984-86
syndicated version of Let’s Make a Deal,
which Synes produced. John “Tiny” Hurley took over those duties once the series
went into production. Along with announcing, Hurley would appear on camera in
wacky costumes, participate in skits, or sometimes in various stunts. Other
differences in the pilot included playing for cash instead of points; four
stunts played instead of three; The Grand Prix awarding $50 for winning and
featuring a third red token worth $10 while blue was worth $50; contestants
only being allowed two prize tags at a time in the Fun House, with as many cash
tags as they wanted; a “Button Banger” in the Fun House awarding a random cash
bonus up to $2000 when hit; and the prize tags being scanned at the podium to
reveal the Power Prize, which awarded the contestants every prize in the
Fun House. Unlike the $2,000-$3,000 Double Dare or fellow Nickelodeon
game show Finders
Keepers—which filmed in the same complex as Fun House—paid out
in cash in prizes, Fun House offered contestants a potential prize
payout in excess of $10,000. Score Productions
composed the series’ music along with Matt Ender and Jonathan Firstenberg. Props
from the show were used in another Lorimar-Telepictures production, Perfect Strangers,
for the episode “Games People Play”. Series stars Mark Linn-Baker and Bronson Pinchot also filmed a promo for Fun
House as their characters Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous.
The show proved a success, becoming
the highest rated syndicated new show upon its debut and surpassing even Double
Dare (in response, Double Dare added theme weeks and upped the ante
in physical challenges by reinstating a previous limited time rebranding as Super Sloppy Double Dare).
In 1989, Fun House gained two spin-offs. In the United States, there was
College Mad House. Hosted by Greg Kinnear, it featured two
teams of four college students (two men, two women) from rival universities
playing it out. Rather than cheerleaders, Kinnear was assisted by referees Donna Wilson
and Richard
MacGregor, with Beau Weaver
announcing. Stunts involved the men or women going against each other, and then
all four together. The content of this show skewed a bit more risqué than the
original; involving more gross-out humor and lewd body movements. Rather than
the Grand Prix, the fourth round was the Finals Round. Each member of the team
took turns answering as many toss-up questions as possible within a minute and
a half; with the winner hitting their opponent in the face with a pie or
whipped cream each time. The Mad House, which featured college-themed rooms,
had each teammate getting 30 seconds to grab as many tags as they could in
order to “clean house” by getting them all. Getting all the tags awarded them a
trip; otherwise, they kept whatever prizes they collected for themselves with
any cash (up to $1000) going to their school. College Mad House only
lasted a single year, ending in September of 1990.
Over in the United Kingdom, ITV debuted their own version of Fun House
produced by Scottish Television. It
featured host Pat Sharp,
twin cheerleaders Melanie
and Martina
Grant, and announcer Gary King.
Played in much the same way as the original with minor gameplay and naming
differences, it actually outlasted its parent program to run a full 11 seasons,
ending in 1999. Their own adult-themed spin-off was planned and a pilot
produced, but it never went to series.
Unfortunately, Fun House was
beginning to lose steam as sloppy game shows were wearing out their welcome.
They were finding difficulty remaining in syndication, despite their best
efforts. Enter: FOX. FOX was about to launch
its new kid-focused effort, Fox Kids Network,
and the show they wanted to acquire for it was…Double Dare. Previously, FOX
was pivotal in the success of Double Dare; having distributed it and
aired it regularly on affiliated stations, and even airing a version of the
show, Family Double
Dare, on their own network on Saturday nights. After attempting to
bring the show over to their new line up, FOX ended its direct affiliation with
the series over “creative differences” and abruptly
cancelled Family shortly before they were set to begin filming a new
season. Regular Double Dare continued on, however, and was still shown
on FOX affiliates, and Family was eventually revived by Nickelodeon two
years later. Looking for a replacement that could be just as popular, FOX
turned to Double Dare’s closest competitor: Fun House.
Renamed FOX’s Fun House for
its third season, it joined the inaugural Fox Kids Saturday morning line-up on
September 8, 1990. It also became the first weekday Fox Kids show, filling in
for the delayed Peter Pan and the Pirates by airing a special week’s
worth of programs featuring some of the earlier-mentioned celebrity guests.
While essentially the same show, several changes were made. Hurley was replaced
by Michael Chambers, a.k.a M.C. Mike, best known as “Boogaloo Shrimp” from the Breakin’ films.
He opened each episode by showing off his rapping skills before the title
sequence. While Jackie and Sammi still escorted players to the podium,
introductions were now handled by Mike. Carrying over from College Mad House,
the player that answered a question correctly got to slap a pie into the face
of their opponent. The entire set also shed its carnival-like aesthetic in
favor of more urban flair; with distorted cartoon skyscrapers and riveted pipe
theming.
The Fun House itself was also
redesigned to emulate a slice of a city block. Starting at the top rather than
the bottom, Roth began the run by turning a large valve to activate the
“Whitewater Slide” that let one of the players splash down into a waiting pool
and officially start the clock counting down. From there, they could go into
the “Hardhat Hallway”, which looked like a scrapyard or garbage-filled empty
lot; the “Zippity Zoo Dah”, a zoo full of various stuffed animals, a performer
in a creature suit, and bendable cage bars; the “Funky Slop Sewer”, resembling
a slimy sewer pipe with fake rats and steamy sewage comprised of green balls in
water; the “Recycling Zone”, where pulling a lever dumped trash on the player
as well as a prize tag; “Bob’s Mad Mall”, which featured dummies holding
shopping bags on rotating doors, one of which held the prize tag; the “Kockeyed
Kitchen”, an upside-down kitchen whose cabinets held the tag (and was typically
filmed upside-down to make it seem like the player was walking on the ceiling);
“Flushing Meadows”, a bathroom-like area with three giant colored toilets that
sprayed water up when opened; “Fast Food Fight”, a diner area where the
opposing team got to impede the winning team by pelting them with food items; and
returning from the original Fun House was the rotating “Tubular Tunnel”.
Although cash tags were still in plain sight, the prize tags were now hidden
within each area. A large slimy alarm clock called the Crazy Glop Clock was
added that gave the team an additional 15 seconds in the Fun House when found.
Behind the scenes,
Lorimar-Telepictures was acquired by Warner
Bros. Lorimar-Telepictures served as the distributor during the first
season as well as the co-producer, but was replaced by Warner Bros. Domestic Television
Distribution for the remainder. This, along with Tiny
Toon Adventures, would begin Warner Bros.’ association with Fox Kids
that would prove mutually beneficial for both the studio’s burgeoning animation
efforts and the block’s legitimacy as a major player in broadcasting. British Knights was replaced as the
primary sponsor by LA
Gear, and everyone on stage wore the sponsoring company’s shoes. Synes,
sadly, died in 1990. Stone replaced him with David
G. Stanley and renamed his production company, Stone Productions, as Stone
Stanley Productions (now Stone & Company
Entertainment). Each episode of the third season was dedicated to Synes.
FOX’s Fun House only lasted
a short time on the network, airing 22 episodes before it was replaced on the
schedule by the short-lived Swamp
Thing animated series in 1991. Despite being nominated for four
additional Emmys, winning one other, and winning a Young Artist Award,
the show disappeared from the airwaves….in the United States. The British
version has aired reruns and even got a special one-time
revival in 2015 as a promotional gimmick by Fayre & Square pubs and associated Wacky Warehouse play areas. The
American version only eventually resurfaced in videos of various quality on YouTube, including the pilot as a feature
entry of legendary game show host Wink
Martindale’s Wink’s Vault series. Roth would go on to acting and hosting
a few more game shows before moving into producing them—including Moolah
Beach, which would air during the final year of Fox Kids (meaning Roth both
opened and closed the block). Stone Stanly Productions continued
producing game shows, including Fun House spiritual successors Legends of the Hidden
Temple, geared towards kids, and Shop ‘til you Drop,
geared towards adults. Both featured stunt-heavy gameplay in an elaborate
setting: a Mayan temple for Legends, and a 2-story mall for Shop.
The latter also reused some of Fun House’s music. In 2022, YouTube channel Hosts at Home hosted a Fun House reunion
with Roth, Sharp, Stone, and Brown to discuss and reminisce about the show.
In 1988, Pressman Toy Corp. published a board game version
of Fun House. A travel game was
made by Tiger
Electronics the following year as part of their Klix
Pocket Travel Games series, as well as their customary LCD handheld game.
Hi-Tech Expressions
produced a video game in 1989 for the Commodore 64 and MS-Dos, and in 1990 for the NES. No version fully
captured the show, but the computer versions were closer than the NES’ as they
featured some semblance of the stunts while the NES involved just throwing
balls at targets and avoiding obstacles in a top-down view. The board game, and
eventually the video games, were given out as consolation prizes on the show.
The oddest
tie-in merchandise had to have been the workout videos. Stone had been on a
flight with Julie LaFond,
who ran the Jane Fonda exercise empire.
A conversation about fitness in kids led to a collaboration between Fonda and
the show. Fonda came to the set to introduce Roth, who then led the exercise
routines. Two videos ended up being made for the Fun House Fitness
series: The
Swamp Stomp for kids 3-7, and The
Fun House Funk for kids 7+. They were re-released together onto
DVD in 2005 as part of the Jane Fonda Collection compilation series.
No comments:
Post a Comment