Recent from talks
Chain Reaction (game show)
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Chain Reaction (game show)
Chain Reaction is an American television game show created by Bob Stewart, in which players compete to form chains composed of two-word phrases.
The show has been revived four times. Bill Cullen hosted the original series on NBC from January 14, 1980 to June 20, 1980. The second version aired on the USA Network from September 29, 1986 to December 27, 1991, and was hosted first by Blake Emmons and later by Geoff Edwards (who also subbed for Cullen for two weeks on the NBC version). A third version aired on Game Show Network from August 1, 2006 to June 9, 2007, hosted by Dylan Lane. A fourth version also on Game Show Network was announced on January 26, 2015, with Vincent Rubino as executive producer and hosted by Mike Catherwood. Forty episodes were ordered for Catherwood's version, which aired from July 16, 2015 to January 29, 2016. The most recent version, also on Game Show Network, was announced in November 2020, with Mike Richards as executive producer, Ed Egan as showrunner and Lane returning as host, it aired from February 22, 2021 to June 20, 2022.
The game is centered around solving a word-chain puzzle. In 1980, the chain comprised eight words. From 1986 to 2016, it comprised seven words, and in 2021, it comprised six words for the first three rounds and seven in the fourth. The words in the chain are linguistically or logically connected, with both the word at the top and the word at the bottom revealed at the outset.
By making inferences based on the revealed words and the revealed letters in incomplete words, contestants try to fill in the word chains to score points (dollars on Game Show Network). From 1980 to 1991, the team/player that reached the point goal first won the game. Since 2006, the team with the highest money total after the fourth round wins the game. A team can also win the game if at any time their opponents' money total is reduced to zero during the fourth round. Except from 1990 to 1991, the winning team/player then played the bonus round, which varied depending on the series.
The first version of Chain Reaction aired for 23 weeks from January 14 to June 20, 1980 on NBC and was hosted by Bill Cullen, except for two weeks when Geoff Edwards hosted while Cullen was filling in for Allen Ludden on Password Plus. (At that time, Edwards was also hosting Barry-Enright's Play the Percentages). The announcer was Johnny Gilbert.
This version aired at 12:00 noon ET/11:00 AM CT/MT/PT, facing out CBS' The Young and the Restless for the first three weeks, and ABC's The $20,000 Pyramid. However, many affiliates aired local news at that time slot, preempting Chain Reaction. The show was one of three game shows, the others being High Rollers and Hollywood Squares, which were canceled in June 1980 to make room for the 90-minute talk show The David Letterman Show.
Repeats of this version aired for several years on cable, first on CBN Cable from March 29, 1982, to May 4, 1984, then later on the USA Network from September 30, 1985 to the debut of the new version that originated in Canada. Game Show Network aired reruns of this version from October 1997 to April 1998.
Two teams of three competed in each game. A team consisted of one contestant and two celebrity guests. The teams were shown the beginning and ending words of an eight-word chain. Each word is related to the word above it and below it, the connection could be either a word association or a phrase. A sample chain could look like this:
Hub AI
Chain Reaction (game show) AI simulator
(@Chain Reaction (game show)_simulator)
Chain Reaction (game show)
Chain Reaction is an American television game show created by Bob Stewart, in which players compete to form chains composed of two-word phrases.
The show has been revived four times. Bill Cullen hosted the original series on NBC from January 14, 1980 to June 20, 1980. The second version aired on the USA Network from September 29, 1986 to December 27, 1991, and was hosted first by Blake Emmons and later by Geoff Edwards (who also subbed for Cullen for two weeks on the NBC version). A third version aired on Game Show Network from August 1, 2006 to June 9, 2007, hosted by Dylan Lane. A fourth version also on Game Show Network was announced on January 26, 2015, with Vincent Rubino as executive producer and hosted by Mike Catherwood. Forty episodes were ordered for Catherwood's version, which aired from July 16, 2015 to January 29, 2016. The most recent version, also on Game Show Network, was announced in November 2020, with Mike Richards as executive producer, Ed Egan as showrunner and Lane returning as host, it aired from February 22, 2021 to June 20, 2022.
The game is centered around solving a word-chain puzzle. In 1980, the chain comprised eight words. From 1986 to 2016, it comprised seven words, and in 2021, it comprised six words for the first three rounds and seven in the fourth. The words in the chain are linguistically or logically connected, with both the word at the top and the word at the bottom revealed at the outset.
By making inferences based on the revealed words and the revealed letters in incomplete words, contestants try to fill in the word chains to score points (dollars on Game Show Network). From 1980 to 1991, the team/player that reached the point goal first won the game. Since 2006, the team with the highest money total after the fourth round wins the game. A team can also win the game if at any time their opponents' money total is reduced to zero during the fourth round. Except from 1990 to 1991, the winning team/player then played the bonus round, which varied depending on the series.
The first version of Chain Reaction aired for 23 weeks from January 14 to June 20, 1980 on NBC and was hosted by Bill Cullen, except for two weeks when Geoff Edwards hosted while Cullen was filling in for Allen Ludden on Password Plus. (At that time, Edwards was also hosting Barry-Enright's Play the Percentages). The announcer was Johnny Gilbert.
This version aired at 12:00 noon ET/11:00 AM CT/MT/PT, facing out CBS' The Young and the Restless for the first three weeks, and ABC's The $20,000 Pyramid. However, many affiliates aired local news at that time slot, preempting Chain Reaction. The show was one of three game shows, the others being High Rollers and Hollywood Squares, which were canceled in June 1980 to make room for the 90-minute talk show The David Letterman Show.
Repeats of this version aired for several years on cable, first on CBN Cable from March 29, 1982, to May 4, 1984, then later on the USA Network from September 30, 1985 to the debut of the new version that originated in Canada. Game Show Network aired reruns of this version from October 1997 to April 1998.
Two teams of three competed in each game. A team consisted of one contestant and two celebrity guests. The teams were shown the beginning and ending words of an eight-word chain. Each word is related to the word above it and below it, the connection could be either a word association or a phrase. A sample chain could look like this: