The Smart Alecks



The Smart Alecks was a non-broadcast pilot panel game show.

Broadcast
Unaired 1976-77?

Host
Allen Ludden

Consultant
Howard Marylander

Panel
Don Meredith, Pat Carroll, David Letterman

Gameplay
The show had three "contestants", who were actually inventors who had some invention they wanted to show off and get to the market. On this episode, the inventions included a "husband caller", recipes for crickets and a snoring reduction device. Since Invention Submission Corporation was not advertising on The Price is Right in the mid-70s, they would have to settle for this. The inventor would be questioned by each of the celebrities, after which the celebrities then gave a small speech of their opinions to "the people panel", a panel of ten people from the audience.

This panel determined the "score" for the contestants. Each member gave a score between 0 and 50 based on three categories — necessity, practicality, marketability. The cumulative scores were then read by a marketing executive, Howard Marylander, who really had no purpose on the show. This cumulative score (usually in the high three digits), was then converted to dollars on a one-to-one basis and given to the contestant.