Shopping Spree (2)

"What if every time you went window shopping, someone came along right after you and bought you everything you wanted? Sounds like a dream, we know. But dreams come true, on SHOPPING SPREE! And now here's the the host of Shopping Spree... RON PEARSON!"

The two year old shopping game show where contestants shopped for prizes for their partners whom they've never met before.

Main Game
Before the show, two contestants (one from each team) each picked the one prize from a choice of four they each like to have from each of the six stores on a fictional street on stage. They wore clues about themselves to help their partners whom they've never met get them those prizes.

At the beginning of each half of the game, the contestant in control and host Pearson stood on the "town square" (the contestant stood on a pedestal) and went over the items the contestant is wearing. When they were done, the "strangely-dressed" contestant was asked to strike a pose after the count of three afterwhich the partner was brought out. The partner was given 20 seconds to analyze the items on the contestant who is still posing. When the 20 seconds expired, the contestant was released from his/her pose, stepped off the pedestal and met his/her partner for the first time.

When all said and done, a clock was set depending on who's turn it is (for the first team counted up, and for the second team it counted down from the time set by the first team). Now when Ron said "GO!" the partner's job is to run to each of the six stores one at a time and picked a prize he/she thought was what the "strangely-dressed" contestant wanted. After choosing each prize, the partner ran back to the "town square" and showed the prize he/she chose. If the prize is correct, he/she dumped it in the shopping bag and ran to the next store; but if the prize is incorrect, host Pearson read a clue about the right prize to the partner whom ran back the store he/she's currently on to try again. Once the partner chose the right six prizes, the clock stopped, and then the second team would try to beat the amount of time the first team took to do the shopping.

Denise/Dennis DuJour
In the first half of the game after going over the clues, a randomly selected member of the studio audience (whom was given the name "Denise DuJour" in case of a female, but in the case of males it was "Dennis DuJour") modeled the six stores in play for that day's show.

Second Season Rules

 * The "strangely-dressed" contestant posed after the partner came out. The identity of the contestant's pose was revealed to the home & studio audience. The partner guessed what the pose was (host Pearson made a funny guess) before the 20 second inspection. When posing, giving away too much of a hint incurs a 10 second penalty.
 * If the runner got all six prizes right without a miss, the team won $500 (never won).

The object of the game is to shop for the right six prizes in a faster time than the opposing team. The first team who won the coin-toss backstage before the show sets the time, while the second team tried to beat the time. The team with the faster time won the game. The partner of the winning team won a $500 shopping spree, while the "strangely-dressed" contestant kept all the prizes chosen by him/her at the start. The winning team also won a chance to play the bonus round called "The Birthday Party" for a cash prize, plus a fabulous vacation.

The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party was a bonus game where the winning team shopped for seven gifts related to seven celebrities.

Denise/Dennis DuJour's Double-Up Derby
Midway into the first season before going to the Birthday Party, the winning team played a special game affecting the grand cash prize called "Denise/Dennis DuJour's Double-Up Derby". Before the show, that's day's Denise/Dennis chose which prize from one of today's stores (Tojour Dujour in season two, replacing the fifth store) he/she most like to have. Denise/Dennis came out while announcer Burton Richardson read a description about that day's Denise/Dennis. When all said and done, the winning team pointed the to prize they thought Denise/Dennis picked. The prize Denise/Dennis picked was then revealed (by virtue of a shot of Denise/Dennis zooming out onto the selected prize), and if the winning team was correct, the value of the cash prize was doubled and that's day's Denise/Dennis won that chosen prize. Win or lose, Denise/Dennis won a $100 salary.

Main Bonus Game
The three parts of the set turned 180 degrees from the town shopping center to reveal the Birthday Party. The left side revealed the playing area, the center piece held a large representation of a birthday cake, and the right side showed "The Birthday Board" which was a purple wall of 12 to 14 items. The items were gone over by host Pearson who would sometimes do a crazy act with some of the items. Now the winning team had 75 seconds (1:15) to shop for the seven celebrity guests of honor. One team member shopped for the gifts while the other wrapped and delivered the gifts. A caricature of a famous celebrity (real or fictional, past or present) would appear at the head of a table, then the shopper took down an item from the board that he/she thought was connected to the celebrity in some way (for example, the letter "E" would be connected to Vanna White) and threw it to the wrapper. If the wrapper disagreed, he/she threw it back, but if the wrapper agreed, he/she then placed it in the box and slid it down the table to the celebrity. If the gift was correct, it was accepted, dropped into the prize pile and another celebrity appeared; if not, the celebrity would "reject" that gift and push it back. The team could pass on a celebrity, however that celebrity may come back to "haunt them", in other words they would go back to that celebrity if they have the time. In season two, the shopper cannot cross a yellow line, if and when that happened, the team was assessed a five second penalty. Each correct gift was worth $100, and getting all seven right before the time expired won each player on the winning team a trip and $2,000 ($1,000 for each player), but if the team won the Double Up Derby, the cash prize was $4,000 ($2,000 for each player).

Music
Al Kasha & Mark Nordstrom

Inventor
Jay Wolpert

Trivia

 * The "strangely-dressed" contestants first stood in front of the door of the Ice Cream Parlor at center stage with their backs to the audience. This coincided with the end of the animated opening sequence, in which two window-shopping cartoon girls had their backs to the camera when it zoomed out to show a whole animated version of the street. The cartoon disappeared Bonanza-style (except with magic balls) to reveal the set, the computer-animated logo attached to a hot air balloon crossed the screen (it would cross again going into the third & final commercial break), and the contestants spread out to either side of the street to make room for Pearson's entrance through the ice cream parlor door. In season two, the cartoon girls appeared again below the phrase "We'll be right back" on a shade on a door of the general store to which the day's Denise/Dennis DuJour lowered going into the first break (on show's without the Double-Up Derby it the second commercial break); the first season had the show's logo on the shade.
 * When entering and exiting the set, contestants would go through the Ice Cream Parlor at center stage. The "store" had hidden doors on the side for contestants to enter and exit through; those doors would be locked shut for the "Birthday Party" reveal.
 * Late in the first season (mostly in the second team's run) and in all of the second season, we saw the shopping bag, the show's logo but in a different pattern (to which all the correct prizes go in) slide in from stage right in front of the "town square"; the bag zoomed in going into the second commercial break. Occasionally it was shown again in front Denise/Dennis whenever there was a bonus grand prize involved.
 * During the Double Up Derby in later episodes, that's day's Denise/Dennis held a cue card with a joke response after host Ron Pearson explained about the $100 salary prize for him/her (the first team while sitting on a bench also held a cue card to show everyone the time it took them to complete their round).
 * The birthday cake in the first season had flame-like light bulbs. When the show returned for a second season, the bulbs were replaced with strobes (a common feature on certain game shows).
 * Also in Season 2 new sound effects were used.
 * At the end of all episodes, Ron Pearson juggled things (Ron is a real life professional juggler) and sometimes balanced things on his nose. Occasionally, he would do crazy stunts using items from the Birthday Board (the winning team and that day's Denise/Dennis DuJour could also join in).

Taglines
"Next time we'll have another street jammed with prizes, and another Birthday Party. Party, shopping, all in a half-hour. I'm coming back to watch, and I hope you will too. Buh-bye everybody." - Ron Pearson, Shopping Spree, (early 1st season)

"Tomorrow, will be today all over again except even more exciting. (I don't know how it's gonna happen; and as Humphrey Bogart sort've said, "If your heart can take it, so can ours." So play it again) next time on Shopping Spree. Buh-Bye everybody." - Ron Pearson, Shopping Spree, (rest of 1st season)

"Tomorrow, we'll have brand-new games, brand-new prizes, brand-new contestants, same old host. Hey, 3 out of 4 ain't bad. See you next time on Shopping Spree. Buh-bye, everybody." Ron Pearson, Shopping Spree, (2nd season)

Links

 * The Unoffical Shopping Spree Homepage
 * Rules for Shopping Spree
 * Host Ron Pearson's Official Website

YouTube Video
Clip of the Birthday Party round