Triple Threat

The musical game show where two teams of three players were tested of their knowledge of music, movies & television.

Broadcast
Syndication - October 8, 1988 - October 1, 1989 BET - September 17, 1992 - September 17, 1993

Packager
TPE (Telelvision Program Enterprises)

Hosts
Jim Lange (1988-1989) Alan Hunter (sub host) Spencer Christian (1992-1993)

Announcers
Sam Riddle (1988-1989) John Walker (1992-1993)

Main Game
The two teams in this version consisted of one celebrity guest, his or her relative, and a civilian contestant who played for cash. In all rounds, a song and/or music video was played, and three toss-up questions connected to the song were asked. Each question had four possible answers which were revealed one at a time. A player could buzz-in to take a guess at any time, if there's at least one answer revealed. A correct answer won money for the team. An incorrect answer lost money, at which point the opposing team could take a chance to answer as the remaining answers were revealed. A team also lost money if they buzzed in before any of the answers were revealed; if this happened, all four answers were immediately revealed and the opposing team was given a chance to answer.

Rounds 1 and 2
In the first two rounds, one player from each team representing his/her own generation faced off against each other. In the first round, the songs played were connected to their own generation and correct answers were worth $50 each, while in round two the songs were unrelated to their generation and correct answers were worth $100 each. Three songs were played in each round, one song per pair of players.

Round 3 (Free for All)
The final round of the game was the "Free for All" round, so called because all six players equipped with their own buzzers played this round and could buzz in on every question. A series of songs were played within a set time limit, with each question being worth $200. When time expired, the team with the most money won the game and advanced to the "Triple Threat Relay Round". If the game ends in a tie one final question is played the team that buzzes in with the correct answer wins the game if they are wrong the opponents automatically wins.

Triple Threat Relay Round
The Triple Threat Relay Round was a bonus round played just like a relay race. The winning team was given information about three musical artists involved in this round. Then they were shown up to 13 song titles one by one by host Lange. In turn, each player was given a song title and placed it on the board under the artist to which he/she believed matched the song title. Each artist had three song titles, while the remaining four went into the "Out of Play" columns on either side of the board. When the team placed three song titles under the correct artist, the chasing lights above the artist flashed. Each correct title was worth $100; however, if the team placed nine correct song titles under the three correct artists (three per artist) in 60 seconds or less, their main game winnings were tripled.

BET version
Gameplay was basically the same as the original version, but not without a few changes were made to the format. There were no longer celebrity guests on the teams, civilian families of three competed. In addition, the game was played for points & prizes instead of cash, and the winning family returned as champions to compete on the next show. Having aired on BET, this version focused more on Black-oriented music, TV shows, and movies.

Rounds 1 & 2
One member of each family played per song. Correct answers added points (5 in the first round, and 10 in the second), while incorrect answers lost points and gave the opposing team to answer from the remaining choices.

Round 3 (Free for All)
Using the same rules as the Lange version, all family members competed in the "Free for All" round, with each correct answer being worth 20 points. When the time was up at the end of the round, the family with the most points won a prize package and advanced to the Triple Threat Relay Round.

Triple Threat Relay Round
Aside from cosmetic changes to the board, the Relay Round was played the same as in the original version. Correctly guessing all nine songs for all three artists won a trip to both Disneyland in Anaheim, California and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Winning this round also caused the winning team to retire from the show.

Tournament of Champions
During the last week of this version, a Tournament of Champions was held; the winners won a trip to the Euro Disney Resort (now Disneyland Resort Paris), while the second place family won a trip to Walt Disney World.

Trivia
This was the last game show hosted by Jim Lange.