| Host | |
| Michael Jackson (Radio Personality) | |
| Announcer | |
| Charlie O'Donnell | |
| Celebrities | |
| Heather Thomas & Woody Harrelson | |
| Word Authorities | |
| Tony Pandolfo & Laurie Huggins | |
| Taped | |
 | |
| Packagers | |
| Katie Face Productions The Guber/Peters Company | |
| Planned Distributor | |
| Guber/Peters Television | |
This is an article for the 1990 pilot. For the 1974 pilot, see Countdown (1).
"Let's start the Countdown now. Today's celebrity players are from The Fall Guy, Heather Thomas. And Cheers star, Woody Harrelson. And now, here's the host of Countdown, Michael Jackson!"
This version of Countdown was an unsold pilot for a proposed American version of the long running British show of the same name which in turn was originally based on the French version called Des Chiffres et des Lettres (Numbers and Letters). However, there were no mathematics rounds.
Gameplay[]
Two teams, each with one celebrity competed in a series of rounds involving forming words from a series of nine letters.
Letter tiles are arranged face-down into two piles; one all consonants, the other vowels. The contestant picks a pile, Huggins reveals the top tile from that pile and it appears on a computerized board (similar to the ones on Scrabble & Caesars Challenge) as opposed to a hand operated board in England. A selection of nine tiles is generated in this way, and must contain at least three vowels and four consonants. Then, the 30 second clock is started and both teams have that time to come up with the longest word they can make from the available letters. Each letter may be used only as often as it appears in the selection.
All four players write down the words they have found during the round, in case they have the same one. The players may confer, but each player comes up with an individual word and shows them Match Game-style at the end of the 30 seconds. After the 30 seconds are up, the players declare the length of their chosen word, with the player who selected the letters declaring first. If either player has not written their word down in time, (s)he must declare this also. The words are then revealed. If either player has not written their word down, that is revealed first; otherwise, the shorter word is shown first. The teams score one point for each letter in both words, up to a maximum of 9. In addition, if at any point, a team comes up with a nine letter word, the civilian player wins $25,000 (unknown whether it's for every word, or a one-time bonus). If a contestant offers an invalid word then they score no points. If the second player reveals the same word as the first, this must be proved by showing the word to the other contestant. Finally, the two word authorities (Tony & Laurie) reveal the best word they could find from the selection, aided by the production team.
In Round Three, only eight letters are pulled. The ninth letter is wild, like a blank in Scrabble. Also, dividers were put into place as players were not allowed to confer in this round.
The team with the most points wins the game. It is unknown what would have happen in case of a tie.
Bonus Round: "Countdown Scramble"[]
The team has 45 seconds to solve seven scrambled words (four, five, six, seven, seven, eight and nine letters long). All words had something in common, like "At the Movies". Getting each word was word was worth $200 and getting all seven paid the contestant $10,000.
As in Pyramid, the players switch partners, and another game is played, with the player with the most money returning the next day. If the players tied, both would return the next day.
International Versions[]
Countries that have previously aired their versions of Countdown including:
Australia
Belgium (Dutch language only)
Denmark
France (Country that originated the program as Des Chiffres et des Letters)
Greece
Israel
Italy
The Netherlands
Sweden
Serbia
South Africa
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom (Country that has originally aired their version as Countdown)
Yugoslavia
Production Slate[]
Trivia[]
The host shares his name with the King of Pop who has since passed away on June 25, 2009.
Kate Face Productions was a production company founded by Taxi & Who's the Boss? star Tony Danza. He named it after his daughter.
Music[]
It used the music from the British version, by Alan Hawkshaw.
Inventor[]
Based on the French show Des chiffres et des lettres by Armond Jammot.
Rating[]
Links[]
Countdown (1990) at The Game Show Pilot Light