Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak

Host

Bruce Forsyth

Announcers

Rod Roddy (1984) Gene Wood (1985–1986) Marc Summers (1986)

Broadcast

Pilots: 10/19/1984 Test Episode: 12/2/1985 ABC Daytime: 1/6/1986 – 4/4/1986

Packager

Reg Grundy Productions

PILOT SPIEL: "First, the championship’s team: (insert four female contestants), and (insert fifth female contestant). And now, the members of the challenger’s team: (insert four male contestants), and (insert fifth male contestant). The game is… Hot Streak! And here he is, BRUCE FORSYTH!"

SERIES SPIEL: "First, the members of the (championship) (insert gender)'s team: (insert contestants names). And now, the members of the (insert gender)'s team: (insert contestants names). They're here today on Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak! And now, here he is… here's BRUCE FORSYTH!"

Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak (also known as Hot Streak in the '84 pilot) was Pyramid with a twist. It was the only US game show hosted by British personality Bruce Forsyth. This was a retooling of the unsold '83 pilot Party Line.

Gameplay

Two teams of five contestants (one consisting of men, the other consists of women) competed in a battle of the sexes game of word association.

The women are entering the studio.

The men are entering the studio.

In each round, the captain of the team in control chose one of two words presented by the host. The other four team members wore headphones to ensure they couldn't hear the word. Once a word was chosen, the team was given 40 seconds to communicate the word down the line. The team captain would describe the word to the second team member, who, after guessing the word, would then do the same for the third team member. The process is continued down the line until one of the following events happened:

• The team completed the transition down the line (classified as a Hot Streak)
• Time ran out
• A player repeated a clue or a keyword already given
• A player pantomimed
• A player gave an illegal clue in the description such as, saying the word or form of the word, saying part of the answer, giving the form of the repeated word or keyword already given, conveying the essence of the word or gives the initial of the answer in the description.

That thin pink line flashes whenever a clue or keyword has been repeated.

Which word does the current captain of the women's team want to play?

The women are playing the word "TURKEY".

While the men are playing the word "BACHELOR".

In Rounds 1 and 2, each successful transition was worth $100, for a maximum of $400 per round. For Round 3, each correct transition was worth $200, for a possible $800. The maximum grand total for a game was $1,600.

$100 for the men? DARN!

$200 for the women.

A HOT STREAK for the men, bring them to $500.

A HOT STREAK for the women, bring them to $600.

The team with the most money won the game, kept the cash and advanced to the bonus round. If the game ended in a tie, the captain of the champion team was given one final word and opted to play or pass. The team that played the tie-breaker had to score a hot streak to win; failing to do so sent the other team to the bonus round.

A $1000-$1000 tie, let's settle it.

Which team will play this word?

According to this woman's hand gesture, we now know who's playing.

The Bonus Round

A subject was given to the team captain to start, with his/her teammates once again wearing headphones. The captain gave four words associated with the subject, the ones he/she thought were the most obvious. After that, the teammates had 20 seconds (five seconds per team member) to guess the four words provided by their captain. Each word guessed was worth $200. This process was repeated with a second subject worth $300 per correct guess.

For the third and final subject, if the team was able to guess all four words provided by the captain within 20 seconds, their bonus round score was multiplied by five, for a maximum payoff of $10,000. If the team was unable to do so, they added whatever they won in the first parts of the bonus round to their winnings from the main game.

Bring up the bonus round stand.

The stage is set for the bonus round.

Heeeeeeere's the subject the winning ladies' team will be playing.

What four words/phrases/names will she associate with Johnny Carson.

Here they are. Other good choices would have been Art Fern, Carnac, or even NBC. Sorry, ABC!

20 seconds to talkabout Johnny Carson. Wait, that's another show three years later.

One down, three to go.

First two down, last two to go.

Three down, one more to go.

The ladies did it, and that was worth $5,500!

But here's a bigger event; this men's team won $9,000!

For a grand total of $36,000!

Pilot Rules

The pilot bonus was played exactly the same except that the payoffs are different: Subjects #1 & 2 – $300
Subject #3 – 10 times the value

The maximum grand total was $24,000.

Other Pictures

Tickets

Press Photos

The Party Line Pilot

Main article: Party Line (2)

Three pilots for the show were made, with the first from 1983 titled Party Line. It was hosted by Gene Rayburn with Jay Stewart announcing. Forsyth hosted the other two pilots (with Rod Roddy announcing both).

For the most part, the main game was played the same as the other two pilots and series, but contestants earned points instead of money. Ruck Zuck, the German version of this show, used the same scoring format.

However, the bonus round for the first pilot was substantially different from the series and other two pilots. The winning team faced a zigzag line of nine players, and all team members were given the same word. The team captain was given a baton, and with the baton he or she gave clues to each of the nine players, without repeating any clues. If at any time the captain ran out of clues, he/she could pass to the next teammate in line (the process was the same for the other team members). The first transaction was worth $100 and the money doubled for every subsequent transition, up to $25,600. The process lasted for 40 seconds as in the main game.

External links

Party Line Info Page @ xanfan.com
Party Line at The Game Show Pilot Light

International Versions

The following are a list of countries that did their versions of (Bruce Forsyth's) Hot Streak:

• Australia
• Belgium
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Indonesia
• Israel
• Philippines
• Poland
• Russia
• Serbia
• Spain

Additional Note

Both the Spain and Serbian versions of the show (known as Dame Una Pista/Give Me a Clue and Zlatni Krug/Golden Circle respectively) has a mixture of Hot Streak and the popular British game show Give Us a Clue.

Trivia

When the 1986 pilot of Card Sharks was in development, Forsyth was originally considered doing the daytime version. However, this version went to Bob Eubanks instead.

Music

Ray & Marc Ellis

Studio

ABC Television Center, Los Angeles, CA

Rating

Catchphrases

"It's nice to see you, to see you... AUDIENCE: Nice!" - Bruce Forsyth and the Audience – 1986
(NOTE: this phrase was also used on his various game shows in England)

"Hot Streak Round 2 won't start without you!"

Taglines

"Don't wanna be left out, do ya? If you're feeling hot, and wanna streak, then tune in each and every day of the week on Hot Streak. Cheerio!" – Bruce Forsyth, 1986

"Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak is a Reg Grundy Production!" - Gene Wood/Marc Summers – 1986

Additional Page

Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak/Video Gallery

External Links

• Rules for Hot Streak
• Xanfan's Hot Streak Page
• Xanfan's Older Hot Streak Page
• Michael Tiller's Hot Streak Page
• Josh Rebich's Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak Rule Sheet
• Official Pearson site for (Bruce Forsyth's) Hot Streak (via Internet Archive)