Rodeo Drive

Hosts
Peter Tomarken (1980) Louise DuArt (1989-1990)
Announcers
Rod Roddy (1980) Burton Richardson (1990)
Broadcast
Unsold Pilot for Daily Syndication: 10/1980 Pilot: 1989 Lifetime (Daily): 2/5/1990 - 5/4/1990 (reruns aired until 8/31/1990)
Packagers
Jay Wolpert Productions Metromedia Producers Corporation (1980)

1989 PILOT OPENING SPIEL:

DUART: "Hi everybody, I'm Louise DuArt, the name of the show is Rodeo Drive named after the famous street and you know why its famous? the unbelievable money, the unbelievable people, the unbelievable stores. But you know, as unbelievable as all that is it's not near as unbelievable as some of the gossip you can hear there for example:

GOSSIPER #1: Did you know that Willie Nelson's first wife sewed him in a blanket and then left him?

DUART: Get out!

GOSSIPER #1: It's a fact!

GOSSIPER #2: Did you know that Ryan O'Neal once sent a live tarantula to Rona Barrett?

DUART: Are you serious?

GOSSIPER #2: It's a fact!

GOSSIPER #3: Did you know that once when Richard Nixon was on Meet the Press his nose started to grow?

DUART: I think I saw that.

GOSSIPER #3: (Laughter) Just kidding (Laughter).

DUART (doing an impression of Katherine Hepburn): Well sometimes it's hard to tell what's a fact and what's a rumor. Well there's only one place to find out...

DUART (doing an impression of another female celebrity): ...Oh the street of stunning stores and stories...

DUART (back as herself): ...where the glitter meets the dirt, Rodeo Drive!"

1990 SERIES OPENING SPIEL:

DUART: "Hi everybody, I'm Louise DuArt. Thank you, thank you. I've just found out something that's really hard to believe about one of the famous people who shop along the street. (insert statement). Could this be true? Well, we'll find out on the street of stunning stores and stories, where the glitter meets the dirt… Rodeo Drive!" RICHARDSON: "And hoping to stroll down Rodeo Drive today are… (insert hometowns and contestants). And (once again,) here's Louise DuArt!"

Rodeo Drive was a short-lived game show where three contestants played a game all about celebrity gossip based on the world famous Beverly Hills street of the same name.

Gameplay[]

Main Game[]

RD Contestant Area 1 — Here are three contestants ready to play.

Round 1[]

To start, a monitor opened up behind & over the contestants. On that monitor was a game board with seven hidden words (ten in the pilot) connected to a famous celebrity past or present.

On his/her turn, the contestant chose a number from 1 through 7/10. The word was revealed to the home audience as well as his/her two opponents, after which the opponents predicted in secret whether the contestant in control would say the word or not. (Upon a word choice, announcer Burton would tell the home viewers what the word was and how it was associated with the celebrity.) The contestant in control had 15 seconds to "do some gossiping" – in other words, to describe the celebrity as much as possible. If the contestant said the chosen hidden mystery word in 15 seconds they won a hidden point value next to that word (anywhere from 100 to 250 points based on the difficulty of the word). If he/she couldn't, the contestant still received five points for each of the remaining six words that they did say. Then the other players' predictions were revealed and a correct prediction was worth 50 points. Play continued until all three contestants had described one celebrity and predicted twice.

If two players were tied at the end of the round, a toss-up true or false statement about a celebrity was read. The first player to buzz-in with correct answer scored one point (preventing any further ties involving that player) and the advantage in Round 2. An incorrect answer automatically gave the opponent the point and the advantage.

Round 2: Fact or Rumor[]

The contestants were rearranged and seated from left to right in order of how they finished the first round. In this round host DuArt read a series of statements about celebrities, each one being either a fact (a true statement) or a rumor (a false statement). Play started with the first-place player and guessed if the statement given was a fact or a rumor. A correct answer earned that player 100 points and he/she kept control, but an incorrect answer passed control to the second-place player. That player continued answering questions until he/she missed, at which point the third-place player gained control. An incorrect answer from the third-place player gave control back to the first player.

During this round, host DuArt would also do her famous voice impersonations, appropriate to that question's subject, more often if the answer was wrong.

In the pilot, the round played to a point goal of 1200 points. After the first 12 questions, the point value doubled to 200 points. The first player to reach the goal of 1200 points was the winner.

In the series, the round lasted for approximately seven minutes. When two bells rang, it was a two-minute warning, and when more bells rang, the round and the game was over. The player with the most points at the end of the game was the winner. If the game ended in a tie, a tiebreaker similar to that used in Round 1 was used to determine a winner.

The winner of the game became the champion, won $500 and went "Window Shopping & Eavesdropping" down Rodeo Drive for thousands of dollars in cash and prizes.

Rodeo Drive (Bonus Round)[]

Before going to Rodeo Drive in the series, the championship player was asked five more questions to increase the money deposited in the Rodeo Drive bank with the basic starting amount being $1,000. On each question, host DuArt gave a choice of two celebrity names. Sometimes the answer could be one of the celebrities; other times the answer could be both. Each correct answer added $200 more to the bank.

After the second commercial break, the winning contestant (along with Louise) went strolling down Rodeo Drive which consisted of four stores, (The Gift Shop, The Jewelry Store, The Home Shop, and the Electronics Store), and the bank. On each store, the winning contestant would overhear some gossip about a celebrity. If the contestant could guess who was being talked about, he/she moved on to the next store. If the contestant could pass all four stores and the bank in 60 seconds or less, he/she won all four prizes and all the money in the bank. If the contestant couldn't do that when time ran out, he/she still won a choice of any of the prizes from the stores passed. The bank value carried over to the next show if the champion failed to win the Bonus Round. Either way, the contestant returned to play the next show as champion (up to five shows).

1980 Pilot Rules[]

Main Game[]

Round 1[]

The contestants were each given a $500 stake to start. Peter read three statements about celebrities which were either fact or rumor. Fact meaning true, rumor meaning false. On each question, the contestant bet in secret either $100, $200 or $300 and then locked in their fact or rumor guess. Correct answers added the bet. Incorrect answers deducted the bet.

Round 2[]

This round was played the same way as the 1990 series. More fact or rumor questions were asked, but at a rapid-fire pace. The players took turns trying to build up their scores toward the goal of $1,500. Each correct answer was worth $100 and the first player to reach $1,500, won the game and went shopping on Rodeo Drive.

Bonus Round[]

The winning player shopped at various stores on the street. The object of the game was to collect at least $2,500 in prizes.

End-of-Show Disclaimer[]

"The views and opinions of contestants on "Rodeo Drive" are solely their opinions and views and not necessarily statements of fact nor do they necessarily reflect those of the program, its producers, the broadcasting company, its stations or their sponsors."

Music[]

Chip Lewis

Inventors[]

Jay Wolpert, Randall Neece, and Roger Speakman

Studio[]

CBS Television City, Hollywood, CA

Trivia[]

Despite not making it on the air, this was the first game show both Roddy and Tomarken worked together on. The second was Hit Man and their third and final show was the famous Press Your Luck (both started in 1983).
The 1989 pilot had no announcer since DuArt does the opening spiel herself.
This show premiered on the same day as the new Supermarket Sweep (Ruprecht), with the latter running for several more years.
The sound used for a correct answer in the first two rounds was also used on The Price is Right, while the sound used for an incorrect answer was also used on Family Feud. The bell used to signal the end of the second round and for a correct answer in the bonus round was previously used on Whew! and Blackout.