The Generation Gap

Hosts
Dennis Wholey (1968–April 1969) Jack Barry (April–May 1969)
Announcer
Fred Foy
Broadcast
Pilot: 10/1968 ABC Primetime: 2/7/1969 – 5/23/1969
Packagers
Castle-Drive Productions for Norton-Simon/Talent Associates

"Tonight on The Generation Gap, how much does the older generation know about our special guests tonight: (insert guest here)? How much does the younger generation know about (insert topic here)? Test yourselves on The Generation Gap! The Generation Gap, in color! Now, here's the star of The Generation Gap, Dennis Wholey/Jack Barry!"

The Generation Gap was a game show about how much people know about other people's generations.

Gameplay[]

Two teams of three contestants competed in this 16-week primetime program. One team consisted of contestants 30 and older (dubbed "The Older Generation"), and the other team featured contestants in their teens and twenties (known as "The Younger Generation").

Individual questions were asked to each member of each team. The questions were about the opposing generation (i.e. "The Younger Generation" was asked about old times, and "The Older Generation" was asked about something for the youngins). At first, each correct answer was worth 20 points, but the opposing team was asked to predict whether the player on the team in control would be able to answer the question or not, with each correct prediction earning 5 points. By the sixth episode, each correct answer scored 25 points and the opponents no longer predicted the outcome. At the end of each round (each of which contained four questions), all six players played the "Cross Generation" round in which all questions were toss-ups and were under a specific category. Each question was worth 10 points (added when the buzz-in player was right & subtracted when the buzz-in player was wrong). Only one player could answer each question, so the first player to buzz-in was the only one who could win or lose.

Three rounds were played, and the team with the most points at the end of the game were the winners, and each member of that team received their winning score in cash. The losing team only shared their final score in cash.

Trivia[]

Dennis Wholey hosted the show for the first ten episodes; then starting with the 11th episode, burned quiz show host Jack Barry took over the helm. It was his first show since the quiz show scandals, which turned out to be successful. Following his time on The Generation Gap less than two years later, Barry revived his company (but without his longtime partner Dan Enright), and produced & hosted The Reel Game for the same network, for the next 16 weeks.

On the March 28 episode, Jonathan Frid was a special guest as the character Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows. Frid appeared again the following week (April 4) as a contestant for "The Older Generation", alongside comedian Soupy Sales.