The Reel to Reel Picture Show

Host
Peter Marshall
Announcer
Bill Armstrong
Broadcast
PAX (Daily): 8/31/1998 – 10/2/1998
Packager
Til' Productions

"It's The Reel to Reel Picture Show, from Universal Studios Florida, where today, two contestants and their Movie Star partners play for fabulous prizes, and their chance to win a Movie Vacation of a Lifetime. And here's the star of The Reel to Reel Picture Show, Peter Marshall."

The Reel to Reel Picture Show (also known as Reel-to-Reel) was a short-lived game show based on a Canadian board game of the same name. This show was cancelled after the production company went bankrupt.

Gameplay[]

Main Game[]

Two teams, consisting of one civilian and one celebrity, competed.

Round 1[]

The civilian on the first team pushed a button which randomly selected one of six categories and a point value (either 100, 250, or 500 depending on difficulty). Marshall would ask them a question in that category; getting it right won the points, while getting it wrong did not penalise the team. The second team repeated the process.

Some of the questions were special "Take Two" questions. If the team got the first question right, they were then asked a second question related to the first for double the point value. If they were wrong, they lost the value of the first question.

The round ended with each team getting three questions worth 300 points apiece, with the third question being a "true/false" or "yes/no" question about the opposing team's celebrity. After this, the team in the lead got a small prize.

Round 2: Director's Chair[]

Six categories were given, and the trailing team selected one. They were then asked six questions in that category (increasing in value from 100 to 200, 400, 800, 1,000, and 2,000 points). The process was repeated with the second team. The team in the lead after this round won the game, received a bigger prize, and advanced to the bonus round.

Bonus Round[]

The winning team was asked six questions. Each correct answer contained a clue to a famous person, movie character, or title. However, an incorrect answer or run out of time forfeited the clue to the correct answer. After the six questions were asked, the remaining clues that they were correct were revealed, and they had ten seconds to solve the puzzle. A correct solve won a trip.

Cancellation[]

PAX ordered 200 episodes (40 weeks) of Reel-to-Reel, which would have taken the series through June 4, 1999. Despite the order, the production company – TIL – was having financial problems while tapings proceeded and ceased production after five weeks (25 episodes) had been filmed. No contestants, celebrity guests, or staff (including host Marshall and announcer Armstrong) received any payment or prizes from the producers.

Pics[]

The Set[]

Screencaps[]

Merchandise[]

The show was based on a Canadian board game by Daisy Reel in 1995, rather than vice-versa (note the copyright). Before the Bonus Round, Peter showed the game to the home audience (as depicted below) and gave a toll-free number (1-800-600-9676) to order.

A companion quiz book was released by Check Point Publications in 1998.