Showdown

1 9 6 6 (USA)
30 minute episodes

Debuting on 4 July 1966, this NBC Monday-to-Friday daytime game show was hosted by the brusque, authoritative Joe Pyne – then known as the confrontational host of controversial syndicated talk shows on TV and radio.

Pyne needled two teams of three contestants (“Lady, your hair looks like unborn linoleum!”) as they competed to answer a series of questions. Selecting an incorrect answer from four possibilities resulted in the person who had been wrong dropping from his or her seat onto the floor.

Two contestants didn’t know what “monogamy” meant, while another thought that Mickey Rooney wrote Little Women . . .

A trio of tousled gap-toothed pre-teen rock musicians called The Bantams were on hand to provide occasional musical clues.

Many of Pyne’s acerbic comments were reserved for the group. At one stage, he told them to go back to their cave!

The group consisted of three Kirchner brothers – Mike (12) on guitar, Jeff (10) on bongos and Fritz (9) on bass.

This Heatter-Quigley Productions game was replaced in October by another offering from the same company – the long-running Hollywood Squares.

Host
Joe Pyne
The Bantams
Themselves