THE FACE IS FAMILIAR

	Jack Whitaker (sports commentator)
	Jack Clark
	CBS Broadcast Center, New York
	(CBS) 7-May-66 / 3-September-66

The Face is Familiar was Bob Stewart's first foray into primetime, and it was unfortunately unsuccessful. Face is one of the many BSP games that sound boring on paper, but whose simplicity allows celebrity interaction and a fun game. The game suffered by having a format change early in the run.

[First format] One part (of seven) of a celebrity was shown. A general knowledge statement was read, and the first player to buzz-in with the correct answer revealed another piece of the puzzle revealed and was given a chance to guess the identity of the celebrity. The celebrities played the first question, the civilian contestants played the second question, and they alternated until the puzzle was solved. When all seven parts were revealed, Whatever team identified the celebrity won $150 and played the bonus game.

Three pair of eyes were shown, and the emcee told the celebrity whose lips he/she was to identify. A correct identity was worth $50. The same was done with three pair of lips with the contestant, also worth $50, and the celebrity was asked to identify the nose for $50. If all three answers were correct, the contestant won $500.

[Second format] Two teams, each with one celebrity and one contestant. They would alternate picking a number from 1 to 7 (revealing one-seventh of another celebrity's scrambled face) for their opponents until either the entire picture was revealed or until a team had correctly guessed the face. If the entire picture was revealed before a correct answer, they would continue, in turn, switching two pieces of the face around (i.e. 2 and 6) to help them figure out who the picture was of. Each correct answer was worth $100, two games won the match.

The bonus round was also played using partially-hidden celebrities pictures, but all that the team could see would be the eyes, nose, or mouth. If a team could guess 4 celebrities, the contestant would win $500. Otherwise, he/she would win $50 per correct answer. However, there was a time limit: 60-seconds. The time was shown on a electronic lighted scoreboard (a 7x4 matrix, the same that was used for timing pit stops in very early NASCAR race broadcasts) and superimposed at the bottom of the screen. This would be the only BSP show that would use electronic displays on-air until Chain Reaction, fourteen years later.

EPISODE GUIDE

Thanks to Brandon "Beatmaster" McLaughlin for the celebrity guide!

Unfortunately, not all of the weeks are available, however the fifteen sets show two interesting trends. Firstly, there were many A-level celebrities who, still in 1966, participated on game shows. This was not the case in the mid- to late-70s. Secondly, many of the celebrities are well-known from playing Password, a Goodson-Todman word-association game. By the time The $10,000 Pyramid premiered, most of the regular game show celebrities worked for just one producer (such as Richard Dawson on I've Got A Secret, Match Game 73, and Family Feud and Jan Murray on Break the Bank and Hollywood Connection).

Also, it is believed that the shows were taped six per taping, in three tapings, of which celebrities in the celebrity specials would tape two consecutive programmes.

The Pilot was shot with Betsy Palmer and Bill Cullen as the celebrities, and with Jack Clark hosting. Few differences exist between the pilot and the first format, except that winning the main game was worth $200 instead of $150, and that winning the end game was worth $500 in addition to the $200 from the main game, instead of a $500 total.

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