| Couch Potatoes | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | Marc Summers |
| Narrated by | Joe Alaskey Jim McKrell |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndicated (daily) |
| Release | January 23 – September 8, 1989 |
Couch Potatoes was an American game show that aired in syndication as a midseason replacement from January 23 to September 8, 1989 with reruns airing on USA Network (September 11, 1989 to March 23, 1990). This show was produced by Saban Entertainment in association with Group W Productions.
The show was hosted by Marc Summers and announced by Joe Alaskey (who also appeared on-camera as Summers' "neighbor") and Jim McKrell.
Gameplay
Two teams of three players each competed to answer questions about television shows past and present in a five-round main game. In each of the first two rounds, Summers would ask a "tune-in" (toss-up) question for which anyone could buzz in. A right answer earned 25 "ratings points" and gave the team a chance to answer three "spin-off" questions; but a wrong answer gave the opposing team control. The Spin-Off questions were about a TV show and were also worth 25 points each; however, a given player could only try to answer one Spin-Off, and a wrong answer at any time gave the opposing team a chance to take control of the remaining questions. The third and fourth rounds were played in the same way, but with the point values doubled.
Later in the run, there were six rounds of questions before the Couch-Up: the first three with questions worth 25 points, and 50 for the second three rounds.
Couch-Up Round
In this round, six total questions were asked and one player from each team played at the same time. The point values for the questions were determined by a randomizer, which displayed point values beginning at 50 and increasing by that amount to 200, and "Couch-Up", which gave the trailing team a chance to immediately tie the score with a correct answer. In order to stop the randomizer, one of the contestants had to buzz-in to attempt answering the question.
Whichever team was ahead at the end of this round won the game and $1,000, while the losing team would be "cancelled" and left with parting gifts. If a tie occurred, the next correct answer won the game, regardless of where the randomizer stopped.
Bonus Round: Channel Roulette
The team was presented with a grid of 12 channels, numbered 2 through 13 (representing the standard VHF channels). Eleven of the channels hid still pictures behind them featuring the casts of various television programs. The winning team was given 30 seconds to identify the pictures and, one at a time, chose a channel, revealing the picture and an attached point value, which ranged from 100 to 1,000 points, depending on difficulty. One of the channels was called "Pay TV". If it was picked, the team lost all of the points they had accumulated to that point, but they could still get points back if there was time was left on the clock. Reaching 1,000 points won the team an additional $5,000, while failure to do so in time won them $1 per point.
Players stayed on the show until they won five shows or they were defeated.
Guests
During its eight-month run, Couch Potatoes had numerous celebrity guests on the show; they usually appeared in Round Four asking questions about their career or show. One show featured Jack Larson and Noel Neill, better known as Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane from the 1950s series The Adventures of Superman, asking questions about that classic series. Another notable guest was Gary Coleman, who asked questions about Diff'rent Strokes and mentioned to host Summers he was asked to be the youth chairman for the Just Say No Foundation. During one week, game show celebrities Bob Eubanks, Jim Lange, Janice Pennington, Wink Martindale, Peter Marshall, Johnny Gilbert, and Gary Owens appeared.
Other celebs included Larry Mathews from The Dick Van Dyke Show, Isabel Sanford from The Jeffersons, Dick Sargent from Bewitched, Alaina Reed Hall from 227, and Rebeca Arthur from Perfect Strangers.