User:JimmySand9/SandboxWDTK

What Do They Know? was an American television game show that aired on NBC from September 7, 1987 to May 6, 1994. It was hosted by Peter Tomarken and announced chiefly by Johnny Gilbert.

What Do They Know? involved known personalities (though not necessarily entertainers) answering questions challenged to them by contestants, in which a correct answer wins the challenging contestant money.

The show was notable for being one of NBC's longest running game shows, as well as for being the last game show to ever air on NBC's daytime lineup.

Main Game
Two contestants compete with seven celebrity guests. Six categories are shown, each in cryptic, humorous form (a la Pyramid). Contestants take turns selecting a category and a celebrity. The host then asks the celebrity a question from that category (and if necessary, what the category is about). If the celebrity answers correctly, the constestant is awarded cash, $300 in round 1, and $500 in round 2. Contestants are also barred from selecting that celebrity again until the next round. If the celebrity is incorrect, no money will be awarded, but the celebrity may be selected again until they answer correctly. Categories are changed at the beginning of round two.

Bonus Categories
Hidden behind some categories were bonuses. Some bonuses were just bonus prizes or cash not involving the outcome, though some others could potentially change the outcome of the game.

Bet Round
At the end of the game, contestants make a wager, select a celebrity, and pick one of three final categories, which are always either People, Places, and Things. Each category is also assigned an odd, either 1:1, 2:1, or 3:1 (higher odds denoting a more difficult category). If the celebrity challenged is correct, the contestant wins the wager multiplied by the category's odds. If the celebrity challenged is incorrect, the contestant loses just the wager, regardless of the odds. Whichever player has the most money wins the game, the money won, and the opportunity to play the Interceptor round. The losing contestant also got to keep any money won.

The Interceptor Round
The Interceptor round was the show's bonus round. The round was always played for a new car, though the cars on offer varied in value, sometimes greatly, from day to day.

The winning contestant selects one celebrity to play the round. The contestant and celebrity then are then given three categories (this time in straight-forward format), on which they may confer and decide on together. The celebrity is then given 45 seconds to answer 6 long-form questions (such as those used in the Fame Game on Sale of the Century, another Grundy show). If the celebrity thinks they know the answer, he or she will hit their plunger to stop the clock and answer. The contestant also has a plunger, called the Interceptor, and is also allowed to answer the question. If an incorrect answer is given, a 5 second penalty is incurred. In addition, if the contestant answers incorrectly, their Interceptor plunger is turned off for the rest of the round, though this does not apply to the celebrity's plunger. If 6 correct answers are given, regardless of who answers them, the contestant wins a new car. There were no returning champions.

History
The show premiered on September 7, 1987, after three pilots were produced, one produced with eventual host Peter Tomarken, as well as one with Wink Martindale, and one with Bill Rafferty. The choice of host was made in an unusual way, NBC preferred Bill Rafferty, while people at Reg Grundy Productions were pushing for Wink Martindale. They eventually compromised by picking the odd one out, which was Peter Tomarken, who actually tested best in later focus groups.

The show was an immediate success. It consistently ranked among the top 5 daytime shows in it's first few seasons, and even in the show's final year it was cleared by more than 95% of NBC's affiliates, despite the growing desire of stations to preempt network daytime shows in order to air syndicated fare.

Theme weeks
Over the years, Scrabble had several special weeks, including Teen Week, College Week, and others, as well as a few Tournaments of Champions and a $100,000 All American Tournament.

Once in 1987, and again in 1988, the series aired "Game Show Hosts Week". Participants for the first such week were Peter Tomarken, Marc Summers, John Davidson, Tom Kennedy, Bill Rafferty, and Jamie Farr. The latter two would return in 1988, joined by Vicki Lawrence, Jim Lange, Wink Martindale, and Jeff MacGregor.

Although Farr was not technically a game show host, he did substitute for Tom Kennedy on Wordplay. Farr had also hosted a Mark Goodson pilot titled Oddball for the same network.

Marc Summers hosted during the 1987 week when Chuck Woolery played segments of the game (and earned $12,000 for a home viewer).

Episode status and reruns
All episodes still exist. FremantleMedia and Hasbro (who holds the rights to the game itself) currently own the rights to the series as well as any future revivals. Reruns aired on USA Network from September 16, 1991 to October 13, 1995 (with the exception of a brief period from February 6 to April 14, 1995). The short-lived 1993 revival has not been rerun since cancellation.