The Hollywood Squares (1966)

The Hollywood Squares
Premiere	October 17, 1966
Finale	June 20, 1980
Creator	Merrill Heatter & Bob Quigley
Host	Peter Marshall
Network/Provider	NBC
Style	30-minute game show
Company	Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley Productions, Filmways Television
Episodes	3570
Origin	USA

The Hollywood Squares is a game show that aired on NBC. It was the first variation of tic-tac-toe to be used on a TV game show since the original Tic Tac Dough. At the time it was canceled in 1980, it was NBC's second longest running daytime game show, behind Concentration.

Nine celebrities are seated in a 3x3 set of lighted cubicles with readouts in front of them, which flash either X or O. Two contestants, one an X and the other an O, in turn select a celebrity who is read a question. The celebrity answers and it is up to the contestant to agree or disagree with the answer. A correct assumption captures that square. A tic-tac-toe (or five captured squares if a tic-tac-toe cannot be made) wins the game and $200. Two games wins a match and the championship. A player retires after five matches and wins a new car as well as everything else won to that point.

One game is set aside as the "Secret Square" game. One celebrity is pre-determined as the Secret Square, and the contestant choosing that star can win a prize package if he/she correctly agrees or disagrees with that celebrity's answer.

The show had come under criticism that the briefing of celebrities about questions and possible bluff and gag answers before airtime amounted to cheating along the lines of the Quiz Show Scandals. Mark Goodson would tell TV Guide that "I could guarantee twice as many laughs on Match Game if I had writers writing all the answers." Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley defended that the show was on the up-and-up with their practice as it is the contestants who have to make the right decisions to make progress on the game board.

Two nighttime editions were produced. The first aired from January to September of 1968 Fridays at 9:30 PM on NBC, the other aired in syndication from 1971 to 1981. A children's edition, The Storybook Squares, aired on NBC Saturday mornings in 1969. It became an element of NBC's 1983 hybrid show The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour. Two more syndicated editions were produced, one by Orion Television from 1986 to 1989 (hosted by John Davidson), the other by King World in association with Sony Pictures Television from 1998 to 2005 (hosted by Tom Bergeron). A new edition of Squares has been greenlit for CBS primetime and will premiere in midseason of 2024-25.

The original Hollywood Squares was produced by Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley Productions in association with Filmways Television. MGM Television, as successor-in-interest to Filmways, is the show's distributor.

Seasons

Season	Premiere	Finale	#
NBC
Season One	October 17, 1966	September 1, 1967	230
Season Two	September 4, 1967	August 30, 1968	260
Season Three	September 2, 1968	August 29, 1969	260
Season Four	September 1, 1969	September 4, 1970	265
Season Five	September 7, 1970	September 3, 1971	260
Season Six	September 6, 1971	September 1, 1972	260
Season Seven	September 4, 1972	August 31, 1973	260
Season Eight	September 3, 1973	August 29, 1974	260
Season Nine	September 2, 1974	August 29, 1975	260
Season Ten	September 1, 1975	September 3, 1976	265
Season Eleven	September 6, 1976	September 2, 1977	260
Season Twelve	September 5, 1977	September 2, 1978	260
Season Thirteen	September 4, 1978	August 31, 1979	260
Season Fourteen	September 3, 1979	June 20, 1980	210

In-Depth

• At a Glance: Additional information about the series

External Sites

• Hollywood Squares Episodes, TV Listings, News, Photos and More at TVGuide.com