Game Shows That Crossed The Pond #4 - Fun House

Cards on the table here: for years, for some reason, I was under the impression that Fun House was a Nickelodeon show. Turns out it isn't, but nuts to it I'm going to talk about it anyway. This mid-series break is dragging on and there are weeks that need filling with posts. Plus it's Fun House and it was a building block in the television habits of 90% of the UK population that grew up in the '90s.

First broadcast in the US in September 1988, Fun House was similar to Double Dare in that it featured teams of two taking each other on in a series of messy games, with the winning team taking on a large obstacle course with a prize on offer for obstacles completed. The difference being that the obstacles on Fun House took the form of the titular Fun House which dominated the set.

Gameplay consisted of 3 messy games (one for the boys, one for the girls, and one for them to play as teams) with a question to answer in between. Following that would be a race around a track collecting tokens to boost their score. The team with the most points at this stage would then have a chance to enter the Fun House to win themselves cash and prizes. First sign I'm talking about the US version there, cash. UK regulations mean kids over here can't win money. Between the US and UK formats, it managed to remain virtually identical, even down to the small touches. The twin cheerleaders, the game/question/game pattern, the audience making their way down to the set floor for the end game. So much of the format remained unchanged between the US and UK versions. However, and as I've pointed out before there is one big change with most shows that come across from the US to the UK and that's the energy the UK host of choice brings to the show. J.D. Roth on the US version is a perfectly acceptable host, but like with Finders Keepers he's just a bit lifeless. His introduction, a line which carried over to the UK version, "here's the guy who puts the Fun into Fun House..." feels like bad advertising. 

Before I get onto the UK version and the karts, the gunge and the mullet, There was a spin-off from Fun House the year after it started called 'College Mad House' and as the name would imply, it was teams of college students rather than school age kids. The only reason I want to bring it up is because of the choice of host - Oscar Nominated actor Greg Kinnear, 8 years pre-nomination. You might remember him from films such as Mystery Men, As Good As It Gets, and Ghost Town (and if you've now got Troy McClure in your head, I'm not sorry). The format was the same except it was teams of four rather than two, and the race became a question round, with pies. 

Now the UK version, there's one main reason it was better: Pat Sharp and his luxurious mane. Best known as a DJ up to FH's broadcast on CITV in 1989, he had done some TV work hosting long-running music show 'Top of the Pops' and ITV show 'The Roxy'. He even squeezed in a singing career with fellow DJ Mick Brown, the duo releasing a charity cover single every year from '88-'93, but it was as the host of Fun House where his popularity rocketed. Partnered up with his own twin cheerleaders in Melanie and Martina, the three of them were on the show for its duration between 1989 to 1999. The format was virtually the same as the US version, but the games could be considered messier, and at one point in its run, a pool was built in the studio to expand the possibilities for water-based games.

Over its 10 year run, the Fun House itself had numerous redesigns to freshen it up each year, new obstacles, a new coat of paint, new balloons for the balloon tunnel, but the game stayed the same, the two contestants took turns going in, had to switch and tag in and out after collecting 3 prizes, one on each part of the Fun House. Like the US version, one tag on a random obstacle would secretly be assigned to the big special 'power' prize which could be a holiday or a pair of bikes or just anything more expensive than the base level prizes of a calculator or some record tokens (nothing says early 90's kids show like 'record tokens')

It's wacky, it's fun, it's crazy, and it's the best thing that was ever on CITV. I challenge you America, three reasons our's isn't as good, just try it. Anyone who grew up in the 90's in the UK who hears that music during the Fun House run and says they don't smile and miss it is a dirty, stinking liar. It was replaced by the similarly formatted 'Twister' (gungey games, racing, elaborate set for an end game) which promised to be the gungiest game show on TV, it lied.

Next week: I'm short on good transatlantic formats so I haven't decided yet. I may just pick an adventure game show at random and talk nonsense about it for a bit, I may put some thought into what I'm doing. Or I may just do 'Incredible Games'

What do you mean you don't remember it?