By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
November 16, 1988
(PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas) A woman wearing nothing more than a bikini bottom and a tan walked past a group of men. Instead of trying to get her phone number, they quickly and politely asked her to leave.
As part of the production team for “Hollywood Squares,” their job was to keep the audience’s attention on the stars of the TV game show.
“We really have to be entertaining to hold our audience’s attention because there’s too much competition from the gorgeous weather and women here,” said singer John Davidson, host of the syndicated show. “It’s not like taping in Los Angeles, where we can hold them captive in the studio.”
“Hollywood Squares” made television history last month when it became the first TV game show to travel to a foreign country. The program airs in Chicago at 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday on WPWR-Channel 50. The shows taped in the Bahamas are being shown this week.
The beauty of the Bahamas served as an odd backdrop for the game show. The gigantic, garish tic-tac-toe box in which the celebrities sat certainly looked out of place on the clear beach at Club Med.
But the audience, recruited from hotels in Paradise Island and Nassau, seemed to enjoy seeing personalities such as David Brenner, Robin Leach and Gloria Loring up close. Olympic gold medalists Greg Louganis and Matt Biondi received especially loud cheers when introduced.
“This whole thing just sort of happened for me,” said swimmer Biondi during a break between tapings. “I really didn’t plan on being on a game show or anything. After the Olympics, I had planned on going to the Bahamas for a short vacation. Then the `Squares’ people approached me and said they wanted me to be on. Since I was already going to be here, I said yes.”
Although Hollywood has beckoned, offering roles ranging from Tarzan to Rock Hudson, Biondi said he has no plans to exploit his athletic prowess for an acting career. He said he wants to go for the gold again at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, this time as a water-polo player.
While Biondi said he was having fun performing for “Hollywood Squares,” he added that he didn’t want to make a career of it. He said he doesn’t particularly revel in being recognized.
Louganis is used to being noticed. Considered the best diver ever, he has been a celebrity since winning his first two Olympic gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Louganis is the reigning sports veteran on “Hollywood Squares,” having appeared on the show two times previously.
Accompanied by a personal assistant who “guarded” him from relatively docile autograph seekers and reporters who wanted to ask more than five questions, Louganis proved to be one of the show’s most popular guests. Even when the diver delivered leaden one-liners that must have made David Brenner wince, the audience cheered him without any prodding from the enthusiastic production team.
“I like doing this show because you can be yourself and not worry about sounding stupid,” Louganis said. “It’s a lot of fun on a show like this because there’s a little of everything.”
Actor JM J. Bullock, who has a permanent square on the show, said the program actually is a great showcase.
“Where else can you tell jokes, mug it up for the audience, ad lib and sing?” said Bullock, best known for his role as Monroe on the “Too Close for Comfort” comedy series. “It’s a pretty good way to make a living. Plus, the guests on the show get to interact with one another in a way that’s not possible in a more stringent setting.”
During one taping, Bullock had to sing the Temptations’ “My Girl” over and over for an opening segment. On the fifth try, someone in the audience yelled out, “I don’t think it should be sung so much,” to which Brenner replied, “I don’t think white people should be singing this song at all.”
“Some of our best lines are ad-libbed,” said Brenner, laughing. “We feed off the audience and they know this, which is why I think people enjoy game shows so much. The contestants, the hosts – everybody’s involved in making the show work. That’s why there’s such a market for these programs.”
But even die-hard fans can get cranky, especially when they’re sitting in the hot sun.
For one segment, beach balls were handed out to the audience to create a festive atmosphere. Some people friskily tossed the balls at the celebrities perched in their squares, making the set look like a booth at a carnival.
One fan got singer Samantha Fox to autograph a ball for him, only to be informed by a production assistant that he had to return it. A woman overhearing this shouted out, “If we don’t get to keep the balls, we don’t clap!”
In the end, the audience clapped on cue, returned the props and neatly filed out. Hey, this is television! The show must go on.
