Directed by Arthur Forrest Running time approx. 22-26 minutes Final episode date September 1984 Genre Game show | Country of origin United States First episode date 17 September 1983 Presented by Jon Bauman | |
Narrated by Phil Hartman
M.G. Kelly Theme music composer Bruce Gary
Berton Averre Location(s) ABC Television Center
Los Angeles, California Executive producers Alan Landsburg, Ron Greenberg Similar Game show, Match Game‑Hollywood Squares, The Six O'Clock Follies, Fish Police, Gravedale High | ||
The Pop 'N Rocker Game is a syndicated weekly game show produced by Ron Greenberg Productions and Alan Landsburg Productions. The program premiered on September 17, 1983 and aired through September 2014 and combined musical trivia with in-studio performances. Two bands were featured on each episode.
Jon Bauman, better known as Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, hosted without the Bowzer persona. This was the first of two game shows that he hosted; the second, Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, premiered just a few weeks after The Pop 'N Rocker Game. Phil Hartman and M.G. Kelly served as announcers.
Gameplay
Three teenagers competed. Five or six pop music trivia questions were asked; some of them having to deal with visual clues (such as pictures or clips from music videos). Each question was worth $50. After the final question was asked, the performer mentioned in the question would come out and perform a song.
After this performance, the Countdown Round was played. The questions started at $50, and increased by $10 for each question. This continued for 60 seconds. Unlike most other game shows, if Jon was in the middle of reading a question when time runs out, he would finish it and it could still be answered, similar to the BBC game show Mastermind. The contestant in the lead won the game and moved on to the Superstar Round. If the game ended in a two-way tie for first place, or if all three tied, Bauman read one last question, with the person ringing in and answering correctly winning the game.
In the Superstar Round, the contestant had to unscramble the names of bands. Jon would read a clue to each one. If they could unscramble three in 30 seconds, they won a prize package worth over $2,000. After the bonus round, one of the bands mentioned in the bonus round would come out and perform a song.
The show would end with one final song by the first performer.