100% (game show)

100% is a television game show that was shown in the United Kingdom from 31 March, 1997, the day after the inception of its host television station Channel 5, till 24 December, 2001. A Reg Grundy production, it was often billed as "The game show without a host" although it had a presenter, Robin Houston. He read the questions off-screen throughout the show and was never seen by the viewers. The maximum number of shows that were produced in one day was twelve, although the normal recording day saw ten shows being produced. The reason for such a high number was to amortise the production costs.

In its original format, three players would take three seconds or less to push buttons on the set corresponding to the multiple-choice answers of 100 general-knowledge questions.

Although pulling in reasonable ratings for the channel, it was dropped as part of a station revamp just before 2002.

Scores

The original twist to the show was that, throughout the whole game, the players were told the individual scores (as a percentage of the number of questions answered correctly to that point), but not the player to whom those scores belonged. The scores were given to the contestants after 10, 30, 50, 60, 80, and all 100 questions had been asked, as a percentage of the number of questions they had correctly answered. They were also told whether there had been a change in the lead.

Later on, the rules were changed so that the players now knew who had which scores for the first 50 questions. In all cases, the audience could see who had what score and during the last ten questions the scores were displayed on screen after each answer.

Question fields

Originally, the format of the show was that 100 questions would be asked without an overall subject. In its later format, the subject would change every ten questions, with 1–10 and 81–100 being general knowledge. Every fifth question was a true or false question, and question 100 took the form of a ludicrous fact that was almost always true. In the case of a tie, a 101st question, always true or false, was asked, and if both players got it right the faster player to answer won.

Winning

The person with the most questions answered correctly received the nominal sum of £100 and was invited to return as champion in the next show.

The players did not speak at all during each episode, other than to state their names and towns at the start of the show; the winner only responded whether he/she would be able to return.

Transmissions

100%

Specials

100% Gold

Specials

100% Sex

Specials

Foreign versions

Producer Pearson Television (Grundy's parent) brought the show to the United States in January 1999; originally hosted in the 1998 pilot by Mark Henning, the show went to series with Casey Kasem as host. This version offered $10 per correct answer, with a $99,000 bonus to any contestant who managed a perfect score (for a total of $100,000); it was never won during the show's brief run.

The show, which aired on only seven stations (in Seattle, Washington; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; Buffalo, New York; Jacksonville, Florida; and Tampa, Florida) on a limited run, did not last a full season.

A French version of the show called 100% Question aired on France 5 from 19 January 1998 until 27 August 2004.

An Italian version of the show also called 100% aired on La7 from 2001 until 2002.

See also

• Inquizition (a similar US game show that aired on GSN from 1998 to 2001)

References

External links

• 100% at UKGameshows.com.
• 100% at the Internet Movie Database.
• Game Show Pilot Light: 100% (US) pilot