The Hollywood Squares: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

The Holllywood Squares was a game show that has nine stars seated in a tic-tic-toe game board. The stars were asked questions, and they either gave the correct answer or a bluff. Contestants either agreed or disagreed with the star's answer. A right judgment placed his/her symbol in the star's square but an incorrect answer placed the opponent's symbol unless it was a win situation. The first player to get tic-tac-toe (three stars in row) was the winner. If the entire game board filled up, the person that got 5 squares became the winner. Secret Squares are also added where a correct response awards the contestant numerous prizes regardless if they are the winner of the game. It was afforded a 1968 Prime Time version, with a First Run syndicated version added in 1971. The following year, it was expanded from one episode per week to two. After NBC canceled its daytime version, they moved to Las Vegas and made a 5 day per week First Run Syndication series. All the syndicated episodes were played in the same recording which required an alarm to sound so they know when to wrap things up. This was officially called The Tacky Buzzer because the sound effect is comical. Peter Marshall hosted while most Center Square positions were given to Paul Lynde.

Series details

• Title: The Hollywood Squares
• Format: Game Show
• Language: English
• Premiere date: 1966-10-17
• Final broadcast date listed: 1980-06-16
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: NBC
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 30 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 16296
• IMDb ID: tt0059995
• TVDB ID: 74088

Cast and credited roles

• Peter Marshall — Host

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1966-10-17; final listed air date 1967-08-28.
• Season 2: premiered 1967-09-04; final listed air date 1968-09-06.
• Season 3: premiered 1968-09-02; final listed air date 1969-08-25.
• Season 4: premiered 1969-09-01; final listed air date 1970-08-31.
• Season 5: premiered 1970-09-07; final listed air date 1971-08-30.
• Season 6: premiered 1971-09-06; final listed air date 1972-08-28.
• Season 7: premiered 1972-09-04; final listed air date 1973-08-27.
• Season 8: premiered 1973-09-03; final listed air date 1974-08-26.
• Season 9: premiered 1974-09-02; final listed air date 1975-08-25.
• Season 10: premiered 1975-09-01; final listed air date 1976-08-30.
• Season 11: premiered 1976-09-06; final listed air date 1977-08-29.
• Season 12: premiered 1977-09-05; final listed air date 1978-08-28.
• Season 13: premiered 1978-09-04; final listed air date 1979-10-08.
• Season 14: premiered 1979-09-03; final listed air date 1980-06-16.

Source and licence

Adapted from The Hollywood Squares on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.