Acting Crazy

Acting Crazy
Genre	Game show
Created by	Blair Murdoch
Directed by	Floyd Lansing
Presented by	Wayne Cox
Starring	Sue Burge Melody Davies Gary Jones Billy Mitchell Denis Simpson
Narrated by	Terry Reid
Country of origin	Canada
Production
Executive producer(s)	Blair Murdoch
Producer(s)	Jackie Swanson
Location(s)	CKVU-TV Vancouver, British Columbia
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22-26 minutes
Production company(s)	Blair Murdoch Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	Global Television Network
Picture format	SDTV
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	1991 (1991) – 1994 (1994)

Acting Crazy is a Canadian television game show. Hosted by Wayne Cox (who previously hosted Second Honeymoon and Talk About), announced by Terry Reid and produced by Blair Murdoch, the show was shot at the CKVU-TV studios in Vancouver and originally aired on the Global Television Network in 1991. It was brought back in 1994 but it was later put into repeat syndication on Global, Prime Television (now known as TVtropolis). Global and Prime has shown every episode. Currently, GameTV is airing 40 episodes from 1994 in repeat syndication. The format of the show was based on the game of charades.

Rules

Each episode of Acting Crazy featured two teams of four, each having one contestant, one celebrity and two "house players" (recurring players hired by the show), playing several rounds. In each round, one member of each team was brought out onto the centre stage and given a charade to act out to his or her team. Those charades are movie titles, song titles, TV shows, famous people, phrases, places, quotes, and often, wildflowers, etc. That person had one minute to successfully communicate to his/her team whatever (s)he was given. The clock counted up from 0 seconds to 1 minute.

The time it took to complete each charade was added to a score for each team, and at the end of the show, the team which had acted out all of its charades in the fastest aggregated time won a prize for its contestant, and the champion would return the next day to defend against a new player. Should the reigning champion win 5 straight games, he/she would receive a chance to select prizes from the "Acting Crazy Galleria" (also referred to by Wayne as "Blair's Prize Emporium" during the 1994 tapings).

Midway through each episode, the contestants switched teams, taking their times with them, and the last round included a side prize which went to the team who had completed its charade the fastest in that round only. In the first few episodes, the time limit in the final round would be 30 or 45 seconds.

The five house players (of which four would appear on any given show) were Sue Burge, Melody Davies, Gary Jones, Billy Mitchell and Denis Simpson. (Burge and Davis, who are sisters, later competed as one of thirteen teams in the 2001 Travel TV series, The Great Race). Sue Burge and Denis Simpson also appeared as contestants on Talkabout in 1988/89 which was also hosted by Wayne Cox.

Celebrities and contestants on the show stayed at the Century Plaza Hotel in Vancouver in 1991, and the Westin Bayshore Hotel in 1994.

Celebrities who appeared during the 1991-92 tapings

• Nina Blackwood
• Eric Boardman
• Jack Carter
• Jackson Davies
• Micky Dolenz
• Leslie Easterbrook
• Morgan Fox
• Meredith MacRae
• Rip Taylor
• Jimmie Walker
• Jo Anne Worley

Celebrities who appeared during the 1994 tapings

• Jim J. Bullock
• Billy Davis, Jr.
• Jenilee Harrison
• Anna Maria Horsford
• Stu Jeffries (later host of the 1996 Blair Murdoch game show, Love Handles, also shot at CKVU-TV)
• Larry Linville
• Meredith MacRae
• Marilyn McCoo
• Peter Noone
• Sally Struthers
• Marcia Wallace
• Patrick Wayne

All celebrities appeared for ten shows, except MacRae (twenty shows, ten for each appearance) and McCoo, Davis Jr. and Jeffries (who were in a three-celebrity rotation with one another, each appearing for twenty shows, overall).

External links

• Acting Crazy at the Internet Movie Database