Grand Slam (US Game Show)
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''Grand Slam'' is an American
game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
based on the British series of the same name. Unlike the British series, which was played as a regular quiz show, the American version was conducted as a super-tournament featuring contestants who had appeared on other game shows. ''Grand Slam'' aired on GSN for eight episodes from August 4, 2007 to September 8, 2007.
Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American political commentator, stand-up comedian, talk show host, writer, actor and former sportscaster. Miller was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' fro ...
and
Amanda Byram Amanda Byram (born 16 June 1973) is an Irish television presenter and former model, best known for co-presenting BBC One game show ''Total Wipeout'' with Richard Hammond, the Irish version of ''Dancing with the Stars'' on RTÉ1 and for hosting ...
hosted the program and provided commentary between rounds. The questions were asked by
Pat Kiernan Patrick Kiernan (born November 20, 1968) is a Canadian-American television host, appearing as the morning news anchor of NY1 since 1997. He is widely known in New York City for his "In the Papers" feature, in which he summarizes the colorful co ...
, who was never seen on camera. The series was produced at
Sony Music Studios Sony Music Studios was an American music recording and mastering facility in New York City. The five-story building was a music and broadcasting complex located at 460 W. 54th Street, at 10th Avenue, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhat ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
by Embassy Row Productions in association with
Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...
and GSN. The 74-game ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
'' champion
Ken Jennings Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) is an American game show host, former contestant, and author. He is best known for his work on the syndicated quiz show ''Jeopardy!'' as a contestant and later its host. Jennings was born in Edm ...
won the ''Grand Slam'' tournament, defeating
Ogi Ogas Ogi Ogas is an American writer and computational neuroscientist. As of May 2016, he is a visiting scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he serves as Project Head for the Individual Mastery Project. Ogas is also known for his ...
in the final round.


Premise

The program featured 16 of the biggest winners in United States game show history in a
single-elimination A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
tournament. The contestants were seeded by the amount of money they won on their original show(s). The winner took home the $100,000 Grand Prize and a crystal trophy.


Gameplay

The contestants faced off against each other in a rapid-fire style series of questions. There were four rounds of questioning: General Knowledge, Numbers and Logic, Words and Letters, and "Mixed" (questions from all of the previous categories). Exclusively for the final match, a fifth "Contemporary Knowledge" round was added as round #3, between "Numbers and Logic" and "Words and Letters." In each round, the players were given one minute on their clocks, and the first contestant (determined by coin toss for the first round where the loser goes first, alternates for each subsequent round) was asked a question by the off-camera "Questioner," and his or her clock started counting down. The timing mechanics were similar to those of a
chess clock A chess clock is a device that comprises two adjacent clocks with buttons to stop one clock while starting the other, so that the two clocks never run simultaneously. The clocks are used in games where the time is allocated between two parties. T ...
; if a contestant answered correctly, his or her clock stopped, and his opponent's clock started running. If the active contestant answered incorrectly or passed, their clock continued to run and another question was asked. When one contestant's clock expired, the round ended and whatever time the other player had remaining carried over. At the beginning of the final round, players' carried-over time was added to the one-minute base time. Once a player's clock ran out, the other player was declared the winner and moved on to the next round. Each contestant was given three "switches" at the beginning of the game, and one more before the fourth round: by saying "switch," a player could stop their own clock and start their opponent's with the current question. Switches could be used consecutively (by saying "switch back") to switch the question back and forth between contestants.


List of players

The players were seeded in the following order:


Tournament bracket

The listed score is the number of seconds the winner had remaining at the end of the match.


Results

Games are listed in the order in which they aired.


First round


Quarterfinals


Semifinals


Finals

''A fifth round, Contemporary Knowledge, similar to the first round of the British series, was used in the Finals only.''


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grand Slam (Us Game Show) Game Show Network original programming 2000s American game shows 2007 American television series debuts 2007 American television series endings Television series by Embassy Row (production company) Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by Universal Television American television series based on British television series