''Way Out Games'' is a 1976-1977 weekly athletic competition game show where a total of 51 teams representing the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

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competed in a series of athletic events, with emphasis based on humor and the unexpected. ''Way Out Games'' aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

from September 11, 1976 to September 4, 1977 and was hosted by

Sonny Fox Irwin "Sonny" Fox (June 17, 1925 – January 24, 2021) was an American television host and broadcaster who was the host of the children's television program, ''Wonderama''. Through his career, he had hosted other children's educational and ent ...

. The show was produced by

Barry & Enright Productions Barry & Enright Productions (also known as either Jack Barry-Dan Enright Productions or Jack Barry & Dan Enright Productions and first known as Barry, Enright & Friendly Productions) was a United States television production company that was form ...

in association with

MGM Television Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, formerly known as MGM/UA Television, is the television studio arm of the American film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), specializing in broadcast syndication and the production and distribution of television sh ...

, and originated at

Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...

Valencia, California Valencia is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The area, west of Interstate 5, is expanding with residential development and already includes major commercial and industrial parks. It stra ...

Gameplay

Every week, three different teams would compete in various athletic events and would earn points for winning an event. The team that won the first event scored one point, the second event awarded two points, and the final event awarded three points. The team with the most points after the third event would come back on a later show to compete against other winning teams. Prizes and trophies would also be given to the winners. There would be 17 weeks of regular competition, 6 weeks of Quarterfinals (with one Quarterfinal having only two teams), 2 weeks of Semi-Finals, and a Championship Final, with one match each week. In the Championship finals, shown in April 1977,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

defeated

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Broadcast history

''Way Out Games'' aired Saturdays at 12:30 P.M. Eastern from September 1976 to January 1977. It then moved a half-hour later to 1:00 P.M. Eastern from February to April 1977. Then it aired at 7:00 A.M. Sundays from April to September 1977. Some CBS affiliates even dropped ''Way Out Games'' midway through its run in favor of syndicated series (like ''

Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. After airing locally on WCIU-TV in Chicago, Illinois, for a year, it aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. In its 35-year history, the show primarily featu ...

'') and sports, such being commonplace among Saturday morning series after 12 Noon and on Sunday mornings.

References

External links

* {{Children's programming on CBS in the 1970s CBS game shows Television series by Barry & Enright Productions Television series by MGM Television 1976 American television series debuts 1977 American television series endings 1970s American children's game shows 1970s American comedy game shows American English-language television shows