Definition (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Definition was a Canadian
television
game show
, which aired on CTV
from 1974 to 1989, and filmed at its flagship studio of CFTO-TV
in the former Scarborough, Ontario
(which has since become part of Toronto
). For most of its run, it was hosted by Jim Perry.
, the creators of The Newlywed Game
, created Definition, resulting in the show being syndicated for some international audiences as well. The series was produced by Glen-Warren Productions for CTV.
Dave Michaels
hosted the pilot for Definition. Michaels had previously announced the Nicholson-Muir game show Matches ’n Mates
with Art James
and later anchored news for KABC-TV
and CNN
during the first Gulf War
. For its first season, the show was hosted by Bob McLean, with Jim Perry as announcer. Beginning the next season, Perry moved in front of the camera to take over as emcee, with veteran Toronto
weatherman
Dave Devall
filling the vacancy in the announcer's booth, positions they both held for the rest of the show's run.
Definition was one of the longest-running game shows in Canadian television, and made host Perry a household name during the 1970s and 1980s. Perry hosted Definition concurrently with hosting Headline Hunters
, as well as several game shows in the States, including Card Sharks
and Sale of the Century
. Between 1978 and 1981, Perry hosted three game shows at once, Card Sharks, Definition and Headline Hunters, and was the first emcee in North American television to simultaneously host three different game shows.
The show, while popular, was frequently mocked for the cheapness of its prizes, which were usually small appliances, pen and pencil sets, or other small courtesy gifts. Only the show's annual championship tournaments offered expensive prizes, such as automobiles or trips. By contrast, Perry's American game shows featured much larger top prizes; a contestant on Card Sharks during his era could win a maximum of $29,000 in one game and $203,000 for their entire championship, while top-prize winning contestants on Sale of the Century could and often did retire with over $100,000 in total winnings.
Beginning in the 1980s Definition encouraged viewers to send in their own puzzles via mail, with at least one chosen per episode. A viewer would have their definition acknowledged on air by Perry if it was chosen.
. Two teams of two competed, originally a contestant and celebrity and from 1985 on two pairs of regular contestants. The teams would take turns guessing letter
s in a phrase for which Perry had offered a pun
as a clue. The game is similar to "Wheel of Fortune"
, which debuted around the same time.
The challengers began the game one with one teammate "giving away" a letter to their opponents. The usual strategy involved "giving away" a rare letter, such as Q, Z or X. However, the longer a puzzle went unsolved, the more difficult it would become to safely choose a letter that wasn't in the phrase, and some phrases did contain the rare letters as well. If the giveaway letter did not appear in the puzzle, the other player "took" a letter that he/she believed to be in the puzzle. If the letter wasn't in the puzzle control passed to the opposing team, but if it was the team got a chance to guess. Failure to guess correctly passed control to the other team. If the team's giveaway letter was in the puzzle, they lost control and the other team was given a free guess before taking their turn. Play continued in this manner until someone correctly guessed the puzzle.
The first team to solve two puzzles — later changed to three — won the match and advanced to a bonus game. In the bonus game, the champion team faced one final definition, in which the letters would be revealed one by one in alphabetical order. If they solved the puzzle the team received a small merchandise prize and $10 for each unrevealed letter. If they failed to solve the puzzle, $10 was given as a consolation prize. Five consecutive wins allowed the players to play for a bigger prize, such as a refrigerator. After the bonus round the champion switched sides to play with the other celebrity and continued switching until beaten or retired. The civilian teams did not switch sides.
piece by Quincy Jones
, "Soul Bossa Nova
". It was sampled
by the Toronto hip hop
band Dream Warriors
in their 1991 hit "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style", and was later also used as the theme music for Mike Myers
' Austin Powers
movie
s.
Later seasons of Definition used a new arrangement of the song which was not as readily recognizable.
network from 1978 until about 1986 produced by HTV West and was originally hosted by Don Moss and then by the late Jeremy Beadle
. British audiences also witnessed the Jim Perry hosted version when it aired on UK cable station, Living TV (formerly UK Living) in the 1990s.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
, which aired on CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
from 1974 to 1989, and filmed at its flagship studio of CFTO-TV
CFTO-TV
CFTO-DT, broadcast on channel 9 and cable 8, is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. Currently branded as CTV Toronto, it is the flagship station of the CTV Television Network, and was one of the charter members of the network when it was launched in 1961. It...
in the former Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
(which has since become part of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
). For most of its run, it was hosted by Jim Perry.
History
Nick Nicholson and E. Roger MuirE. Roger Muir
E. Roger Muir was a television producer who created several television programs and game shows. He was the creator and executive producer of children's program The Howdy Doody Show which ran from 1947 until 1960....
, the creators of The Newlywed Game
The Newlywed Game
The Newlywed Game is an American television game show that pits newly married couples against each other in a series of revealing question rounds to determine how well the spouses know each other. The program, originally created by Nick Nicholson and E. Roger Muir The Newlywed Game is an American...
, created Definition, resulting in the show being syndicated for some international audiences as well. The series was produced by Glen-Warren Productions for CTV.
Dave Michaels
Dave Michaels (news anchor)
Dave Michaels was a news anchor on CNN & CNN Headline News from 1985 - 1993. He had previously anchored Eyewitness News at KABC-TV in Los Angeles, and Eleven Alive News at WXIA-TV in Atlanta....
hosted the pilot for Definition. Michaels had previously announced the Nicholson-Muir game show Matches ’n Mates
Matches ’n Mates
Matches 'n Mates was an American syndicated game show created and produced by Nick Nicholson and E. Roger Muir that aired from 1967-1968, and was taped at both WJW-TV in Cleveland, Ohio and WAGA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia...
with Art James
Art James
Art James was an American game show host, best known for shows such as The Who, What, or Where Game and Pay Cards!. He was also the announcer on the game show Concentration....
and later anchored news for KABC-TV
KABC-TV
KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
and CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
during the first Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
. For its first season, the show was hosted by Bob McLean, with Jim Perry as announcer. Beginning the next season, Perry moved in front of the camera to take over as emcee, with veteran Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
weatherman
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
Dave Devall
Dave Devall
David "Dave" Devall is a retired Canadian weather reporter for the television station CFTO-TV in Toronto. He served in this capacity for more than 48 years beginning in 1961, and was recognized as having had the "longest career as a weather forecaster" by Guinness World Records and the World...
filling the vacancy in the announcer's booth, positions they both held for the rest of the show's run.
Definition was one of the longest-running game shows in Canadian television, and made host Perry a household name during the 1970s and 1980s. Perry hosted Definition concurrently with hosting Headline Hunters
Headline Hunters
Headline Hunters was a Canadian game show that appeared on CTV from 1972 to 1983. It was originally created by Nick Nicholson and E. Roger Muir...
, as well as several game shows in the States, including Card Sharks
Card Sharks
Card Sharks is an American television game show created by Chester Feldman for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. Two contestants compete for control of a row of oversized playing cards by answering questions posed by the host and then guessing if the next card is higher or lower in value than...
and Sale of the Century
Sale of the Century
Sale of the Century is a television game show format that has been screened in several countries in various incarnations since 1969. The show found its biggest success in Australia, where it aired weeknights from 1980 to 2001...
. Between 1978 and 1981, Perry hosted three game shows at once, Card Sharks, Definition and Headline Hunters, and was the first emcee in North American television to simultaneously host three different game shows.
The show, while popular, was frequently mocked for the cheapness of its prizes, which were usually small appliances, pen and pencil sets, or other small courtesy gifts. Only the show's annual championship tournaments offered expensive prizes, such as automobiles or trips. By contrast, Perry's American game shows featured much larger top prizes; a contestant on Card Sharks during his era could win a maximum of $29,000 in one game and $203,000 for their entire championship, while top-prize winning contestants on Sale of the Century could and often did retire with over $100,000 in total winnings.
Beginning in the 1980s Definition encouraged viewers to send in their own puzzles via mail, with at least one chosen per episode. A viewer would have their definition acknowledged on air by Perry if it was chosen.
Rules
Definitions format was loosely based on the word game HangmanHangman (game)
Hangman is a paper and pencil guessing game for two or more players. One player thinks of a word and the other tries to guess it by suggesting letters.-Overview:...
. Two teams of two competed, originally a contestant and celebrity and from 1985 on two pairs of regular contestants. The teams would take turns guessing letter
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
s in a phrase for which Perry had offered a pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
as a clue. The game is similar to "Wheel of Fortune"
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
, which debuted around the same time.
The challengers began the game one with one teammate "giving away" a letter to their opponents. The usual strategy involved "giving away" a rare letter, such as Q, Z or X. However, the longer a puzzle went unsolved, the more difficult it would become to safely choose a letter that wasn't in the phrase, and some phrases did contain the rare letters as well. If the giveaway letter did not appear in the puzzle, the other player "took" a letter that he/she believed to be in the puzzle. If the letter wasn't in the puzzle control passed to the opposing team, but if it was the team got a chance to guess. Failure to guess correctly passed control to the other team. If the team's giveaway letter was in the puzzle, they lost control and the other team was given a free guess before taking their turn. Play continued in this manner until someone correctly guessed the puzzle.
The first team to solve two puzzles — later changed to three — won the match and advanced to a bonus game. In the bonus game, the champion team faced one final definition, in which the letters would be revealed one by one in alphabetical order. If they solved the puzzle the team received a small merchandise prize and $10 for each unrevealed letter. If they failed to solve the puzzle, $10 was given as a consolation prize. Five consecutive wins allowed the players to play for a bigger prize, such as a refrigerator. After the bonus round the champion switched sides to play with the other celebrity and continued switching until beaten or retired. The civilian teams did not switch sides.
Theme music
The show's theme song was taken from an instrumental jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
piece by Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, "Soul Bossa Nova
Soul Bossa Nova
"Soul Bossa Nova" is a popular instrumental title, composed by and first performed by American impresario, jazz composer, arranger and record producer Quincy Jones. It first appeared on his 1962 Big Band Bossa Nova big band album on Mercury Records. Multi-reed player Rahsaan Roland Kirk played the...
". It was sampled
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
by the Toronto hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
band Dream Warriors
Dream Warriors
Dream Warriors were a Canadian hip hop duo from Toronto, Ontario, comprising King Lou and Capital Q. Described as "a pair of deft, intelligent rappers" by Allmusic, they were major contributors to the jazz rap movement of the early 1990s. Their 1991 debut album, And Now the Legacy Begins, is...
in their 1991 hit "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style", and was later also used as the theme music for Mike Myers
Mike Myers (actor)
Michael John "Mike" Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage...
' Austin Powers
Austin Powers (film series)
The Austin Powers series is a series of action-comedy films written by and starring Mike Myers as the title character, directed by Jay Roach and distributed by New Line Cinema...
movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s.
Later seasons of Definition used a new arrangement of the song which was not as readily recognizable.
Adaptations
A British version of Definition aired on the ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network from 1978 until about 1986 produced by HTV West and was originally hosted by Don Moss and then by the late Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE was an English television presenter, writer and producer. During the 1980s, he was a regular face on British television and in two years appeared 50 weeks of the year. His shows regularly topped the charts beating Coronation Street and EastEnders on one...
. British audiences also witnessed the Jim Perry hosted version when it aired on UK cable station, Living TV (formerly UK Living) in the 1990s.