Just Like Mom was a Canadian

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 game show which ran from 1980 to 1985 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...

. A total of 595 episodes were taped at 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 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...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. It was hosted by Steven Young

Stephen Young (actor)

Stephen Young is a Canadian actor.Young was born Stephen Levy in Toronto, Canada to a financier father. Directly following high school, the naturally gifted teen athlete signed on for a career with the Cleveland Indians, but his professional bid ended when he seriously injured his knee playing ice...

 during the show's first season, but from the second season it was hosted by the husband-and-wife duo of Fergie Olver

Fergie Olver

Fergie Olver is a Canadian game show host and sportscaster. He is best known for co-hosting the 1980s children's game show Just Like Mom, and his work as a broadcaster and dugout reporter for the Toronto Blue Jays...

 and the show's creator Catherine Swing. The format was to determine which child and mother knew each other the best through answer-matching as well as the memorable Bake-off Challenge. Three teams, consisting of a young child and his or her mother (or occasionally father), competed on each episode. Repeats aired on GameTV from 2008 to 2010.

On September 22, 2009, marblemedia

Marblemedia

Founded in 2001 by Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg, Toronto-based marblemedia is a content creation company at the forefront of television and new media production, devoted to telling stories that entertain and engage audiences across all platforms. marblemedia was named Company of the Year by the ...

 announced they acquired the rights to Just Like Mom and plan to create a new and updated version called Just Like Mom... and Dad.

Question rounds

The parents were secluded offstage while the children answered several questions. Early in the show's run, they would choose from one of five categories for the questions, while later in the run, a specific question was pre-assigned to each team. Each host would alternate between asking each child, making two cycles of the three children. Afterwards, the parents would come back and they would be posed the same questions to see if they could match the answers their children gave, using a format similar to 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...

. A correct match on the first questions earned 10, and the second was worth 15.

For the second question round, the process repeated with the parents answering first and the children trying to match. Correct matches in this round were worth 20 points for the first question, and 25 for the second.

The bake-off/taste test

Between the two question rounds, the children had a bake-off to complete a given recipe in 60 seconds. (There were some episodes where the time limit was 90 seconds but it was later changed back). They were given all the basic ingredients (as well as some unorthodox ones) and were allowed to use whatever they wanted in their creations.

After the second question round, the parents tasted each of the three creations while the children were taken to another part of the stage. They had 30 seconds to taste each of the numbered dishes and then decide which one they thought their child made by holding up a numbered sign (later a ping pong paddle) at the same time as their child at the other part of the stage. A correct match was worth 50 points.

Bonus round

The team with the highest score spun a wheel divided into 16 sections marked with different prizes; they won whatever prize the wheel landed on. If two teams tied in the main game, both would spin the wheel for a prize. The grand prize was a trip for two to Walt Disney World; it was featured on four slots on the wheel. In the case of twins playing, each child would spin once; if the first spin landed on the Disney World trip, the second spin would be voided. In later seasons, all contestants received a prize of a trip to Camp Onondoga, one of the oldest private summer camps in Canada. While there were a collection of prizes available on the prize wheel, including prizes from sponsors such as Robin Hood Flour, Playmobil

Playmobil

Playmobil is a line of toys produced by the Brandstätter Group , headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany.New products and product lines developed by a 50-strong development team are frequently introduced by Brandstätter. Some of these, such as promotional products, are only produced in limited quantities...

 and John Deere

John Deere

John Deere was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company, one of the largest and leading agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the world...

, the grand prize to Walt Disney World was the most memorable and coveted prize available.