Mindreaders (partially found Goodson-Todman game show; 1979-1980)

The show's logo from the pilots.

Status: Partially Found

Mindreaders was a game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman that aired on NBC from August 13, 1979 to January 11, 1980. It was hosted by comedian Dick Martin and had it's format based around ESP where celebrities have to predict if the contestants will say yes or no to a question. This would be the last show Bill Todman would work on as he passed away a month prior to it's premiere.

Format

Two teams of four players (three civilians and one celebrity) compete. The host would read a question to one group of three civilian contestants after which they locked in their answers. The celebrity team captain's job was to predict how they answered that question. A correct prediction keeps control for that celebrity captain and predicts the next player in line. If the celebrity is incorrect, the celebrity captain of the opposing team gets to predict the responses of the remaining teammates.

Each correct answer banks $50, with the money going to the other team for incorrect answers, and the first team to reach $300 wins the game and goes on to play the bonus game.

The bonus round is played in two parts; Judge The Jury and Celebrity Turnabout. In Judge The Jury, the host asked three questions to the jury (consisting of 10 members of the studio audience). Each contestant on the winning team played each question (one for each contestant). On each question, the jury locked in their answers depending on the criteria of the question and the player operating on that question predicted how many of the jury members said yes or no. Guessing the number exactly won $500 for the team while missing the number by one or two earned $200. The process is repeated two more times before they proceed to Celebrity Turnabout. The winning team now tried to predict if the celebrity captain said yes or no on one last question. Each contestant made a prediction with the majority rule in effect. The celebrity captain then revealed their answer, and if the majority of the team is correct, the winning civilians win 10 times the part one cash for a maximum total of $15,000.

Cancellation

The show was given a 26 week order by NBC based on initial run throughs of the show. But when the show premiered, it did poorly in both ratings and with the critics. The show was so poorly received that it became a joke on Match Game PM told by Peter Marshall (along with Dick Martin) which had everyone in the studio in stitches (including Dick Martin). The show was axed just four weeks early of it's 26 week order and it's final episode aired on January 11, 1980 and was replaced with Chain Reaction the following week.

Availability

None of the show's 109 episodes were reran in the decades since it's conclusion. Since NBC was still reusing tapes for other shows by the time Mindreaders premiered, it's very likely Mindreaders fell victim to it. A small number of episodes have resurfaced online as well as various clips. An audio recording of the August 13th premiere is confirmed to exist, though it has not surfaced online.

Gallery

Pilot #3.

August 15, 1979 episode.

December 13, 1979 episode.

First two minutes of December 31, 1979 episode.

See Also

Pilots

• Showoffs (partially lost unaired pilots of ABC game show; 1975)
• Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour (lost unaired pilot of NBC game show; 1983)
• The Price Is Right (partially found unaired pilot for syndicated game show; 1993)
• The New Price Is Right (lost unaired pilot of Goodson-Todman game show; 1972)
• Family Feud (partially found unaired pilot of Pearson game show; 1998-1999)
• Rock Feud (lost unaired pilot of cancelled spin-off of Pearson game show; 2001)
• To Tell The Truth (lost unreleased pilot of Pearson remake of Goodson-Todman panel show; 1999)
• Card Sharks (partially lost pilots of syndicated revival of Goodson-Todman game show; 1996-2000)

Television

• The Price Is Right (partially lost Dennis James episodes of game show; 1972-1977)
• Tattletales (partially found syndicated version of CBS game show; 1977-1978)
• To Tell The Truth (partially found first season of syndicated panel show; 1969-1970)
• The Price Is Right (partially found Australian adaptation of Mark Goodson game show; 1973-1974)
• Snap Judgement (partially found NBC game show; 1967-1969)
• Call My Bluff (partially found NBC game show; 1965)
• Match Game (partially lost Mark Goodson Bill Todman game show; 1973-1982)
• Family Feud - Popular Vs Freaks & Geeks (found episodes of Pearson game show; 2000)
• Family Fortunes (partially lost British version of Goodson-Todman game show; 1980-2002)
• The Price Is Right (partially found Doug Davidson version of Goodson-Todman game show; 1994-1995)
• Match Game (found ABC revival of Goodson-Todman game show; 1990-1991)
• Champion Blockbusters (partially found spin-off of British game show, 1987-1990)
• Släktslaget (lost Swedish adaptation of "Family Feud" game show; 2000)
• Password Plus (found unaired George Peppard episode of Goodson-Todman game show; 1979)
• The Price Is Right (partially lost episodes of CBS game show; 1972-2007)
• Distraction (partially found American adaptation of British game show; 2005-2006)
• I've Got A Secret (partially lost syndicated revival of Goodson-Todman panel show; 1972-1973)
• Press Your Luck (lost British adaptation of American game show; 1991-1992)
• Match Game (partially found revival of Goodson-Todman game show; 1998-1999)
• Showoffs (partially found Goodson-Todman game show; 1975)
• Password (partially found ABC revival of Goodson-Todman game show; 1971-1975)
• Sale Of The Century (partially found Reg Grundy revival of Al Howard game show; 1983-1989)

Miscellaneous

• Super Password (lost builds of unreleased NES port of word game; 1980s)
• To Tell the Truth (lost unreleased DVD game based on panel show; 2005)