Chain Reaction (game show)

Chain Reaction

Created by	Bob Stewart
Presented by	Bill Cullen (1980) Blake Emmons (1986) Geoff Edwards (1980, 1986–91) Dylan Lane (2006–07) Mike Catherwood (2015–16)
Narrated by	Johnny Gilbert (1980) Rod Charlebois (1986–91)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	NBC: 115 GSN: 170
Production
Running time	22–26 minutes
Production company(s)	Bob Stewart Productions (1980) Bob & Sande Stewart Productions (1986-1991)
Distributor	Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	NBC (1980) USA Network (1986–91) GSN (2006–07, 2015–16)
Original release	January 14, 1980 (1980-01-14) – June 20, 1980 (1980-06-20) September 29, 1986 (1986-09-29) – December 27, 1991 (1991-12-27) August 1, 2006 (2006-08-01) – June 9, 2007 (2007-06-09) July 16, 2015 (2015-07-16) – January 29, 2016 (2016-01-29)

Chain Reaction is an American game show created by Bob Stewart, in which players compete to form chains composed of two-word phrases.

The show has aired four separate runs: Bill Cullen hosted the original series on NBC from January 14 to June 20, 1980. The second version aired on the USA Network from September 29, 1986 to December 27, 1991 and was hosted first by Blake Emmons and later by Geoff Edwards. A third version on GSN aired from August 1, 2006 until June 9, 2007, hosted by Dylan Lane. A fourth version, also on GSN, was announced on January 26, 2015, with Vincent Rubino as executive producer and hosted by Mike Catherwood. Forty episodes have been ordered for this version, which started airing from July 16, 2015 to January 29, 2016.

At the crux of the game is a word chain. In the chain, each of eight words (seven starting in 1986) was connected to both the word above it and the word below it in some way. By making inferences based on the revealed words and the revealed letters in incomplete words, contestants tried to fill in the word chains to score points (dollars on GSN). The team/player that reached the point/money goal first would win the game and play the bonus round, which was completely different depending on the series.

The first version of the show aired for 23 weeks from January 14 to June 20, 1980 on NBC and was hosted by Bill Cullen, except for two weeks when Geoff Edwards hosted while Cullen was filling in for Allen Ludden on Password Plus. The announcer was Johnny Gilbert. It aired at 12:00 Noon; however, many affiliates aired local news at that time, preempting Chain Reaction. The show was one of three game shows, the others being High Rollers and Hollywood Squares, that were canceled in June 1980 to make room for the 90-minute talk show The David Letterman Show.

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