Make the Grade

Make the Grade was a children's game show that aired from October 2, 1989 through December 29, 1991 on Nickelodeon.

Broadcast History

Make the Grade premiered on Nickelodeon on October 2, 1989. First-run episodes ran through September 3, 1991, and reruns continued until December 29 of that same year. Reruns of Make the Grade began running on Nickelodeon Games and Sports on January 2, 2000 until April 2004.

The first two seasons of "Make the Grade" was hosted by Lew Schneider taped at Unitel Studios in New York City. For season 3, the show moved to the newly opened Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida, with new host Robb Edward Morris. Maria Milito was the annoucer.

Main Game

Make the Grade was a question-and-answer game that combined elements of Jeopardy! and Trivial Pursuit. On each show, three contestants -- each situated at either a red, green, or blue desk -- competed to answer trivia questions and acquire squares on a 7x7 game board (the category icons & grade levels are branded in front of each desk, they light up when a question is answered correctly). Grade levels, which ranged from elementary school and grades 7 through 12, ran along the top of the board; six subjects plus a "special elective" ran down the left. The contestants' goal was to light up all 14 squares on their desk or acquire the most squares in as many grade levels and subjects as possible in their color.

Most squares contained questions; the contestants had to buzz-in in the middle of reading a question. If a player answer the question correctly to win that square for their desk and control of the board. If incorrect, the other two will have a chance to answer once the host re-reads the question. Several squares, however, contained "wild cards," panels that could ultimately alter the outcome of the game. The wild cards included:

Take: allowed a player to steal any square from an opponent;
Lose: forced a player to give up a square;
Free: gave the square the player who picked it, no questions asked;
Fire: led to a "Fire Drill" challenge for all three contestants.

Fire Drills

Like other Nickelodeon game shows before it, Make the Grade allowed contestants to participate in challenge stunts, sometimes messy, called "Fire Drills." Fire Drills took place when a contestant selected a square with the Fire wild card. All three contestants participated.

The goal of each Fire Drill was to complete the challenge first, thereby earning first choice at the three desks. Although a contestant could answer many questions correctly, the earned squares belonged to the desk. When the Fire Drill was completed, the first place contestant picked whichever desk he or she desired, usually the one with the most grade levels and subjects completed. The second place contestant took choice of the remaining two desks, and third place took the last desk left.

Because of this structure, a contestant could do poorly answering questions, but successfully complete Fire Drills to win the game.

Honors Round

After two trivia rounds, the first player to light up his/her desk, or the player with the most squares in as many grade levels and subjects as possible, won $500 and went on to the Honors Round. (The other two players received $50 and a consolation prize.)

In this round, the winner was offered three question categories, from which he/she chose one. Each category contained seven questions, and each question was from a different subject. The player had 45 seconds to answer all 7 questions. Early on in the show's run, doing so netted the contestant an additional $1000. During the second and third seasons, the first 6 questions were worth $100 each and the seventh earned a trip to Universal Studios Florida.

Trivia

Original host Lew Schneider is a stand-up comic who later went on to co-produce the hit sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.
Announcer Maria Milito is a well-known radio personality, who can currently be heard doing middays (9 AM-2 PM) on WAXQ, a.k.a. "Q104.3".
The opening sequence featuring a wide shot of the set was taped and the "contestants" behind the podiums were actually still mannequins; the intro switched to a live shot about halfway through host Schneider's entrance.
In second season episodes where the winning contestant won early (and, thus, there was time to fill), a special University Round was played. A series of 5 questions were asked -- for $50, $100, $200, $500, and $1000, respectively. Players could stop and take the money at any time. (In the third season, time was filled by asking questions of the studio audience -- they would get T-shirts as prizes.). In another episode, a contestant won the game in the first half of the show, and another game was played with a second set of contestants.
Because of the show was a close resemblance to Jeopardy!, some contestants answered in the form of a question. Schneider & Morris would often tease these contestants in jest when this happened. (See also Jeopardy in culture.)

External links

YouTube Videos