Almost Anything Goes was based on a British game show called "It's a Knockout" which ran in the 1960s. But it also owed a lot to the 1950s series "Beat The Clock" (a stunt game that was a perennial favorite on television during the "Golden Age" and revived several times through the 2010s). Essentially they took the concept of "Clock" and supersized it! Teams would compete in crazily designed stunts (typically which had to be completed in a fast time) in order to score points and win the competition.
The show was designed like an actual sports league, with divisions based on geographic location, a series of playoffs and a championship. But it aspired to be more than the "Clock" game ever was.
"AAG" was three distinct things: First it was a celebration of "Small Town America," as each competing team in this series hailed from a dot on the map: Places like Boulder City, Nevada, Chambersburg. Pennsylvania and Havre de Grace, Maryland, as three examples.
Next it was a kind of a tribute (or parody) of actual sporting events, with episodes done in a stadium setting, fans in the stands, cheerleaders hyping the crowds, and a full complement of sportscasters and color commentators, chief among them, the great Charlie Jones who handled most of the play-by-play and featured Regis Philbin who often set the scene or did brief sideline interviews with the competitors, all of which was done in a seriously stoic style.
And finally it was Schadenfreude for audiences, as they watched these team members getting pelted with pies, seltzer bottles, and other slapstick inspired schtick, attempting to cross an above ground pool on a slippery pole, or negotiating a ridiculous obstacle course or relay race as they tried to win for their home towns and get a fleeting moment of fame.
The show ran for two seasons, and lived up to its title, with all sorts of silly and sloppy competition, and it spawned two spinoffs: a "junior" version where kids were the competitors and "All-Star Anything Goes," where kid actors from television series faced off in a scaled down series of stunts.
The show was designed like an actual sports league, with divisions based on geographic location, a series of playoffs and a championship. But it aspired to be more than the "Clock" game ever was.
"AAG" was three distinct things: First it was a celebration of "Small Town America," as each competing team in this series hailed from a dot on the map: Places like Boulder City, Nevada, Chambersburg. Pennsylvania and Havre de Grace, Maryland, as three examples.
Next it was a kind of a tribute (or parody) of actual sporting events, with episodes done in a stadium setting, fans in the stands, cheerleaders hyping the crowds, and a full complement of sportscasters and color commentators, chief among them, the great Charlie Jones who handled most of the play-by-play and featured Regis Philbin who often set the scene or did brief sideline interviews with the competitors, all of which was done in a seriously stoic style.
And finally it was Schadenfreude for audiences, as they watched these team members getting pelted with pies, seltzer bottles, and other slapstick inspired schtick, attempting to cross an above ground pool on a slippery pole, or negotiating a ridiculous obstacle course or relay race as they tried to win for their home towns and get a fleeting moment of fame.
The show ran for two seasons, and lived up to its title, with all sorts of silly and sloppy competition, and it spawned two spinoffs: a "junior" version where kids were the competitors and "All-Star Anything Goes," where kid actors from television series faced off in a scaled down series of stunts.
