Animal Crack-Ups

:"Not to be confused with Animal Crackers, a Canadian animated television series."

"Animal Crack-Ups" was an ABC game show which aired in primetime from August 8 to September 12, 1987 - after which it aired on Saturday mornings from September 12, 1987 to December 30, 1989 and again from June 2 to September 1, 1990.

It was produced by Vin Di Bona Productions and hosted by Alan Thicke, who was on "Growing Pains" at the time.

Contestants

Four celebrities competed to win $2,500 for their favorite animal charity. No civilian contestants competed.

Gameplay

Host Thicke introduced a video clip about an animal. At some point, the video was paused, and Thicke asked the contestants a question about the clip. The celebrities give their answers, after which the remainder of the clip was played, revealing the answer.

Any celebrities giving the correct answer received a point (score was kept by placing a stuffed toy monkey - sometimes a different stuffed animal - in front of the celebrity's podium). The celeb with the most toy animals/points won the game and the $2,500 grand prize.

Notes

* The show's theme song is called "Animals are just like people too", which was written and sung by host Alan Thicke.
* On segues to two commercial breaks, a hedgehog puppet named "Reggie the Heggie" (performed by Susan Blu) gave animal facts to the home viewers & read home viewer mail.
* Spain had a version of this show called "Waku Waku". Brazil had a version called "TV Animal" for SBT. Portugal had a version called "Arca De Noe."

References

* [http://www.vdbp.com/2lvl_prog_02acu.html Vin Di Bona Productions]
*imdb title|id=0092317|title=Animal Crack-Ups
*Tv.com show|id=22828|title=Animal Crack-Ups
* [http://gscentral.net/crack.rm Clip of the show's theme song with scenes of animals]