My Generation (game show)

There are also separate articles on The Who's album and song of the same name.

My Generation was a game show on VH1 that was hosted by comedian Craig Shoemaker and announced by Lindsay Stoddart. Its 48 episodes aired for a brief period in 1998, and due to its similar format and emphasis on music is considered to be a revival of the 1969 ABC series The Generation Gap.

Format

In each game, two teams of two contestants from the same graduating class competed in a game of musical knowledge, with the winners having a shot at a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas. The two teams came from different graduating years, from 1960 to 1995. The difference in years was different each time, but was from ten to twenty years apart.

Round 1: The Cassette Round

The team who won the coin toss or got the last question right chose a category from the board. The board had five categories, and a question packet for each team's generation, for 30 questions a round. Similarly to Remote Control, questions revolved around a skit or presentation of some kind, then the actual question followed. Each person had their own buzzer and the first team to buzz in could answer the question. A right answer was worth 50 points to the team. A wrong answer deducted 50 points, and the other team could have a try. The team that got the 50 point toss-up right then got to try a 100 point follow-up question if they chose to. If they played for it, the partner of the player who answered the 50 point question had to play it. A wrong answer deducted the points, and the other team could steal the points. The team that got the 100 point question right could then play a 200 point bonus question, where no points were in jeopardy.

The team that got the last question right chose the next topic and the game continued until time ended or all the questions were used up. As a bonus: if a team chose a topic from the opposing team's generation, and got the first question right, they won a small prize, typically the Billboard Encyclopedia or something similar.

Round 2: The CD Round

Played the same as round 1, except that the point values were doubled, and brand-new categories were put on the board. The trailing team had the first choice in this round. Each team was also given one Dedication to use during this round. If the team in control did not know the answer to a question, they could use their Dedication to pass it over to the other team. If the opponents got it wrong, the Dedicating team got the points the opposing team lost. However, if the opposing team got it right, they gained the value of the question instead.

Round 3: The Speed Round

The speed round was a 30 (or 45) second game where the names of two bands were shown (one from each generation) and one word from each band was blanked out (the same word). The teams tried to buzz in and name the missing word. Each correct answer was worth 200 points, while incorrect ones lost 200 points. The team with the most points won a prize, and moved through to the Time Warp bonus. Sometimes the teams were given two bands, and they had to name the song title that both bands released.

Bonus Round: The Time Warp

In the Time Warp, one team member gave one or two-word clues to get their partner to say the name of the performing act shown on the screen (a la Password). Illegal clues (more than two words, forms of the act, etc.) threw the act out. They started with the year they represented and travelled towards the year represented by their opponents. The team had to get 7 out of 10 in 60 seconds in order to win the trip, with smaller prizes awarded for each correct guess.