Cop Out (game show)

Infobox_television
show_name = Cop Out


caption =
format = Game Show
runtime = about 24 minutes
creator = Chuck Barris
starring = Geoff Edwards
country = USA
rating =
network = Unknown, supposedly CBS
first_aired = 1972
last_aired = 1972|

Cop Out was an unsold television pilot created by Chuck Barris and hosted by Geoff Edwards that pitted two contestants, playing against each other, and trying to see if celebrities are telling the truth, or "copping-out". Two different pilots were made, for CBS.

This was Geoff Edwards' second try at hosting a game show, after the other failed pilot "Says Who?". He would finally host his first game show with Hollywood's Talking

Gameplay

Geoff would ask a celebrity a personal question. The celebrity would then answer by secretly locking in whether they would be honest by telling the truth or "copping out". He then asked three other panelists to say what they thought. Correct answers were $100, and wrong answers deducted their entire score and gave the opponent an additional $100. The person with the most money at the end of the game won. There was a lot of criticism about the game. The game was very hard to do, with only one correct answer by a contestant in the entire pilot. This may or may not have led to it not being sold.

Miscellaneous Information

et

The pilots were presumably shot in Studio 33 at CBS Television City. The studio sets of the two pilots differ. In the first pilot, the word "Cop-Out" was seen on the playing floor, while the other was up upon a pedestal above the celebrities.

Themes

The first pilot's theme was "The Little Russian Song" and the second was "Mother Trucker" from How's Your Mother-In-Law.

Episode Status

The second pilot was last seen in 2000 on GSN. There is an unknown status on the first one, but it more than likely exists, as pilots were never aired, and could escape the standard wiping procedures of daytime television in the 60's and 70's. In Chuck Barris' biography, he had stated that a third pilot was shot with only two to four celebrities. One of the celebrities stated was Burt Reynolds. The status of that pilot, however, is unknown and thought to be destroyed.

References

http://www.gameshowutopia.net/geoff/copout/copout.htm