Go is an American television game show created by Bob Stewart and aired on NBC from October 3, 1983, to January 20, 1984. The show featured two teams, each composed of four contestants and a celebrity. The teams had to construct questions one word at a time to convey a word or phrase to their teammates. The concept of Go was based on a bonus round used on Chain Reaction, another game show created by Stewart. Los Angeles and Buffalo meteorologist Kevin O'Connell was the show's host, and Johnny Gilbert was the announcer, with Jack Clark substituting for him during November 1983. Go aired at 12:00 noon ET/11:00 AM CT/MT/PT on NBC, long a problem time slot for the three major broadcast networks at the time, as their local affiliates would often preempt network programming to air newscasts or syndicated fare. NBC had tried placing two other game shows, Just Men! and The New Battlestars, there in 1983 alone and both disappeared after just thirteen weeks of episodes. Go did not fare much better than either of those two series, managing sixteen weeks of episodes before it was cancelled and it competed against the then-popular Family Feud on ABC.
Main game
Two teams, each consisting of one celebrity captain and four contestants, competed. The team that played first in any round selected a packet of words or phrases, with a choice of two. Four of the team's members gave clues as to the chosen words, while the fifth player attempted to offer correct answers in response, serving in this role for the entire game. The four clue givers sat in a line so as to form three clue-giving pairs. Each pair received a word to describe and constructed a clue question by building it alternately one word at a time. They then rang a bell to indicate complete formation of the question and to prompt the fifth player to offer the answer. If the answer was correct, the fifth player moved down the line to the next pair. If the answer was incorrect, or the question either was deemed to be illegally constructed or was passed, the fifth player could not advance. Once the fifth player reached the end of the line, he/she then worked back to the start. The object for the first team was to get five correct answers as quickly as possible. The game clock counted up to 99 seconds or until the team achieved five correct answers, whichever happened first. The opposing team then attempted either to score five correct answers in less time or to score more correct answers than the first team in 99 seconds, in order to win the round. If they failed, the first team won the round. The team winning the round scored points. The first team to accumulate at least 1,500 points won the game. Play continued for up to four rounds, with each team alternating first-play honors. The point award to the winning team of a round escalated from 250 points for round one, to 500 points for round two, 750 points for round three, and 1,250 points for round four. The game-winning team won an amount in cash equal to their final score, and advanced to the Jackpot Round.
Jackpot Round
The Jackpot Round was played the same way as the front game, but with a twist. The designated guesser had to identify seven subjects in sixty seconds and once again, his/her teammates constructed the questions. This time, the constructing was different. For the first subject, all four clue givers were in play. For each of the next three, one less clue giver was in play, with only one constructing the fourth question. Once the fourth subject was correctly guessed, the other three clue givers came back one at a time to finish the round. If all seven subjects were correctly guessed within 60 seconds, the host would give the team $10,000. If not, $200 was awarded for each subject identified. If the team managed to reach the 1,500 point goal by winning the first three rounds of play, they played the Double Jackpot Round for a chance to win up to $20,000.
Champions
Originally one of the two teams consisted of one new team and a returning champion. The champions could return until they were defeated or won five times, and the losing team received parting gifts. After the first four weeks, the format changed and both teams competed for the entire week, rotating celebrity captains each day. The maximum amount of cash any team could win was $107,500, provided they won the front game in three rounds for all five of their appearances and won the bonus round twice on those episodes. From November 7 to 18, 1983, Go! had an all-star "Battle of the Daytime Soaps". The first week pitted the cast of Days of Our Lives against the cast of Another World, while the second saw Another World returning to take on the cast of Search for Tomorrow, with all winnings going to charity. It was during these two weeks that Jack Clark filled in as announcer for Johnny Gilbert.
A short-lived British version titled Get Set Go, hosted by Michael Barrymore along with co-host Julia Gale, aired on BBC1 from September 10 to November 26, 1984.
