Video Village

"Video Village is the place where people wear a happy face" began the theme song of this monopoly-like game show. As I remember it, two contestants turned a cage with a die in it and then walked the number of spaces that turned up on the die. They picked up tokens (such as "Get out of Jail") and prizes as they continued on their stroll through the village. If they had bad luck, they landed on such spaces as "U Turn" and "Go to Jail." At the end of the show, a consolation prize was the Video Village Home Game. At ages 10 and 13, my brother and I didn't want to pay for a Video Village Home Game in a box, so we made our own out of shirt cardboards. We didn't have a die cage, so instead of "U Turn" we had a space we labeled "U Throw." I think we had more fun making that game than we did playing it.

Here in Australia it was a great hit. Firstly it was with adults (much funnier) but later with kids. I still recall the theme songs. It was compered by Danny Web and hostess Liz Harris. Harris was a joy and a great talent. She married Austrtalian iconic actor Leonard Teale. She was also Lisa in the classic kids show Adventure Island.The voice guy was Chris Christenson who died during the series. It was fun reading the previous post memories of this delightful show. I wonder if it would work today? Come ride with us on the village bus it takes all shapes and sizes

ah sweet memories.

This game, the first joint effort of producers Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley, marked the beginning of their fascination with larger-than-life concepts: think the giant tic-tac-toe board on "Hollywood Squares," the oversize playing cards on "Gambit," the huge board with the nine numbers on "High Rollers".

Despite the fact that "Video Village" lasted only two years, the thing works. There are all kinds of risks; a roll of the die might cause the players to exchange places and the person who was behind might find himself or herself in range of a win (since you had to complete the three streets in order to win), or perhaps hit "1-2-3 Go, 4-5-6 No," wherein they couldn't advance unless they rolled 3 or less.

All in all, perhaps the most innovative game of its era (one also marked by "Password," the first show to team celebrities and contestants), and two game-show legends are featured: Jack Narz and Monty Hall. And let's not forget announcer Kenny Williams as Kenny the Cop, who announced the roll of the die in that unmistakable voice of his.

And, by the way, I had the "Video Village" home game and spent many an hour playing it. It was as much fun as the show.