Small Talk

Host
Wil Shriner
Broadcast
The Family Channel - 9/30/1996–1/3/1997
Packager
Reg Grundy Productions

(insert opening question) (insert answer from a child) That's (insert child's name), and s/he and his/her friends will have a lot more to say today on, SMALL TALK! And now, here's the host of the show, (insert funny comment), ME!

Small Talk was a short-lived game show based on a UK game show of the same name, where three contestants faced seven children on a game board. Their job was to predict how they answered a series of questions.

Main Game

The First Two Rounds

Host Shriner read a question posed to the kids in advance, then the contestants locked in their predictions as to what the majority of the kids answered. Now each contestant one at a time picked a child after which Wil read a just-for-fun question to the chosen child associated with the round's question. The child's answer to that question may or may not act as a clue to the kid's answer to the main question. Then the player in control made his/her prediction after which the kid's answer was played back. A correct prediction earned points for the contestant in control. Contestants played twice so that they'll be finding the answers from six of the kids and at the end of the round, the majority answer was announced and the contestants' secret predictions were revealed. If any of them are correct, they earn bonus points (which was always double value of the main portion of the round).

Here's the scoring format:

Rounds	1st Half	Majority Bonus
Round 1	10	20
Round 2	20	40

Speed Round

The speed round was played the same as the other rounds except with these differences:

There were no just-for-fun-questions; the contestants must make a prediction when choosing a child
Questions were either general knowledge, yes or no, or required a physical skill
There was no majority bonus

Each correct answer scored 60 points (the maximum total is 240 points) and the player with the most points won the game, $500 and a chance to win another $1,000.

If the game ended in a two-way tie, the winner of a coin toss played either the last remaining kid or the first available kid, whichever comes first. A correct prediction won the game for the contestant in control, but a wrong prediction gave the game to the other contestant.

If the game ended in a three-way tie, all three players went to the bonus round.

Bonus Round

In the bonus round, host Wil posed one last question (later different questions to each kid). This time, instead of verbally choosing a child, lights around the children flashed around the board and the contestant stopped them by hitting a red button in front of him/her. When it landed on a child, Wil (re)posed the question and the winning contestant made his/her prediction. If the winning contestant can get three right before getting two wrong (originally three), he/she won an additional $1,000 for a total of $1,500.

Three Player Mode

This round was played like the majority bonus portions of the first two rounds except that this was now played with individual kids, and it was played in an elimination format. As in the regular bonus, lights would flash around the game board and the contestant in control stopped them by hitting his/her button. On each child selected, the players predicted in secret how the kid answered. The answer of the child that was landed on was then played back and afterwards the contestants predictions were revealed. A correct answer made the contestants stay in the game, but an incorrect answer eliminated them from the game. The last player left standing won the full $1,500 prize.

Losing contestants went home with a parting gift, and children won prizes just for being on the show.