On the Cover
Host: Mark L. Walberg
Announcer: Mitch Lewis
PAX: June 18-19, 2004; August 9, 2004-present
PREMISE: Three contestants compete in a game all about celebrities and pop culture. And I'm shocked I was able to watch all of it, it's fairly decent.
Round One: Each player comes out one at a time, up to center stage. Covers are shown to that player for fifteen seconds, along with a heading. The player scores 25 for each identification made correctly and within the time limit. Covers could be a magazine, book, CD, movie, or anything in the realm of popular culture.
Round Two: The player in the lead is shown three covers. Each one hides a toss-up question worth 50 points for whoever gets it right. After that, a new cover is brought in to replace the old one, and all covers increase in value by 50 points. This continues until time expires, typically seven such questions.
Round Three: The players are shown three covers, each with a celebrity. The players are asked questions, and the right answer is one of the covers. Right answers begin at 100 points for the first 'rack' of three, and up to 300 for the last one.
After round three, the player with the high score wins the game, and plays the bonus round.
In the bonus round, the champion is asked four pop culture questions. Each right answer is put on the board, then the clue to the Mystery Cover is taken from that answer. After four questions, the champ then tries to guess the identity of the Mystery Cover in order to win the grand prize vacation.
Version Two
The show was pulled after two episodes, and some retooling took place. Notably, the set underwent a change from a bright and cheery 'daytime' look to a dark, spacey nighttime look, heavy on the black.
Round one began with each player standing at their desk, and play the first ID round standing there. Each correct answer is worth 100 points. Round two plays just like before, but each cover is worth 250 points, and they go up by that amount each round. Round three's covers are now 'parody covers' created by the show writers. They usually revolve around puns related to the movies or personalities on those covers. Questions are worth 500, 750 and 1,000 points each. The winner plays the new and improved Mystery Cover bonus round.
To win the grand prize trip, the champion must make it through a two-stage bonus round. In the first portion, the winner has 20 (early episodes have 30) seconds to identify up to nine covers like in the Lightning Round. Each cover has a number, and if identified in time would revieal that specific portion of the Mystery Cover. After the time was up, the covers would be reviewed, and the Mystery Cover would be brought up. For each right answer in part one, that box (of nine randomly placed) would be shown. After the category was revealed, the champ had 10 seconds to give the name of the celebrity on the cover to win the trip. If the champion was unsuccessful, he or she still won a smaller prize.