Oh My Word (1965–1969) User Reviews

This Show Would Be Successful Today

[hfan77 · 8/10 · 21 January 2010]

I saw a clip of Oh My Word with Jim Lange on another website and I thought it was a show that would be successful today since it had a nice blend of education and entertainment.

Based on the parlor game "Dictionary", the show featured two contestants and a panel of four celebrities with the object to determine which celebrity was giving the correct definition. Dictionary was also the basis for other shows and board games such as "Liar's Club" and "Balderdash." Oh My Word had its roots as a local show in San Francisco and later aired in syndication with Jim Lange as host. Unfortunately, it lasted only one season and was revived in the early 80s under the title "Take My Word For It." It too, wasn't a success and lasted only a season.

Despite its short national run, the show would work in the 21st Century on a cable channel that would be the right fit. We'll take our word for it.

Spoiler alert

[bigpurplebear-1 · 15 November 2003]

Two contestants (everyday people for the first four seasons, celebrity guests were added in the show's final season) listened to four panelists give possible definitions to obscure words; winning a round consisted of guessing which panelist had given the correct definition.

Simple . . . except for the presence of panelist Scott Beach (local actor, disc jockey and raconteur, whose later screen career started with an uncredited appearance -- as a killer -- in "Bullitt"). Beach exerted an erudite, professorial authority as he held forth with informed, in-depth discussions that not only gave the origin of the word and its variations but also . . . were total fabrications; yet the contestants, as though mesmerized by a cobra's stare, invariably fell for his nonsense, time and time again. Except, of course, on those occasions when he almost apologetically offered what had to be the lamest excuse for a definition (as though he'd been caught flat-footed) -- at which time, of course, his WAS the correct definition.

"Oh My Word" was that wonderfully rare blend of fact and fun. You really didn't mind learning something here; it happened while you were laughing. The rest of the panelists, all local personages with the exception of June Lockhart (what was Lassie's mom doing here?) turned in yeomanlike performances, but Beach was the draw. Even host Jim Lange ("The Dating Game," etc.) often wore an expression as though wondering why he'd bothered to show up.

A minor classic.