Tic-Tac-Dough is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, X or O, on the board. Three versions were produced: the initial 1956–59 run on NBC, a 1978–86 run initially on CBS and then in syndication, and a syndicated run in 1990. The show was produced by Barry & Enright Productions. Jack Barry, the co-producer, was the original host of the 1950s version, followed by Gene Rayburn and then Bill Wendell, with Jay Jackson and Win Elliot hosting prime time adaptations as well. Wink Martindale hosted the network and syndicated version beginning in 1978 but left the program to host and co-produce Headline Chasers and was replaced by Jim Caldwell who hosted during the 1985–86 season. Patrick Wayne hosted the 1990 version, which will be detailed here.
Terrible hosting from Patrick Wayne, who explained the rules slowly and read the questions deadpan but would shout "YOU WINNNNN!" with a win and "YOU BLOCK!" with a block.
An uncharacteristically kiddie theme by Henry Mancini.
A special week in November had divorced couples playing against each other.
The pot reset to zero after each tie, with some players winning less than what the previous tie game had gotten up to.
The bonus round is poorly executed. There are two ways for a contestant to win: one is to get three of their designated symbol in a row, and the other is to pick the square with the Dragonslayer. More often than not, everything on the board ends up arranged in a way that a complete line of the contestant’s designated symbol is not formed, meaning that they can only win by finding the Dragonslayer in those instances.
The Dragon and Dragonslayer began rapping about six weeks in as part of an attempt to be relevant.
Lazily made and bland-looking set.
It was so bad, it essentially killed off Tic-Tac-Dough's chance of ever having another revival after this version ended.
"YOU WINNNNN!" Qualities
The format remained mostly untouched.
The Dragon's animation looked awesome.
Patrick did improve a little by the show's end.
Trivia
This show was the last produced by Dan Enright before his 1992 death.
After this version of Tic Tac Dough ended, a pilot for a revival was recorded in 2021, hosted by Tom Bergeron (who previously hosted another game show based on Tic-Tac-Dough called Hollywood Squares from 1998 to 2004), but it wasn’t picked up.
On April 2, 2024, Tic Tac Dough was announced to be revived for Game Show Network, and it was slated to premiere on August that year, hosted by Brooke Burns (who previously hosted two other game shows on that channel, The Chase and Master Minds). It was later revealed that this version will premiere on January 2025 instead.
