| Definition was a Canadian television game show, which aired on CTV from
1974 to 1989. The show was hosted by Jim Perry.
Like the later Wheel of Fortune, Definition was
essentially a variation on the word game Hangman. Two contestants appeared on each
show, each paired with a celebrity guest. The contestant/celebrity pairs would take turns guessing letters in a phrase for which
Perry had offered a pun as a clue. If a pair guessed a correct letter, they could take
another turn, guess the phrase or "give" a letter to their opposing team. (This, obviously, was a strategy that would normally be
used if the team was confident that the letter given would confuse rather than aid their opponents; it replaced rather than
augmenting that team's subsequent turn.) If an incorrect letter was guessed, the pair's turn would end and the opposing team's
turn started.
The show, while popular in Canada, was also sometimes mocked for the cheapness of its prizes, which were usually small kitchen
appliances, pen and pencil sets, or other small
courtesy gifts. Only the show's annual championship tournaments offered the types of expensive prizes, such as a car or a resort vacation, that were commonplace on American game shows.
The show's theme song was taken from an instrumental jazz piece by Quincy Jones, "Soul Bossa Nova". It was sampled by the hip hop band Dream Warriors in their 1991 hit "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz
Style", and was later also used as the theme music for Mike Myers' Austin Powers movies.
|