Definition

[greatbigguy]

I figure ronnie corbett was also the model for austin powers' look

[tobascocat1]

lol, I remember watching this when I was a kid.

[domirules28]

the announcer heard here dave devall is a canadian broadcasting legend...his telestrator weather drawings on cfto will never be forgotten...

[landrykkb]

R.I.P. Pat Marsden

[julieannlevine]

I remember this show as a kid:)

[Yickbob]

It's funny, the theme was such a cheesy cover, but as soon as I heard Dream Warriors sample it for 'My Definition of Boombastic Style' and Mike Myers use it for AP, it made me think of this show that I spent many (wasted?) hours watching.

[creativetype]

Idiot. The themesong was a classic jazz standard by Quincy Jones.

[ldhorricks]

Indeed...Soul Bossa Nova

[jon1156]

In Canada you could buy a vowel but it cost 30% more.

[Violet7315]

OMG I was a contestant on this show with Leslie Nielson. Boy do I feel old!!!!

[Tunnel51]

I miss Pat Marsden on the Fan590 in the mornings. He was a fun host to listen too.

RIP Pat.

[higgy04]

Does anyone remember a silhouette of a go-go dancer during the opening in earlier episodes?

I remember Definitoin giving away Brother typewriters and Dave Devall saying ' Your hands never touch the ribbon.'

2:15 - Dave must have been preparing his weather forecast and briefly forgot they were taping the show.

[hmmmnmnmnm]

Yep, I was a kid, but I remember the earlier intro featured a much more recognizable version of "Soul Bossa Nova", and the silhouetted dancing girl.

I'd occasionally catch a glimpse of the intro while flipping through the channels and laugh because the dancing girl seemed like an odd way to set the ambiance for a "hang man" game show.

[mitts61]

This wasn't the theme that Myers used. It was the reworked one that the show changed to later that Myers used directly.

[MelcMelbEmVic66]

Pat Marsden R.I.P.

[streetcarjay]

Jim Perry has a heart of a Canadian, and should have his name on Canada's Walk of Fame.

[katmusic2006]

i hope being american-born (for real!--a new jersey native) doesn't stop him.

[bluebear1985]

I should hope not either. In addition to this, he hosted the Miss Canada pageant for a good number of years.

[katmusic2006]

ooo i wish i could have seen him in the miss canada pageant! but i was too used to the miss america pageant . . . :)

[wschmrdr]

Hey, if Canadian Alex Trebek can host Jeopardy, then American Jim Perry can host Definition,

[somewhatlongdong]

Dave Devall had the ability to make the lamest things sound exciting

[mrceleb2006]

He was also a Ford Motor Company of Canada pitchman during the late 1970s.

[naflodi]

this show may have been the predecessor to wheel of fortune. Both good shows.

[bloggo1]

used to watch this all the time. forgot how boring it really was! :-)

[nextbarker]

Who is the announcer, Jim Peck?

[RealBMac]

Dave Devall - veteran Toronto TV weatherman (CTV - CFTO-TV).

[TokaCola]

God this takes me back..I watched this every night as a kid as well as Headline Hunters.

[ldhorricks]

headline hunters forgot about that on

[f1br30p7ix]

I know that announcer voice.

[crampedu2]

Announcer was a long time weather man in Ontario - Dave (Duvall?) - can't quite remember

[bluebear1985]

That voice is Dave Devall. I've heard that he still works for CFTO. He actually still does the weather on CTV NewsNet today, around the time of day Dan Matheson is on the air.

[streetcarjay]

This Friday, April 3rd. We all will be glued to our TV sets when Dave Devall does his final weathercast. The end of an era.

[BlackwoodCompany]

One of the best shows of Canada, but why it is not in the U.S. is beyond me.

[tvpirate05]

Even though this show predates both, it seems like a cross between "Wheel of Fortune" (of course minus the wheel), and Chuck Woolery's "Scrabble", with the punny clues and take a letter aspect.

I wonder how many people would immediately write this off as a "Wheel" ripoff if it debuted in the States...

[BlackwoodCompany]

I think that no one would be if there were big money stakes.

[brucej62]

I have found Canadians to be more receptive to puns than Americans. I'm not sure whether this is due to educational differences or due to the differences between those who settled in Canada vs. the US. I'm a big punster, so the show appealed to me.

[naflodi]

I am Canadian and puns annoy me to no end. They are indeed the lowest form of humour.

[mofunk320]

oh man, this is a blast from the past. When I was a kid I kept wondering why the host was standing in a garbage can? I guess that's what it looked like to me...I thought even then that the prizes were lame....toasters, knife sets, and if you to the playoffs after about a year you'd win a chevett or something.

thanks for posting this!!!

[fuckpossible]

Damn, that's one catch tune! :-D Seriously. I *heart* it.

[streetcarjay]

R.I.P. Pat Marsden

[HCShannon]

The song is called Soul Bossa Nova and was orignally recorded by Quincy Jones in 1962

[UglySean]

Whenver I heard that theme from --- who was it, the guy from "The Spy who Shagged Me - yeah baby" etc. I thought of this show. Our former mayor was a Jim Perri and when I mentioned to him "hey you weren't the game show host" he had no idea what I was talking about.

JUST LIKE MOM!!! Hahaha That was goofy. I'm glad I never had to eat any of those concoctions.

[go4john]

Pat Marsden was great on the Fan

[lostandfound12]

I cant believe I searched for this

[somewhatlongdong]

LOL...

that pat marsden was always a first-rate prick

[nonspecifico]

Yeah, and if memory serves, he usually wore really ugly ties.

[CDBare]

you can tell it's a later episode as Jim Perry has his normally grey hair dyed brown (he was hosting a US show at the time and I think the network boffins wanted to attract a younger audience)

[diamonddog13]

It's kind of ironic, because this was about the time that Bob Barker stopped dying his hair.

[NativeMoon]

Jim Perry with grey hair o_O - thats a serious shock because we in the US only ever knew him with dark hair on Card Sharks and Sale of the Century... I did wonder as the years ticked on if he was dying his hair as it seemed to get increasingly darker... The strange things you find out on YouTube lol

[palmercomm]

Still looks like he has dark hair to me.

[cne08]

Thanks for posting this michaeltravis. If someone would post clips of Just Like Mom that would be great.

[RealBMac]

One clip was posted not too long ago, but somebody had YT yank it, and it wasn't CTV.

[ntvland]

I have a Game TV Just Like Mom-A-Thon promo. It airs weekdays at Noon for an hour on Game TV if you get the channel. (:

[tazcatsdad]

Wow ... what great memories this brings back! I was a contestant on this show back in 1987, along with one of the college interns from where I worked at the time. Nothing was ever said officially, but I think that we were the only Americans who ever appeared as contestants on Definition! And funnily enough, we got used to saying "zed" instead of "zee" right away! Even funnier was one of the puzzles on our episode: Tell a Canadian to recite the alphabet -- "it is no sooner z (zed) than done"!

[mouseylady]

I heard there was a rap song where this ditty was sampled. Anybody know a name or title?

[mattneffer]

"My Definition (of a Boombastic Jazz Style)" by a canuck rap duo named Dream Warriors. It's actually a pretty good tune.

[mouseylady]

Thanx. I checked it out. It's really a fun tune.  Can't find any of their other stuff, but if it sounds like this, I might pick it up. Anecdote: any search keeps turning up Dokken's song for Dream Warriors, the NIghtmare on Elm Street sequel. (one of...)

[Buskieboy]

The original tune is by Quincy Jones, called "Soul Bosa Nova"

[mishimasword]

This is a later episode, the theme song was the same as the one used in the Austin Powers series. Man I miss Canadian game shows, people would win toasters and the audience would go wild.

[bluebear1985]

Dan Matheson later was a co-host on "Canada AM" and is now a regular anchor on CTV NewsNet. The announcer for "Definition", Dave Devall, can also be seen doing national weather forecasts around the same time Matheson is on the air.

[doogwood]

yeah i missed all those canadian tv sportscasters, bill grampy stevenson, johnny esaw, bill and foster hewitt, don whitmann

[richardbyt1]

These 2 Canadian sports TV voices are missed by me as well asd by all of you.

[doogwood]

mars bar marsden missed by many..loved him on cfl football and would have like to see the time he punched out a cfto bigwig right on marsden..is perry still alive?

[JimmySand9]

Jim Perry is still alive last time I checked.

[WhatsAYak]

Yep...in fact, his wife June has a blog online discussing their current venture.

[scifiwriter37]

I'd like to give a letter away....how about a "x"

[cpowers94]

Didn't always work. Another video on here explains why.

[leftycanuck70]

No, they actually changed the theme song late in the run. For most of this show's run, they used "Soul Bossa Nova" by Quincy Jones as the theme, but this is obviously a later episode.

[WhatsAYak]

Yep...they replaced it w/the sound-alike heard here sometime in the mid-80s.

[thedab101]

cool - i loved this show as a kid. neat to see - even briefly - the old cfto ident. anyone know where i can see this in full?

[michaeltravis]

Yeah, it's a cover, and a bad one, probably to avoid paying the mechanicals.

[booboo900]

THAT DOESN'T SOUND ANYTHING LIKE THE AUSTIN POWERS THEME!!! or at least if it is it's not immediately recognizable

[pinmanca]

This version of the theme was from the later years after they rerecorded the theme. The early shows used the exact Austin Powers Theme.

[cpowers94]

I remember watching this all the time, but I forgot what the game looked like or how it was played.

Thanks for putting this on.

[booboo900]

i mean how, sorry

[booboo900]

was there a limit 2 hoe many times a player could win

[crampedu2]

You could win 5 times and then you were a '5 time champion'. You would then come back at the end of the season and play the tournament of champions for a car. My mom was on this twice and l sat in the audience. She lost both times - we got lots a cake mix for the losers prize!

[Wheeloffortunefan999]

why was she on twice? because of an error or something?

[schmarly2007]

First she was on when you were paired with a 'celebrity' - can't even remember who it was. A few years later you could return with your own team mate. She was really good at it...at home...but not so great in the studio!

[landraiderares]

I remember they gave away tons of Brother typewriters on Definition. "You can always count on your Brother."

[landrykkb]

@booboo900 You could appear in up to 5 episodes,which was the standard on most game shows.

[eeldeal]

I found this by searching for the SNL clip where Myers and Farley are on a Japanese game show and one of the contestants slashes his wrist for a wrong answer. Someone please post that if you have it. 8>

[bohica31812]

the Austin Powers theme is actually Quincy Jones' Soul Bossa Nova

[hmmmeh]

Also, and correct me if im' wrong, it was written in the 60's, some time before this show.

[omcf]

Dream Warriors sampled "Soul Bossa Nova" in their hit "My definition of a bombastic jazz style"

[mrceleb2006]

This Americanized version would have premiered in 1977 and ended its run in 1985. Goodson-Todman would have acquired the production rights from Nicholson-Muir and in addition to bells, it would also have buzzers...something the Canadian version sorely lacked.

[mrceleb2006]

As for the theme music for the Americanized version of this game show, it would have been Bob Cobert's jazzy tune "Bicentennial Funk", which was also the theme to the later episodes of the ABC game show "Password", beginning with "The Password All-Stars".

[mrceleb2006]

Imagine if there was an Americanized version of this long-running Canadian game show...it would have aired on the ABC network with Frank Gifford emceeing and John Harlan announcing. The contestants (which would have paired with celebs) would not have played for small prizes, but for cash instead.

[mrceleb2006]

Veteran CTV Toronto weatherman Dave Devall was the voice behind that show's intro.

[robdon33]

This has to be around the time Jim was hosting "Sale of the Century". Great show, too bad this game show didn't have a run here in the states.

[bluebear1985]

It was the same time. Also, during some of the run, he was hosting "Card Sharks".

[allenjeremy]

Excellent clip, There was a British version of Definition that aired from the late 1970's until 1986 on ITV and was hosted originally by Don Moss then it was hosted by prankster Jeremy Beadle.