The Gong Show (2000 Pilot)

This is chronicling the 2000 pilot of The Gong Show.

Format
Contestants come on The Gong Show to perform in many ways imaginable. They could sing, dance, do stand-up comedy, make magic, perform a movie scene, you name it, they do it. On each act, if one, two or all three celebrity judges think if the current act is not worthy of continuing any longer, all they had to do was hit the Gong behind them, thus eliminating that act from competition. For each act that did not get gonged, the judges each gave a score to those acts on a scale of 0-10 (10 being the best, zero being the worst) for a maximum total of 30 (which happened on many occasions). The act with the highest score won a Gong Show trophy, and a check with a ridiculously low amount of $701. In case of a tie, the audience chose the winner by applause. Later, it was the producers' decision and (later) the judges'.

Links
The Gong Show @ Tim's TV Showcase

The Gong Show & tvparty.com

Josh's Gong Show Rules Page