Get the Picture was a Nickelodeon game show which broadcast on the children’s network from 1991, when it debuted with Ren and Stimpy, to 1993. (It was actually planned for release in 1990, with Family Double Dare, but it was held back for reasons unknown. Hosted by Mike O'Malley, later of Guts, the Mike O'Malley Show, and Yes, Dear, its competitors were two teams of kids, usually with a boy and a girl in each group. The show took place in a futuristic, circuit board-themed set with a huge video monitor taking up much of one wall.
The game followed the same basic format that many Nick game shows of the period (Double Dare, Legends of the Hidden Temple) did. A Toss Up began the game; a scene was revealed on the video monitor one block at a time, and the team who could buzz in and guess correctly earned 20 points.
Round one was titled Connect the Dots. The dots in question were on the video monitor, and they represented a photograph. It would begin with Mike asking the teams a question; it should be noted that they were difficult as far as Nickelodeon questions go. When a team buzzed in and answered correctly they would earn 20 points, at which point they would be able to choose one of the squares on the video monitor. The dots on the square they chose would be connected, unless they had inadvertently chosen a Power Surge square.
Power Surges invariably began with Mike O'Malley yelling "Power Suuuuuurge" at the top of his lungs. The team who tripped the Power Surge would run to a small, portable podium that was ferried on and off of the set. They would then play one of a number of picture-related games, which generally involved them guessing an image or series of images obscured by various visual effects. Power Surges were not only worth 20 points, they also revealed an actual portion of the picture, instead of just connecting dots. At any time the teams could attempt to Guess the Picture, which would earn them fifty points, but an incorrect answer would reduce the team's score by twenty.
The next round also involved the board. This time it was set up in a gridlike fashion familiar to anyone who has ever played the classic Study Hall game in which players draw lines between dots in an attempt to fill in more squares than your equally-bored opponent. Once again the teams were to identify a picture. The trivia questions this time primarily had multiple answers (ie name three of the four Ninja Turtles) and the team which gave the correct answers were allowed to draw a number of lines on the board equal to the number of answers they gave. Power Surges were back, as was the ability to guess the picture for 50 points. The team with the most points after these two rounds would go on to Get the Picture's answer to Double Dare's Obstacle Course or Think Fast's Locker Room, Mega Memory.
Mega Memory was, as its name implies, a memorization game. The stage crew would bring out a large (people-sized) Touch Tone style keypad with the numbers one through nine on it. The video board would, for a moment, display nine images that corresponded to those numbers, and then the clock would start. (In season one teams were given 35 seconds, but the time allotted was increased to 45 for seasons two and three after it became apparent that the average group of twelve year olds needed more time.) Mike would give the team a hint about each of the pictures in a random order, and the team would have to pound on the picture's number. Each correct answer would earn them a prize, which escalated up to the grand prize, which was usually a trip someplace like Universal Studios or Space Camp.
After undergoing several changes for its second and third seasons Get the Picture was canceled in March of 1993. In 1999 it returned to television as a part of Nickelodeon Games and Sports, a small offshoot network available mostly on digital cable. As of this writing, reruns are still shown on a daily basis.