In the pilot, they displayed the names of the contestants playing. The podiums were funky and had boxes sticking out of three positions, with the head of family's position being longer than the others. When announcer Johnny Olsen said 'ready for action' or 'on your marks', they were both signals to release each family from their pose, and then after he said the show's title, the families went down the steps and stood at their respective podiums. At the beginning of the show, the families stood & sat inside their respective rooms and posed like they were a family portrait. Each contained oval-shaped door ways with light around them, a yellow door with the family's last name on it in red letters and a secret room inside each.
It also had two box-like shaped backdrops behind the competing families. The set used in the 1975 pilot had an orange background.
