The Wizard of Odds

[Justin30519]

I have wanted to see The Wizard of Odds for a while. I recently viewed the only surviving episode. I wondered how it worked. I thought other people might have wondered the same thing so I took some notes during my viewing.

The opening that is on YouTube is different than the opening in the episode I viewed. So either the opening on YouTube is from the pilot or they changed the opening during the show's run. The theme song was the same. It was only the visual shown during the theme song that was different.

They promoted the Emmy awards during this show. Alex opened the show by congratulating the Emmy nominees.

Three players were called from the audience onto the stage. They showed clues on a board one at at time leading to the name of a TV show. Whoever knew the answer first was told to yell it out.

The first round was played for furniture

First at the post
In DeFore's hair
Domestic crisis maker
Maid in America
Served by Shirley Booth

Someone called out Hazel and won the furniture. The other two players got $20 and paint. At this point Don DeFore from Hazel came onto stage and chatted with Alex for a few minutes.

The winner of round one was shown five items with a number as an answer. She was told she had to pick items and keep the total below 33.
If she picked 2 items and stayed below 33, she won his and her rings
If she picked 3 items and stayed below 33, she won a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico

Years since Jackie Gleason on TV
Age of Neil Diamond
English speaking people in the world in millions
Emmys won by Susan St James
The ___ Million Dollar Man

She picked the last two. A graphic showed on the screen saying she was under 33. She was given the choice to keep her prize or risk it to try for the trip. She went for it and picked age of Neil Diamond. She lost the rings.

They showed the names of the three players from the first game on the wheel you may have seen a picture of.

The winner of the first game stayed on stage and two new players came up to join her. Prize is a three door refrigerator/freezer. Clues leading to a TV show.

Made Madison High
Went boing over Boynton

A contestant called our Our Miss Brooks was correct and won the appliance. The other two got $20 and macaroni and cheese.

The winner was shown items and had to stay under 25.
Pick 2 items = fishing equipment and a 10 foot boat
Pick 3 items = bicycles

She picked 2 and was under 25. She gambled and went over on the third.

Two new players were called up to face the winner of game 2. Prize for game 3 was a dishwasher. Clues leading up to TV show.
Alan Brady Bunch
Player buzzed in and said The Dick van Dyke Show. Won the dishwasher. Other 2 players got $20 and orange juice.

The final round was The Wizard's Wheel. The names of all seven players who played that day were on the wheel. They teased a $4,800 prize. A woman spun the wheel.  The woman it landed on came back up on stage.

There were 7 items shown and she had to stay under 45.
Combine 2 = Win recliners and stereo sound system
Combine 3= TV
Combine 4 = Dream vacation for 2 to New York City, Denmark, and Sweden

The items were:
Number of Mike Hammer books (12)
Age of Neil Armstrong (43)
Average calories in 1 cup of white turnips (40)
Number of original TV networks (4)
Average cost of a bonnet hair dryer (24)
Years since the first Emmy awards (19)
Years Hugh O'Brien starred as Wyatt Earp (6)

She picked the calories in the turnips and Hugh O'Brien. Bad choice. She didn't even get the first prize. Presumably if she were under she would have had the chance to keep her prize or risk it but they didn't say this on the show. Alex explained that the odds against a contestant on the wheel were 6 to 1, so she got $60 as a consolation prize.

Alex promoted the Emmy awards which would air on Tuesday May 28 then said goodbye.

I heard that this show wasn't all that good but I thought it was decent. Someone told me that this was a retooled version of the show and the original version had Alex going into the audience like Monty Hall playing various games.

[Ian Wallis]

Thanks for describing this.  Was this available at the Museum of TV & Radio?  I've been wanting to see this for quite a while myself.

I have very vague memories of this since I haven't seen it since '74, but what you describe is not how I remember it at all.  My memory (and it may be partially coming from what I've read online) is that Alex would invite people on stage and ask questions like "what percentage of Americans ate at McDonald's last week?"; and there's be choices.  Each succeeding question would be a bit harder until it got to the prize they would shooting for.  I'm not sure if they conducted surveys of people (like "Feud" or "Card Sharks" eventually did), or exactly where they got the info from.

I remember the wheel - they'd spin it to find out which of the day's contestants would play for the grand prize, just as you mentioned.

I know this is kind of an obscure show, but I do have memories of somewhat liking it when I was a kid.  I'd love to see this again...

[Justin30519]

It's at UCLA. Museum of Television and Radio does not have it. The format you described where they asked the contestant what percentage of Americans ate at McDonald's last week sounds like it might be before they changed the format. I'm guessing that perhaps the percentage choices got more narrow.
Easy question choices: 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%
Hard question choices: 20%, 22%, 24%, 26%

I don't know sure because this show was before my time.

I really want to see a Joe Garagiola or Jack Kelly Sale of the Century. The episodes of Garagiola Sale at UCLA are not playable on their equipment. There are clips of it on a marketing video to promote the 80s revival. Supposedly all the episodes of Kelly Sale were destroyed. But you never know. Spin Off was discovered intact and some episodes of the original Crosswits turned up on YouTube.

[SuperMatch93]

I really want to see a Joe Garagiola or Jack Kelly Sale of the Century. The episodes of Garagiola Sale at UCLA are not playable on their equipment. There are clips of it on a marketing video to promote the 80s revival. Supposedly all the episodes of Kelly Sale were destroyed. But you never know.

Four of the nine episodes that UCLA has are Jack Kelly ones (March and April '71). The Library of Congress also has audio from four episodes from 1969-1970.

[parliboy]

That... actually sounds more decent than I thought it would be.

[RMF]

some episodes of the original Crosswits turned up on YouTube.

Your point is perfectly understood, but there are two complications:

1) There is evidence suggesting that, as with their other two 1970s syndicated game shows, the Ralph Edwards estate still holds The Cross-Wits (they had clips on their website a while back)- it's just that (again, as with their other major programs in the genre) they never have arranged for reruns.

2) Those episodes in question come from copies acquired by contestants, in an era when home recording was becoming more common (note how these episodes all seem to be from the last couple of years of the run). It wouldn't be impossible for someone to have recorded the original Sale of the Century (there are several home recordings in circulation from 1972 and 1973)- but it would probably require finding first adapters, and would probably involve recordings on older forms of home video (similar to the ones UCLA can't play) that will be more complicated to transfer.

All in all, though, a very interesting account you've given- I've been there once before, but never with the lead time necessary to view many of the rarer recordings in their collection. Thank you for sharing this.

[DoorNumberFour]

What did the buzz-in SFX sound like?

[BrandonFG]

The opening that is on YouTube is different than the opening in the episode I viewed. So either the opening on YouTube is from the pilot or they changed the opening during the show's run. The theme song was the same. It was only the visual shown during the theme song that was different.

From what I understand, it's indeed the pilot. There's a clip of this show in Buzzr's Game Changers documentary, where Alex talks about his first U.S. show. The intro was simply a montage of prior contestants.

Your description actually sounds like a fun little show. I'm guessing NBC saw TPiR taking off and wanted its own version...

[WarioBarker]

There's a clip of this show in Buzzr's Game Changers documentary, where Alex talks about his first U.S. show. The intro was simply a montage of prior contestants.

If I'm not mistaken, the clip ends just after Alex walks out and he's holding an Emmy in his hand, so it's likely the same episode the OP described.

[TimK2003]

While we are on the game play of "Wizard", the only thing I can remember about the show was a game where a prize was inside a booth with two horizontal doors that would slide shut to "close" the window.  The player hit a button and either one or both of the doors would close.  IIRC, the terms "one way" and "two way" were used during the segment.

Can anybody fill in the blanks on how this specific game worked?

[joshdj57]

When it comes to finding old game show episodes thought lost forever, there might be some possibilities. Since a lot of syndicated shows were sent to numerous affiliates, I wonder how many copied the episodes onto their own tapes before shipping the masters to other affiliates?  An archaeological dig for sure, but you never know.  Another person who might have some Wizard of Odds episodes is Rick Thomas Obsolete Videos on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt2UipISexd0yg9VoNrxDhQ  He uploaded a 1973 episode of Treasure Hunt thought previously lost.  Most of what he's uploaded has been local newscasts and talk shows so far, but he's still going through shows taped directly off the television in the early 1970s.

[Justin30519]

What did the buzz-in SFX sound like?

There was no buzz-in SFX. The contestants were told to shout out the answer as soon as they knew it.

[RMF]

When it comes to finding old game show episodes thought lost forever, there might be some possibilities. Since a lot of syndicated shows were sent to numerous affiliates, I wonder how many copied the episodes onto their own tapes before shipping the masters to other affiliates?  An archaeological dig for sure, but you never know.  Another person who might have some Wizard of Odds episodes is Rick Thomas Obsolete Videos on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt2UipISexd0yg9VoNrxDhQ  He uploaded a 1973 episode of Treasure Hunt thought previously lost.  Most of what he's uploaded has been local newscasts and talk shows so far, but he's still going through shows taped directly off the television in the early 1970s.

Addressing both elements to this argument:

1) Given that local stations were notorious for keeping almost nothing of their own programs, barring some evidence that they hung onto tapes (such as extended reairings of certain programs), I would not count on your local affiliate keeping tapes around for no obvious reason.

2) The 1970s run of Treasure Hunt is understood to survive intact- it hasn't been rerun since the 1980s (apparently due to music cue issues), but there's no reason to think it is missing at all.

3) As for that YouTube account, there is clear evidence he has been largely trying to upload programs that won't set off the copyright hounds- note that some of his uploads have been pulled, and that others seem edited from longer tapes. As a result, I wouldn't interpret what he's been uploading online with what he has already digitized, much less is still going through now.

4) At any rate, what he has uploaded and what he seems to otherwise have seems largely to fit with what first adapters would have been recording in the early 1970s- and random daytime game shows weren't high on that list.

EDIT: With 2), insert "as a series" after "rerun"- yes, GSN showed a few episodes in the 1990s and 2000s, but not so many that the basic point is negated.

[Chief-O]

2) The 1970s run of Treasure Hunt is understood to survive intact- it hasn't been rerun since the 1980s (apparently due to music cue issues), but there's no reason to think it is missing at all.

Some episodes have aired on GSN. I don't remember when, exactly--probably around 10 years ago, and I believe during a marathon of some sort.

[BrandonFG]

Some episodes have aired on GSN. I don't remember when, exactly--probably around 10 years ago, and I believe during a marathon of some sort.

The Top 50 game shows of all time, I think. Summer 2006.