Question about Split Second

[scully24]

It's been ages since I've seen an episode of "Split Second."  How exactly were the cars narrowed down as the same contestant kept winning?  Did they physically remove a car with each show, or were all five left on stage?  And were the cars ramdomly eliminated, or was it the producer's choice which car would go, or was it by some other method?

Thanks,

Kevin

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'scully24\' date=\'May 18 2004, 05:32 PM\']It's been ages since I've seen an episode of "Split Second."  How exactly were the cars narrowed down as the same contestant kept winning?  Did they physically remove a car with each show, or were all five left on stage?  And were the cars ramdomly eliminated, or was it the producer's choice which car would go, or was it by some other method?[/quote]
For each day of the returning champion's reign, a car was eliminated at random--s/he found out which one when the front game set parted.  The cars eliminated didn't have the light board behind them flashing and Tom Kennedy pointed out which one got eliminated.

If a champion made it to five days, all five light boards would be flashing and after the commercial, Tom would ask the champ to walk to the car of his/her choice and touch it.  Cue the walkover music (where Jack Clark would normally read the plug) and as soon as the player touched the car, the win music would play, the car horn SFX would go off, the audience applauded and Jack read the plug for the car.

There are those who would know better, but I believe that in the four-year original run, only two people were five-day undefeated champions, since everyone else either got defeated or won the car sooner (when you won the car, you retired undefeated).

And Jack Clark said every day over the credits, "The winning and eliminated cars were chosen at random prior to taping of today's program" (or something to that effect).

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'May 18 2004, 05:43 PM\']

There are those who would know better, but I believe that in the four-year original run, only two people were five-day undefeated champions, since everyone else either got defeated or won the car sooner (when you won the car, you retired undefeated).

 [/quote]
 One undefeated champ from the original SS was future J! TofC finals competitor Marvin Shinkman, who got his clock cleaned by Chuck Forrest in that 1986 final.

[scully24]

Thanks for the quick reply.  I was reminiscing about the show with co-workers, and we were trying to remember that element.  I always have fond memories of that show because it was the first one I ever saw taped.  I was about 13, and I was thrilled when I found out you could go to TV game show tapings for free as often as you wanted.  I went about 3 times.

[tmq800]

For the 1986-87 revival of 'SS', there was only one car on stage and 5 screens, one screen would reveal the word 'CAR', the others had cash amounts.

If a champion returned on a second day, one of the screens would not light up, thus reducing the number of screens to 4.  Each successive return to the bonus round, another screen would go dark, and the choices would be reduced by one.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'tmq800\' date=\'May 18 2004, 07:17 PM\'] For the 1986-87 revival of 'SS', there was only one car on stage and 5 screens, one screen would reveal the word 'CAR', the others had cash amounts.

If a champion returned on a second day, one of the screens would not light up, thus reducing the number of screens to 4.  Each successive return to the bonus round, another screen would go dark, and the choices would be reduced by one. [/quote]
 That was the first version of the 80's SPlit Second bonus round. After a few weeks, when this format led to a lot of car wins, the format was changed. THere were still five screens, but three of them said car and two said either Fur or Vacation. Contestant chose three screens. If all three said car, the car was won, otherwise they could take either a fur or vacation(and cash if it was their second, third, or fourth trip to the bonus, $1K on day two, $2K on day three, $3K on day four) and leave the show. If they won the car, they retired undefeated. On day four, four of the screens would say car and one screen would say either Fur or Vacation(but the player still chose three screens). A five time champion automatically won the car.

[Craig Karlberg]

I know the odds of winning the car on that show start at 1 in 5, but has ANYONE won it in just ONE shot?

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'May 19 2004, 05:45 AM\'] I know the odds of winning the car on that show start at 1 in 5, but has ANYONE won it in just ONE shot? [/quote]
 Yeah it happened. It happened three of four times in five shows on the original bonus format in the 80s run.

[Ian Wallis]

And Jack Clark said every day over the credits, "The winning and eliminated cars were chosen at random prior to taping of today's program" (or something to that effect).

I always thought it was the least-expensive that was eliminated.  Quite frequently they'd have a Corvette Stingray as one of the cars - and back then everybody wanted one.  It was also one of the most expensive that they'd have on the show.  I don't recall that one ever being eliminated, even after a contestant had tried it the previous day.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'May 19 2004, 08:04 AM\']

And Jack Clark said every day over the credits, "The winning and eliminated cars were chosen at random prior to taping of today's program" (or something to that effect).

I always thought it was the least-expensive that was eliminated.  Quite frequently they'd have a Corvette Stingray as one of the cars - and back then everybody wanted one.  It was also one of the most expensive that they'd have on the show.  I don't recall that one ever being eliminated, even after a contestant had tried it the previous day. [/quote]
 You might(though not likely) be confusing it with Davidson HS, which eliminated the least expensive cars(first two seasons anyway) when a champ's reign continued from one week to the next(cars changed each week). 'Course Davidson's HS never offered a Corvette. I suspect 70s Split Second could have eliminated more expensive cars from the mix to help with budget concerns.