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As we all know; Sale featured three, grossly different bonus rounds during its run in the eighties. Which was your favorite...and why? I'd appreciate if this discussion remained intelligent; and we don't delve into factors such as [I think the font on the sign from 1987 looks cooler than the one from 1983].
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My favoritte is the Winners Big Money Board where a player picks numbers from 1-20 untill a match occurs. It took a little longer to clear all the prizes than the shopping round I think, but there was really nothing to risk there. The shopping round came a close second because there was drama involved. I always wondered near the end of the main games is whether the champ had enough of a score to add it to her score total to get that prize they were eyeing. The Winners Big Money Game was definitely a bad idea & it was so akward how the structure was set up as far as cash & cars went. Sure you can solve a series of mini puzzles to beat the clock but the trick is to stay ahead of it at all costs. Needless to say, it never fit in.
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I liked the Winner's Board. I liked that a player had an outside shot at winning the car on their first day, and I liked the look and operation of the thing. It looked like it would be fun to play with. :)
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I loved the Shopping bonus round. I loved how it posed this question- "Will he take the prize, or give it up for something bigger?" :)
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The first one was best. It was similar to the original Jack Kelly version and that's the one I enjoyed best.
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Jan 8 2005, 07:53 AM\']The first one was best.
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I'm with you, Jimmy. This way a contestant could be forgiven for racking up a big lead during the main game. He or she wasn't necessarily showboating--they were jockeying for one of the bigger prizes. Under these bonus round rules, the entire show featured items that truly were The Sale Of The Century!!!!!. I also enjoyed seeing how high that jackpot would grow. They could've retained the increasing jackpot element for the other bonuses (which means Rani White would've won a king's ransom instead of just a fortune) but alas.
Oh, and I thought the 1983 font was better than 1987's.
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I also thought the first one was most appropiate for the show...though i do prefer shows that have an actual 'bonus' round....
I always wondered if they could develop a bonus round for players who won, with a chance for them to add a little bit to their total, to get them closer to the top prizes....
Could you see it? A big thrilling end game to win......$50! But if it were counted as part of your score...it could be the most important fifty bucks you ever earned on a game show!
Just mah two cents.
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Growing up, the first one I saw was the Big Board, and along with Chris, I liked the idea of winning $10k or the Car on day one.
After seeing the USA reruns, I think that the Shopping portion embodies the true nature of the program, and it's a shame that they changed.
As a contestant, I think I'd most want to play the Money Game. Given what I just said earlier, it sounds weird, but I might not make it the whole way, and winning a bundle of cash sure sounds good.
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I'm in the first bonus round camp, though I did like the concept of the "Winners Board".
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I can't say a favorite at all, but I can say that the Winner's Big Money Game belonged somewhere other than SOTC.
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When a champ was close to the jackpot or all of the prizes+ the jackpot, you couldn't beat the suspense. However I happen to prefer the random odds of the winners board myself.
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Gee, looks like I'm alone here. I like seeing an endgame that's ...well... an endgame. Not a single question of preference, not something that might as well be a flip of a ten-sided coin. A game. One which requires some degree of skill. So, whether it fits in or not, the WBMG gets my vote, if only because of the process of elimination.
(And Matt S. gets my vote for "endgame the show shoulda had".)
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I'll go along with the first one. It was more interesting to see if a champ could get enough money to get to the next prize level. The puzzle format didn't really fit the show, IMHO.
Having said that, I would have liked to have seen them give the champ a little something for winning the game - e.g. if they didn't have enough to get to the next level, maybe they should have at least got a little cash added to their total, that way if they lost the next game they'd at least have something. It's possible on that show to win three or four games, and only leave with the $200 or so you won the games with - if you didn't buy any instant bargains along the way.
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jan 8 2005, 03:40 PM\']
Having said that, I would have liked to have seen them give the champ a little something for winning the game - e.g. if they didn't have enough to get to the next level, maybe they should have at least got a little cash added to their total, that way if they lost the next game they'd at least have something. It's possible on that show to win three or four games, and only leave with the $200 or so you won the games with - if you didn't buy any instant bargains along the way.
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That's what the Instant Bargains and Fame games were there for!
No doubt, Shopping was the better bonus game. Shopping produced what I think was the best drama in game shows. To see the life changing huge wins by people like John Goss, Tim Hollerin and Alice Conkright was something else. The shopping bit also offered more unique prizes.
The Winner's Board was ok. A lot of the prizes became more cheap and there was very little risk until the end where you would risk all the 10 major prizes you earned on that board for an additional $50,000. The only advantage of this bonus game is that people actually left with the prizes if defeated. But still, you could leave with prizes from again the Instant Bargains and Fame Games.
Now the Winner's Big Money Game was not bad, but as previous posters stated, it was on the wrong show. This game really had NOTHING to do with Shopping, or SALE of the Century. Too bad the music was revamped so good to such a bad season for $OTC.
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The first one made Sale of the Century what it was, so it gets my vote. I feel this version added more drama to the game...could so-and-so win the cash jackpot today? They're only $40 away from it all?
The Winner's Board was cool too, and would make a sweet flashgame, but it just had no place on $ale. Would've made a nice bonus game on Classic Concentration though.
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I'm a fan of the shopping bonus round. Think about it this way...the show was Sale of the Century. What better way to end the show than by going shopping! I agree that the closer the player got to the goal, the more exciting it got. I always liked it when that would happen, because you never really knew (unless you'd seen the episodes before) what the player was going to do. It was always fun to see them win big, too.
I didn't mind the Winners' Board either, in the few episodes I remember it (for some reason it doesn't stand out in my mind like the shopping does). I thought it was a decent bonus round, and the go for broke option kept the excitement there.
The Winners' Big Money Game was completely out of place. I hated it when I was a kid, I still wasn't a fan when I saw the reruns, and I'm still not. It didn't belong on Sale.
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My vote goes to the first two formats, The Shopping & Winner's Board.
On the Winner's Board however, there wasn't a natural match for the Car or $10,000. To win those prizes, you had to turn over an Instant Win & hopefully pick the car or $10,000. The eight other prizes (including $3,000) had natural matches.
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[quote name=\'GSWitch\' date=\'Jan 8 2005, 06:38 PM\']On the Winner's Board however, there wasn't a natural match for the Car or $10,000. To win those prizes, you had to turn over an Instant Win & hopefully pick the car or $10,000. The eight other prizes (including $3,000) had natural matches.
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Thank you for that Utterly Irrelevent Widely Known fact.
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I preferred the Winner's Board to the Shopping format as they were presented. I echo the sentiment of those who've said that the WBMG had no real connection to the rest of the show, although it had a certain play-along factor.
At the risk of accusations of Mo' Money Syndrome, I offer my GameTweaks (Pat. Forever Pending) that I believe would have improved the Shopping format (after all, they did get rid of it on the daytime $ale, didn't they?):
1) After the champion has been declared, (s)he would get a chance to win extra cash by playing a form of the Instant Cash game that eventually replaced the third Instant Bargain. The champion would automatically "risk" all but one dollar of the winning margin (ex., if the final score was "John $68 - Mary $88* - Bill $40," Mary would "risk" $19, and the scores would read "John $68 - Mary $69 - Bill $40.") The champ would then select one of however-many boxes, each of which would have a single piece of currency (ex. $1 - $2 - $5), and the "risked" money would be multiplied by the value of the bill chosen. (ex. if Mary found the $5 bill, 19 X 5 = $95, $95 + $69 = $164 to shop with. As you can see, it's not really a risk, since one could do no worse than break even.) This would give a new champion a shot at something better than a prize that, in many cases, was only worth about as much as the third Instant Bargain.
2) (Don't worry, it's much simpler.) Do not retire a contestant who buys a prize. Just have them return as champion (unless they win the lot.) (I couldn't believe this one contestant I saw, who was so happy to take the first level prize and quit; Jim Perry seemed surprised that (s)he didn't want to climb the ladder.)
Esoteric Eric; as for converting the Winner's Board to a Concentration bonus round, my GameTweak would set a specific number of chances to match a prize (say, three pairs of numbers for a first win, four for the second, and so on) with the "board goes back" rule in effect for non-matching pairs (unlike $ale). Champs would retire upon clearing the board (at least three bonus rounds).
*EDITED at 8:35 AM PST to correct the math error; easier to just change the simulated final score than the rest of the equations. Thanks, Zach
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[quote name=\'Esoteric Eric\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 05:14 AM\']. The champion would automatically "risk" all but one dollar of the winning margin (ex., if the final score was "John $68 - Mary $84 - Bill $40," Mary would "risk" $19, and the scores would read "John $68 - Mary $69 - Bill $40.") 2) (Don't worry, it's much simpler.)
Do not retire a contestant who buys a prize. Just have them return as champion (unless they win the lot.) (I couldn't believe this one contestant I saw, who was so happy to take the first level prize and quit; Jim Perry seemed surprised that (s)he didn't want to climb the ladder.)
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84-19=65. You must mean 15 dollars.
There was a week of shopping on the syndie version where THREE contestants stopped and took the $85 prize, a motorcycle, in the same week.
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[quote name=\'Esoteric Eric\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 05:14 AM\']Do not retire a contestant who buys a prize. Just have them return as champion (unless they win the lot.) (I couldn't believe this one contestant I saw, who was so happy to take the first level prize and quit; Jim Perry seemed surprised that (s)he didn't want to climb the ladder.)
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That takes out the suspense of watching the show in the first place (should he/she risk that prize he/she can take home now to get a chance win the big cash/car?), and big risk was one of the main lures of the show. Aside of Summer Bartholomew, of course. ;)
Tyshaun
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[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 06:43 AM\']
That takes out the suspense of watching the show in the first place (should he/she risk that prize he/she can take home now to get a chance win the big cash/car?), and big risk was one of the main lures of the show.[/quote]
Aside from the instances Zach and I mentioned earlier, there was hardly any suspense at the first level, certainly not if it was an instance when all the items available could be / needed to be plugged. Ninety-five-plus percent of the time, the champ would elect to continue.
Esoteric Eric; uh-oh, here comes another preference debate...
[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 06:43 AM\'] Aside of Summer Bartholomew, of course. ;)
Tyshaun
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Delightful to look at, sure, but I cringed every time she said "yers" instead of "yours." I liked Lee Menning better.
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Not to be a wet blanket, but how long has it been since this show aired? Even in reruns, probably 10 years? Maybe more?
Just trying to understand how any of you can have such keen recall of a show whose name I remember, but that's about it.
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Last aired first-run March 1989, last aired reruns June 1994.
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[quote name=\'Esoteric Eric\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 03:14 AM\'](I couldn't believe this one contestant I saw, who was so happy to take the first level prize and quit; Jim Perry seemed surprised that (s)he didn't want to climb the ladder.)
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Depends on what that prize was. For example, my mom has wanted a piano in her house since pretty much the beginning of time. If I'm a one-day champion, and they told me I could take a baby grand and run, I'd be out the door and giving the deliverymen Mom's address before Jim could turn over the tile on the Cash Jackpot and do the bye-bye.
*EDITED at 8:35 AM PST to correct the math error; easier to just change the simulated final score than the rest of the equations. Thanks, Zach
Ya shoulda left it there. It would have driven him INSANE. :)
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[quote name=\'Esoteric Eric\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 11:03 AM\']Delightful to look at, sure, but I cringed every time she said "yers" instead of "yours." I liked Lee Menning better.
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It's not so much whether I preferred Menning or Summer, but one dynamic about Summer's spiels that changed from the moment she came aboard was the placement of the "on $otC." Julian and Menning tacked it on after the sale price reveal, while Summer used it BEFORE the reveal. For some reason, I liked it better as the actual tagline, rather than the set-up.
As to the original subject, I had no preference for any of the bonus games.
Doug
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Tough call here...on the one hand, the shopping endgame was most relevant to the $otC format in general, but the Winner's Board was fun to watch (particularly as a 6YO) and good for variety...aside from the aforementioned possibility of winning the car or $10K on your first day, it truly gave us diversity decision-wise after that all-important 10th win...some players were content w/their 8 prizes and $13K cash (Jeff Hewitt, Dave Goodman, et al.), while others (Mark DeCarlo, Linda Credit, et al.) just had to risk them to add that big $50K bonus.
The Winner's Big Money game, OTOH, was fun but out of place...word puzzles had nothing at all to do w/the format, and it was damn near impossible to win the car.
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 04:10 PM\']last aired reruns June 1994.
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I know this is dumb, but it's bugging me...are you sure it didn't go off the air in July?
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[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 10:45 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 04:10 PM\']last aired reruns June 1994.
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I know this is dumb, but it's bugging me...are you sure it didn't go off the air in July?
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I think it went off the air in June, to coincide with that horrible game show original hour (of which I think "Free 4 All" was one of the shows, but can't for the life of me remember the other one).
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The other one was Quicksilver. I can see why you would want to forget that one.
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[quote name=\'PYLdude\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 11:04 PM\']The other one was Quicksilver. I can see why you would want to forget that one.
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Yes, that was it. Thank you. I believe $OTC's last day was 6/24/94, because that USA originals hour premiered 6/27/94. Only reason I think I'm right with that is because I remember taking a glance at those two shows while on vacation...
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[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 10:53 PM\'][quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 10:45 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 04:10 PM\']last aired reruns June 1994.
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I know this is dumb, but it's bugging me...are you sure it didn't go off the air in July?
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I think it went off the air in June, to coincide with that horrible game show original hour (of which I think "Free 4 All" was one of the shows, but can't for the life of me remember the other one).
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TJW90 and TTD90 reruns and one non-game show were bumped as of 6/24/94 to make room for Quicksilver and Free 4 All and Caesar's Challenge reruns. $otC and one of the two airings of Scrabble were bumped five(I think) weeks later to make room for non-game show programming.
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[quote name=\'PYLdude\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 11:04 PM\']The other one was Quicksilver. I can see why you would want to forget that one.
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At least Quicksilver had a good concept buried in there somewhere.
(Does anyone know where the NAME "Quicksilver" came from, though?)
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[quote name=\'Esoteric Eric\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 05:14 AM\']At the risk of accusations of Mo' Money Syndrome, I offer my GameTweaks (Pat. Forever Pending) that I believe would have improved the Shopping format (after all, they did get rid of it on the daytime $ale, didn't they?):
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I don't think that the abandonment of the Shopping format meant that it didn't work. (After all, it worked for over 20 years in Australia.) I'd love to know the backstory on why it was dropped. I suspect it was simply a "let's change something" move to increase ratings.
I'll be the first to admit that my judgment is clouded because the Shopping format was far and away my favorite. (It was on WOF, too, but that's another post.)
By the way, here's a clip from the Aussie SotC (four players!):
Aussie SotC Speed Round (http://\"http://www.crossbearer.com/anthonyonsaleofthecentury.wmv\")
You astute observers will note that the "winner" of the game is from the children's group The Wiggles. And during the Speed Round, he obviously has "the wiggles".
Enjoy!
Curt
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I believe $OTC's last day was 6/24/94, because that USA originals hour premiered 6/27/94. Only reason I think I'm right with that is because I remember taking a glance at those two shows while on vacation...
Yes, it was the end of June, and "Lucky Day USA" had expanded from 6 to 8 shows - the most they ever had in their afternoon game show block at one time. In fact, some of John Davidson's interstituals still metioned that they had only 6 shows, and 6 chances to win.
Unfortunatly the 8-show block didn't last long, as by November it was down to 4. But by then, GSN's debut was less than a month away.
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[quote name=\'curtking\' date=\'Jan 10 2005, 12:02 PM\'][quote name=\'Esoteric Eric\' date=\'Jan 9 2005, 05:14 AM\']At the risk of accusations of Mo' Money Syndrome, I offer my GameTweaks (Pat. Forever Pending) that I believe would have improved the Shopping format (after all, they did get rid of it on the daytime $ale, didn't they?):
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I don't think that the abandonment of the Shopping format meant that it didn't work. (After all, it worked for over 20 years in Australia.) I'd love to know the backstory on why it was dropped. I suspect it was simply a "let's change something" move to increase ratings.
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The thing that I had heard in one forum or another was that they were having problems with NBC's ten-match limit on contestants and that it was often taking more than ten days to get a champion all of the way up the scale--the network wanted something that had a guaranteed maximum days of appearance.
As for me, the first format. After all, they didn't call the show "Pick a Number off a Board." Like the old big-money quizzes, they offered a big reward for a big risk, as it offered a cliffhanger of whether you wanted to keep what you had or have to face two fresh opponents who could very likely beat you on the buzzer to go for the bigger prizes.
BTW, on the original original (Jack Kelly and Joe G.), there was no scale--you picked your poison when you made your first decision to come back of what prize or prizes you were playing for (lots of people played for a car *and* a trip)--every day, when you won, there were two to four new prizes with the ones you selected to attempt to distract you and make you quit. (And on the UK version, there were no continuing champs--if you were two pounds away from the car at the end of the game, you had to take the lounge suite or one of the cheaper prizes instead.)
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A question regarding the first network format:
Back before there was the cash jackpot, what was the price tag to win all the prizes?
For that matter, the same goes for the network version after the change: I know the Lot was $600 but know neither the price of the car or all the prizes.
If you know, please tell me. Please? :)
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[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Jan 11 2005, 01:22 PM\']A question regarding the first network format:
Back before there was the cash jackpot, what was the price tag to win all the prizes?
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I'm looking at my only SotC episode, which appears to be the first episode. (A player named Janice wins with $49...someone will correct me if I'm wrong...)
Watch ($1,800) -- $48
Sofa/Loveseat ($3,500) -- $114
Mink Coat ($5,500) -- $181
Europe Trip ($13,316) -- $254
Catalina Sailboat ($21,686) -- $326
Mercedes-Benz ($41,466) -- $390
...and that's it. There is no "next step" mentioned.
Jim does say "Just to round everything out to $95,000 we will throw in cash $6,682 as well."
So in the initial days on NBC, was it necessary to win an extra day to get everything? Or did you automatically get all the prizes below where you stopped?
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So in the initial days on NBC, was it necessary to win an extra day to get everything? Or did you automatically get all the prizes below where you stopped?
You got whatever prize you were entitled to when you stopped. I don't remember very many people actually stopping, but I do remember one from the Friday episode of the first week. The guy had won two games, got to a living room suite (or something like that) and decided not to risk it and took it. So the beginning of the second week they once again had three new players.
Also, the amount of money needed to win each prize was dropped during the run - that may have had something to do with the 10-day thing. I believe initially you had to earn over $600 to win everything, but that was reduced to around $400 several months into the run. I recall Jim making a comment about it on the show in which they made the change. I guess they figured nobody was coming close so they had to make it a little easier.
For that matter, I'm surprised there even was a 10-day limit. While CBS and ABC had restrictions on how much you could win ($25,000 and $20,000 respectively), it appeared NBC didn't have any restrictions - so I just assumed you could win as long as it took to reach the top (or get defeated) - even if it was more than 10 days.
Was the 10-day limit ever mentioned on the air?
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Something I remember from the first month or so of $otC in 1983, at the end of the week, instead of saying what the next prize up the line was for the new week, Jim would say that the next prize would "be comparable" to the next level prize which was available for the week which was ending. That was awkward phrasing, but I think you know what I mean.
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(Does anyone know where the NAME "Quicksilver" came from, though?)
It's another name for the element better known as mercury.
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")
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[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Jan 11 2005, 08:58 PM\']
(Does anyone know where the NAME "Quicksilver" came from, though?)
It's another name for the element better known as mercury.
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")
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I'm hoping the OP meant "why the hell did they come up with that name for that particular show, since it wasn't terribly fast, or indeed sharing of any other mercurial qualities." :)
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jan 11 2005, 11:13 PM\'][quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Jan 11 2005, 08:58 PM\']
(Does anyone know where the NAME "Quicksilver" came from, though?)
It's another name for the element better known as mercury.
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I'm hoping the OP meant "why the hell did they come up with that name for that particular show, since it wasn't terribly fast, or indeed sharing of any other mercurial qualities." :)
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Quicksilver was one of The Avengers. When I saw Quicksilver, I wanted revenge on USA for yanking $ale of the Century so that garbage could be presented. I grant you, garbage is in the eye of the beholder and when I watched Quicksilver, I beheld garbage.
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[quote name=\'curtking\' date=\'Jan 11 2005, 01:53 PM\'][quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Jan 11 2005, 01:22 PM\']A question regarding the first network format:
Back before there was the cash jackpot, what was the price tag to win all the prizes?
[/quote]
I'm looking at my only SotC episode, which appears to be the first episode. (A player named Janice wins with $49...someone will correct me if I'm wrong...)
Watch ($1,800) -- $48
Sofa/Loveseat ($3,500) -- $114
Mink Coat ($5,500) -- $181
Europe Trip ($13,316) -- $254
Catalina Sailboat ($21,686) -- $326
Mercedes-Benz ($41,466) -- $390
...and that's it. There is no "next step" mentioned.
Jim does say "Just to round everything out to $95,000 we will throw in cash $6,682 as well."
So in the initial days on NBC, was it necessary to win an extra day to get everything? Or did you automatically get all the prizes below where you stopped?
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I read on one website (when found, I'll give you the link) that $500 was the tag for every prize on the stage plus the cash added to total exactly $95,000. Since two people did manage to win the $95,000 lot (one contestant was named Mort, and I saw the clip in the Aussie 15th Anniversary Special; the other was mentioned by Mr. Van Ginkel in a thread a while back), so winning it all was very possible.
Back to topic: I have to say the Shopping Round was the best, since it was the very essence of the show. The syndicated version was much better, since winning the lot required that you had to risk the prizes in order to add the cash jackpot, not risk the cash in order to add the prizes, since no contestant on the NBC version was crazy enough to do that (especially David Rogers).
The Inquisitive One
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Thank you, Chris, that was indeed it--I did know the definition of "quicksilver" (I read a 900-page novel largely about it a few months back, so I should hope I would know).
Perhaps quicksilver was what the producers had been drinking.
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[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Jan 11 2005, 11:45 PM\'][quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jan 11 2005, 11:13 PM\'][quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Jan 11 2005, 08:58 PM\']
(Does anyone know where the NAME "Quicksilver" came from, though?)
It's another name for the element better known as mercury.
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I'm hoping the OP meant "why the hell did they come up with that name for that particular show, since it wasn't terribly fast, or indeed sharing of any other mercurial qualities." :)
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Quicksilver was one of The Avengers. When I saw Quicksilver, I wanted revenge on USA for yanking $ale of the Century so that garbage could be presented. I grant you, garbage is in the eye of the beholder and when I watched Quicksilver, I beheld garbage.
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You and me both. I remember being really disappointed when Sale was yanked back in '94. Although Caesar's Challenge was a nice addition, I could not understand what USA was thinking to sacrifice Sale for Quicksilver and Free-4-All...ESPECIALLY Free-4-All.
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Although Caesar's Challenge was a nice addition, I could not understand what USA was thinking to sacrifice Sale for Quicksilver and Free-4-All...ESPECIALLY Free-4-All.
I agree about "Quicksilver" and "Free 4 All", but I think "Caesar's Challenge" was one of the under-rated game shows of the '90s. USA only ran it for about four months, so I'm pretty sure they didn't even run every episode of it. It's too bad it didn't last longer on NBC - I wonder if it would have had a lengthier run had it gone into syndication rather than the network, as was the original plan.
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Did they even show any eps. with the first bonus game (unscramble the one word, with one letter added for each game you've won)? The only eps. I ever saw involved the five words in :30, which I think only lasted four months.
As for CC lasting, wasn't it only a placeholder on NBC's schedule?
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jan 12 2005, 11:55 AM\']As for CC lasting, wasn't it only a placeholder on NBC's schedule?
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Placeholder for what? IIRC, CC and CC (only I know which one was which ;-) ) were replaced by Jane Whitney's show, which had already been in syndication before NBC picked it up for network airing.
Yes, technically CAESAR'S ran for two more weeks as NBC took off the CONCENTRATION reruns, but I consider Whitney to have replaced both of them.
Doug
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There seemed to be an above-average amount of pub when Caesar's Challenge came out in TV Guide, simultaneous syndie version, gladiator change, etc., so I think the show was intended to go on indefinetely if the ratings had been there. By the time the show expanded to two airings a day, though, the writing was on the wall, so to speak.
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jan 12 2005, 01:22 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jan 12 2005, 11:55 AM\']As for CC lasting, wasn't it only a placeholder on NBC's schedule?
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Placeholder for what? IIRC, CC and CC (only I know which one was which ;-) ) were replaced by Jane Whitney's show, which had already been in syndication before NBC picked it up for network airing.
Yes, technically CAESAR'S ran for two more weeks as NBC took off the CONCENTRATION reruns, but I consider Whitney to have replaced both of them.
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I was wondering was Caesar a placeholder for any scheduled talk show that NBC had, but the aforementioned Jane Whitney was already in syndication, so I guess not.
You basically summed it all up, though...thanks. :-)
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Did they even show any eps. with the first bonus game (unscramble the one word, with one letter added for each game you've won)? The only eps. I ever saw involved the five words in :30, which I think only lasted four months.
The first episode USA ran was the one where the new bonus game was introduced. I always thought USA ran some episodes never aired on NBC, but when NBC increased it to two airings a day, the first one wasn't seen in my area and that's probably where some of those eps came from. There was no goodbye on the final episode - I'm guessing cancellation came "between tapings". USA did get to some episodes with the original bonus game towards the end of their run, but not too many before they dropped the show.
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jan 12 2005, 04:02 PM\']There was no goodbye on the final episode - I'm guessing cancellation came "between tapings". [/quote]
I thought Jim came out, gave a goodbye; and had either the staff come on stage; or he read some stats about the show...I do recall reading that the last 5 minutes of the last $ale was preempted, however.
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[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Jan 12 2005, 03:47 PM\'][quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jan 12 2005, 04:02 PM\']There was no goodbye on the final episode - I'm guessing cancellation came "between tapings". [/quote]
I thought Jim came out, gave a goodbye; and had either the staff come on stage; or he read some stats about the show...I do recall reading that the last 5 minutes of the last $ale was preempted, however.
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You are correct, however the subject now being bandied about on this thread has been diverted from the original $otC ("original" meaning topic of the thread, not meaning the Kelly/Garagiola version) to CAESAR'S CHALLENGE. And I'm pretty sure Ian's right in that CC did not have a farewell episode (I'm almost inclined to think the last showings were reruns--but I could be wrong).
Jimmy made reference earlier to CAESAR'S being given two airings--we are talking about just the first two weeks of 1994, yes?
Doug
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jan 12 2005, 12:55 PM\']
As for CC lasting, wasn't it only a placeholder on NBC's schedule?
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Scrabble/Scattergories hour were considered a placeholder for the John and Leeza talk show, but Caesar wasn't thought of as a placeholder.
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Jimmy made reference earlier to CAESAR'S being given two airings--we are talking about just the first two weeks of 1994, yes?
Yes, during the first two weeks of 1994 NBC gave it two airings a day. In most markets, they were 12 noon and 12:30. My station only aired the 12:30 show. As far as I can remember, they aired new episodes right up to the end. There were weeks of reruns scattered among the NBC run though - just a guess, but maybe they couldn't get access to the showroom and had to stockpile some episodes before they could start running new episodes again. USA aired every episode from the debut of the second bonus game right until the end, and then started from the beginning, but the show was dropped before the whole series could be rerun.
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jan 13 2005, 08:56 AM\']weeks of reruns scattered among the NBC run though - just a guess, but maybe they couldn't get access to the showroom and had to stockpile some episodes before they could start running new episodes again.
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From what I remember, Caesars aired reruns for a month or so between August and September, and then returned with new episodes and the debut of their revised bonus game. It was similar to what you'd see for a syndicated series, which was how CC started out as in the first place.
Tyshaun
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From what I remember, Caesars aired reruns for a month or so between August and September, and then returned with new episodes and the debut of their revised bonus game. It was similar to what you'd see for a syndicated series, which was how CC started out as in the first place.
I always thought it was later for the new bonus game - like November - but you may be right.
At the risk of turning this "Sale of the Century" thread into a "Caesar's Challenge" thread, there is an episode of the latter on the trade curcuit which some people think is an aired pilot. It involves a different betting format for each word. I think my copy is from a studio master. I'm pretty sure this never aired on NBC, and am wondering if this is actually a syndicated episode.
Anyone know?
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At the risk of turning this "Sale of the Century" thread into a "Caesar's Challenge" thread, there is an episode of the latter on the trade curcuit which some people think is an aired pilot. It involves a different betting format for each word. I think my copy is from a studio master. I'm pretty sure this never aired on NBC, and am wondering if this is actually a syndicated episode.
It's prolly a pilot, since there was a female model who appeared, and the TVG ad for CC's debut featured her in the set pic therein.
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")