Recently I downloaded a full episode of the Australian version of $ale of the Century during the latter days of the Tony Barber/Alyce Platt era and compared them to our version. These are my results laced with some of my commentary:
1. In the 1983 U.S. episode I recently viewed on Page 'O Clips, the Shopping format played exactly like the Aussie version's original rules: only one Money Card ($25) in the Fame Game, no cash jackpot, and three final questions ending the game.
2. Jim Perry started out in a similar manner as Tony Barber when it came to reading the Fame Game questions, but as time went on Jim (either on his own terms or under the producers' suggestions) stopped beginning the questions with "who am I" or "what's my name" etc. IMO he really should have kept that aspect alive on US $ale because it is so synonymous with "is that your final answer" as a game show catch phrase.
3. On the Aussie version, when they switched to the Winner's Board they still offered the more luxurious prizes and continued using the daily cash jackpot (despite the fact that the then-new Cash Cards game also featured a small daily jackpot as well). Here I tend to prefer this system because although us Yanks originated the Winner's Board, the 20-space version seemed quite cheapened compared to the higher-staked one used Down Under.
4. Getting into the subject of audience applause, I noticed that on U.S. $ale the audiences in later years clapped every time a contestant answered a regular question correctly. In Australia, the audiences there didn't applaud until after the last question before a Gift Shop or Fame Game segment. To me the timing of the applause seems less annoying on the Aussie version; what was it with NBC and canned applause tracks?
5. I wish Summer Bartholomew or Lee Menning would have joined Jim in interviewing the contestants like they did on the Aussie version because it at least gave the female co-host equal prominecy (as much as I liked Jim Perry's hosting, he sometimes has a habit for being a ham).
To sum it up, although the American version is enjoyable, I feel it only slightly pales in comparison to the long-running Australian institution which had better pacing and higher stakes. I will say, though, that the '85 syndicated edition in its shopping phase came darn near close.
