Barry & Enright in the 70s and 80s

[The Ol' Guy]

Enough people of my generation and older still remembered and wondered. I recall one person was sure TJW was fixed because, "the mc said the only way the contestant could win was with three jokers, and he got it. It looked like the mc pushed a button on the side of his desk."  I would think that after a couple of the local LA shows Jack hosted went network and he wasn't allowed to follow along, he would have been totally foolish to attempt any more stunts like that.

[Sodboy13]

[quote name=\'rollercoaster87\' post=\'173808\' date=\'Jan 4 2008, 11:08 AM\']
I think that was my whole problem with TJW: the questions had no varying degree of difficulty. A $50 question was just as easy as a $200 question. I'm not saying that the three joker question should have been on the level of a million dollar question on Millionaire, but it should have tested his knowledge in the subject past what he learned in fifth grade.
[/quote]

I swear I remember hearing or reading somewhere (perhaps it was second-hand speculation) that the questions' lack of difficulty was a means of deflecting rigging allegations.  After all, nobody's going to accuse you of spoon-feeding the answers to the contestants when they're at a level where 75% of the adult public could get them right.

That said, in retrospect (having originally watched these shows as a kid,) the lack of challenge really diminishes my enjoyment of the shows now.  And it seems it absolutely killed Bullseye right off the bat.

[Ian Wallis]

One thing about "Tic Tac Dough" is the inherent advantage for the champion because he goes first. That could only help build a long winning streak.

"Joker's Wild" didn't have champions that lasted as long--if they were to rig it, presumably it would be to help get such a streak going, not just allow for one lucky jacket fluke.

It was sometime during the CBS run of the show that they changed from having the champion go first to have him/her go second.  I think it was by early 1974.  I remember watching the show as a youngster and wondered why the champ was sitting in a different spot all of a sudden.

I think they might have done that to ensure that they didn't have to bring anybody back.  What that means it this:  in the early days, if the champ got 3 jokers and answered correctly, they won and the challenger didn't even get a spin.  They'd have the challenger back "some other time".  By changing the champion's seating position, if the challenger got the 3 jokers they'd say goodbye to the champ anyway because they already won some prizes.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'173911\' date=\'Jan 5 2008, 08:47 AM\']
By changing the champion's seating position, if the challenger got the 3 jokers they'd say goodbye to the champ anyway because they already won some prizes.
[/quote]
Not to mention, in that game, going second is a pretty big advantage, because you know what your opponent did on their turn (thereby allowing you to go off the board if you spin a triple in a category you might not like, if your opponent only made $100 on their turn, say) in addition to the Last Licks situation, which is HUGE when Fast Forward Whatever is up there.

[Jay Temple]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'173911\' date=\'Jan 5 2008, 10:47 AM\']It was sometime during the CBS run of the show that they changed from having the champion go first to have him/her go second.  I think it was by early 1974.  I remember watching the show as a youngster and wondered why the champ was sitting in a different spot all of a sudden.[/quote]
That's funny, because I had the opposite experience. After years of watching it in the more familiar form, I saw an older ep and was surprised to see the champion going first.

[chris319]

I've seen the TJW mechanism up close at that hellhole, the former Chris Craft Videotape Center. In all likelihood it was built at CBS and each projector had a spinning cylinder with huge notches cut out on one side. A solenoid engaged one of the notches, causing the cylinder to stop. There was no intelligence whereby Jack could push a button and cause a specific combination of categories to appear.

[BillCullen1]

I'm pretty sure the fact that Jack Barry was involved would bring on extra scrutiny to ensure
that TJW, TTD and every other B&E show were on the level.  Jack Barry was forgiven but not
forgotten for his association with "Twenty-One."

[The Ol' Guy]

Hell-hole, eh, Chris? It certainly was small and cramped, as far as the studio and set went. On my one visit during a TJW taping, Wink stopped in to cut a quick promo. Did they do the Martindale TTD run there, too?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' post=\'174013\' date=\'Jan 6 2008, 03:12 PM\']
Did they do the Martindale TTD run there, too?
[/quote]
From what I remember reading on Steven Bentley's page, both shows taped in the same studio.

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'173930\' date=\'Jan 5 2008, 02:41 PM\']
Not to mention, in that game, going second is a pretty big advantage, because you know what your opponent did on their turn (thereby allowing you to go off the board if you spin a triple in a category you might not like, if your opponent only made $100 on their turn, say) in addition to the Last Licks situation, which is HUGE when Fast Forward Whatever is up there.
[/quote]

That's true, and I hadn't thought of it when I posted before. But. . . do you remember players really taking advantage of the Fast Forward category? I was always surprised players DIDN'T make more use of it. It would have totally changed the game if they had.

[Ian Wallis]

That's true, and I hadn't thought of it when I posted before. But. . . do you remember players really taking advantage of the Fast Forward category? I was always surprised players DIDN'T make more use of it. It would have totally changed the game if they had.

There are at least two occasions where a contestant spun a $50 Fast Forward on their last turn and answered 10 questions in a row to win the game.  One occured during the '77-78 season, and the other (which I have on tape) was in 82-83.  There were a few other occasions where a contestant answered several in a row only to get one wrong before they caught up; and there were also a few other occasions where somebody had a Joker and didn't make proper use of it, only to lose.

[Jay Temple]

Just wanted to add: The most annoying variation on this happened at least once and probably more. The champion trailed by at least $250, and could have won with a Fast Forward category, but Jack declared the game over as soon as something came up that wasn't a joker.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'174027\' date=\'Jan 6 2008, 04:26 PM\']
There are at least two occasions where a contestant spun a $50 Fast Forward on their last turn and answered 10 questions in a row to win the game.  One occured during the '77-78 season[/quote]
That one was Byron Wilson, who was playing his fifth game so he won a car as a result of making it through those ten questions. Byron was one of the top winners of that season but was ineligible for the $100,000 Tournament of Champions in late 1978 because by that time he had become a member of the show's writing team.

[Johnissoevil]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'174027\' date=\'Jan 6 2008, 04:26 PM\']
There are at least two occasions where a contestant spun a $50 Fast Forward on their last turn and answered 10 questions in a row to win the game.  One occured during the '77-78 season, and the other (which I have on tape) was in 82-83.  There were a few other occasions where a contestant answered several in a row only to get one wrong before they caught up; and there were also a few other occasions where somebody had a Joker and didn't make proper use of it, only to lose.
[/quote]

I remember watching one ep of the 78-79 season on GSN when the FF category was in play for the game, the champion was down $500 to $100, and Jack told him that the only way he could win was to spin three jokers.  He did spin, only one joker appeared, and Jack said "Nope, it's all over, we have a new champion!" without even giving the contestant the option of using FF to try to catch up.  I was "WTFing" at that, and I don't remember seeing him brought back as a result.  I'd rather think this was an oversight on B&E's part, however.

[rugrats1]

[quote name=\'Johnissoevil\' post=\'174092\' date=\'Jan 7 2008, 04:09 AM\']
I remember watching one ep of the 78-79 season on GSN when the FF category was in play for the game, the champion was down $500 to $100, and Jack told him that the only way he could win was to spin three jokers.  He did spin, only one joker appeared, and Jack said "Nope, it's all over, we have a new champion!" without even giving the contestant the option of using FF to try to catch up.
[/quote]

Is it just me, or was Jack often too quick to end the game when a contestant was in a potential losing position, like the example above?