Existence of The Wizard of Odds

[Justin Dyer]

I've been wanting to see The Wizard of Odds for a long time now - ever since I started tape collecting in the mid-nineties. (It's one of Alex Trebek's first game shows - if not his first.) I long thought that the entire series had been destroyed. A couple of years ago, I saw a "teaser" clip on The Page O' Clips Web page. The clip I am referring to was just a montage of clips from various shows in the library, each only a few seconds long. I sent an e-mail inquiry asking about it. I was told that the Webmaster had not gotten the green light to post the entire show yet. Since that e-mail, the Web site no longer exists. I searched youtube for the show to no avail.

Does anyone know who owns the rights to this show and who might have this episode. What are the chances we might see this show one day?

Justin

(I hope I don't get flamed for this.)

[DoorNumberFour]

[quote name=\'Justin Dyer\' post=\'185416\' date=\'May 5 2008, 06:57 PM\']
I've been wanting to see The Wizard of Odds for a long time now - ever since I started tape collecting in the mid-nineties. (It's one of Alex Trebek's first game shows - if not his first.) I long thought that the entire series had been destroyed. A couple of years ago, I saw a "teaser" clip on The Page O' Clips Web page. The clip I am referring to was just a montage of clips from various shows in the library, each only a few seconds long. I sent an e-mail inquiry asking about it. I was told that the Webmaster had not gotten the green light to post the entire show yet. Since that e-mail, the Web site no longer exists. I searched youtube for the show to no avail.

Does anyone know who owns the rights to this show and who might have this episode. What are the chances we might see this show one day?

Justin

(I hope I don't get flamed for this.)
[/quote]
The episode in question, if it exists (I thought that clip came from an NBC promo or something), probably does so in the hands of private collectors, in which case our ability to see it depends on their willingness to make it available the way Jamie did on PoC.

As far as I know, the series was in fact erased. Definitely wasn't his first show, however; he'd hosted several other game shows in Canada (Reach For The Top, Strategy), as well as being a newscaster for Canadian television (CTV?).

(As an aside, I think this topic would have been more appropriate in the Big Board, since I believe this subforum is mainly for posting actual clips.)

[ChrisLambert!]

I assumed it was the pilot, which definitely exists because the folks at GSC5 watched it at the GSN studios.

/don't recall much about it, oddly enough...must've sucked

[Ian Wallis]

Unfortunately this is still one of those lost '70s gems.  I'd like to see an episode of it too and hope the one that apprantly exists will eventually make the rounds.  I have vague memories of watching this a few times as a youngster and thinking that it wasn't too bad - but of course that was a third of a century ago (seems longer when you say it that way, doesn't it) - and sometimes memories can grow hazy over that length of time!

[Jimmy Owen]

It was a Sugarman production, so if he kept all the tapes of "Midnight Special," "Celeb Sweeps" "Take My Advice" and "Whew," it's within the realm of possiblilty that Mary and he have these too.

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'185512\' date=\'May 6 2008, 05:24 PM\']
It was a Sugarman production, so if he kept all the tapes of "Midnight Special," "Celeb Sweeps" "Take My Advice" and "Whew," it's within the realm of possiblilty that Mary and he have these too.
[/quote]


There seems to be good reason that Sugarman is just sitting on all of his stuff.  Witness the appearance of a "Whew!" episode with Randy Amasia's Gauntlet win several years ago in pristine condition, and the fact that there has been an infomercial out in the past year or so that shows most, if not all, of the episodes of The "Midnight Special" were available in a DVD collection in which you would get another episode or 2 on DVD every 6-8 weeks.  Burt even appears a few times during the 30-minute commercial.


/And Mary Hart was there!!!

// I don't know which is the worse case scenario:  Having to watch modern-day "Entertainment Tonight" for 24-hours straight or modern-day "Wheel Of Fortune" -- When both were in their syndicated infancies, they were both fun to watch.

[ChuckNet]

// I don't know which is the worse case scenario: Having to watch modern-day "Entertainment Tonight" for 24-hours straight or modern-day "Wheel Of Fortune" -- When both were in their syndicated infancies, they were both fun to watch.

At least WoF, for its current overabundance of gimmicks, has stayed true to its format...more than I can say for ET since Linda Bell Blue got her grubby hands on it and turned it into a tabloid show (how does a story on the ordeal of British anorexic twins qualify as "entertainment"?).

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'185506\' date=\'May 6 2008, 03:47 PM\']
Unfortunately this is still one of those lost '70s gems. [/quote]
Well, "gems" may be pushing it.  My reaction was along the lines of, "It's kind of like Let's Make a Deal, except what is the deal with his hair?  Oh, Gambit's on."

If one does come out of the woodwork, it would be interesting to see, but it's not worth petitioning GSN to show regularly.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'calliaume\' post=\'185691\' date=\'May 8 2008, 08:12 AM\']
Well, "gems" may be pushing it.  My reaction was along the lines of, "It's kind of like Let's Make a Deal, except what is the deal with his hair?  Oh, Gambit's on."
[/quote]

Well played.  'Cause who doesn't want to watch the show with the model Opel spinning around on a little mirrored turntable?

/the piece of game show scenery I want to own *least*

[fishbulb]

[quote name=\'calliaume\' post=\'185691\' date=\'May 8 2008, 05:12 AM\']
Well, "gems" may be pushing it.  My reaction was along the lines of, "It's kind of like Let's Make a Deal, except what is the deal with his hair?  Oh, Gambit's on."

If one does come out of the woodwork, it would be interesting to see, but it's not worth petitioning GSN to show regularly.
[/quote]

That was also my reaction at the time.  A bunch of one-player games with an "odds" theme, and a guy with very strange hair.  The theme music had lyrics, which was a little different, but still nothing great.
A pretty forgettable show.