BtB '76

[calliaume]

Sorry to repeat myself, but I remember Mark Odor (he posts here as modor) on the GSN boards saying that ratings for BTB '76 saying that ratings were very poor by the end of its brief.

That's not true.  I believe it was Jimmy Owen who posted ratings from Variety here a few years ago that showed BTB had strong ratings for its entire network run.  Same for Rhyme and Reason which was also cancelled around the same time.

I'd like to see this.  Usually when the ratings from Break the Bank are cited, it's from the EoTVGS book -- which encompassed the first three weeks' of the show's run.  If the ratings had continued to hold up, I would think ABC would have bumped Hot Seat back a few months rather than shelving a popular show.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

I know it's late but on April 12, 1976, 35 years ago, BTB 76 premiered on ABC.

As a bit of an audio buff myself, one thing I noticed is that on the first episode, and only on the first episode, the theme song, for some reason was played a pitch lower. I actually prefer it that way.

[rjaguar3]

I know it's late but on April 12, 1976, 35 years ago, BTB 76 premiered on ABC.

As a bit of an audio buff myself, one thing I noticed is that on the first episode, and only on the first episode, the theme song, for some reason was played a pitch lower. I actually prefer it that way.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall that going into commercial (or after breaking the bank), the theme song was always in B major (and not C major), at least for the episodes I saw.

[JasonA1]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall that going into commercial (or after breaking the bank), the theme song was always in B major (and not C major), at least for the episodes I saw.

Same here. I recall the cues in the body of the show, like the contestant intro, were a pitch lower.

-Jason

[Ian Wallis]

Same here. I recall the cues in the body of the show, like the contestant intro, were a pitch lower.

Back then, many shows took their themes from vinyl records, which could be pitch-controlled.

I noticed something similar on the '78 Jeopardy.  In the last half of the run (and you can hear it clearly on the last episode, which is in the trade curcuit), the theme heading to commercial breaks went at a much faster pitch than the closing theme - despite the fact they were the same piece of music.  At the beginning of the run it was all the same pitch.

Who knows why?... (retorical question)

[Vahan_Nisanian]

Is there any reason as to why they changed the way the game was explained? Originally, they showed the boards trilions turn over, but in the syndicated version, it was changed to Jack Barry holding a drawn recreation of the board.

[Twentington]

Back then, many shows took their themes from vinyl records, which could be pitch-controlled.

I noticed something similar on the '78 Jeopardy.  In the last half of the run (and you can hear it clearly on the last episode, which is in the trade curcuit), the theme heading to commercial breaks went at a much faster pitch than the closing theme - despite the fact they were the same piece of music.  At the beginning of the run it was all the same pitch.

Who knows why?... (retorical question)

I think someone else here said that it they were on tapes or cartridges, and the pitch variants owed to slight defects in the tape player, or something like that.

[Jimmy Owen]

Is there any reason as to why they changed the way the game was explained? Originally, they showed the boards trilions turn over, but in the syndicated version, it was changed to Jack Barry holding a drawn recreation of the board.

Per the Television Code, a prime time show could only have 3 spot breaks whereas a daytime show could have 4.  No time to reset the board and no need to do an expensive tape edit.

[Ian Wallis]

Actually, I don't think they had to reset the board on the Kennedy version.  If you look closely at the shows that GSN ran, when they showed the sample board, the camera was so tight you couldn't see any celebrity names.  Also, all the boxes seemed to turn the exact same way each time, which is next to impossible.  I think that they just inserted a tape on the Kennedy version - probably live - instead of an edit.

[Jimmy Owen]

I checked a couple of the youtube daytime opens and they went to break immediately after explaining the rules, a luxury they did not have in the syndie version.