[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'231392\' date=\'Nov 29 2009, 06:30 PM\'][quote name=\'DjohnsonCB\' post=\'231391\' date=\'Nov 29 2009, 03:12 PM\']Does the original Art Fleming Jeopardy! count? The most $ anyone won there was around $1500, plus the encyclopedia set and the home game, and the set was "tacky cardboard" if you believe Maxene Fabe.[/quote]I don't think it does. I compare what you could win on shows at the same time, and the thousand dollars or so on Jeopardy! is comparable to what you could win elsewhere.
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Don't forget that the Fleming version also had the returning champion format -- win 5 times and retire undefeated. Considering that factor into things, a player could conceivably win over $5,000, which was not chump change in the '60s and early '70s. Inflation didn't really start to devalue the dollar until roughly 1975 when the Fleming version was ending.
As to Lingo's first season, it must be remembered that it was a trial series at the time, so the budget was quite small. Also, GSN didn't want to build a set for Lingo until they knew it would work -- therefore the first season was taped in Holland using the set of the Dutch version.
Finally, regarding The $1.98 Beauty Contest as being intentionally cheap, I forgot completely about its sister, The Cheap Show. Both were from the same producers