Recalling specific outcomes

[Jay Temple]

A little while back, there was a discussion of the earliest game shows that we remembered watching, followed by the first game show that we could have watched.  In a discussion about big wins on WoF, someone remembered details of a win from the shopping era.

What's the earliest game show from which you can recall a specific outcome, or even specific material?

I remember a tie in the second game of Bill Cullen's $25,000 Pyramid where the first two or three tie-breaker rounds didn't break the tie, so Bill explained that whichever player won the next tie-breaker round would get a flat sum ($5,000, I think), and they'd each get some smaller amount if they tied again.  I don't remember the outcome, though.

I remember a contestant giving clues in the Winner's Circle to Ed Asner, also on BC25K.  One of the categories was "Things in hell," which he didn't get.  Afterward, he "explained" that he didn't want to say that word.  (At the time, I didn't realize that he was joking!)

I didn't see the $10K show where William Shatner gave himself the clues in the Winner's Circle, but they used it in the opening clips on a later show with Shatner.  If I understood what he and Dick said to each other, it was the very next day.

On the short-lived Musical Chairs (1974), once they got to the elimination portion of the game, if there was a tie for last place, they'd keep doing more questions until there was no longer a tie.  I remember a game where they were down to three players, two of them were tied and trailed the leader by--well, I don't remember how much, but it was more than the value of one question.  They had two questions (or however many it took) where both of the trailing players answered correctly before the leader did, and ultimately they stayed tied and eliminated him!  (Does anyone besides me and Curt Alliaume even remember this show?)

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 12:06 PM\']

I remember a tie in the second game of Bill Cullen's $25,000 Pyramid where the first two or three tie-breaker rounds didn't break the tie, so Bill explained that whichever player won the next tie-breaker round would get a flat sum ($5,000, I think), and they'd each get some smaller amount if they tied again.  I don't remember the outcome, though.

 [/quote]
 As per a Usenet post several years back, such a scenario occurred on Cullen $25K Pyramid when future Knot's Landing co-star/80s Pyramid semi-regular Constance McCashin was a contestant. She won $1950, $1250 of it from a tie game which continued to be tied after time ran out, so her and her opponent split $2500.

[aaron sica]

I remember sitting, mesmerized, by an episode of the $20,000 Pyramid in probably 1979 or 1980 in which they went past a few tie-breaker rounds, well into the 30s and possibly the 40s. I wondered how high the scores could go!! That would be specific material.

As far as a specific outcome, I guess you could call a DSW on TPiR an outcome....That's the earliest thing I remember, and it scared the living daylights out of me, with the sirens, and the "DOUBLE SHOWCASE WINNER" flashing on the screen (I could read at 3, so I knew what it said...)

[TraderRob]

My earliest remembrances where of the Chuck & Susan era of Wheel of Fortune.  For those old enough to remember back that far, Susan Stafford was involved in a very bad accident sometime between 1978-1980 and was off the show for several weeks while she healed from her injuries.  Fill-ins were used for that period and I remember how bad they all were, even though I was only 5-6 years old.

One time Chuck was ready to introduce the next puzzle and the letter turner hadn't finished tilting the trilons forward so they go to a camera shot of the woman frantically trying to line up all the trilons and Chuck making fun of her.  :-)   I want to say he said something along the lines of "This wouldn't be happening if Susan were here."  Looking back, I'm surprised it actually made it to air.

<sigh>  If only the 70's era was still around :-)

Rob

[Matt Ottinger]

My parents tell me I was watching Concentration from my playpen.  The earliest specific memory I have is of an undefeated champion named Ruth being retired from the show.  That would have been the summer of 1966, when I was six years old (and pretty much out of the playpen, by the way).

[Sues Z]

I remember a Password from the early 70s, when it came on at 3 pm, where the password was "quagmire" and none of the players knew what it meant.

Sue

[Neumms]

Has anyone ever discussed game shows coming up in recurring nightmares? When I was a lad, I'd often be scared silly by the image of Garry Moore, alone in the middle of a darkened TTTT set (the psychodelic one, which may explain some of this) being sprayed with mud.

I was always charmed, even at the tender age of five, by Orson Bean's drawings of whichever number he held up.

More coherently, I do recall the premiere day of Joker's Wild, TNPIR and Gambit. If nothing else, it meant the end of yucky "Family Affair" reruns.

[brianhenke]

Matt, Steve knows that it was Ruth Horwitz who won 20 games in a row. The rebus she solved for her 20th victory(even Norm Blumenthal knows this, thanks to his interview with Steve) was YOU'RE TOPS IN MY BOOK.

   Brian

   Wary blue waters?

   We want some more pro wrestling (STILL) and NASCAR questions!

[BrandonFG]

The earliest specific I can remember would be from TPiR c. 1988. It was a guy bidding on a motorcycle, and he bid $4000. I remember my great-grandmother questioning and repeating the price in astonishment.

It would either be that or Danny Pintauro from "Who's the Boss" playing as a teen celebrity on "Scrabble," same time period.

[daveromanjr]

[quote name=\'Sues Z\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 04:32 PM\'] the password was "quagmire" and none of the players knew what it meant. [/quote]
Heh heh ALRIGHT!

[starcade]

I can't necessarily recall the person who won the entire mess on $otC, or precisely when it was, but I do recall the last Fame Game -- won by a nice guy on the far left, who then selected a prize and won hair care accessories.

Not that it'd help him -- he was bald as a cue ball.

[beatlefreak84]

My first actual outcome memory is probably the USA "Chain Reaction;" there was one episode that I used to have on tape (my grandma made a tape for me of a bunch of USA game shows) in which these two women win $6,000 in the bonus round and go absolutely nuts, screaming and jumping all over each other and Geoff.  The looks on their faces when they found out that "Nail" was the correct final word are still ingrained in my head today!  

This was from 1986 (the first season), so I was about 2 at the time.  My main reason for remembering it?  This is one of the few specific episodes my grandma remembered of any game show; she thought the two women jumping up and down and screaming was hilarious!

Anthony

[willmorris]

I can remember at a young age an episode of Scrabble where, in the Scrabble Sprint round, someone actually ran up a time of over two minutes.  Chuck even told the contestant something to the effect of "the clock only shows two digits, so when you hit 100, it'll just go back to 0."  I know it wasn't Sang (he was 80 seconds), but I don't remember who it was.

[Kevin Prather]

I remember a family on Combs' Feud that had just won $25,000. They were jumping all over the place. One guy did a back-flip, iirc.

Also, on TPiR, during IUFB, some guy tried to bid $14 trillion.

Does anyone else recall either of these, or did I dream them?

[Ian Wallis]

I recall a fellow named Stan Olsen who won something like 4 cars during the summer of 1974 on "Celebrity Sweepstakes".  Joey Bishop kept kidding him about how the cops were going to pull him over because he was in a different car every day!

I also remember a few players hitting over $25,000 on CBS "Joker's Wild" in 1973, and Jack Barry stating we'd have to take some away to get you back down to $25,000.  I also remembering him telling contestants "we have a handsome consolation prize worth over $25 for you".