Clemom79 and Jimmy Owen, I did a little research, and found out that the premiere date was October 28, 1985.
Article hereWoolery only hosted the first four episodes. At the start of the 11/4/85 episode, which is on YouTube, he said that so far, they had given away $2,700,000. Oh yeah, and by the end of Chuck's third episode, which is also on YT, they gave away $800,000, for a grand total of $12,260,000.