More "$ale" questions

[TLEberle]

More questions to toss-up to the group...

Has any other game show in history besides "Sale" used a different closing theme when someone claimed the grand prize?

Speaking of the grand prize, has anyone noticed that a grand champion would almost always win a different group of prizes than the ones they see on their first day as champion?  Did they really swap out the prize sets every week, or was it less frequent than that?

For the tournaments that I remember seeing, Jim says that the finalists were the ones who won the most money.  Was that just the three people with the highest game-cash totals, or was it total winnings (prizes, the $5,000 in cash at the end)?  Was the grand prize always the new car for the final champ?

Finally, I recall reading that the show was scripted so that a certain number of questions would be played each day, followed by the speed round/final three questions.  Did they just ask five questions, then play a Bargain/Fame Game, or did that number vary depending on the stage of the game?

Many thanks,
Travis

[TheInquisitiveOne]

Hello there!

You have questions, and I will try my best to answer them. Let's break this puppy down.

Has any other game show in history besides "Sale" used a different closing theme when someone claimed the grand prize?

Hard to say. That was an innovative idea. The fanfare was an attractive piece, and it was a way of showing congratulations. I do not know any other show that pulled this off.

Speaking of the grand prize, has anyone noticed that a grand champion would almost always win a different group of prizes than the ones they see on their first day as champion? Did they really swap out the prize sets every week, or was it less frequent than that?

Every week, the prizes, as well as the showroom floor, changed. In the shopping round era, for example, It would take a contestant (on average) six days to win it all, should he or she decide to go for it. So, the car that said contestant saw on the first day would (more times than not) not be the car that he or she would eventually end up winning. The Winner's Board was a different case because it was not known when the contestant would win the car (or any other of the week's prizes). That brings up a side question to the group: would the prizes that the contestant already won in the last week change as well as the prizes that he or she did not win?

For the tournaments that I remember seeing, Jim says that the finalists were the ones who won the most money. Was that just the three people with the highest game-cash totals, or was it total winnings (prizes, the $5,000 in cash at the end)? Was the grand prize always the new car for the final champ?

It was total winnings, but it did not necessarily mean that the champions who broke the $100,000 mark were the ones who were considered for tournament play. For example, the 1985 tourney that I mentioned in another thread had a champion who last left the show with $85,000 in cash and prizes. The car was always offered as a grand prize, but sometimes a cash jackpot was offered as well. In a 1987 Tourney of Champions, it was quite the opposite. At least $10,000 was guaranteed, but the champion had to win the WBMG for the car.

Finally, I recall reading that the show was scripted so that a certain number of questions would be played each day, followed by the speed round/final three questions. Did they just ask five questions, then play a Bargain/Fame Game, or did that number vary depending on the stage of the game?

Here was the structure for the $ale maingame: There were five questions, then an Instant Bargain. Then there were four more questions, then the Fame Game.
After commercial, there were four more questions, then another Instant Bargain, then five more questions after that. After one of Jim's anecdotes, there was another commercial.
After commercial, there was a 2nd Fame Game, three more questions, then the final Instant Bargain/Ca$h.
After the final commercial, there were three questions, the last Fame Game, and then the Speed Round. That was the structure from late 1983 on.

I hope I helped.

The Inquisitive One

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'TheInquisitiveOne\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 10:20 PM\'] Here was the structure for the $ale maingame: There were five questions, then an Instant Bargain. Then there were four more questions, then the Fame Game.
After commercial, there were four more questions, then another Instant Bargain, then five more questions after that. After one of Jim's anecdotes, there was another commercial.
After commercial, there was a 2nd Fame Game, three more questions, then the final Instant Bargain/Ca$h.
After the final commercial, there were three questions, the last Fame Game, and then the Speed Round. That was the structure from late 1983 on.

I hope I helped.

The Inquisitive One [/quote]
 Interesting. For those of you scoring at home, that makes the highest possible score going into the Speed Round a robust $190. That assumes one player answers every question, and hits the $10, $15, and $25 money cards in the Fame Game.

[TLEberle]

It was total winnings, but it did not necessarily mean that the champions who broke the $100,000 mark were the ones who were considered for tournament play. For example, the 1985 tourney that I mentioned in another thread had a champion who last left the show with $85,000 in cash and prizes. The car was always offered as a grand prize, but sometimes a cash jackpot was offered as well. In a 1987 Tourney of Champions, it was quite the opposite. At least $10,000 was guaranteed, but the champion had to win the WBMG for the car.

Not quite what I meant.  Perhaps an example.  
Contestant A won the game with $85, snagged $6,000 in prizes, and won the $5,000 money game.
Contestant B won the main game with $115, took no bargains, won no Fame Game prizes, and tanked the money game, collecting only the regular prize for winning the game and the cash in front of him.

Who gets the nod; the player with the higher overall total (in this case, A), or the player who won the game with the highest total (B, probably because he didn't go for the bargains.)?

I'd also be interested in finding out what the format for the Tournament was, since the only tournaments I've seen were the two-week "True Romance" tournament, and a week featuring high-school students, where they spin the Fame Game numbers to see who would win the car.

All the help is most appreciated.  Man, I sure miss "Sale."
Travis

[TheInquisitiveOne]

Not quite what I meant. Perhaps an example.
Contestant A won the game with $85, snagged $6,000 in prizes, and won the $5,000 money game.
Contestant B won the main game with $115, took no bargains, won no Fame Game prizes, and tanked the money game, collecting only the regular prize for winning the game and the cash in front of him.

Who gets the nod; the player with the higher overall total (in this case, A), or the player who won the game with the highest total (B, probably because he didn't go for the bargains.)?

Okay, I see what you mean. Contestant A would get the nod in this example. It is all about the prize total (in other words, the $11,000 prize total will be much more paramount than the contestant whose only considerable merit is that regular prize).

I'd also be interested in finding out what the format for the Tournament was, since the only tournaments I've seen were the two-week "True Romance" tournament, and a week featuring high-school students, where they spin the Fame Game numbers to see who would win the car.

May I direct you to this post? Here, a friend and I decsribed the various $ale tournaments throughout the show's run, with the exception of the 1983 Tournament of Champions.

All the help is most appreciated. Man, I sure miss "Sale."

Hey, that is what I am here for!

Now, I recommend that you conduct a trade with some of these fine people here, even myself. I gave my plea using this post, and these people were very grateful to me. I have almost 50 episodes myself!

The Inquisitive One

[Ian Wallis]

So, the car that said contestant saw on the first day would (more times than not) not be the car that he or she would eventually end up winning. The Winner's Board was a different case because it was not known when the contestant would win the car (or any other of the week's prizes).

What I've always wondered about is how "Sale" was edited during the "shopping era".

When it first went on the air, the Friday champion was told "if you decide to come back, you'll be shooting for a prize comparable to this" at the contestants' level.  They just showed the current prize, and stated it would change.

Later in the run, the Friday champion was shown the exact prizes.  My guess is either they completed the whole show with the exception of the final prize descriptions, then had the contestant come back on the next tape date to show the actual prizes and finish taping for that show; or maybe they only taped four shows one tape day so that the Friday show would have the new prizes.  I'm thinking that they wouldn't stop tape to change all the prizes just to tape a two-minute segment on the last show of the tape day, would they?

Anyone know for sure?

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Dec 22 2003, 09:22 AM\']What I've always wondered about is how "Sale" was edited during the "shopping era".

When it first went on the air, the Friday champion was told "if you decide to come back, you'll be shooting for a prize comparable to this" at the contestants' level.  They just showed the current prize, and stated it would change.

Later in the run, the Friday champion was shown the exact prizes.  My guess is either they completed the whole show with the exception of the final prize descriptions, then had the contestant come back on the next tape date to show the actual prizes and finish taping for that show; or maybe they only taped four shows one tape day so that the Friday show would have the new prizes.  I'm thinking that they wouldn't stop tape to change all the prizes just to tape a two-minute segment on the last show of the tape day, would they?

Anyone know for sure?[/quote]
Seems to me that they would just insert the relevant plugs in post-production.  Between all of the pre-produced prize presentations and adding SFX, sweetening and probably some music and voice-overs in post-production, "$OTC" in its 80s incarnation had to be one of the first game shows that wasn't really "live-on-tape."