CBS Joker's Wild - Facts and Finds

[WarioBarker]

...Wow -- slightly over 24 weeks' worth of master copies nobody expected to turn up...well, ever. I'll echo Travis' statement and thank you for sharing all this info.
 

* The last day with "The Savers" and random stock music was episode 520 (air 10/18/74) and the Alan Thicke music started the next Monday on episode 521 (10/21/74).

Did Jack make any reference to the change in theme music?
 

Any chance of any eps going on your YT page, or did the person ask not to?

Hopefully, Jason's source for these episodes said nothing of the sort, because this would be a mother-lode possibly rivaling the surprises of last year.

[clemon79]

Any chance of any eps going on your YT page, or did the person ask not to?

 

He already didn\'t answer you once. Read something into that, perhaps.

[DoorNumberFour]

The screenshot of Jack wearing that pink thing made my week.


Also, is being weighed on national TV as horrifyingly embarrassing as it seems to me, or am I crazy?

[JMFabiano]

So....did anyone win either of the jackpots in the front or bonus games? 

[JasonA1]

Those promotions were designed to go on until they were won, so, yes.

 

-Jason

[narzo]

As someone who only has the vaguest of memories of watching the show in the early 70\'s on CBS, thank you for reminding me of somethings I had forgotten about (jackpot jokers) and things I vaguely recalled and was correct (audience game for $100, then doubling with each spin.)

 

It\'s also a great read of the things networks tried to do (back when daytime was so profitable) in order to save a show once it was getting beaten soundly, much of what you describe screams of Jack responding to CBS executives screaming about what \"Celebrity Sweepstakes\" is doing to the ratings of the show.  You can just picture Jack in a smoke filled room, filled with suits, as they brainstorm ideas to save the show.  It sounds like Jack took every idea that was offered up and gave them a try.   

 

Thanks again for the screen-grabs.  If I recall the \"montage\" opening, the on-set scale you described was shown in the last clip.  A woman wearing a mini-skirt was jumping up.  (yes I remember that, but couldn\'t tell you my current license plate)  

[That Don Guy]

Recently, I was lucky enough to acquire 122 episodes of The Joker\'s Wild from the final year of the CBS run. They span from episode 418, to the finale, numbered 685. I wanted to share a number of the fun finds from different special episodes, as well as some corrections/additions to the Wiki-type info we\'ve shared about the show over the years.


* Another rule I wasn\'t clear on (that may have changed in the syndie run): you cannot reduce a natural pair or triple to a lower value. Unless there was a joker involved, you had to play for whatever showed up on the wheels.

 

Wasn\'t this always the rule?

 

* Children\'s specials occurred with some regularity. Jack notes they happen at Christmas, New Year\'s, Easter, and in the summer, all attempting to catch the young audience when they\'re out of school. These episodes are slated with a C after the show number. The events typically last a few days, not the whole week. Two such specials also occurred for the show\'s third anniversary.


* On these specials, young children play for points, trying to reach 500 first, and win a $500 educational bond. The winner ascends a special platform so they\'re at Jack\'s height to play the end game. They play the first end game where they spin three prizes and decide whether to keep those, or take another spin, to a maximum of three. The losing player receives a $100 bond and prizes, like a World Book Encyclopedia, tickets to Marineland, etc. At Christmas, the losing contestant also got to pick an age-appropriate gift from under a Christmas tree on the set.


* Starting on January 8th, 1975, the show started its \"Lucky Hundreds\" promotion. In the weeks leading up to it, Jack touted the fact one player could win over $10,000 with one spin of the wheels. Much like the Jackpot Jokers, contestants could win a trip around the world and a cash jackpot - but this time the chance was in the endgame. All http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/10598775683_55714ed47f_o.png\'>$100 spaces were marked \"Lucky.\" If they got \"http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3778/10598529636_cba9d21b28_o.png\'>Lucky 100s\" in all three windows, they won the bonus round with a natural triple, plus the $7200 trip, plus a $3000 cash bonus. Starting with episode 579 (air 1/15/75), they began adding $100 a day to the cash bonus, and the trip was now billed as being worth $7600. The cash would grow until the trip was won, or the total prize package reached a value of $15,000.


* On the week of March 3rd, 1975, an audience game was introduced. All members of the studio audience were fitted with a pink Price is Right name tag. After every Face the Devil, Johnny Jacobs called down one lucky audience member to play the Face the Devil for the same prizes from a duplicate large handle located at the foot of the audience. On the first pull of this handle, Jack discovered it wasn\'t properly built to stop when pulled, and kept his leg against it for the rest of the game. If a player spun the devil, they won a merchandise prize as consolation.

 

Didn\'t the Lucky 100s promotion run so long without a winner that it carried over into the audience promotion - and the first or second audience player won it?

 

As for the children\'s episodes, did a lot of the kids say, \"I\'m going to give (one of the prizes) to (an adult relative)\"?  (Also, the version I remember seeing was, after each spin, the contestant would select one of the prizes and that wheel would \"freeze\".)

[JasonA1]

As for the children\'s episodes, did a lot of the kids say, \"I\'m going to give (one of the prizes) to (an adult relative)\"?  (Also, the version I remember seeing was, after each spin, the contestant would select one of the prizes and that wheel would \"freeze\".)

 

That format was seen on children\'s tournament episodes of the syndicated version, so I imagine the part about them giving prizes to somebody else was a memory from then too.

 

-Jason

[Bryce L.]

As I\'m typing this, I\'m watching a tape of a 1977 or 1978 Joker\'s Wild episode (Mark Gluckman\'s 12th match, specifically), and I know they used \"The Savers\" in the opening, and \"Joker\'s Jive\" to close the show... were the other cues in place at this point (that is, prior to the introduction of Hal Hidey\'s music package) the same as what was in use in the CBS shows you recently obtained?

[cbs09041972]

<p>* Children\'s specials occurred with some regularity. Jack notes they happen at Christmas, New Year\'s, Easter, and in the summer, all attempting to catch the young audience when they\'re out of school. These episodes are slated with a C after the show number. The events typically last a few days, not the whole week. Two such specials also occurred for the show\'s third anniversary.


* On these specials, young children play for points, trying to reach 500 first, and win a $500 educational bond. The winner ascends a special platform so they\'re at Jack\'s height to play the end game. They play the first end game where they spin three prizes and decide whether to keep those, or take another spin, to a maximum of three. The losing player receives a $100 bond and prizes, like a World Book Encyclopedia, tickets to Marineland, etc. At Christmas, the losing contestant also got to pick an age-appropriate gift from under a Christmas tree on the set.


* A frequent prize offered to the kids was a huge stuffed animal that was taller than Jack. While Johnny described the first two prizes, Jack retrieved the animal from the wings and handed it to the winner, who tried in vain to carry it off stage.


* Any children that don\'t get to play a game receive the loser\'s gifts and sit on stage with Jack on the final show of the event for a quick interview.


* In addition to potential clearance issues with the music categories that may have prevented GSN from showing these, the children\'s shows featured categories where kids watched clips from popular cartoons or Disney movies, and had to answer a question about them.

What was the age range for the children's shows?  I've read that it was as young as 6 year old.  And did each front game always have boy vs. girl?