This Day in 1983

[TheInquisitiveOne]

Hello everyone!

Twenty-one years ago today, four major events happened in daytime; only two of them made a big impact, however.

$ale of the Century made its 80s debut on NBC. Hosted by Jim Perry of Card Sharks fame, $ale ran for a robust six and one quarter years on NBC. This show was one of the biggest in daytime because one risky player could walk away with over $100,000 in cash and prizes. $ale found its identity in May, with better hostesses (first Lee Menning, then Summer Bartholomew) and the inception of the $50,000+ cash jackpot.

Hit Man with Peter Tomarken also made its debut. However, it was canceled by April Fools' Day. This show is highly noted for Rod Roddy's famous last day plug: "If you would like to be a contestant on Hit Man, forget it." Hit Man did help Peter find better television success with the popular Press Your Luck five months later on CBS.

Just Men! starred Betty White and suffered the same fate as the above show. However, Betty White did get an Emmy for her troubles. The show featured male celebrities matching wits with female contestants.

A perennial favorite made its debut on The Price is Right on this day, as well. "Plinko" quickly became a favorite of TPiR fans everywhere, first offering cash payouts of $25,000. On the 25th Anniversary special in 1996, the pot increased to $50,000, carrying over to the daytime version. In the summer of 2002, the nighttime versions offered the top prize of $100,000. To this day, no one has scored a perfect score on this game.

Truly a great day for game show fans!

The Inquisitive One

[GSWitch]

[quote name=\'TheInquisitiveOne\' date=\'Jan 3 2004, 05:24 PM\'] Just Men! starred Betty White and suffered the same fate as the above show. However, Betty White did get an Emmy for her troubles. The show featured male celebrities matching wits with female contestants. [/quote]
 The Wicked Witch of the West of Game Shows, my pretty!!!

If you want to know more, click...

http://members.tripod.com/lawbrosvidcapspa...switchwest.html

[gameshowguy2000]

In addition, Plinko offered a $100,000 top prize in the MDS's, too.

[JCGames]

For the record, Sally Julian was the original hostess on $otC.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'JCGames\' date=\'Jan 3 2004, 11:16 PM\'] For the record, Sally Julian was the original hostess on $otC. [/quote]
 And what a fascinating one she was.

[TheInquisitiveOne]

For the record, Sally Julian was the original hostess on $otC.

You are right. When I first read that she was dumped within two months of the show's debut, I thought that it was a bit unfair. However, after watching the premiere episode, I see why she was dumped. She seemed artificial, her voice was rather grating (right up there with Ms. Mulally's - sorry), and she stumbled across her lines.

That is why I never mentioned her in the original post. Lee and Summer were worlds better. I wonder, however: if Lee had not left for maternity leave, would SHE have been the permanent hostess?

The Inquisitive One

[catkins522]

You are right. When I first read that she was dumped within two months of the show's debut

Maybe the producer was much more than 6 inches long...  heh heh heh heh

(HINT: Watch the first show!)

Charles

[Jimmy Owen]

Was the introduction of "Plinko" strategically timed to blunt the new NBC block or did TPIR even seriously consider WOF and HM to be competition?

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'TheInquisitiveOne\' date=\'Jan 4 2004, 12:46 AM\']

For the record, Sally Julian was the original hostess on $otC.

You are right. When I first read that she was dumped within two months of the show's debut, I thought that it was a bit unfair. However, after watching the premiere episode, I see why she was dumped. She seemed artificial, her voice was rather grating (right up there with Ms. Mulally's - sorry), and she stumbled across her lines.[/quote]
I'm not that kid who obsesses over her, but I can personally vouch for the fact that the "Karen" voice is not what Megan sounds like in real life.  She *does* have an unusual voice, since it's a combination of southwestern drawl and East Coast nasalness--but, praise God, it is nowhere near as high-pitched as the Karen character.

Since back in her Chicago theater days she played a lot of ingenue roles ("Although Ms. Mullaly is rumored to be in her 90s, she has yet to play a role of someone over the age of 18," she wrote in one of her bios), she had perfected a breathy teeny-bop voice that was somewhere between Karen and her natural voice, but never as annoying as the Karen voice.

ObGameShow:  Damn, she's become too big to do them.

[ChuckNet]

However, after watching the premiere episode, I see why she was dumped. She seemed artificial, her voice was rather grating (right up there with Ms. Mulally's - sorry), and she stumbled across her lines

Not to mention, at least on the premiere, missing cues and having trouble w/the Fame Game board.

Her final GS apperance came on a week of MG/HS that aired 2/6/84...on the Mon ep of that week (where she mercifully only played in the 2nd half), she proved that she hadn't changed a bit during her pre-game chat w/Bauman:

Jon: "Sally, anything happening w/you (career-wise) lately?"
Sally: "I'm waiting for someone to take advantage of me."

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[PeterMarshallFan]

Jon: "Sally, anything happening w/you (career-wise) lately?"
Sally: "I'm waiting for someone to take advantage of me."

I was at that taping! Right after she said that, "Let's Get Physical" started blaring through the PA, Bobby Sherman threw a fit, and there was a long discussion between him and Marc Breslow about what they were going to do, which eventually was cut the aformentioned scene back to when Sally made the remark. All the while, the look on Gene Rayburn's face was priceless.

;-)

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Jan 4 2004, 03:45 PM\']

Jon: "Sally (Julian), anything happening w/you (career-wise) lately?"
Sally: "I'm waiting for someone to take advantage of me."

 [/quote]
 Is she still married to Archie Bunker's Place co-star/$25K Pyramid semi-regular Barry Gordon? Sally seems like someone who might enjoy my company, who knows

[J.R.]

It's interesting to note that the set on the premiere looked VERY simular to the Australian verion's set at the time: Diffrent door, set arches, diffrent host podium and, of course, Rainbow Buzzers. And silightly diffrent format: Only one Money Card, No speedround and it only took about a mere $380 to win "The Lot".

Jim Perry was MUCH more agrrestive with the Instant Bargains. Seemed like he spent minuttes trying to talk the players into buying even after the players said "No" about 100 times.

The premiere also featured a Very nervous champion. I wonder how far she went ?
-Joe R.

[TheInquisitiveOne]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Jan 4 2004, 03:36 PM\'] Was the introduction of "Plinko" strategically timed to blunt the new NBC block or did TPIR even seriously consider WOF and HM to be competition? [/quote]
 Being the number one daytime game show for, at the time, five years, It can be hard to think that Wheel and Hit Man was going to make so much as a dent in TPiR's armor.

As for "Plinko," however, my theory is that this game was strategically timed because (1) it was the first Price of the new year, and (2) being that it was the 10th anniversary season, I guess that they wanted to throw out the notion that this is the highest cash prize offering on this show in a decade.

The Inquisitive One

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'TheInquisitiveOne\' date=\'Jan 5 2004, 09:45 PM\']
As for "Plinko," however, my theory is that this game was strategically timed because (1) it was the first Price of the new year, and (2) being that it was the 10th anniversary season, I guess that they wanted to throw out the notion that this is the highest cash prize offering on this show in a decade [/quote]
 I think CBS upped the max winnings from $35K to $50K in 1982-83, also. PLayers still retired when they reached $25K in winnings(on CBS game shows with returning champions) through 11/1/84.