JANUARY 8, 1979
"It's more than 'Password', it's 'Password+Plus'!"Password+Plus, a fourth incarnation of Goodson-Todman’s tried and true War Of The Words, premiered @ 12:30 p.m./11:30 a.m. Central on NBC Daytime (following the debut of
All-Star Secrets, a Bob Eubanks-hosted vehicle). Originally announced in
Variety as
Password '79, a decision was made two weeks before the debut to change the title to
Password+Plus. 59-year-old Allen Ludden was back in the saddle as emcee, as Gene Wood was tapped to be announcer; Elizabeth Montgomery and Robert Foxworth, both topnotch
Password players of the past, were the first-week celebrities. (John Harlan [who announced ABC’s
Password], Bob Hilton and Johnny Olson also took their turns at announcing during the run.)
Here, 2 celebrity/contestant teams compete. The object here is to solve a "Password Puzzle", a famous person, place, thing, or title. Up to 5 Passwords are geussed by the teams, with each Password working as a clue to The Password Puzzle. Teams alternate giving clues, with each team receiving 2 chances. When a team guesses a password, they are given a chance to solve The Password Puzzle to win the round. Teams alternate playing first and giving/guessing as in the classic Password game. Rounds 1 & 2 are worth $100 each, rounds 3 & 4 $200 each. The first team to amass or exceed $300 wins the match and earns the right to play the bonus round: "Alphabetics," a revamped edition of the old “Lightning Round” in the Passwords of the past (and borrowing a bit from ABC’s
The $20,000 Pyramid).
Alphabetics is played with ten Passwords that start with ten consecutive letters of the alphabet. The celebrity has 60 seconds to convey the Passwords to the contestant as in The Lightning Round. Each Password must be solved or passed before the next Password is revealed, and a celebrity can only go back to those words he/she passed on after revealing all ten. Each Password solved is worth $100, and completing all ten Passwords wins the contestant $5,000. If the celebrity gives an illegal clue, the potential jackpot was lowered by $1,000.
The game managed to survive the loss of Allen Ludden, who, due to illness, was forced to retire from the show in October 1980 and was superceded by Tom Kennedy. (Ludden took a 4-week sabbatical in April 1980 to have surgery done on him, and Bill Cullen hosted in his stead.) An all-celebrity week was scheduled for the first Kennedy week of shows in order to ease the transition, which was comprised of Jim Perry from
Card Sharks, Greg Morris, Judy Norton-Taylor and Nancy Walker. Tom said some heartfelt words about Allen before the start of his first show, and then moved right into the game. Kennedy did indeed guide
Password+Plus and its viewers through its most trying transitional period, even in the wake of Ludden’s passing in June 1981 (which was never mentioned on the show).
Rich Jeffries had replaced Gene Wood as announcer by this point. Near the end of the run, in March 1982, Jack Narz, Tom Kennedy’s brother, swapped places with him for one game during his week playing
Password+Plus. Jack hosted and Tom played. On March 26,
Password+Plus wrapped up a shaky yet nice 3 ½-year run, after 807 shows. The final celebrity panelists were Audrey Landers and Tom Poston. Tom Kennedy mentioned his late friend and colleague in the show’s fading moments:
"This is the last in our series of Password+Plus
. Even though our dear friend Allen Ludden is not with us at this particular moment, as you well know he hosted this show as only he could do for something like 18 years. I was very proud to have the last year and a half here at the helm. All I can say is you know the show is going to be back soon..." Sure enough, 2 years later, in September 1984,
Password was back on NBC…in the form of the newly revamped
Super Password, emceed by Bert Convy.
(Sources Of Info: The Rules Of The Game: "Pasword", The Allen Ludden Page-Password Plus: 1979-82)
