Joker's Wild questions

[JMFabiano]

Watching the unearthed 1974 episode on YouTube got me to thinking a bit about the show, and things that struck me as oddities.  Mostly nitpicky stuff, but still enough to make me curious...

1) Any idea on why Cullen's first season was never seen on GSN?  Or is it nothing beyond "they just didn't get to it"?  (like the first season of the neon set)

2) In the final season, they changed the Face the Devil cue back to the "Bullseye" music, and it seems like the front game win cues disappeared altogether.  They used the bonus game win for a regular front game win, and for a car win, the...Tic-Tac-Dough bonus game win.  Come to think of it, Tic Tac by then only used the bonus game win cue for front game wins, instead of the edited version.  What happened there?  (I recall talk of a new studio used for both shows, maybe some tapes were lost in the move?  But TVPMM had most of said cues...seems the one really elusive one is the third FTD song)

3) What was the purpose of the white tape on the bonus game lever that disappeared after one season?  (I told you this was nitpicky...)

[dazztardly]

2. It was a mix of things. B&E experimenting around with different music, and the carts they played with the Mckenzie tape machine had either gotten damaged or wore out. The 3rd Face the Devil music cue was recorded later on a different reel, and was lost according to Hal Hidey. The reels for Break the Bank '86, Bullseye(what everybody heard from that show, was actually a 45 that was printed), Play the Percentages, amidst others were also either found to be missing or accidently thrown away.

3. It was for the modified home audience game, so the people at home could see the lever move by itself, alongside the lights that illuminated inside the plexiglas. Again this was at a time when people were still watching on small screens and black and white tvs. After that was scrapped, they took the gaffer tape off.

That still didn't stop the lever from getting detached from the base once in a while. According to Jim Peck... "The person would pull the handle down on the big slot machine and once a season you could count that handle coming off. The person would be standing there with the handle in his hand and of course you'd have to stop the tape, put it back, and then do an edit." One time it actually snapped and the lights that were still on, trickled down. Dan Enright took immediate control of the booth, to make sure that stayed on the cutting room floor.

-Dan

[BrandonFG]

Shame about the Bullseye theme. That's one I'd love to hear in full...on the one that exists, you can hear an abrupt edit around the 2:08 mark, where the theme segues into the closing. There is supposed to be a continuation of the theme from 2:08 on, and I've only rarely heard it on actual episodes.

[whewfan]

I had wondered if that lever was a "dummy prop", but apparently it isn't. I seem to recall for a few episodes, the winning contestant played the main game at the podium because the bonus game lever wasn't working. Interesting to hear that the bonus game lever broke off more than once. Also, it was pretty cool to see the bonus game lever move by itself. I can see why they got rid of the audience game for Bill's second season... Bill moved at a slower pace, so allowing time for an audience game just made the games even shorter.

[That Don Guy]

That still didn't stop the lever from getting detached from the base once in a while.

I remember, on occasion, somebody pulling the level back almost all the way to the floor; the first two wheels would stop normally, then all three wheels would briefly "spin" again.  Wasn't there a time when Jack would put his foot behind it so it couldn't be pulled back too far?

[dazztardly]

That still didn't stop the lever from getting detached from the base once in a while.

I remember, on occasion, somebody pulling the level back almost all the way to the floor; the first two wheels would stop normally, then all three wheels would briefly "spin" again.  Wasn't there a time when Jack would put his foot behind it so it couldn't be pulled back too far?

It wouldn't surprise me if he did. There was a switch inside the base, that when the lever was pulled all the way back and made contact, activated the electronic circuits for the motors/solenoids. He might have done that, to make sure the switch didn't get tripped again in succession while the wheels were still spinning. I'm sure they did modifications to take care of that issue later on. It could have been also to keep the contestant, from accidentally pulling the lever out of the base. Hot studio stage lights beaming on the set, tended to cause the problems for the plexiglas handle.

[Ian Wallis]

Shame about the Bullseye theme. That's one I'd love to hear in full...on the one that exists, you can hear an abrupt edit around the 2:08 mark, where the theme segues into the closing. There is supposed to be a continuation of the theme from 2:08 on, and I've only rarely heard it on actual episodes.

On episodes where they don't cut out prize cues coming out of commercials, you can hear that part there.  Because it was so late in theme is one reason why it was rarely heard on the show's closing.  It was unusual for any game show's close to run more than two minutes - even on long credit day!

[BrandonFG]

Shame about the Bullseye theme. That's one I'd love to hear in full...on the one that exists, you can hear an abrupt edit around the 2:08 mark, where the theme segues into the closing. There is supposed to be a continuation of the theme from 2:08 on, and I've only rarely heard it on actual episodes.

On episodes where they don't cut out prize cues coming out of commercials, you can hear that part there.  Because it was so late in theme is one reason why it was rarely heard on the show's closing.  It was unusual for any game show's close to run more than two minutes - even on long credit day!

True on both counts...I know there's a CBN or USA rerun from c. 1986 that has the prize copy still intact. Sometime around 1996 or '97, someone had a bunch of game show intros and closings on his page (Brad Francini, I wanna say?), and Bullseye was one of them, going into that portion of the theme. But like you said, it was rare that the show played that far.

[aaron sica]

Just out of curiosity, when did the "bonus spin sound" make its debut? That's the best way I can describe it. You know, the same one that was used on Penny Ante....

[dazztardly]

Just out of curiosity, when did the "bonus spin sound" make its debut? That's the best way I can describe it. You know, the same one that was used on Penny Ante....

The sound was added in second season of syndication in 1978.

[dazztardly]

From the first syndie season in 1977, the original handle from the CBS run having its own Spinal Tap moment. At timecode 14:45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pTWSPJVAgI&t=14m45s

[aaron sica]

Just out of curiosity, when did the "bonus spin sound" make its debut? That's the best way I can describe it. You know, the same one that was used on Penny Ante....

The sound was added in second season of syndication in 1978.

Nice. Thanks!

[JMFabiano]

2. It was a mix of things. B&E experimenting around with different music, and the carts they played with the Mckenzie tape machine had either gotten damaged or wore out. The 3rd Face the Devil music cue was recorded later on a different reel, and was lost according to Hal Hidey. The reels for Break the Bank '86, Bullseye(what everybody heard from that show, was actually a 45 that was printed), Play the Percentages, amidst others were also either found to be missing or accidently thrown away.

That's a shame, as that cue was interesting and I liked it.  And I stand corrected...I'd probably be more accurate in calling it FTD music #4, as pre-Hidey they had at least one other cue.  But yeah it was the third Hidey cue for that...I heard the music described as sounding like it was meant for Hot Potato. 

[knagl]

From the first syndie season in 1977, the original handle from the CBS run having its own Spinal Tap moment. At timecode 14:45

Heh, nice.  Also, on the spin before that one, the audio guy had a little bit of an addition problem and started playing the country bumpkin win cue when the contestant was still $25 shy of winning.

[Bryce L.]

From the first syndie season in 1977, the original handle from the CBS run having its own Spinal Tap moment. At timecode 14:45

I guess that makes at least three cases where that happened... this one, the unaired one where Dan Enright commandeered the control room, then another one from about 1980 or so (later red set, contestant has nametag), which I've linked below, at 0:35.