If you could attend any show, past or present...

[knagl]

Believe it or not, they actually taped another episode shortly after Larson!

While I know the odds of having two savants in a row were slim, I'm surprised they would have risked taping another episode before tweaking the board.


To answer the question posed in this thread, I would have loved to have seen some Clark Pyramid episodes in person. The 1980s era of the show still ranks up there as one of my all-time favorites.

[tyshaun1]

Believe it or not, they actually taped another episode shortly after Larson!

While I know the odds of having two savants in a row were slim, I'm surprised they would have risked taping another episode before tweaking the board.

They taped 5 more shows the following day (as normal), THEN they went and tweaked the board with 5 different patterns and a slightly slower speed. CBS/Carruthers actually didn't overhaul the programming until 13 more weeks had passed, presumably to see if the ratings would hold up before spending the money to completely reconfigure the board.

[Ian Wallis]

They taped 5 more shows the following day (as normal), THEN they went and tweaked the board with 5 different patterns and a slightly slower speed. CBS/Carruthers actually didn't overhaul the programming until 13 more weeks had passed, presumably to see if the ratings would hold up before spending the money to completely reconfigure the board.

I hadn't heard that before.  Were they thinking they might be cancelled?

Just to give a timeline on the board patterns:

--Larson aired 6/8 and 6/11/84
--New slower patterns started 6/20/84
--Another group of 5, faster patterns started 7/31/84
--overhauled group of 30-odd patterns started 9/17/84, start of show's second year

[The Ol' Guy]

Two quickly come to mind - Keep Talking and Seven Keys.

[KrisW73]

70s Pyramid. That NYC audience was electrified.

Agree 100%

[wdm1219inpenna]

As I am partial to cozy looking sets, and also partial to Three on a Match, I would choose that show or Barry's "The Joker's Wild" from the CBS days.

[Dbacksfan12]

Not a great series by any means...but I would select The Diamond Head Game.  I could cross Hawaii off the "All 50 States" list and simultaneously attend a game show taping.

[Jimmy Owen]

Every New York show of the 70s

[chris319]

Dotto. To be a fly on the wall when Edward Hilgemeier confronted producer Ed Jurist upon discovering that Marie Winn had been fed answers.

Seven Keys

One of my favorite shows at age 8. I would love to have seen how the game board was controlled. There were a lot of slides to be made up and loaded into the board.

They spent a lot of air time describing prizes. Love the music cue when they turn the drum for the home-viewer game.

[BrandonFG]

A couple more:
-TPiR anywhere from the late-70s to the early-90s. That's not me being a fanboy or anything...it just seemed like the show had hit its stride by that point.
-MG from about 1975 to whenever Richard left.

I'd also like to add Marvin Shinkman's fifth episode of Split Second. Tom mentions Marvin got a standing ovation for his comeback, but the audience's reaction to him winning sounded like they'd just seen him score the game-winning TD in the Super Bowl.

[tyshaun1]

I hadn't heard that before.  Were they thinking they might be cancelled?

To be clear, this is mainly my belief, but I figure since PYL wasn't a major hit, it wouldn't have taken much for the ratings to slip enough for them to just simply decide to end it. So CBS's finance dept. thought it would be best to just wait and see.

Just to give a timeline on the board patterns:

--New slower patterns started 6/20/84
--Another group of 5, faster patterns started 7/31/84
--overhauled group of 30-odd patterns started 9/17/84, start of show's second year

Exactly 63 shows later.

[The Ol' Guy]

Seven Keys was as loaded up with home game prizes as TPIR was. Figure the fee plugs must have really brought in the cash. Also enjoyed the prize description melody - .

[Adam Nedeff]

A couple more:
-TPiR anywhere from the late-70s to the early-90s. That's not me being a fanboy or anything...it just seemed like the show had hit its stride by that point.

For the sheer experience of being in the audience, I'd narrow it down to the first two years of the hour format. I went on a binge a while back and I don't know what it was about that specific two years, but the audience is absolutely AMPED for the entire hour, and the roof comes off the studio for a thousand-dollar win on the wheel.

[BrandonFG]

A couple more:
-TPiR anywhere from the late-70s to the early-90s. That's not me being a fanboy or anything...it just seemed like the show had hit its stride by that point.

For the sheer experience of being in the audience, I'd narrow it down to the first two years of the hour format. I went on a binge a while back and I don't know what it was about that specific two years, but the audience is absolutely AMPED for the entire hour, and the roof comes off the studio for a thousand-dollar win on the wheel.

One thing I love from the Pluto episodes is how relatively quiet it is during a spin. Bob’s making small talk, but as it gets closer to $1.00 the audience gradually gets more and more excited.

[chris319]

Seven Keys theme: