"Break The Bank" [1976] Episode Guide (So Far)

[Blanquepage]

Just curious to those who've been watching the eps,

Regarding what written material is given to the celebs, ep. 6 has the disclaimer "Celebrities have been furnished with the questions and answers. Comedic material has been made available to some of the celebrities." I remember seeing an ep a long time ago where neither celeb gave a correct answer, Tom stammered briefly before a buzzer sounded and he said that neither celeb gave the correct answer. How often has that occurred? And if they are given questions and answers, did they just forget their line at that moment?

So far if I recall correctly, the question was discarded for lack of a correct answer only once, which happened during the first week.
I think there have been two other occasions in which the question was buzzed because one of the stars gave an indication they were bluffing.

[TimK2003]

Just curious to those who've been watching the eps,

Regarding what written material is given to the celebs, ep. 6 has the disclaimer "Celebrities have been furnished with the questions and answers. Comedic material has been made available to some of the celebrities." I remember seeing an ep a long time ago where neither celeb gave a correct answer, Tom stammered briefly before a buzzer sounded and he said that neither celeb gave the correct answer. How often has that occurred? And if they are given questions and answers, did they just forget their line at that moment?

What intrigues me is how are the celebs furnished with the right/bluff answers?

In an April episode I watched, I see Tom uses colored question cards, which I assume represents each of the celebrities in the top row.  I saw Avery Schreiber "put away" the same colored card after the question was played.

So do they predetermine on the celebs cards what to answer (right or bluff answer) or is it just a joke answer or both. Or are their two answers written on a cue card not seen by the players and the celebrity can pick which answer to go with?

Knowing how they relayed the info to the celebs may solve how they occasionally get two bluff answers leading to the scratch buzzer, or in one ep aired on GSN, Alice Ghostley "having a spell" and using the same answer as the other celeb ‐- this led Tom to explain that her answer was already taken and she had to come up with another answer, which was obviously a bluff answer as the other celeb gave the right answer.

[BillCullen1]

Milton Bradley released a home version of BTB using questions from the TV show. I wish I still had mine. The lowest price I saw on eBay was $50. The Bert Parks home version is going for as low as $12. 

[Blanquepage]

Well, if there are still 2 skips remaining, looks like we'll only be getting 3 out of 5 from the final week. Boo!

[Ian Wallis]

Well, if there are still 2 skips remaining, looks like we'll only be getting 3 out of 5 from the final week. Boo!

Yep - I'm thinking we might not get the finale, unless the remaining skips are very early in the week.

[Blanquepage]

A skip happening to land on the finale would certainly be quite the whammy. I do find myself wondering if these missing episodes are truly lost or just didn't digitize well.
For example, there's a week of Match Game '77 (not in general circulation) that's never aired on GSN or BUZZR due to highly noticeable video quality issues that get worse as the week progresses.
There have even been some episodes from Game TV's new batch of $100K Pyramid that, to me, look more like they came from SP mode VHS than a master tape. Kind of blurry. 
Perhaps someone out there knows?

[snowpeck]

Neat coincidence today, future Blockbusters champion John Hatton is a contestant on today's show and Bill Cullen is on the panel.

[Ian Wallis]

Neat coincidence today, future Blockbusters champion John Hatton is a contestant on today's show and Bill Cullen is on the panel.

It was the Monday episode of the final week.  If the stated 64 existing is indeed correct, we only get two more episodes of this final week.

[Ian Wallis]

Week 15
Lonnie Shorr, Joyce Bulifant, Soupy Sales, Donny Most, Bill Cullen, Jan Murray, Jo Anne Worley, Jaye P. Morgan, and Elke Sommer
72: Eileen vs. Jonathan
73:
74:

-----------------------

Well...if that was indeed the last existing Kennedy episode it means we won't get the finale.  Bill Cullen didn't even get to play as all thru the series, it seems the boxes on the bottom row were the least called-on.

Just a note...not that I really care about these things...but some people do.  The Jonathan from today's episode was also a contestant on Joker's Wild during the 77-78 season.  It's only because I've seen the first season probably more than the others and recognized his name.

[snowpeck]

Week 15
Lonnie Shorr, Joyce Bulifant, Soupy Sales, Donny Most, Bill Cullen, Jan Murray, Jo Anne Worley, Jaye P. Morgan, and Elke Sommer
72: Eileen vs. Jonathan
73:
74:

-----------------------

Well...if that was indeed the last existing Kennedy episode it means we won't get the finale.  Bill Cullen didn't even get to play as all thru the series, it seems the boxes on the bottom row were the least called-on.

Just a note...not that I really care about these things...but some people do.  The Jonathan from today's episode was also a contestant on Joker's Wild during the 77-78 season.  It's only because I've seen the first season probably more than the others and recognized his name.

Do you happen to remember if the finale was acknowledged? The cancellation was made public several weeks before the last shows were taped.

[Blanquepage]

The week has gone on like any other week, I actually get the sense that there wouldn't be much of an acknowledgement since the weekly syndie version would also imminently enter production. I envision Tom simply giving a vague "see you next time". But of course,.this is all just a sense I get so what do I know?

[Ian Wallis]

Do you happen to remember if the finale was acknowledged? The cancellation was made public several weeks before the last shows were taped.

The finale was acknowledged.  They ran out of time in the middle of a game and a bell sounded.  Tom explained it was the last show and the contestants would alternate picking boxes without answering questions until someone had three of a kind.

Tom did a quick goodbye at the end and said something like "we'll see you soon".

At the time I was hoping it meant it would pop up in the once-weekly checkerboard slots - although I had no knowledge it would actually do that until I got the Sept 4, 1976 TV Guide and it was listed on Friday night at 7:30.

[calliaume]

Do you happen to remember if the finale was acknowledged? The cancellation was made public several weeks before the last shows were taped.

The finale was acknowledged.  They ran out of time in the middle of a game and a bell sounded.  Tom explained it was the last show and the contestants would alternate picking boxes without answering questions until someone had three of a kind.

Tom did a quick goodbye at the end and said something like "we'll see you soon".

That's my memory as well. Tom obviously knew that the show would be back that fall in once-a-week syndication, even if he wouldn't be hosting.

I "taped" the last episode (by holding my Take 'n' Tape recorder equivalent up to the speaker in our console TV); the tape is long gone.

[Blanquepage]

Was holding out until today to see if the number was off, but nope.
So unless someone can sneak into SPE's storage cloud to see if the "lost" ones really are missing, the ABC guide's now as complete as it gets!