Any info on Jackpot?

[Sunfox]

I'm currently in the process of archiving an old tape of a relative's appearance on 1987's Jackpot to DVD (and I'm sure you can guess what a 17 year old EP recording made on a 1980's VCR looks like), and was wondering if anyone had any generic information on the show... or maybe a link to a clean version of the theme song, interesting still photos, etc.

Just curious about it - kind of a very "friendly" atmosphere, and decent money for the time (current episode playing just had someone win the weekly $50,000 super prize - although apparently if anyone else in the next few weeks also wins it, it has to be split).

[whewfan]

Here's a few things you should know...

Jackpot was originally hosted by Geoff Edwards and premiered in 1974. It replaced the long running Jeopardy! The original version had a much larger budget than the Canadian version hosted by Mike Darrow, which rarely gave away more than 5k each show.

Not long after Darrow's version of Jackpot went off the air, Geoff Edwards returned to host Jackpot, which gave away more than the Darrow version, but not as much as the original. Unfortunately, it was short lived.

You can find a clean theme music of Jackpot at 80stvthemes.com.

The original Jackpot did attempt to give away the maximum jackpot of 50k, and it was lost. The audience went into such a riot, because the riddle's answer was just ridiculous. (Someone did post that infamous riddle not long ago, but I forgot what it was) Geoff was so "scared" he ran behind the bleachers where the 15 players sit.

The original Jackpot had what was possibly one of THE funniest moments ever on the show

The riddle was "We're the gay guys that hang around Robin Hood. What are we?"
(Keep in mind this was mid 70s, before "gay" was synonymous with homosexuality)

The lady's response "Robin Hood's..... fairies?!" (Everyone laughs their heads off)

Geoff: "No, that's not right.... I know they wore those cute little green suits. It was Robin Hood's MERRY MEN"

[Bob Zager]

[quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'Jun 24 2004, 09:48 AM\'] ...

Jackpot was originally hosted by Geoff Edwards and premiered in 1974. It replaced the long running Jeopardy! The original version had a much larger budget than the Canadian version hosted by Mike Darrow, which rarely gave away more than 5k each show.

 [/quote]
 It has often been misunderstood, but the original Jackpot series DID NOT "replace" the original Jeopardy! on NBC Daytime.  Jeopardy! moved to a new time (10:30 a.m. Eastern), and Jackpot filled the time slot previously occupied by Jeopardy! for so long (12:00 p.m. Eastern).

It was not until after another unsuccessful time shift by NBC (moving J! to 1:30 p.m. Eastern) that Jeopardy! was cancelled, on January 3, 1975.

[Jimmy Owen]

"Who, What or Where" was the show that went off the schedule.

[byrd62]

[quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'Jun 24 2004, 09:48 AM\']The original Jackpot did attempt to give away the maximum jackpot of 50k, and it was lost. The audience went into such a riot, because the riddle's answer was just ridiculous. (Someone did post that infamous riddle not long ago, but I forgot what it was) Geoff was so "scared" he ran behind the bleachers where the 15 players sit.

[/quote]
Prof. Steve Beverly posted the $50,000 Jackpot riddle that was missed.

Something about a "seesaw."

http://members.tripod.com/~emceesteve/column_8_2_99.htm

[mystery7]

(Opening his blue wallet) For $50,000, here is my riddle:

"My first name is present tense, and my last name is past tense. What am I?"

Answer: See-saw. "See" is present tense, "Saw" is past tense. See?

Another source for the theme, BTW, is the "Classic TV Game Show Themes" disc (the first volume of music GSN released in 1997/98) on Varese Sarabande.

Anyone have a good source for the Mike Vickers "Jet Set" theme, since we're kinda on the subject?

[Chief-O]

>> Anyone have a good source for the Mike Vickers "Jet Set" theme, since we're kinda on the subject?
http://www.gameshow-galaxy.net/jackpot.htm

[sshuffield70]

I believe I also have it at UP as "Jackpot '74"

[Winkfan]

If you want some more info about all three versions, just go to my Jackpot fanpage and see for yourself.

Cordially,
Tammy Warner--[color=\"navy\"]the 'Jaye P. Morgan of the Big Board!'[/color]

[Jimmy Owen]

One point to ponder, as John Doremus might say, is that when the NBC Jackpot! debuted, Mike Darow lost his regular employment as the announcer on WWW.  Eleven years later Mike would get the job as host of the USA network Jackpot!

[Sunfox]

Heh, in one of these episodes, one of the questions was (paraphrasing) "What jewels did Jack break when he fell down?"

The woman's answer: "Mmmm... his family jewels?" Got a good laugh out of Darow. (Of course, the answer is "his crown".)

At any rate, the theme on 80stvthemes.com is, well, really low quality Real Audio... and the clapping on my version almost sounds better than the static on that one. :-)

Got to have this done for tomorrow, so the CD is a nice idea but probably not going to work.

I'm pretty pleased with the way this is turning out. Used one of ATI's grain reducing filters to eliminate the chroma noise, a slight blurring filter to remove the flickery edges, a sharpening filter to bring detail back, and it looks just as blurry as before but much cleaner. Plus, a bit of strategic re-equalizing of the audio track has all but removed the horrible static that whas there. Alas, there's still a bit of microphone hum that I can't pin down, but oh well...