ABC Plays Santa 30 Years Ago

[GSWitch]

Game show fans got an early Christmas present from ABC with the debut of The Big Showdown & The Monkey, I mean Money Maze!

Any memories of those shows?

[Jimmy Owen]

I remember both shows, it certainly was a nice Christmas gift.  One of the things I remember about that week was there seemed to be an abundance of unsold commercial time that week on ABC and we were treated to many airings of the 30 second promos for both TBS and MM.  The TBS one was done by Jim and started with a medium close up "I'm Jim Peck...." Then Jim walked to the well of the dice table and continued (paraphrasing due to memory loss)..."and this is where we play 'The Big Showdown'..."  The promo had no clips from the show, just Jim on the set talking about the show, accompanied by that wonderful music that I memorized even before I saw the show.  What an exciting show it was.  The "Money Maze" promo was a highlight clip-type of promo, and at first glance I the host looked like Clark Race to me.  Of course, I was corrected after seeing the first show, which featured a tie, which meant both couples took that $10,000 dash.  These two shows formed the foundation of my affection for the game show genre.

[Clay Zambo]

I remember Showdown really distinctly, but Money Maze seems not to have entered my consciousness 'til later.  I never quite understood the point of the staircase on the Showdown set.

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 09:29 AM\']I remember Showdown really distinctly, but Money Maze seems not to have entered my consciousness 'til later.  I never quite understood the point of the staircase on the Showdown set.

[snapback]68319[/snapback]

[/quote]

The staircase was there to assure that Jim Peck would get perpetual residuals from blooper shows.

[That Don Guy]

I remember that the first Moneymaze had both couples winning the $10,000 (if the score was tied after round three, they had what Nick described as "the most exciting tiebreaker in television" and had both couples play "The $10,000 Dash"), which only happened one other time in the run.  (Also, the last week was a week of repeats of $10,000 wins - ABC, unlike some other network I can think of, admitted on the air when its game shows were repeats - including the last episode being a repeat of the last first-run ep aired one week earlier.)

Speaking of $10,000, how many $10,000 winners were thene on The Big Showdown?

-- Don

[BrandonFG]

There's a really nice ep. of Money Maze at the Museum of TV and Television...I mean TV and Radio in NYC (and I assume Beverly Hills). I checked it out last year, and immediately loved it, loved the bonus round.

Hell, with the reality craze still going on, why not try to get the show back on the air?!

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 01:48 PM\']Hell, with the reality craze still going on, why not try to get the show back on the air?!
[/quote]
Sure; exccept the floors will be paved with honey; and a hive of bees will be released upon entering.

[sshuffield70]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 09:47 AM\'][quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 09:29 AM\']I remember Showdown really distinctly, but Money Maze seems not to have entered my consciousness 'til later.  I never quite understood the point of the staircase on the Showdown set.

[snapback]68319[/snapback]

[/quote]

The staircase was there to assure that Jim Peck would get perpetual residuals from blooper shows.

[snapback]68320[/snapback]

[/quote]

"Sure!  You people would applaud a lynching!"

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 11:51 AM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 01:48 PM\']Hell, with the reality craze still going on, why not try to get the show back on the air?!
[/quote]
Sure; exccept the floors will be paved with honey; and a hive of bees will be released upon entering.

[snapback]68343[/snapback]

[/quote]
Yeah. So?

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 09:47 AM\'][quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 09:29 AM\']I remember Showdown really distinctly, but Money Maze seems not to have entered my consciousness 'til later.  I never quite understood the point of the staircase on the Showdown set.

[snapback]68319[/snapback]

[/quote]

The staircase was there to assure that Jim Peck would get perpetual residuals from blooper shows.

[snapback]68320[/snapback]

[/quote]

Gil Fates kept that from happening way back with the "WML?" 25th anniversary show--unless the clip or clips are longer than two minutes, no residuals are paid.  That or something similar has become standard for clip shows.  Fates boasted that thanks to AP Pamela Uslan's stopwatch, the only people who they had to pay out residuals to in the 90-minute show were John Daly, Arlene Francis, and the estates of Dorothy Kilgallen and Bennett Cerf.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 02:19 PM\']Gil Fates kept that from happening way back with the "WML?" 25th anniversary show--unless the clip or clips are longer than two minutes, no residuals are paid.  [/quote]
Was he employed by Bob Stewart by then?

[DrBear]

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 12:51 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 01:48 PM\']Hell, with the reality craze still going on, why not try to get the show back on the air?!
[/quote]
Sure; exccept the floors will be paved with honey; and a hive of bees will be released upon entering.

[snapback]68343[/snapback]

[/quote]

<homersimpson> Or dogs! Or dogs with bees in their mouths!</homersimpson>

[gameshowguy2000]

Someone mentioned that there was a decorated tree during the holiday shows. Is that right?

[chris319]

Gil Fates kept that from happening way back with the "WML?" 25th anniversary show--unless the clip or clips are longer than two minutes, no residuals are paid. That or something similar has become standard for clip shows.

Well, there's the fair use doctrine which gave us license to use all manner of clips at CNN. The two-minute limit sounds to me like a network or AFTRA thing rather than part of the F.U.D.

[Don Howard]

My happy memory from the premiere of The Big Showdown is that AT LAST! that piece of garbage Girl In My Life was off the air.
The Money Maze I never got into.