Narz 'Concentration'

[The Pyramids]

In tems of 70's G/T output, 'Concentration' hosted by Jack Narz is below the radar alongside 'Mindreaders' and syndicated 'Tattletales.' Does anyone have any recollections of it or recall any differences there were to the Eighties version? I'm assuming it was a weekly show.

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Feb 17 2006, 10:59 PM\']In tems of 70's G/T output, 'Concentration' hosted by Jack Narz is below the radar alongside 'Mindreaders' and syndicated 'Tattletales.' Does anyone have any recollections of it or recall any differences there were to the Eighties version? I'm assuming it was a weekly show.

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The syndicated "Concentration" was on five days a week, and I'm glad to say I watched most of the run (mostly on WNBC, but I think it eventually moved to WOR-TV near the end). Jack Narz was a very smooth host and this, believe it or not, was his longest running show. And Johnny O was the announcer throughout.

The technology to do the puzzles on computer didn't exist in the 70's so the mechanical game boards were used (and I believe that they tried to ship the original game boards out of New York, but wound up building their own from the original plans because the old ones were not in that great of shape). The puzzles were rendered in color for the first time, and there were a couple of different end games. Most notable was the "Double Play" game in which the contestant had to solve two fully-shown rebuses in a total of 10 seconds or less to win a car, usually a Chevrolet Vega.

Each episode was its own self-contained unit, no returning champions.

That great Edd Kalehoff theme and some of the other cues were actually pitched down a step when the show began in 1973, but eventually were played at their normal speed. By the time the show ended, the music used was a mix of the original Kaleoff cue package and some TPiR cues tipped in for bonus game prize music.

[chris319]

Concentration director Ira Skutch told me that the show was done on the slimmest budget. Two game boards were shipped from New York and were the ones used on the show, as were the prize display "slips". The only things built new were the game board controller, as well as the overall set and the Double Play area. Ted Cooper devised a feature called "Head Start" in which the locations of four prizes were revealed ahead of the game. This served the dual purposes of giving the players a head start and guaranteeing that at least four fee plugs would be read.

That great Edd Kalehoff theme and some of the other cues were actually pitched down a step when the show began in 1973

How can you tell if Edd Kalehoff music is being speeded up or slowed down? IIRC it was Concentration music that made it over to TPIR rather than vice-versa, such as the Lucky Seven cue.

Concentration had a successful five-year run, hardly in the league of Mindreaders or syndicated Tattletales.

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 12:08 AM\']Concentration director Ira Skutch told me that the show was done on the slimmest budget. Two game boards were shipped from New York and were the ones used on the show, as were the prize display "slips". The only things built new were the game board controller, as well as the overall set and the Double Play area. Ted Cooper devised a feature called "Head Start" in which the locations of four prizes were revealed ahead of the game. This served the dual purposes of giving the players a head start and guaranteeing that at least four fee plugs would be read.

That great Edd Kalehoff theme and some of the other cues were actually pitched down a step when the show began in 1973

How can you tell if Edd Kalehoff music is being speeded up or slowed down? IIRC it was Concentration music that made it over to TPIR rather than vice-versa, such as the Lucky Seven cue.

Concentration had a successful five-year run, hardly in the league of Mindreaders or syndicated Tattletales.

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I do remember the theme music and the car cue among those being slowed down. Price, of course, always played that car cue at the correct speed, so that's how I deduced it was being slowed.

As far as PIR cues showing up on "Concentration" the one example I can think of is "Starcrossed".

[chris319]

You watched more Concentration than I did.

[Craig Karlberg]

Was "Starcrossed" really a part of the '76 TPIR cue package or '83?  Methinks it was '76.

Anyways, I do remember that synthesized music fron Narz Concentration very well.  I had a habdheld version that plays the theme everytine I turn it on.  Of course, the Double Play round was a unique aspect to the show since there was no "bonus" round to speak of in the Hugh Downs original.

Another thing I sometimes remember is when sometimes they offer foriegn currencies as prizes during the main game that are converted to American cash.  It was neat to see that.  I think Classic Concentration did the same thing sometimes.

[JasonA1]

In terms of the fundamental gameplay, I started a thread about the differences inviting people to add/subtract as necessary. It has a similar title to yours, sans the quotes.

Narz Concentration

-Jason

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Feb 17 2006, 09:59 PM\']I'm assuming it was a weekly show.

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In some cities it was weekly while in others it was five-a-week. That was one of two reasons I can summon for why the episodes were self-contained. The second is in that age of bicycling they could be played in any order with no loss of content.
More 1970s syndication information: Quite often those were seven-a-day taping sessions.

[tvwxman]

Hands down, my favorite show from the 70s.

Can someone explain again just what the status of the tapes are ? And why this show has never seen the light of day on GSN? Same for Classic Concentration...

And i'll throw it out there again : I'd love to have the "head start" music theme, esp the music cues used on that ONE ep that exists from 1978...can anyone help?

[dzinkin]

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 09:15 AM\']Hands down, my favorite show from the 70s.

Can someone explain again just what the status of the tapes are ? And why this show has never seen the light of day on GSN? Same for Classic Concentration...

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It's been assumed for some time that the tapes of the '70s Concentration exist, like those of other Goodson/Todman-produced syndie shows, though I don't know that it was ever confirmed firsthand.  Of course, we know that Classic Concentration wasn't erased because it's been rerun.

Neither has been shown on GSN because although they were produced by Goodson, they're owned by NBC, which -- save for the Povich run of Twenty-One -- hasn't seen fit to open its vaults to GSN.  A few folks from ATGS used the NBC/Pax deal to speculate that Pax would air reruns of both versions of Concentration, and at least one idiot announced it several times as established fact, but it never happened.

[JamesVipond]

No one has yet mentioned the fact that Jack Narz is the only Concentration host who didn't have a prize model. Hugh and Bob had Paola, and Alex had Diana and Marjorie, but Jack either didn't want a prize model or wasn't allowed to have one.

[gsgalaxy82]

It would've been hard for them to use a model on that version. There wasn't much to model besides the car. She would've only really been eye candy, which I guess would've been ok. But lots of others shows did that, haha.

David

[The Pyramids]

Recapping the history of the show, wasn't it created by Barry & Enright who soon sold rights to NBC who had in turn a 15 year run with it? Then Mark Goodson made a deal with NBC and produced it in the Seventies and Eighties. Am I leaving anything out?

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 03:22 PM\']Recapping the history of the show, wasn't it created by Barry & Enright who soon sold rights to NBC who had in turn a 15 year run with it? Then Mark Goodson made a deal with NBC and produced it in the Seventies and Eighties. Am I leaving anything out?

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That's pretty much it.

Regarding the budget, the G-T '70s version was definitely done on the cheap compared to the original (which, for those of us who were around then, had just departed a few months before).  The car game at the end was nice, but even that was monkeyed around with later in the run with the matching game to see what the prize would be (thus, perhaps a car, perhaps a new washer/dryer).

Pity the technology wasn't there to play the '80s end game -- would have been a lot easier than making six rebuses for every program.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'calliaume\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 03:29 PM\']

Regarding the budget, the G-T '70s version was definitely done on the cheap compared to the original (which, for those of us who were around then, had just departed a few months before).  The car game at the end was nice, but even that was monkeyed around with later in the run with the matching game to see what the prize would be (thus, perhaps a car, perhaps a new washer/dryer).

Pity the technology wasn't there to play the '80s end game -- would have been a lot easier than making six rebuses for every program.

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They could have done something like the matching game for a bonus round. Have a board of six or eight numbers, three or four matching prizes(or make it more evil by using an odd number of squares, leaving one prize on the board without a match a la the Classic Concentration end game). Contestant selects two numbers, if they match, the contestant wins the prize. If not, contestant wins nothing.