The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: AH3RD on June 29, 2004, 08:38:40 AM
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JULY 1, 1988
The $25,000 Pyramid aired for the 1,404th and final time on CBS Daytime television. By this time, the show had renewed the format of the opening montage of past winners, one which had been long a staple on Pyramid during the '70s. The final 2 celebrity guests were Robin Riker-Halsey and Charlie Siebert. And, sadly, neither of the civilian contestants reached the top of The Pyramid in this final telecast!
This was actually the second cancellation of The $25,000 Pyramid. When CBS first dropped it on New Year's Eve, 1987 (with guests Anne Marie Johnson and Robert Hegyes), after 5 years and 1,339 shows, its replacement, the Bob Goen-hosted Jay Wolpert Production Blackout, left much to be desired. So, by popular demand, The $25,000 Pyramid returned to CBS after 13 weeks, thus making it the only game show in TV history to be replaced by another game and then in return replace that same game!
Dick Clark’s farewell speech:
“You know, they say all good things must come to pass, and I’m afraid that’s exactly what’s gonna happen today; we’ve just had the last CBS telecast of The $25,000 Pyramid. It gives us a chance to thank our wonderful CBS crew—they’ve been teriffic over the years—and to all of my friends at Bob Stewart Productions—they make the job real easy—and for all of us, we’d like to thank you for making us a part of your day for the past several years on The $25,000 Pyramid. For now, Dick Clark. [salutes] So long!”
Rumor has it that CBS revived The $25,000 Pyramid as only filler while Mark Goodson Productions' revival of Family Feud starring Ray Combs was being groomed for its premiere, which occurred the following Monday, replacing Pyramid. This was the second time in daytime TV history that The Feud has replaced the timeslot of a cancelled Pyramid; the first happened in June 1980, after The $20,000 Pyramid completed a 7-year run on ABC.
The nighttime $100,000 Pyramid stayed humming in syndication for 2 months until September 2, 1988, thus closing the book on the Pyramid chapter for the 1980s.
JULY 2, 1973
Match Game 73, an update of the old 1962-69 NBC Daytime favorite The Match Game from the deranged minds of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman with, as host Gene Rayburn described, "more action, more money, and, as you can see, more celebrities," debuted at 3:30 (EDT), on CBS Television, sandwiched in between The Price Is Right and The Secret Storm (having been bumped a full week from its intended debut date, June 25, 1973, by ongoing network coverage of The Watergate Scandals). The celebrities on the panel of the first week of MG73 were Michael Landon, Vicki Lawrence, Jack Klugman, Jo Ann Pflug, Richard Dawson, and Anita Gillette; the series' other 2 regulars, Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly, would not be included until the third week. The first two contestants were Stanley Viltz and Joan Roselle, with Viltz emerging victorious. The show's imminent success prompted the launch of a weekly syndicated primetime edition, Match Game PM, in September of 1975.
Continued...
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Every New Year's Eve, there was an update of the 2 digits in the title to reflect the coming of the new year (e.g. from Match Game 76 to Match Game 77, and so on). Show creator Mark Goodson originated the idea for a new hit game show from Match Game 7X. The "Super Match" round of Match Game 7X featured a contestant choosing panelist Richard Dawson virtually every time, trying to match the correct response to an audience survey. The segment became such a huge hit with audiences the survey, Richard Dawson and The Family Feud went on the air @ 1:30 PM EDT, Monday afternoon, July 12, 1976 on ABC Daytime. Dawson did double duty on Match Game 7X and The Feud until leaving the Match Game 7X panel altogether in summer 1978. It has been rumored that the addition of a new feature, The Star Wheel, apparently "muscled in" on him.
Then, in 1977, the roof caved in. CBS made the fatal decision to move Match Game 77 to the morning @ 10 AM (EDT), where it served as a follow up for the hour-long The Price Is Right. The resulting declining ratings prompted CBS to return Match Game 77 to the afternoon, but the damage was irreparable. After finishing 6 years and 1,445 shows on CBS on April 20, 1979 (with 10 leftovers still in the can; it was replaced by the Burt Sugarman-produced game Whew! the following Monday), the show transferred to daily syndication that very fall as simply Match Game (without, alas and alack, the tried-and-true 2-digit year designation in the title), where it remained until September 1982.
JULY 3, 1978
From Television City In Hollywood, It's Everybody's Game Of Strategy, Knowledge And Fun! It's The New Tic Tac Dough!
Jack Barry and Dan Enright revived the old Tic Tac Dough program (NBC, July 30, 1956-October 23, 1959), coming on the heels of The Joker's Wild's runaway success in firstrun syndication, renaming it—with stunning originality—The New Tic Tac Dough. It premiered @ 9:30 a.m. (EDT) on CBS Daytime (replacing the ill-fated Pass The Buck), hosted by erstwhile Gambit emcee Wink Martindale.
There were several instances on CBS' Tic Tac Dough which differentiated it from its impending syndicated version: - For the front game, the game board consisted of six categories with a black background and three with an orange background. The black-backgrounded categories were regular category questions; whereas the orange-backgrounded categories were jump-in questions. The categories only shuffled before the game started and after both the "X" and "O" player have had a turn at the board. When the categories shuffled, so did the colors as to which ones were regular categories and which ones were jump-in categories(because of the "jump-in's", this is why the podiums at the beginning of the syndicated run had signaling buttons despite the fact that they were never used).
- In the event of a tie game, a jump-in question decided the winner.
- For the bonus round there were four X's, four O's (both are $150 for each one found), and the dragon on the board. Finding The Tic Tac Toe on the board wins a prize package along with the money.
- Contestants retired after surpassing/reaching the CBS $25,000 limit.
- The Dragon had flashing red eyes and a yellow background.
Wink's first words on the premiere were:
"Welcome to our brand-new series, The New Tic Tac Dough! I gotta be honest with you; I think this is probably the best television game I have ever come across! I must admit I'm a little prejudiced, but I hope you agree with me. Thank you for being with us!"
The first contestants on The New Tic Tac Dough were Ruth Fried and Dan Thomas, with Fried emerging victorious as the first champion crowned--unfortunately, the first box she picked in the first bonus game was that nasty ol' Dragon! (She would finally win her next bonus round, though.)
The New Tic Tac Dough, unfortunately, endured only a 2-month, 45-episode run in CBS Daytime, only to be unceremoniously pushed aside on September 1, 1978 to make room for more All In The Family repeats. But it would be 2 weeks later when it would defect to firstrun syndication and finally find a niche with viewers ("The New" remained in the title until sometime in the 1979-80 season). Wink emceed Dough for 7 seasons until leaving the show in 1985 to host a game show he created called Headline Chasers (which bombed after one season), and, from a nationwide search, the people at Barry & Enright selected Jim Caldwell (who finished a stint co-hosting New York City's P.M. Magazine) to take over hosting duties for the final season. Not only for the next season did the show get a new host, but a new set as well!
The New Tic Tac Dough Is A Jack Barry And Dan Enright Production! Stay Tuned For The Price Is Right, Next Over Most Of These CBS Stations!
(Source of info: The Unofficial Tic Tac Dough Supersite (http://\"http://www.ttdsite.cjb.net/\"))
And the final word in the Subject title is supposed to be "Week," mind you.
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Speaking of the Watergate hearings, here's a question: other than September 11, 2001, when was the last time any of the three major networks covered a news story live in daytime?
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 08:16 AM\'] Speaking of the Watergate hearings, here's a question: other than September 11, 2001, when was the last time any of the three major networks covered a news story live in daytime? [/quote]
Er, I think it was all of a couple of weeks ago - Reagan's funeral? Remember back that far?
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And there was Oliver North and that little business with the Iran-Contra hearings back in 1986...
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 09:16 AM\'] Speaking of the Watergate hearings, here's a question: other than September 11, 2001, when was the last time any of the three major networks covered a news story live in daytime? [/quote]
JFK Jr. disappearing at sea? That was 1999*. My guess would either be that or Desert Storm.
*Then again, that was a Saturday morning, so it might not count for much, except cartoons.
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I was (discounting the Reagan pomp & circumstance) thinkin' it might have been Chuck & Di's wedding. If not that, then the Reagan assassination attempt.
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What about the War in Iraq?
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I'm not sure if '319 meant AFTER 9/11/01, in which case Iraq comes to mind, but if he means before that, the Challenger tragedy, which, before 9/11 happened, was my "I remember where i was when..." moment..
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Would it be nitpicking to note that MG77 moved to 11am E, not 10 and TTD'78 was on at 10a E and not 9:30?
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 12:51 PM\'] Would it be nitpicking to note that MG77 moved to 11am E, not 10 and TTD'78 was on at 10a E and not 9:30? [/quote]
Not at all. I was going to nitpick the same thing, but I've nit-picked the poor guy's errors enough.
Although, however, I can't resist asking - the "winner's circle" montage - it started sometime in the mid-80's during run 1, and not near the end of the series, no?
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 10:44 AM\'] I was (discounting the Reagan pomp & circumstance) thinkin' it might have been Chuck & Di's wedding. If not that, then the Reagan assassination attempt. [/quote]
Splitting hairs (but hey, that's what we all do on occasion around here), but the inaugarations of Ronnie (second time around) in 1985, Bush I (1989), Bubba (1993/1997) and Dubya (2001) would have to count as news events, no? And all happened since Chuck and Di tied the knot (which was a few months after the assassination attempt).
How much of daytime got launched by Chuck and Di, anyway? I seem to recall that the ceremony took place live before the morning news shows came on.
I guess I kind of echo Aaron S.'s sentiments--I'm not quite sure what Chris C. is driving at (but I'm sure our co-fearless leader has a point in there, somewhere). :)
Doug
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 01:37 PM\']
How much of daytime got launched by Chuck and Di, anyway? I seem to recall that the ceremony took place live before the morning news shows came on.
[/quote]
I don't remember exact times, but I remember as a 6-year-old enjoying his summer of TV, being ticked that the Three's Company reruns and Family Feud on ABC were pre-empted by Charles and Di, as well as my mother's soaps on CBS, so I would imagine it was day-long.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 09:16 AM\'] Speaking of the Watergate hearings, here's a question: other than September 11, 2001, when was the last time any of the three major networks covered a news story live in daytime? [/quote]
How about O.J. "Where is the knife?" crimial trial? Big Earthquake in 1994 in LA?
Charles
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In an old ATGS thread we had also established that the day of the Iranian hostage rescue failure (25 April 1980) was pretty much a wipeout of daytime TV.
--Mike
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[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 01:45 PM\'] [quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 01:37 PM\']
How much of daytime got launched by Chuck and Di, anyway? I seem to recall that the ceremony took place live before the morning news shows came on.
[/quote]
I don't remember exact times, but I remember as a 6-year-old enjoying his summer of TV, being ticked that the Three's Company reruns and Family Feud on ABC were pre-empted by Charles and Di, as well as my mother's soaps on CBS, so I would imagine it was day-long. [/quote]
Just out of curiosity, what was the date of the wedding?
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[quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 04:14 PM\'] [quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 01:45 PM\'] [quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 01:37 PM\']
How much of daytime got launched by Chuck and Di, anyway? I seem to recall that the ceremony took place live before the morning news shows came on.
[/quote]
I don't remember exact times, but I remember as a 6-year-old enjoying his summer of TV, being ticked that the Three's Company reruns and Family Feud on ABC were pre-empted by Charles and Di, as well as my mother's soaps on CBS, so I would imagine it was day-long. [/quote]
Just out of curiosity, what was the date of the wedding? [/quote]
7/29/81.
Doug
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The point is, they do pre-empt the daytime schedule for presidential inaugurations (planned) and the occasional news story. Would they pre-empt daytime for several days running the way they did with the Watergate (over 30 years ago) or Iran-Contra (almost 20 years ago) hearings, or let the cable networks carry it? They didn't carry the 9/11 Commission hearings when Rummy, Condi, etc. testified.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 05:38 PM\'] The point is, they do pre-empt the daytime schedule for presidential inaugurations (planned) and the occasional news story. Would they pre-empt daytime for several days running the way they did with the Watergate (over 30 years ago) or Iran-Contra (almost 20 years ago) hearings, or let the cable networks carry it? They didn't carry the 9/11 Commission hearings when Rummy, Condi, etc. testified. [/quote]
With the Watergate hearings, I've heard that the three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC at the time for you young'uns) rotated coverage of Watergate as to not have all of daytime wiped out and the soaps/games/whatever still be shown. Was this true?
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What about the whole D.C. Sniper debacle? Didn't that get any daytime coverage? How about the Columbia tragedy? Madrid bombings? SARS?
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The Columbia tragedy happened on a weekend a Saturday to be exact , so that really didn't affect daytime TV much, though the funeral I think happened in the afternoon the following week.
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[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 12:14 PM\']
Although, however, I can't resist asking - the "winner's circle" montage - it started sometime in the mid-80's during run 1, and not near the end of the series, no? [/quote]
The CBS $25K Pyramid started using the opening WC winners montage in September 1983.
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[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 04:01 PM\'] With the Watergate hearings, I've heard that the three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC at the time for you young'uns) rotated coverage of Watergate as to not have all of daytime wiped out and the soaps/games/whatever still be shown. Was this true? [/quote]
Yup, tis true (except for key moments such as John Dean's testimony). And just to add to the fun, PBS showed replays during prime time (which is how McNeil and Lehrer got their start on public TV). Of course, in those days, there was no place else to put 'em and the networks still believed in public service. Nowadays, the president could be accused of fooling around with a young staff member and face impeachment, and it wouldn't be shown for days and days.
And for Chris's comment, nowadays it would take an act of war or a presidential assassination (and I'm doubtful about the assassination) to wipe out network programming for an extended time.
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[quote name=\'AH3RD\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 07:51 AM\'] From Television City In Hollywood, It's Everybody's Game Of Strategy, Knowledge And Fun! It's The New Tic Tac Dough![/b]
There were several instances on CBS' Tic Tac Dough which differentiated it from its impending syndicated version: - For the front game, the game board consisted of six categories with a black background and three with an orange background. The black-backgrounded categories were regular category questions; whereas the orange-backgrounded categories were jump-in questions. The categories only shuffled before the game started and after both the "X" and "O" player have had a turn at the board. When the categories shuffled, so did the colors as to which ones were regular categories and which ones were jump-in categories(because of the "jump-in's", this is why the podiums at the beginning of the syndicated run had signaling buttons despite the fact that they were never used).
- In the event of a tie game, a jump-in question decided the winner.
- For the bonus round there were four X's, four O's (both are $150 for each one found), and the dragon on the board. Finding The Tic Tac Toe on the board wins a prize package along with the money.
- Contestants retired after surpassing/reaching the CBS $25,000 limit.
- The Dragon had flashing red eyes and a yellow background.
[/quote]
Are you sure about some of those?
You left one difference out: the main game's dollar values were 200 in the center and 100 for the other eight (so a nine-square tie game carried $1000 over).
Also:
* I'm pretty sure that tied games carried over, although that may have just been at the beginning of the run;
* The first round of questions did not have any jump-ins (and occasionally, when the jump-ins showed up, there weren't three of them; I assume that three of the squares were selected at random, including squares that already had an X or O in them);
* Are you sure about those colors? I seem to recall them being the same as in the syndicated version (normally blue, but black for jump-ins - white on orange would have been very tough to see on black-and-white TVs).
* Not a "mistake", but I think you should have pointed out that in the end game, there was only one way to get three in a row, and the contestant was not told in advance if it was three Xs or three Os.
-- Don
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[quote name=\'AH3RD\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 07:38 AM\'] The $25,000 Pyramid aired for the 1,404th and final time on CBS Daytime television. [/quote]
Perhaps being picky, but I tend to recall an episode (obviously a rerun) airing on CBS for New Year's Day, 1993, either right before or right after a special half-our episode of The Price is Right.
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[quote name=\'Frank15\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 10:10 PM\'] [quote name=\'AH3RD\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 07:38 AM\'] The $25,000 Pyramid aired for the 1,404th and final time on CBS Daytime television. [/quote]
Perhaps being picky, but I tend to recall an episode (obviously a rerun) airing on CBS for New Year's Day, 1993, either right before or right after a special half-our episode of The Price is Right. [/quote]
You're right, but it was Christmas Eve 93. I don't remember the half-hour TPiR though.
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[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 09:55 PM\'] * Are you sure about those colors? I seem to recall them being the same as in the syndicated version (normally blue, but black for jump-ins - white on orange would have been very tough to see on black-and-white TVs).
[/quote]
I'm pretty sure the original poster is right about the colors; but I though it was 3 buzz-ins and 6 regular. I'll dig out my tape if need be.
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 01:44 AM\'] [quote name=\'Frank15\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 10:10 PM\'] [quote name=\'AH3RD\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 07:38 AM\'] The $25,000 Pyramid aired for the 1,404th and final time on CBS Daytime television. [/quote]
Perhaps being picky, but I tend to recall an episode (obviously a rerun) airing on CBS for New Year's Day, 1993, either right before or right after a special half-our episode of The Price is Right. [/quote]
You're right, but it was Christmas Eve 93. I don't remember the half-hour TPiR though. [/quote]
There were two showings of Pyramid on CBS in 93. One on Christmas Eve and one on New Year's Eve. Lynn Redgrave and Billy Crystal were the celebs on the repeat. In the East, the show aired in the afternoon before sports coverage.
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But it would be 2 weeks later when it would defect to firstrun syndication and finally find a niche with viewers ("The New" remained in the title until sometime in the 1979-80 season).
Sept 18, 1978 might have been the "official syndication debut", but some markets actually aired the show earlier. In my area, the show actually started Labor Day 1978 - the Monday after the CBS cancellation.
Same thing happened for "Wheel of Fortune" in 1983 - we actually got it in late August!
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With the Watergate hearings, I've heard that the three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC at the time for you young'uns) rotated coverage of Watergate as to not have all of daytime wiped out and the soaps/games/whatever still be shown. Was this true?
From what I remember and what I've read, this was only true starting around July 1973. Up until that point, all three networks aired coverage pre-empting numorous games and soaps and throwing the whole schedule off. That's one of the reasons that TVGuide stopped listing celebrity guests for a while because the schedule was so much up in the air. As soon as the networks started rotating, things settled down a bit.
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All three networks did carry the 9/11 commission hearing when
Condolezza Rice testified, so go to alternate programming: the DVD
of "Rain Man" with an actual J! clip from future TOC winner Mark
Lowenthal's first game back in 1988....
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[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 12:00 AM\'] I'm pretty sure the original poster is right about the colors; but I though it was 3 buzz-ins and 6 regular. I'll dig out my tape if need be. [/quote]
I believe you are right, and I can say with certainty that the colors were blue and black. (Blues, like usual, were regular questions, and blacks were jump-ins.)
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 08:06 AM\'] Sept 18, 1978 might have been the "official syndication debut", but some markets actually aired the show earlier. In my area, the show actually started Labor Day 1978 - the Monday after the CBS cancellation.
Same thing happened for "Wheel of Fortune" in 1983 - we actually got it in late August! [/quote]
How exactly would that work? I can understand how it might be possible for a show like syndie Match Game, where the weeks were cycled, but for a show like TTD or Wheel, where presumably every market is airing the same show on the same day, how was that handled?
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[quote name=\'rigsby\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 11:17 AM\'] [quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 08:06 AM\'] Sept 18, 1978 might have been the "official syndication debut", but some markets actually aired the show earlier. In my area, the show actually started Labor Day 1978 - the Monday after the CBS cancellation.
Same thing happened for "Wheel of Fortune" in 1983 - we actually got it in late August! [/quote]
How exactly would that work? I can understand how it might be possible for a show like syndie Match Game, where the weeks were cycled, but for a show like TTD or Wheel, where presumably every market is airing the same show on the same day, how was that handled? [/quote]
Those shows were not shown day-and-date when they started, only when barter syndication became the norm and satellite distribution was feasible did the same show air on the same days on all stations. For a show like TTD, Colbert may have made a dozen tapes of each show and each station had to ship the shows to the next station down the line so some stations would start later than others. Here in Flint, MI syndie WOF also started in late August of 83.
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 05:46 PM\'][quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 04:01 PM\'] With the Watergate hearings, I've heard that the three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC at the time for you young'uns) rotated coverage of Watergate as to not have all of daytime wiped out and the soaps/games/whatever still be shown. Was this true? [/quote]
Yup, tis true (except for key moments such as John Dean's testimony). And just to add to the fun, PBS showed replays during prime time (which is how McNeil and Lehrer got their start on public TV). Of course, in those days, there was no place else to put 'em and the networks still believed in public service. Nowadays, the president could be accused of fooling around with a young staff member and face impeachment, and it wouldn't be shown for days and days.[/quote]
In addition, the Iran-contra hearings rotated among the Big 3 on a daily basis--which is why I only got to see "Bargain Hunters" once during some time off from work (but that was more than enough). By the time I got a VCR, it was gone.
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Quoting Art Fleming from an interview he did in "The TV Collector" from
Feb. 1983 on the original Jeopardy:
WHAT ABOUT PRINTS OF THE SHOW ON FILM OR TAPE?
"I have none at all. I wish I did. They were all destroyed, and Merv Griffin's company has I believe, only 3 episodes of different periods of our development.
Jeopardy was one of the few shows that could not be repeated because we had
a recurring champion that was permitted to play for 5 times. In syndication,
the tapes are, what was called 'bicycling'. In other words, in NY, you might
see episodes 1,2 and 3. In Cleveland at the same time, 4, 5, and 6 would be
shown, and in San Francisco, 7, 8, and 9. So this would screw up the
sequence and that's why it was decided never to go into syndication with the
tapes we had."
Sounds a bit confusing, and he may have been referring also to the
syndicated version of J! from 1974-75....
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[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 09:55 PM\'] * I'm pretty sure that tied games carried over [/quote]
They did, with the exception of the week where they had children as contestants.
Also, about the 1978 failed CBS run of the show, on the last episode, the champion reached the $25000 "legal limit". The Winker mentioned that the player would then have to retire from the show and then closed the broadcast with no mention that it was the final CBS edition.
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[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 04:41 PM\'] [quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Jun 29 2004, 09:55 PM\'] * I'm pretty sure that tied games carried over [/quote]
They did, with the exception of the week where they had children as contestants.
Also, about the 1978 failed CBS run of the show, on the last episode, the champion reached the $25000 "legal limit". The Winker mentioned that the player would then have to retire from the show and then closed the broadcast with no mention that it was the final CBS edition. [/quote]
Trade magazine ads in the summer of '78 heralded that TTD would be the first game show to be stripped five days a week on network and in syndication concurrently. CBS squashed that plan real good.
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Out of curiosity, what was the first show to do that? Was it Dawson Feud?
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[quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Jun 30 2004, 05:13 PM\'] Out of curiosity, what was the first show to do that? Was it Dawson Feud? [/quote]
Dawson Feud in September 1980 became the first game show to air five shows a week both on a network and in syndication.
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Figured as much.
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Also, about the 1978 failed CBS run of the show, on the last episode, the champion reached the $25000 "legal limit". The Winker mentioned that the player would then have to retire from the show and then closed the broadcast with no mention that it was the final CBS edition.
It's strange that when the syndie "Tic Tac Dough" started, they started with a champion from an "unaired game". I don't know why they just didn't start with two new contestants.
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Trade magazine ads in the summer of '78 heralded that TTD would be the first game show to be stripped five days a week on network and in syndication concurrently. CBS squashed that plan real good.
When the CBS ratings were found wanting, Barry-Enright at one point were wondering if it was even worth going ahead with the syndie version in fear it would be a quick failure. Luckily they decided to give it a shot!
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jul 2 2004, 08:44 AM\']It's strange that when the syndie "Tic Tac Dough" started, they started with a champion from an "unaired game". I don't know why they just didn't start with two new contestants.[/quote]
As I recall, the "returning champion" in episode 1 was one Stephanie Greenberg.
Could she have been a relative of the show's supervising producer, Ron Greenberg? If so, she would have been ineligible.
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[quote name=\'byrd62\' date=\'Jul 2 2004, 09:56 AM\'] [quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jul 2 2004, 08:44 AM\']It's strange that when the syndie "Tic Tac Dough" started, they started with a champion from an "unaired game". I don't know why they just didn't start with two new contestants.[/quote]
As I recall, the "returning champion" in episode 1 was one Stephanie Greenberg.
Could she have been a relative of the show's supervising producer, Ron Greenberg? If so, she would have been ineligible. [/quote]
Then I guess that answers your question.
Just before Jay Stewart did the FROM HOLLYWOOD! open on the first syndicated edition of Tic Tac Dough, the Winker greeted the audience by telling us that the champion had won $1400 in "preliminary games".