This Week's GS Milestone

[AH3RD]

OCTOBER 23, 1981


"Aces High! Deuces Low!
Let's Win Some Money, And Go-Go-Go!"

That was the final opening poem read by Gene Wood at the top of the 864th and final edition of Card Sharks, which aired on NBC.

Picking up where the previous game left off, Denise Lockhart defeated the previous champion, Michelle Jenkins, in Sudden Death, and went on to amass $1,000 in the final Money Cards round: her sequence of cards was 9D, 8C, 10D, JD replaced by QH, 7C, 5D, QS, and 3C. In the following round, whcih was the final one and pitted Denise against Victoria Sieber, host Jim Perry announced that there would not be another MC round, what with this being the final telecast and time being so treacherously short, and so a best 2-out -of-3 round was played, deciding a $5,000 winner! Denise flubbed it, enabling Victoria to win 5-grand and become Card Sharks' last ever champ.

In the show's final fading minutes Jim stood flanked by several members of Card Sharks' ever-reliable soundstage personnel as he, in his parting speech, did a summing-up on the show's original 3 1/2 year run on NBC:


"Well, that wraps it up for 3 1/2 years on Card Sharks. Thank you. Um, maybe I have a couple of moments, 'cause I think you might be interested in this. I've mentioned from time to time in the 3 1/2 years the way people have sent in poems and taken part in polls and have been a part in the show. We have polled in the last 3 1/2 years 3,875,000 people on Card Sharks, and I am delighted to say, in 3 1/2 years, we have given away $3,218,550 on this show to a lot of very nice people who've came down here as contestants. Thank you all who have sent in poems and were a part of the show.

"I do want to thank the NBC staff and crew; these guys and girls have been sensational with us for the last 3 1/2 years. Are grateful to all of you. We are grateful to you for your support that enabled us to have 3 1/2 years of Card Sharks on NBC, but I especially want to thank these people who are standing behind me, and, for one of the few times in my hammy life, I am going to get the hell out of the way here now as they roll the credits by so you could take a good look at these wonderful people from Goodson-Todman and Card Sharks who have made this thing go. I love each and every one of them. For Card Sharks on NBC, goodbye, my friends!"



Continued...

[AH3RD]

Then Jim Perry placed down his microphone, stepped off the original set of Card Sharks forever -- and into gameshow TV history, leaving the show's production crew onstage. After the fee plugs wrapped, a special shot of announcer Gene Wood was shown as he delivered the 864th and final reading of Card Sharks' closing spiel:


"This Is Gene Wood Speaking For Card Sharks,
A Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production!"

Then the long credits crawl precipitated a v e r y . . . s l o w . . . r o l l as they superimposed over the Card Sharks crew to accommodate the viewers at home to get a glimpse at and remember the faces of the men and women which have helped keep the show humming on NBC since April 1978.

The series' original run had expired, but the property itself did not. In late 1985, CBS decided that it wanted a big-money show on its daytime schedule, so they ordered a revival of the popular show Card Sharks (replacing the late Body Language, another Mark Goodson Production), calling it The New Card Sharks, but this new version differed in many ways from the original 1978-1981 NBC version hosted by Jim Perry. The set was changed, the music and most notably (in the first four weeks especially), The Money Cards was played differently (concering the process of changing cards), and there was a new host, Bob Eubanks, and new dealers, models Lacey Pemberton and Susannah Williams! Later on in the run, 10 people who had something in common began appearing in the front row of an auidence, and several times throughout the show, questions were asked about them. This version stayed in town between January 6, 1986 and March 31, 1989. There was a syndicated primetime edition on the side, lauched in fall 1986 and lasting for a year, hosted by Bill Rafferty.

In September 2001, yet another edition of the popular game was launched in syndication, emceed by comic Pat Bullard and with Tami Anderson as the new dealer. This failed on every level, and didn't even last beyond a full season.

[Don Howard]

OCTOBER 21, 1981

That was a Wednesday. The final show rolled on Friday the 23rd.

Aces High! Deuces Low!

Not "ace is high--deuce is low"? I'll take your word for it.

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Oct 19 2003, 03:17 PM\']

Aces High! Deuces Low!

Not "ace is high--deuce is low"? I'll take your word for it. [/quote]
They sound so much the same I don't think it really makes a difference.  On that show, it sounded more like "Aces high, deuces low".

Here's the summary of the front games:
Michelle vs. Denise
- G1: Denise wins; Jim brings his wife June onstage to throw to the first commercial.
- G2: In sudden death, Denise tries to win it herself, but misses the last card, giving the game to Michelle
- G3: Denise wins Q1 and gets good cards to win the match.  Michelle leaves with $3,650.

Denise vs. Victoria
- G1 Q1: Victoria wins the question and freezes after two cards.  Jim: Five hundred for the run doesn't sound quite as good as five thousand for the match.
- G1 Q2: Denise wins the question, but neither player advances.
[BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ]  From this point on, every question is sudden death.
- G1 Q3: Victoria wins the question, passes, and wins when Denise errs on the last card.
- G2: Victoria wins the question; Jim shows only her base card.  Knowing Denise cannot change her base card, Victoria passes, and Denise is stuck with an eight.  She goes lower and Jim turns over a nine.  Jim: Victoria comes on and wins the last five thousand dollars on Card Sharks!  Denise leaves with $1,200, Victoria with $5,200.

[ChuckNet]

The series' original run had expired, but the property itself did not. In late 1985, CBS decided that it wanted a big-money show on its daytime schedule, so they ordered a revival of the popular show Card Sharks (replacing the late Body Language, another Mark Goodson Production), calling it The New Card Sharks

Also, the original NBC series was rerun on some stations in 1982-83 (no, these were not new eps, as some sources errnously claim), and the ratings they pulled may have influenced CBS's decision to revive it.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Oct 20 2003, 05:33 PM\']

Also, the original NBC series was rerun on some stations in 1982-83 (no, these were not new eps, as some sources errnously claim), and the ratings they pulled may have influenced CBS's decision to revive it.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby") [/quote]
 And CBN showed a year of Perry CS reruns in 1984-85. Al Martella reported at his site Goodson had toyed with the idea of reviving it in 1983 or 1984 featuring the British format at the time and possibly even bringing in Bruce "Nice to See You" Forsythe to host it.

[Michael Brandenburg]

In September 2001, yet another edition of [Card Sharks] was launched in syndication, emceed by comic Pat Bullard and with Tami Anderson as the new dealer. This failed on every level, and didn't even last beyond a full season.

   For a time, I had joked about what came on the scene soon after the 2001 edition of Card Sharks was put out of its misery -- a Card Sharkscomputer pinball machine simulation (rooted in the popular Visual Pinball construction set) that was created by someone with the crazy screen name of "Elah Dubh Sidhe".  However, I learned some time ago that it was by sheer coincidence that he had come up with that game at that point in time -- he was from England, where Card Sharks never aired under that title (though many game show fans both here and in the U.K. know of Card Sharks' U.K. equivalent game show, Play Your Cards Right.

   Incidentally, no one has mentioned this on this board, but it seems that the lesson of "don't mess with success" when it comes to a game show ended up very soon forgotten by the TLC cable channel.  They took their popular Junkyard Wars "techo-competition" show and had it "re-tooled, re-engineered, and re-born" with some heavy-handed changes in its format for its 11th season, only to witness its overwhelming re-jection by its previous fan base and its very own discussion board on the TLC website ablaze with "flames" during the new format's seven-week run that concluded earlier this month.

   They have now raced over to the U.K., picked up some episodes of their Scrapheap Challenge show that is produced by the same production company (RDF Media), and rushed those episodes back over to the U.S. where they are now airing here (at 9 P.M. and 12 midnight ET on Wednesday evenings) after a quick "re-badging" to turn them into Junkyard Wars episodes.  Hopefully, these will satisfy those who voted 69 to 0 in a poll that was conducted on the TLC website's Junkyard Wars discussion board in favor of returning the show to its previous format.


   Michael Brandenburg
   (And I suspect they are also hoping that "Elah Dubh Sidhe" didn't hear about this fiasco -- otherwise, his next computer pinball creation would likely have been a Junkyard Wars pinball machine!)

[brianhenke]

WCPO aired the 1982 Card Sharks reruns at (I think) 9:30 a.m. Shortly after, they bought a syndicated version of a game that hadn't been seen in Cincinnati since 1978 - WHEEL! OF! FORTUNE! - and it's been on that station ever since.  

   Incidentally, that was the same 9:30 a.m. slot the ill-fated 2001 CS revival wound up on WSTR (even though the website which is no longer running said it was going to be on at 3 a.m.!)

    Brian

    Indianapolis is the capital of Michigan?

    We want some more pro wrestling (STILL) and NASCAR questions!

[Jay Temple]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 20 2003, 05:39 PM\'] And CBN showed a year of Perry CS reruns in 1984-85. Al Martella reported at his site Goodson had toyed with the idea of reviving it in 1983 or 1984 featuring the British format at the time and possibly even bringing in Bruce "Nice to See You" Forsythe to host it. [/quote]
 CBN--Christian Broacasting Network?  That's unusually open-minded of them.  I know plenty of Christians who play card games, but I also hear from plenty of Christians decrying gambling whenever a state wants to start a lottery or legalize riverboat gambling.

[dzinkin]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Oct 21 2003, 12:41 PM\'] [quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 20 2003, 05:39 PM\'] And CBN showed a year of Perry CS reruns in 1984-85. Al Martella reported at his site Goodson had toyed with the idea of reviving it in 1983 or 1984 featuring the British format at the time and possibly even bringing in Bruce "Nice to See You" Forsythe to host it. [/quote]
CBN--Christian Broacasting Network?  That's unusually open-minded of them.  I know plenty of Christians who play card games, but I also hear from plenty of Christians decrying gambling whenever a state wants to start a lottery or legalize riverboat gambling. [/quote]
 By that time the network was going by "CBN Cable Network"; the "Christian" in the name was rarely uttered except on "The 700 Club," and most of the schedule was dedicated to reruns of various old shows.  A game show block was part of the rerun mix for some years.

[Jimmy Owen]

While CBN showed "Bullseye" and "Tic Tac Dough," they never aired TJW.  I thought at the time they may have wanted to avoid "the devil."

[Matt Ottinger]

By that time the network was going by "CBN Cable Network"; the "Christian" in the name was rarely uttered except on "The 700 Club," and most of the schedule was dedicated to reruns of various old shows. A game show block was part of the rerun mix for some years.

Say what you want about Pat Robertson (and God knows people have (and of course since Pat speaks to God regularly, he knows too (don't you just love parentheses?))) but you have to admire a businessman who's shrewd enough to have been able to keep "The 700 Club" on the channel through two major ownership changes.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Oct 21 2003, 03:07 PM\']

By that time the network was going by "CBN Cable Network"; the "Christian" in the name was rarely uttered except on "The 700 Club," and most of the schedule was dedicated to reruns of various old shows. A game show block was part of the rerun mix for some years.

Say what you want about Pat Robertson (and God knows people have (and of course since Pat speaks to God regularly, he knows too (don't you just love parentheses?))) but you have to admire a businessman who's shrewd enough to have been able to keep "The 700 Club" on the channel through two major ownership changes.[/quote]
And Robertson would've dumped FAM sooner if not for the fact that his insistence that "The 700 Club" stay on the channel in perpetuity chased off many potential buyers (it was rumored that USA Networks and NBC had inquired but lost interest when Robertson brought up "The 700 Club").  But he finally found a live one in Rupert Murdoch.

ObGameShow:  First original CBN/FAM game show--"Second Honeymoon," co-produced by Wink and hosted by Tammy Warner's heartthrob Wayne Cox.

[zachhoran]

DIdn't Bible Baffle, on CBN c. 1981-82, predate Second Honeymoon? Or was that show on other stations besides CBN.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 21 2003, 05:51 PM\']DIdn't Bible Baffle, on CBN c. 1981-82, predate Second Honeymoon? Or was that show on other stations besides CBN.[/quote]
It was the creation of WCFC in Chicago and aired on that station (and perhaps other religious stations) for some years beforehand.

WCFC the channel's now WCPX, the Pax O&O in Chicago.  WCFC the religious broadcasting organization (or Christian Communications of Chicagoland, to use its legal name) is now a cable channel called Total Living Network, with some national distribution.  No game shows, though.