$ale of the Century discussion

[WarioBarker]

For every lot winner during the daytime shopping era, they had 2 more contestants that bought the cash jackpot and walked.  It was an unintended consequence of the speed round.

I'd say it was also a consequence of having the Cash Jackpot be its own prize level between the car and the Lot. You're going to have very few people turn down a cash payout of over $50,000 to try for the six onstage prizes as well.

WBMG was from an NBC edict that every show have a true bonus round.

In that case, how did Win, Lose or Draw get to be the exception?

If you're going to have an actual bonus round for Sale, tying it in to a shopping-related mechanic is the way to go IMO. As much as we rag on US Temptation, playing Wipeout Super Knock-Off at least earned you Temptation Dollars for the major prizes.

Even so, it feels like it was there to compensate for the five-day limit.

[BrandonFG]

WBMG was from an NBC edict that every show have a true bonus round.

In that case, how did Win, Lose or Draw get to be the exception?

Didn't the daytime version eventually add a bonus round? Given the show premiered when $ale still had the Winner's Board, so I imagine Bert and Burt eventually got the memo they needed an actual bonus game.

[chrisholland03]

WBMG was from an NBC edict that every show have a true bonus round.

In that case, how did Win, Lose or Draw get to be the exception?

Didn't the daytime version eventually add a bonus round? Given the show premiered when $ale still had the Winner's Board, so I imagine Bert and Burt eventually got the memo they needed an actual bonus game.

It absolutely did - in late '88.

[chris319]

What that chart doesn't show you are the demos. The great lament about game shows has always been that they attract an older audience. I don't know if game shows had lower production costs than soaps to make them worth it. Consider that five game shows could be taped in one day with minimal rehearsal. Soaps typically taped one show per day with a full rehearsal.

[Sodboy13]

What that chart doesn't show you are the demos. The great lament about game shows has always been that they attract an older audience.

Speaking from semi-personal experience, Million Dollar Password got axed despite being in the weekly top 10 for almost every episode in its first season, and top 20 for its truncated run in the second, because the demos were certifiably ancient. Though I don't know what kind of audience CBS was expecting to get on a game show with 60 Minutes as its lead-in.

[SuperMatch93]

IIRC, and the episode isn't up on YouTube anymore, there was one participant in the tournament who wasn't in that photo.  Wasn't there a black man by the name of Michael who participate? Probably was the replacement for Ray Winston when he was declared ineligible.

It's been reposted; the guy you're referring to is actually Michael Todaro.

[jlgarfield]

^ Re: Michael Todaro: I thought his last name, for the longest time was pronounced "TOH-DAH-ROE". It's actually "TOH-DARE-OH". XD

Also, he was on Jeopardy! in November 1986.

[SuperMatch93]

From Mort Kamins' recording of the 1983 $ale Tournament of Champions, the field for it. As stated in the image, I am not sure which lady on the top (left or right) is Helen Durvall, and the name of the last participant (also a female) is unknown.

I normally don't bump threads this old, but I was doing some Sale research for a personal project of mine earlier and learned that the lady in the upper right is likely named Maureen McGovern. According to several recollections, she left with the cash jackpot ($54,000) on 5/27/83 and was supposedly the first person to do so. The commercial below aired the 29th, so the clip featured likely aired the following day.



I'll try to find something a bit more conclusive on newspapers.com regarding that.

[rebelwrest]

I normally don't bump threads this old, but I was doing some Sale research for a personal project of mine earlier and learned that the lady in the upper right is likely named Maureen McGovern. According to several recollections, she left with the cash jackpot ($54,000) on 5/27/83 and was supposedly the first person to do so. The commercial below aired the 29th, so the clip featured likely aired the following day.

I'll try to find something a bit more conclusive on newspapers.com regarding that.

5/29/83 was a Sunday, so I think the clip featured was the introduction of the cash jackpot unless NBC spoiled the outcome of the following day's episode.  I think we can pin down the beginning of the cash jackpot era as 5/23/83, and the order of the first four cash jackpot winners were:

Maureen McGovern 5/27/83
Richard Heft 7/13/83
Barbara Phillips 8/9/83
Fran Wolfe 9/1/83? (Assuming she won a $66,000 cash jackpot)

And back to the photo of the nine contestants, I don't think that's Ray Winston, and I don't think he participated in the 1983 tournament of champions. I'll explain.

In the lawsuit that Mr. Winston filed against NBC for nonpayment, the dates Mr. Winston taped his episodes were November 11 & 13th, 1983.  NBC was airing the tournament of champions at the time and started airing those episodes in October.

The history of $ale of the Century is one of the more intriguing aspects of game show fandom because we are trying to piece it together with the little bits of info that comes out every few years.

[Strikerz04]

I normally don't bump threads this old, but I was doing some Sale research for a personal project of mine earlier and learned that the lady in the upper right is likely named Maureen McGovern. According to several recollections, she left with the cash jackpot ($54,000) on 5/27/83 and was supposedly the first person to do so. The commercial below aired the 29th, so the clip featured likely aired the following day.

I'll try to find something a bit more conclusive on newspapers.com regarding that.

5/29/83 was a Sunday, so I think the clip featured was the introduction of the cash jackpot unless NBC spoiled the outcome of the following day's episode.  I think we can pin down the beginning of the cash jackpot era as 5/23/83, and the order of the first four cash jackpot winners were:

Maureen McGovern 5/27/83
Richard Heft 7/13/83
Barbara Phillips 8/9/83
Fran Wolfe 9/1/83? (Assuming she won a $66,000 cash jackpot)

And back to the photo of the nine contestants, I don't think that's Ray Winston, and I don't think he participated in the 1983 tournament of champions. I'll explain.

In the lawsuit that Mr. Winston filed against NBC for nonpayment, the dates Mr. Winston taped his episodes were November 11 & 13th, 1983.  NBC was airing the tournament of champions at the time and started airing those episodes in October.

I'll hazard a guess: if the tape to air dates line up, Winston (12/8/83?) might have won it before Kathy Riley (1/18/84) did. And under those circumstances, he wouldn't qualify for the '83 tournament, but would've been in the '85 tourney (and John DiMurro and the $13k total would've been the odd man out).

[SuperMatch93]

5/29/83 was a Sunday, so I think the clip featured was the introduction of the cash jackpot unless NBC spoiled the outcome of the following day's episode.

I'm thinking they did. Supposedly Maureen made it to the jackpot in five shows, so she would have been the one next to Jim.

I've been wanting to visit DC for years now, and if I ever go I should check out the Library of Congress and see if the stash of NBC program cards they have there includes anything Sale related.

ETA: The fish is on eBay (or one of his cousins, anyway).

[TLEberle]

And now down to $100.

/I might buy if it had $200 for pots and pans in its mouth.

[SuperMatch93]

Regarding Ray Winston's non-participation in the '83 TOC, I wonder if the person we'd previously identified in that pic is actually Michael Todaro; perhaps he shaved his head and got a tan the previous summer. 

I'm also trying to confirm an additional tidbit from a YouTube commenter on one of Laura Chambers' episodes: supposedly, the $10 and $15 money cards were added on Memorial Day of '83. It was May 30 that year which would place it a week after the cash jackpot was introduced. I'd think of the 23rd as a more likely date though; it would have been hard for Maureen to make it to $510 in five days without some extra dosh from the Fame Game.

[jlgarfield]

- Ooh, a snippet of a circa April 1984 show!

[Neumms]

What was “true or false” on the Fame Game board?