Wink TTD Question...

[TimK2003]

Was watching a 1983 episode of TTD on Blanquepage's YouTube Channel (Sunday Marathon #2) when the following situation came up:

Wink mentioned that as of that time, (at least) one "network-owned" television station was now carrying TTD, and as a result, a new $50,000 cap on cash and prizes was now in effect with anything won over that amount had to be donated to a named charity.  However, the contestant could stay on and continue playing for charity (sounded like once defeated, contestant could pick and choose what they want to fill their 50k cap and what remainder goes to charity).

I don't think I have ever heard of a show that started off with an unlimited winnings rule (Thom McKee and other earlier players kept all their $50K + winnings, correct???) only to be capped later due to a network relationship rule because one or more network O&O stations picked up the show and not because of a general rule change by B&E to shorten contestant runs.

Were there other shows that fell into this situation?
 

[Dbacksfan12]

“I’ll take the trip to Rio, but please send the Turtle Wax to the people who really need it”.

[clemon79]

“I’ll take the trip to Rio, but please send the Turtle Wax to the people who really need it”.

That's a lot of *really shiny* bald heads.

[TimK2003]

“I’ll take the trip to Rio, but please send the Turtle Wax to the people who really need it”.

That's a lot of *really shiny* bald heads.

But I don't even own a turtle...

[BrandonFG]

Were there other shows that fell into this situation?

TJW had a similar situation about a year earlier. Guy named Joe Dunn won a bunch of money and Jack said anything over $50K was donated. I think Joker and Tic Tac aired on CBS O&O’s right after Thom’s run ended.

Off the top of my head, not too many other syndicated shows of the era allowed you to win more than 50K as a returning champ, so the O&O rule prolly didn’t need to be a thing. Case in point, looking over J-Archive, most of the first season undefeated champions retired with about 40K.

[colonial]

The local food pantry thanks you for the year's supply of Rice-a-Roni.


JD

[Ian Wallis]

TJW had a similar situation about a year earlier. Guy named Joe Dunn won a bunch of money and Jack said anything over $50K was donated. I think Joker and Tic Tac aired on CBS O&O’s right after Thom’s run ended.

Off the top of my head, not too many other syndicated shows of the era allowed you to win more than 50K as a returning champ, so the O&O rule prolly didn’t need to be a thing. Case in point, looking over J-Archive, most of the first season undefeated champions retired with about 40K.

I remember that sometime during Joker's Wild's first syndicated season, Jack said something to the effect of "when we were on the network we were bound by their winnings limit, but we have no winning's limit now so if you can win $100,000, go ahead and win it".

I was puzzled when Joe Dunn was "retired" because that went against what he earlier said.  I guess it wasn't on an O&O when he said it.

[Casey]

Were there other shows that fell into this situation?

TJW had a similar situation about a year earlier. Guy named Joe Dunn won a bunch of money and Jack said anything over $50K was donated. I think Joker and Tic Tac aired on CBS O&O’s right after Thom’s run ended.

Joe Dunn had to quit the game when he went over the winning limit, right?  The excess he won was donated to charity but he didn't get to keep playing?  It sounds like on TTD, a person could just play and play and play until they were defeated and could potentially end up donating lots to charity.  I'm not sure how I feel about that if that's the case.

[BrandonFG]

I believe you’re right; Joe automatically retired at 50K.

[TLEberle]

Joe Dunn had to quit the game when he went over the winning limit, right?

No, he continued to win as there were discussions about how high the limit could be--if it ended up at $75,000 Joe could have plugged along but it was moved up from $25,000 keep $35k to $50,000.

[TimK2003]

TJW had a similar situation about a year earlier. Guy named Joe Dunn won a bunch of money and Jack said anything over $50K was donated. I think Joker and Tic Tac aired on CBS O&O’s right after Thom’s run ended.

Off the top of my head, not too many other syndicated shows of the era allowed you to win more than 50K as a returning champ, so the O&O rule prolly didn’t need to be a thing. Case in point, looking over J-Archive, most of the first season undefeated champions retired with about 40K.

I remember that sometime during Joker's Wild's first syndicated season, Jack said something to the effect of "when we were on the network we were bound by their winnings limit, but we have no winning's limit now so if you can win $100,000, go ahead and win it".

I was puzzled when Joe Dunn was "retired" because that went against what he earlier said.  I guess it wasn't on an O&O when he said it.

I remember seeing TTD ads in the TV guides where the captions would say "The Sky's The Limit", referring to the unlimited winnings potential. 

I also remember sometime during the CBS PYL era the cap went from from $25K to $50K, but the contestant got to keep all winnings, but had to retire after the game.

Still odd to see a game show LOWER a winnings cap midstream.

[Kevin Prather]

I also remember sometime during the CBS PYL era the cap went from from $25K to $50K, but the contestant got to keep all winnings, but had to retire after the game.

I believe that $50k soft cap was paired with a $75k hard cap. I think Dick talked about it on $25k Pyramid about the time it happened.

[steveleb]

CBS did indeed carry both shows as a lead-in to Pyramid in New York and they indeed did enforce the cap

[Kevin Prather]

I also remember sometime during the CBS PYL era the cap went from from $25K to $50K, but the contestant got to keep all winnings, but had to retire after the game.

Still odd to see a game show LOWER a winnings cap midstream.

I guess technically that CBS example was a case of both raising and lowering. It went from $25k soft cap with no hard cap to $50k soft cap with a $75k hard cap. Michael Larson would not have kept all his money under the new rule.

[TLEberle]

I guess technically that CBS example was a case of both raising and lowering. It went from $25k soft cap with no hard cap to $50k soft cap with a $75k hard cap. Michael Larson would not have kept all his money under the new rule.

I don't know if that case was an impetus for changing the limits, but in stretching my brain I don't think there has ever been a game show before that on CBS where you could win over a hundred grand, certainly not in one game. 50/75 allows for those monster wins on Pyramid and Card Sharks and if you win $79,000 then set aside a chunk of the cash to invest and you'll make it back eventually.