"You Bet Your Life" with Bill Cosby

[CherryPizza]

did anyone actually LIKE this version?

[GSWitch]

It was better than Buddy Hackett's.  The payout for the Secret Word was $500 ($250 per contestant) & the best possible sum was $16,000.

[davemackey]

It was taped in Philadelphia.

It had neat music.

Ron Hussmann wasn't on it.

I guess I liked this one better.

But no one ever beat Groucho at his own game.

[Don Howard]

I can take or leave "the very intelligent Renfield", but Buster Jones is one rockin' name for an announcer.

[whewfan]

Cosby did have some funny moments on the show, but some segments also fell flat. Groucho had a great ability to pull funny lines for almost any situation (granted some of them were written for him, but he did come up with some on his own) but Bill had a little more difficulty winging it.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'CherryPizza\' date=\'Jun 8 2004, 12:31 AM\'] did anyone actually LIKE this version? [/quote]
 I thought it was a perfectly harmless way to spend a half hour.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'CherryPizza\' date=\'Jun 8 2004, 02:31 AM\'] did anyone actually LIKE this version? [/quote]
 Yes, loved it...it actually drew me away from Jeopardy! for a season. :-) (both aired at 7:30 in Norfolk)
 
I would also love to hear the theme song again. It had a very classic jazz feel to it.

[Brandon Brooks]

[quote name=\'GSWitch\' date=\'Jun 8 2004, 05:43 AM\'] It was better than Buddy Hackett's.  The payout for the Secret Word was $500 ($250 per contestant) & the best possible sum was $16,000. [/quote]
 More money always makes a game show great.

It was a nice little show... the same way I regard Street Smarts.

Brandon Brooks

[Strikerz04]

It definitely was a way to spend 30 minutes, period. Much of a wise decision to watch it compared to the general decline in class of TV syndicated shows...didn't it air at 4pm on WBBM-TV in '94 anyway? Thats a probable reason why it got beaten by the 4pm news (if not Jerry Springer)

...I was already a Bill Cosby fan (even though I was 9 at the time), and seeing him on a game show was truely a nice addition to his resume. Too bad it didn't last long.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Strikerz04\' date=\'Jun 8 2004, 01:52 PM\'] It definitely was a way to spend 30 minutes, period. Much of a wise decision to watch it compared to the general decline in class of TV syndicated shows...didn't it air at 4pm on WBBM-TV in '94 anyway? Thats a probable reason why it got beaten by the 4pm news (if not Jerry Springer)
 [/quote]
 Nope...You Bet Your Life was 92.

Sorry for Horanesque moment. ;-)

[whewfan]

I actually auditioned for You Bet Your Life in Washington DC. The people doing the interview did say that the show was not going to be back for a second season, and that they were gathering up the final contestants.

One of the most interesting stories was about a lady that had a date with Bill Cosby well before he went into show biz. He worked in a movie theatre and the date didn't go too well.

I told a story of my (at the time) best friend Megan whom I admired greatly. I gave her a handmade wreath and she told me that she liked it because she didn't have a real tree. I misheard what she said, thinking she said she didn't have a TREE, and the next day I bought her a baby tree and gave it to her. Was I ever shocked when I saw an artificial tree in her living room, and also finding out that she's ALLERGIC to real Christmas trees!

Ok, maybe it wasn't that funny, but I still thought it was a nice story.

[ChuckNet]

Yes, loved it...it actually drew me away from Jeopardy! for a season. :-) (both aired at 7:30 in Norfolk)

It also aired opposite J! here in NY, at 7 PM on WCBS (Ch. 2)...needless to say, that arrangement didn't last too long.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[ChuckNet]

I can take or leave "the very intelligent Renfield", but Buster Jones is one rockin' name for an announcer.

He also announced Nipsey's Juvenile Jury, I believe.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[rugrats1]

The people doing the interview did say that the show was not going to be back for a second season, and that they were gathering up the final contestants.

I read somewhere that the show was cancelled in mid-season, but Cosby and the producers wanted to finish the season, so that the stations would get their money's worth and that viewers would watch until the end.

Of course, that didn't stop stations from shuttling the show to late-night slots -- I recall a SNL skit from 1993 where a TV station announced they were leaving the air for the night, "right after 'You Bet Your Life' with Bill Cosby!'" Very funny, especially with the guy playing Cosby talking gibberish ("Watch 'The Cosby Mysteries' -- only on NB Flibberflabben!").

Also, Cos's ambition to finish the season didn't stop stations from cancelling the show themselves -- when YBYL statrted in 1992, WFTS ch.28 in Tampa Bay (then with Fox) shown YBYL in the evening (don't know what time exactly -- maybe opposite Wheel or Jeopardy); after it was cancelled, they dropped the show themselves, in which WTMV ch.32 (now WMOR), then a low-rent TV station, picked up the show for the remainder of the season, also in the evenings.

I, myself, enjoyed Cos' YBYL -- especially his quotes that he usually gives at the end of the show.

[Jimmy Owen]

Channel 12, the ABC affil (now O&O) in Flint MI carried Cosby YBYL in the same prime access slot from start to finish.