ABC Plays Santa 30 Years Ago

[JohnTheGameMan]

Thank goodness, "The Girl in My Life" was boring.  "The Money Maze" was a very unique game show with Nick Clooney doing a reasonable job hosting his one and only (I think) game show.  Jim Peck's career with ABC began with "The Big Showdown" and this was a fun show to watch.  The bonus round was pretty exciting enough.  
It's too bad that "Showdown" was never sought to be remade.  As for "Money Maze", it may be a challenge to construct a set like that.  These shows were short lived, yet it lives in our game show hearts.

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'JohnTheGameMan\' date=\'Dec 24 2004, 01:19 AM\']Thank goodness, "The Girl in My Life" was boring.

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It did have Edd Kalehoff music, so it wasn't a total loss. But that show was probably the last bastion of really bad schmaltzy television.

[Winkfan]

I remember Showdown really distinctly, but Money Maze seems not to have entered my consciousness 'til later.  I never quite understood the point of the staircase on the Showdown set.

The staircase was there to assure that Jim Peck would get perpetual residuals from blooper shows.

('Marge/Lisa Simpson groan')

Seriously, I send a great big Happy 30th Anniversary to our fave Marquette dean-turned game show host!

Cordially,
Tammy Warner--the 'Debralee Scott of the Big Board!'

[Craig Karlberg]

I remember The Big Showdown more than The Money Maze.  To me, seeing that green color on the set sure looked cppl.  Outside of those clips, I didn't see Peck's "staged" fall down the stairs(if you will).

As for MM, I didn't quite see it enough to get a good read on it.  When I tried to see it, the picture was very fuzzy(like the memory of MM).

[Tony]

[quote name=\'JohnTheGameMan\' date=\'Dec 24 2004, 12:19 AM\']It's too bad that "Showdown" was never sought to be remade.

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IIRC, according to Curt Alliaume's Game Shows '75 site, such a remake was proposed earlier this decade, but nobody bit.  Either that, or the pitch never went through.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Tony\' date=\'Dec 25 2004, 10:21 AM\']
IIRC, according to Curt Alliaume's Game Shows '75 site, such a remake was proposed earlier this decade, but nobody bit.  Either that, or the pitch never went through.

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Ronnie Greenberg tried to revive it after the Challengers crashed and burned. Seeing how the early 90s were as low a period for game shows as we're in now, no one was interested.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Dec 23 2004, 02:18 PM\']Speaking of $10,000, how many $10,000 winners were thene on The Big Showdown?[/quote]
If you'll take the 29-year-old memory of a then-15-year-old fan,  I want to say it happened only twice.  I also seem to recall that the players who won $10K got to keep the dice they threw as a memento.

[Esoteric Eric]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Dec 25 2004, 08:50 AM\']If you'll take the 29-year-old memory of a then-15-year-old fan,  I want to say it happened only twice.  I also seem to recall that the players who won $10K got to keep the dice they threw as a memento.

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I second that recollection.  (I was going to post a reply yesterday, but didn't feel confident enough.  And if I had posted, it would have been almost word-for-word what Matt O. wrote above... freaky! ((8=O)) )

Esoteric Eric who, after reading the "Ages" thread, was relieved to find he's not the oldest of us. (But older than Matt O., I believe; I turned 16 in October of '75)

[ChuckNet]

I never quite understood the point of the staircase on the Showdown set.

According to Peck himself, set designer Ron Baldwin thought the traditional GS method of hosts entering through curtains, doors, etc. was kinda cheezy, and thought that a fancy staircase was the way to go...he also had similar visions when designing the sets for Love Me, Love Me Not and Top Card in the 80s.

And to help Jimmy out, according to the late Randy Amasia's recollections, said promo went "Hi, I'm Jim Peck, here where we play TBS, an exciting new game of strategy, luck, and knowledge...".

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[davidhammett]

December 23, 1974... how happy I was to be on Christmas break from 8th grade, but how confused I was in trying to prepare myself for the two new game shows on ABC.  One of my standard retorts when discussing the game shows of yesteryear was, "We didn't get it in Atlanta," meaning that our affiliates were showing something else other than the network offerings.  Thus, it was only when I went out of town that I'd get to see such gems as Jackpot! and The Magnificent Marble Machine, among many others.  And sure enough, we were destined to only get one of the two new ABC shows.

But which one?  That week's edition of TV Guide indicated that Atlanta's ABC affiliate would be airing the syndicated Truth or Consequences at 2:30 PM, pre-empting The Big Showdown, but that The Moneymaze would air on a tape delay beginning at 10:30 am the following day.  However, whenever the ads for either show would air nationally, all of the TBS spots made it through, but it appeared they tried to catch and kill the MM ones before we saw them (a few choice ones got through, though).  Sure enough, when December 23 and 24 came along, the TV Guide was proved wrong, and indeed we did get TBS at 2:30 pm, but MM was never shown in Atlanta.  It was a mixed blessing, because although I came to enjoy and appreciate TBS, this 11-year-old-going-on-12 was much more excited about seeing people run around frantically in a larger-than-life maze.

Then came March 7, 1975.  It was a day off from school (end of the quarter), so my mom planned an early appointment at the dermatologist, followed by a trip to Montgomery, Alabama.  For her, it was an opportunity to connect with some business clients in the area; for me, it was a chance to see some of the shows I had no chance to just yet.  While she drove around (aimlessly, as it turned out; she got lost), I stayed in the motel room watching Jackpot! (we didn't get it in Atlanta), then Blank Check (we didn't get it in Atlanta).  Eventually I watched other shows, including TBS, then TPIR and MG'75, and finally the one episode of MM I ever saw as it aired.  Even better, the ABC affiliate there delayed the morning ABC shows until after MM, which meant that at 4 pm CT I was treated to my only viewing of the 1975 Password (we didn't get it in Atlanta either).  I even got the MM episode on audio tape; sadly, however, the tape only plays back in fast speed these days, but it's still cool to listen to (although the sped up Haley's M-O commercial causes many a listener to ROTFL).

I'll also vouch for the two $10K winners on the show; I was home when the second one happened, and remember being admonished for screaming so loudly when I saw it.

Sure enough, another business trip was scheduled in the summer of '75, so I was looking forward to seeing more episodes of these favorites.  The good news was that there were some new faves that I hadn't seen yet: The Magnificent Marble Machine, a new 25-minute version of Jackpot! (featuring questions instead of riddles), a revamped You Don't Say!, and Musical Chairs (again, all not seen in Atlanta).  The bad news was that, just as these shows premiered, some of my other faves bit the dust, including Password, TBS, and MM.  Mixed feelings to be sure... but wow... those were indeed the days.

[Jimmy Owen]

I think we were lucky in the East in that TBS and MM were on in the afternoon at 2:30 and 4, respectively, so I could catch them afterschool most days, whereas in the West MM ran at 11 and TBS at 11:30am. MM went up against "Somerset" and "Tattletales" in the East, but had to face Y&R and "Jackpot!" in the West, and TBS battled "Edge" and the "Doctors" in the East and "Search for Tomorrow" and "Blank Check" in the West.  I wonder what effect that scheduling had on the ratings.

[Ian Wallis]

Ahh...December 23, 1974 - the excitement of Christmas, and two new game shows!  Unfortunatly, the Buffalo ABC affiliate didn't carry "Big Showdown", so I took the cable off the set and tried to get Rochester, but it was a very snowy picture and I was barely able to make it out, so I never really saw an episode of the show until I traded for the famous "fall down" ep several years ago.  Later on, the CBS and NBC stations from Rochester were added to an extended tier on our cable - but never ABC.  Sometimes in certain weather conditions we could pick up a good signal, but not on that day.

Luckily, the "Money Maze" was seen in our area, on a one-day tape delay during the station's morning "Dialing for Dollars" program.  It would run from 9-10:30, with a break half way through for the 4 p.m. game show.  I probably saw the first episode but have no recollection of the double $10,000 win.  I remember the theme was very catchy.  A few years later I started using my father's reel-to-reel tape recorder to record themes off-air.  Too bad I didn't start a little earlier!