Game Shows Whose Formats Have Changed Over The Years

[anotherguyTN]

Interviewer:  "$185 for a meat smoker?!?!"
Sajak:  "It's a very nice meat smoker."

In the Lowe's store I work at part time you'd have no problem finding a smoker at that price now. They've had grills that run $500.00 or more.

I agree that Wheel got better once they changed to money instead of prizes. Didn't the nighttime version do that from the beginning and the daytime version switched later?

I've always liked game shows that gave away mainly or all money better than the ones that were all prizes. You have the problem with the values being overpriced and also having to pay taxes on them. There was a woman from my home town of Dyersburg, TN that won a car on TPIR and had to pay income tax and both CA AND TN sales tax before she left or forefit the car. I figure that if you win cash you can always take the tax out of the winnings.

 

[Braves2005]

Let's Make A Deal has had several different formats including when they added the Super Deal in the Monty Hall version in syndication in 1975. Don't know whether they extended this to the daytime version or not but I know that the Super Deal didn't last long because in the Las Vegas episodes and after it wasn't seen all that frequent.

The 1984-1986 version of LMAD also included a wheel that you spun whose prizes included a car, money or a Zonk. There also was a fourth door which was featured too.

Don't know much about the 1980-1981 syndicated version from Canada, 1990-1991 NBC version or the 2003 version whether they had different formats with LMAD or not.

The biggest change of all to the Wayne Brady version of LMAD is that only one person or couple goes to pick the big deal of the day instead of two.

 

[cd637299]

This thread wouldn't be complete w/out mention of the question-ladder format to "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"...

Gone are the silly "D" answers, but the whole money/category "scramble" certainly is weird; some questions are far easier than others later on (when they used to be progressively harder); and you could win $25,000 on Question One, and $100 on Question Ten.

Amazing that they are into Season 2 of this, not to mention the "filmization" that I brought up in another thread.

(Also gone for sure is the Phone-a-Friend lifeline; were too many "friends" Googling answers?)

cd

 

[borderblaster]

Here's your original Match Game. Name that Tune (theme song). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwMxQhNBPrs

 

[azumanga]

The 1984-1986 version of LMAD also included a wheel that you spun whose prizes included a car, money or a Zonk. There also was a fourth door which was featured too.

In the beginning, they used a fourth door in which a contestant, whose number is drawn from random, takes a "sure thing" prize, or trades it for an unknown cash amount hidden behind Door #4, ranging from $1 to $5000. This was later changed to a wheel, in which a contestant was offered $750, which they can exchange for a spin of a wheel for greater or lesser winnings, or a Zonk.

Don't know much about the 1980-1981 syndicated version from Canada, 1990-1991 NBC version or the 2003 version whether they had different formats with LMAD or not.

The general format for all of these are the same as the original, with few differences -- the 1980-1981 version had cheaper prizes and Big Deal of the Days usually around $5000; cash was also in a form of "Monty Dollars", as the show was being seen in both the US and Canada. The 1990-1991 version, at first, had Bob Hilton has host, but was soon replaced with Monty as "substitute" host, which was never filled as the show was soon cancelled. And the 2003 version had some games resemble that of "reality" fare -- one episode I seen had a contestant win a computer if they pulled out a computer mouse, or nothing if they pulled out a real mouse; this was followed by a trip to Las Vegas if they pull out a pair of fuzzy dice (representing "snake eyes"), or zip if they pulled out a snake.

More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let's_Make_a_Deal

 

[Wright County Guy]

RE: Wheel

During the first few years of nighttime Wheel, the shopping was in place. A couple of times I remember a winning contestant hitting the $5000 spot, and they were able to "buy" a bonus round price.

Pat, I think I'll take the year's supply of pears for $250 and the Honda Civic. Put the rest on a gift certificate.

 

[Matt]

Here's your original Match Game. Name that Tune (theme song). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwMxQhNBPrs

Swingin' Safari...by Bert Kaempfert

It was mildly controversial in the day because Kaempfert was South African and there was a general boycott on media from that country due to its Apartheid government.

Nonetheless...it was a nice, bouncy, enjoyable tune.

Later . . . .

 

[Ultimajock]

Here's your original Match Game. Name that Tune (theme song). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwMxQhNBPrs

Swingin' Safari...by Bert Kaempfert

It was mildly controversial in the day because Kaempfert was South African and there was a general boycott on media from that country due to its Apartheid government.

...not so. Kaempfert was born in Hamburg and worked his entire career in Germany. Besides, are you sure they didn't use the Billy Vaughn version rather than Kaempfert's?...

 

[cd637299]

From what I gather, the Vaughn version was the hit song, while the Bert version was played as the MG theme. Hard, really, to tell the difference in the two.

MG changed their theme in its last years (Wiki said it changed in 1967)...I remember that tune as well. [Personally I wish I could come across the color 1969 MG ep that the Paley Center in NYC has!]

Kampfaert did have an instrumental called "Afrikaan Beat", from which the controversy might have started.

cd