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The $64,000 Question

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The $64,000 Question — американская игра, транслировавшаяся с 1955 по 1958 годы, которая была втянута в скандалы с викторинами 1950-х годов. Участники отвечали на вопросы общих знаний, зарабатывая деньги, которые удваивались, поскольку вопросы становились более трудными. Последний вопрос получил главный приз в 64 000 долларов, что и объясняет происхождение названия шоу.

The $64,000 Challenge (1956–1958) — спин-офф данной игры, где участники сражались против победителей, выигравших как минимум $8 000 на «The $64,000 Question».

История

  • Take It or Leave It — CBS Radio; April 21, 1940 – July 27, 1947; Sunday 10:00Шаблон:Nbspp.m.
  • The $64 Question — NBC Radio; September 10, 1950 – June 1, 1952; Sunday 10:00Шаблон:Nbspp.m. (1950–51) and Sunday 9:30Шаблон:Nbspp.m. (1951–52).
  • The $64,000 Question — CBS television; June 7, 1955 – June 24, 1958 (Tuesday 10:00Шаблон:Nbspp.m.); September 14 – November 9, 1958 (Sunday 10:00Шаблон:Nbspp.m.). Simulcast on CBS Radio from October 4 to November 29, 1955.
  • The $64,000 Challenge — CBS television; April 8, 1956 – September 14, 1958; Sunday 10:00Шаблон:Nbspp.m.
  • The $128,000 Question — Syndicated weekly television, September 18, 1976 – September 1978.

Take It or Leave It (The $64 Question)

Игра «The $64,000 Question» была основана на радио-викторине CBS Radio «Take It or Leave It», которая последовала за новаторскими «Professor Quiz» (первая радио-викторина) и «Uncle Jim's Question Bee» (вторая радио-викторина). «Take It or Leave It» продолжалась с 21 апреля 1940 года по 27 июля 1947 года. Сначала её вёл Bob Hawk (1940–1941), а затем Phil Baker (1941–1947).

Участникам задавали вопросы, придуманные автором Edith Oliver. Она попыталась сделать каждый вопрос чуть сложнее, чем предыдущий. После правильного ответа на вопрос участник имел возможность забрать деньги за этот вопрос или рискнуть в надежде ответить на следующий вопрос. Первый вопрос стоил $1, и ценность удваивалась для каждого последующего вопроса, до седьмого и последнего вопроса стоимостью $64.

В 1940-х годах фраза «это вопрос за 64 доллара» стала распространенной фразой для особенно сложного вопроса или проблемы. Популярность этой радиопрограммы вдохновила на создание художественного фильма 20th Century Fox 1944 года «Take It or Leave It» о человеке, которому нужно 1000 долларов, чтобы заплатить акушеру своей жены. Когда его выбирают в качестве участника радио-викторины, призовой фонд увеличивается сверх обычных $64.

В 1947 году игра продолжила существовать на NBC Radio, и её в разное время вели Baker, Garry Moore (1947–1949), Eddie Cantor (1949–1950) и Jack Paar (начало 11 июня 1950 года). 10 сентября 1950 года название «Take It or Leave It» было изменено на «The $64 Question». Игра существовала на NBC Radio до 1 июня 1952 года.

Известно, что сохранилось только 5 аудиозаписей этой игры.

The $64,000 Question

Формат игры «The $64,000 Question» был создан Луи Дж. Коуэном (Louis G. Cowan), ранее известным по радиовикторине «Quiz Kids» и телесериалам «Stop the Music» и «Down You Go». Коуэн подчерпнул вдохновение для названия от «Take It or Leave It», а также от его главного приза в размере $64. Он решил увеличить эту цифру до $64 000 за новую телевизионную программу. У Коуэна были трудности с поиском спонсора для игры.

Премьера «The $64,000 Question» состоялась 7 июня 1955 года на канале CBS-TV, спонсором которого был производитель косметики Revlon, и который впервые появился в прямом эфире из CBS-TV Studio 52 в Нью-Йорке (позже диско-театр Studio 54). Первой участницей шоу стала Тельма Фаррелл Беннетт, модель из Нью-Йорка из Трентона, штат Нью-Джерси, которая выиграла кабриолет Cadillac 1955 года, который она продала через месяц после выигрыша.

Чтобы увеличить драматизм и напряженность шоу, было решено использовать в качестве ведущего актера, а не радиоведущего. Актер телевидения и кино Hal March, знакомый телезрителям как постоянный режиссер на шоу Джорджа Бернса и Грейси Аллен «Мой друг Ирма», сразу же получил известность как ведущий викторины, а Lynn Dollar стояла рядом в качестве его ассистента. Чтобы извлечь выгоду из первоначального телевизионного успеха, шоу также транслировалось в течение двух месяцев на CBS Radio, где оно существовало с 4 октября по 29 ноября 1955 года.

Правила игры

Участники сначала выбирали предметную категорию (например, «Бокс», «Линкольн» или «Джаз») на табло категорий. Затем участнику будут задавать вопросы только в выбранной категории, с каждым верным ответом выигрыш увеличивается, поскольку вопросы становятся более сложными:

Номер вопроса Стоимость
11 $ 64 000
10 $ 32 000
9 $ 16 000
8 $ 8 000
7 $ 4 000
6 $ 2 000
5 $ 1 000
4 $ 512
3 $ 256
2 $ 128
1 $ 64

На уровне в $4 000 участник возвращался каждую неделю только для того, чтобы ответить только на один вопрос в одном выпуске. Он мог забрать свои деньги в любой момент, но до тех пор, пока он не выиграл $512, если он не ответил или неправильно ответил на вопрос, он не выигрывал ничего. Ошибка на 5-7 вопросы означало выигрыш $512. После того, как участник выиграл $4 000, если он отвечал неверно вопрос, он получил утешительный приз — автомобиль Cadillac. Начиная с вопроса за $8 000, участника помещали в «кабину изоляции» Revlon, где он не мог слышать ничего, кроме слов ведущего. Пока участник отвечал правильно, он мог оставаться в игре, пока не выиграет 64 000 долларов. 13 сентября 1955 года первым участником, получившим главный приз, был Richard S. McCutchen, морской пехотинец, который сразу же стал знаменитостью, и люди останавливали его на улице, чтобы попросить у него автограф.

The $64,000 Challenge

8 апреля 1956 года состоялся дебют «The $64,000 Challenge», который в течение 26 августа будет вести будущая детская телевизионная звезда Sonny Fox, а затем, до конца существования шоу, Ralph Story.

В новой игре участники соревновались с победителями, выигравшими по меньшей мере $8 000 в игре «The $64,000 Question», где они могли выиграть еще 64 000 долларов. Участники по очереди отвечали на вопросы из той же категории, начиная с уровня в $1 000. Если каждый из них правильно ответил на вопрос, они достигли уровня $2 000. Начиная с уровня в $4 000, оба участника отвечали на один и тот же вопрос, в то время как каждый находился в своей отдельной кабине изоляции. Если на каком-либо данном уровне участник ответил правильно, а другой участник пропустил вопрос, то победивший участник либо сохранял деньги, а затем встретился с новым игроком, либо продолжил играть против того же оппонента на следующем уровне денег.

Merchandising and parodies

One category on the Revlon Category Board was "Jazz", and within months of the premiere Columbia Records issued a 1955 album of various jazz artists under the tie-in title $64,000 Jazz (CL 777, also EP B-777), with the following tracks: "The Shrike" (Pete Rugolo), "Perdido" (J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding), "Laura" (Erroll Garner), "Honeysuckle Rose" (Benny Goodman), "Tawny" (Woody Herman), "One O'Clock Jump" (Harry James), "How Hi the Fi" (Buck Clayton), "I'm Comin', Virginia" (Eddie Condon), "A Fine Romance" (Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond), "I Let A Song Go Out of My Heart" (Duke Ellington) and "Ain't Misbehavin'" (Louis Armstrong).

Other musical tie-ins included the 1955 song "The $64,000 Question (Do You Love Me)", recorded by Bobby Tuggle (Checker 823), Jackie Brooks (Decca 29684) and the Burton Sisters (RCA Victor 47-6265). "Love Is the $64,000 Question" (1956), which used the show's theme music by Norman F. Leyden with added Fred Ebb lyrics, was recorded by Hal March (Columbia 40684), Karen Chandler (Decca 29881), Jim Lowe (Dot 15456) and Tony Travis (RCA Victor 47-6476).

When the show was revived in 1976 as The $128,000 Question, its theme music and cues were performed (albeit with a new disco-style arrangement for the theme) by Charles Randolph Grean, who released a three-and-a-half-minute single, "The $128,000 Question" (the show's music and cues as an instrumental), with the B-side ("Sentimentale") on the Ranwood label (45rpm release R-1064). For the show's second season, Grean's music package was re-recorded by Guido Basso.

There were numerous parodies of the program, including in the Foghorn Leghorn cartoon "Fox Terror", Bob and Ray's The 64-Cent Question. The Jack Benny Program featured Hal March as a contestant in an October 20, 1957 spoof[1] with Benny asking the questions. As a gag, Benny actually appeared as a contestant on The $64,000 Question on October 8, 1957, but insisted on walking away with $64 after answering the first question. Hal March finally gave him $64 out of his own pocket.

At the height of its popularity, The $64,000 Question was referenced in the scripts of other CBS shows, usually but not exclusively through punch lines that included references to "the isolation booth" or "reaching the first plateau." Typical of these was spoken by The Honeymooners' Ed Norton (Art Carney), who identified three times in a man's life when he wants to be alone, with the third being "when he's in the isolation booth of The $64,000 Question." At least three other Honeymooners episodes referenced Question: In A Woman's Work Is Never Done Ralph proposes to Alice that he go on the show because he's an expert in the "Aggravation" category. In Hello, Mom Norton tells Ralph that his mother-in-law's category on the show would be "Nasty". In The Worry Wart, Ralph advises Alice to become a contestant because she's an expert in the "Everything" category.

Another episode of The Honeymooners, delivered one of the best known Question references – a parody of the show itself, in one of the so-called "Original 39" episodes of the timeless situation comedy. In that episode, blustery bus driver Ralph Kramden becomes a contestant on the fictitious $99,000 Answer. Regarded as one of the Golden Age of Television's best quiz show parodies, the Honeymooners episode depicted Kramden spending a week intensively studying popular songs, only to blow the first question on the subject when he returned to play on the show. The host of the fictitious $99,000 Answer was one Herb Norris, played by former Twenty Questions emcee and future Tic-Tac-Dough host Jay Jackson.

The show has been referenced on other game shows. On the U.S. version of Deal or No Deal, an episode aired January 15, 2007, in which the banker's offer was $64,000. Host Howie Mandel said, "This is the $64,000 question."

Cancellation

Three years after exploding into a nation's consciousness, Question and Challenge were both gone from the airwaves. Having faded in popularity in the wake of the hugely popular Twenty-One championship of Charles Van Doren, Question and Challenge were pulled off the air within three months of the quiz show scandal's outbreak. Challenge ended first on September 14, 1958 with Question taking its Sunday-night timeslot after a three-month hiatus until it was canceled in November.

Scandal

The relatively new but phenomenally popular Dotto, and then Twenty-One, were found to have been rigged and were promptly canceled. A Challenge contestant, Rev. Charles Jackson, told the federal grand jury probing the quiz shows that he received answers during his screening for his appearance. That prompted Challenge's sponsor, the Lorillard Tobacco Company (Kent, Old Gold cigarettes), to drop the show.

The $64,000 Question had the opposite problem: their sponsor's CEO, Revlon's Charles Revson, often interfered with production of Question, especially attempting to bump contestants he himself disliked, regardless of audience reaction. Revson's brother, Martin, was assigned to oversee Question–including heavy discussions of feedback the show received. The would-be bumpees included Joyce Brothers herself, who managed to outwit the question writers and Revlon long enough to win the maximum prize.

According to producer Joe Cates in a PBS documentary on the scandals, he used an IBM sorting machine to give the illusion that the questions were randomly selected – in fact, all of the cards were identical. Since all of the buttons were on one line Шаблон:Clarification needed, they were mostly for show.

It was revealed during Congressional investigations into the quiz show scandal that Revlon was as determined to keep the show appealing to viewers as the producer of Twenty-One (albeit also under sponsor pressure) had been. Unlike Twenty-One and Dotto, where contestants got the answers in advance, Revlon was reportedly far more subtle, they may have depended less on asking questions on the air that a contestant had already heard in pre-air screenings than on switching the questions kept secure in a bank vault at the last minute, to make sure a contestant the sponsor liked would be suited according to his or her chosen expertise.

Nadler's victory would be called into question when he failed a civil service exam in 1960 applying a job for the United States Census Bureau.[2]

The most prominent victim may have been the man who initially launched the franchise. Louis Cowan, made CBS Television president as a result of Question's fast success, was forced out of the network as the quiz scandal ramped up, even though it was NBC's quiz shows bearing most of the brunt of the scandal – and even though CBS itself, with a little help from sponsor Colgate-Palmolive, had moved fast in cancelling the popular Dotto at almost the moment it was confirmed that that show had been rigged. Cowan had never been suspected of taking part in any attempt to rig either Question or Challenge; later CBS historians suggested his reputation as an administrative bottleneck may have had as much to do with his firing as his tie to the tainted shows. Cowan may have been a textbook sacrificial lamb, in a bid to preempt any further scandal while the network scrambled to recover, and while president Frank Stanton accepted complete responsibility for any wrongdoing committed under his watch.

Aftermath

By the end of 1959, all first generation big-money quizzes were gone, with single-sponsorship television following and a federal law against fixing television game shows (an amendment to the 1960 Communications Act) coming. Over the course of the early 1960s, the networks wound down their five-figure jackpot game shows; Jackpot Bowling (1959–1961) and Make That Spare (1960–1964), a period on Beat the Clock (1960) when its Bonus Stunt grew in $100 increments past the $10,000 mark until finally being won for $20,100 on September 23, You Bet Your Life (ended 1960) and the more lavish prize offerings on The Nighttime Price Is Right (1957–1964) were the few remaining shows offering large prizes. Only one traditional big-money quiz show, the short-lived ABC quiz 100 Grand (1963), would be attempted in the subsequent years; the networks stayed away from awarding five-figure cash jackpots until the premiere of The $10,000 Pyramid and Match Game 73 in 1973. The disappearance of the quiz shows gave rise to television's next big phenomenon–Westerns.

The scandals also resulted in a shift of the balance of power between networks and sponsors. The networks used the scandals to justify taking control of their programs away from sponsors, thereby eliminating any potential future manipulation in prime-time broadcasting, and giving the networks full autonomy over program content.[3]

None of the people directly involved in rigging any of the quiz shows faced any penalty more severe than suspended sentences for perjury before the federal grand jury that probed the scandal, even if many hosts and producers found themselves frozen out of television for many years. One Question contestant, Doll Goostree, sued both CBS and the producers in a bid to recoup $4,000 she said she might have won if her match of Question hadn't been rigged. Neither Goostree nor any other quiz contestant who similarly sued won their cases.

  • Louis Cowan – In addition to Quiz Kids (1949–1951) and Stop the Music (1949–52, 1954–56), Cowan also created Down You Go (1951–1956) and the short-lived Ask Me Another (1952). Cowan briefly served as CBS Television Network president before leaving in the wake of the quiz show scandals. He later joined the faculty of the Columbia University school of journalism. He and his wife Polly were killed in an apartment fire in New York City in 1976. Lou Cowan's son Geoffrey later produced brief revivals of Quiz Kids in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s and is currently dean of the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication.
  • Hal March – The former comic actor who became an overnight star on Question continued to appear as an actor in television and movies throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Shortly after he signed on as host of It's Your Bet in 1969, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died in 1970, four months short of his 50th birthday.
  • Irwin "Sonny" Fox – The first Challenge host was also known at the time for co-hosting the CBS children's travelogue Let's Take a Trip (Fox described it as "Taking two children on sort of an electronic field trip every week–live, remote location, no audience, no sponsors"), but his fame rests predominantly on his eight-year (1959–1967) tour as the suave, congenial and dryly witty fourth host of New York's Sunday morning children's learn-and-laugh marathon, Wonderama. Fox hosted Way Out Games (1976–1977), a Saturday-morning series for CBS, then later spent a year (1977–1978) running children's programming for NBC and eventually became a chairman of the board for Population Communications International, a nonprofit dedicated to "technical assistance, research and training consultation to governments, NGOs and foundations on a wide range of social marketing and communications initiatives", for which he is still an honorary chairman. Fox has also been a board chairman for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
  • Patty Duke – A child star (thanks to her Broadway portrayal of Helen Keller) when she appeared on Challenge, she eventually testified to Congressional investigators – and broke to tears when she admitted she'd been coached to speak falsely, an incident Sonny Fox described when interviewed for the PBS program reviewing the quiz scandals. Duke survived to become a television star (The Patty Duke Show) in the early-to-mid-'60s, before moving on to more film and television work (including a memorable role in Valley of the Dolls), becoming an activist in the Screen Actors Guild, writing two memoirs (Call Me Anna and A Brilliant Madness) describing her troubled child acting career and her lifelong battle with manic depression, and becoming an advocate for better protection and benefits for child actors. She died on March 29, 2016, from Sepsis, resulting from a ruptured Intestine.
  • Charles Revson – Inspired by cosmetics competitor Hazel Bishop (whose sponsoring of This Is Your Life provided big sales to Bishop) to think about television sponsorship in the first place, Revson was never investigated in his own right for his role in the quiz show scandals despite testifying (as did his brother, Martin) before Congress when the scandals broke in earnest. The cosmetics empire he founded, however, continued its success – and continued to sponsor television programming – for many years after the scandals faded away. Known as a hard-driving, hard-driven perfectionist whose overbearing manner usually alienated even his closest business partners, Revson's success left him a billionaire when he died in 1975. His charitable foundation has since given over $145 million in grants to schools, hospitals, and service organizations in various Jewish communities.
  • Dr. Joyce Brothers – Only the second contestant to win the show's big prize (after expertly thwarting numerous attempts to bump her from the show because Martin Revson was said to have disliked her and doubted her credibility as a boxing expert), Brothers has enjoyed the most enduring fame and media success among anyone who rose to prominence by way of Question. Her championship as a boxing expert led to an invitation to become a commentator for CBS' telecast of a championship boxing match between Sugar Ray Robinson and Carmen Basilio. In August 1958, shortly after she earned her license to practice psychology in New York, Brothers was given her own television program, first locally in New York and then in national syndication. Making numerous television and radio appearances as a psychologist, not to mention numerous television comedy roles, Brothers has also written a long-running syndicated advice column in newspapers and magazines, which was used as a source for some questions on the 1998–2004 revival of Hollywood Squares. She is still considered, arguably, the first media psychologist. She died from respiratory failure on May 13, 2013 at age 85.
  • Ralph Story – He became the much-loved host of Ralph Story's Los Angeles (1964–1970), still considered the highest-rated, best-loved local show in Los Angeles television history. Story has also hosted A.M. Los Angeles and was the narrator for the ABC series Alias Smith and Jones in 1972–1973. He died on September 26, 2006 at the age of 86.

Revivals

Selected PBS outlets showed surviving kinescopes of the original Question in Summer 1976, as a run-up to a new version of the show called The $128,000 Question, which ran for two years. The first season was hosted by Mike Darrow and produced at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, while the second was produced at Global Television Network in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and hosted by Alex Trebek.

In 1999, television producer Michael Davies attempted to revive Question as The $640,000 Question for ABC, before abandoning that project in favor of producing an American version of the British game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. Millionaire has a very similar format to The $64,000 Question – 15 questions (now 14) in which the contestant's money roughly doubles with each correct question until reaching the top prize. However, the questions in Millionaire are of a broader variety than Question's one-category line of questioning and have a different category for each question, contestants are allowed to leave the game with their money after a question is revealed but before it is answered, and Millionaire offers three chances for help (called "lifelines"), which were not present in Question.

In 2000, responding to the success of Millionaire, CBS bought the rights to the property in a reported effort to produce another revival attempt, The $1,064,000 Question, to be hosted by sportscaster Greg Gumbel. Because of format issues similar to those encountered by Davies for ABC, this version was never broadcast.

International versions

Take It Or Leave It

Luxembourg

In Radio Luxembourg since 1950 quiz was shown as Quitte ou double (in French) and Double Your Money (in English). English version, Double Your Money was transferred to British television ITV in 1955 and was shown until 1968.

Austria

Austrian version was Die große Chance and was shown in 1951-1955.

The $64,000 Question

Australia

A similar version was successful in Australia from 1960 to 1971 on Seven Network. Initially called Coles £3000 Question, the show changed its name to Coles $6000 Question on February 14, 1966 (the date Australia converted to decimal currency) and was sponsored for most of its run by Coles Stores. In July 1971, Coles dropped its sponsorship and the show became The $7000 Question. It was hosted by Malcolm Searle (1960-1963) and Roland Strong (1963-1971).

United Kingdom

There were two derivated versions in the UK: earlier, Double Your Money (see above) and later, The $64,000 Question (UK game show).

Italy

The Italian version of this quiz was ‘Lascia o raddoppia?’ (1956–1959).

Mexico

The Mexican version, "El Gran Premio de los 64,000 pesos" lasted from 1956 to 1994 with some interruptions, changes of name to compensate peso devaluation, and changes of TV network. Most of the time it was hosted by Pedro Ferriz. A movie was made in which Ferriz asks questions to a character played by Sara García, known then as "Mexican Cinema's Granny."

Poland

The Polish version of this quiz was Wielka gra (The Great Game, 1962–2006). Initially studio and rules were identical as in original, but in 1975, the rules and studio became a bit changed by Wojciech Pijanowski, author and host of plenty of quiz shows in Poland in late 20th century, isolation booth was abandoned and there was set a big round in the center of studio with prizes for each round and envelopes with questions. After this year, categories became more accurate (e.g. Mozart - life and compositions, Muslim conquests in 7th - 8th century), limited to art, history (most categories), geography and zoology and were chosen by player during eliminations to the quiz.

After 1975 game had following rounds:

  • First round was a duel of two players, who won eliminations, it consisted of 20 questions and lasted to two mistakes by a player. Players used special headphones with playing loud music to not hear each other.
  • Second round was "an exam", player, who won a duel, answered for questions of three experts of each category, each expert asked three questions. Player could make up to two mistakes. After that he received a prize.
  • In third, fourth round and a final round player drew envelopes with questions on the big round in the studio, prizes doubled by every next round. Main prize changed many times, primarily it were 25,000 złotys (it was equal to average annual wage), lately it were 40,000 złotys (ca. $12,000).

Hosts were Ryszard Serafinowicz (1962–1969), Joanna Rostocka (1969–1973, previously hostess of Serafinowicz), Janusz Budzyński (1973–1975) and Stanisława Ryster (1975–2006).

Despite show was cancelled due to low attendance, cancellation was considered as a scandal due to high value of this show by many people, especially attendants of the show, and leaving some non finished and not started planned games.

Show had to be restored in 2016 as Większa gra (The Greater Game) in changed formula, but eventually plans were cancelled.

Sweden

The Swedish version of this quiz was ‘Kvitt eller dubbelt’ (1957–1994).

Connections

Spoofed in

  • "The Honeymooners": "The $99,000 Answer" (first aired January 28, 1956); Ralph becomes a contestant on a quiz show, but nervously answers his first question incorrectly.
  • "The Phil Silvers Show": "It's for the Birds". Bilko discovers one of his platoon is an expert on birds. He signs Pvt. Honnegan (played by Fred Gwynne) up for 'The $64,000 Question' TV show. First broadcast on September 25, 1956.
  • Fox-Terror[4] (1957)
  • The Jack Benny Program: Hal March Show (#8.3) (1957). Host Hal March appears in Jack Benny's version of the game show.
  • The X-files: Quoted by Mulder many times during series.

Интересные факты

  • The show has been referenced on other game shows. On the U.S. version of Deal or No Deal, an episode aired January 15, 2007, in which the banker's offer was $64,000. Host Howie Mandel said, "This is the $64,000 question."

References

  1. ↑ The Jack Benny Program episode guide
  2. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  3. ↑ http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/shows/64000-question-aka-64000-challenge
  4. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web

Sources

External links

Шаблон:TopUSTVShows

The $128,000 Question

Шаблон:Infobox television The $128,000 Question is an American game show which aired from 1976–1978 in weekly syndication. This revival of The $64,000 Question was produced by Cinelar Associates and distributed by Viacom Enterprises.

Originally, Viacom had intended to revive the series with the same title (and top payoff), but when it was announced that rival series Name That Tune would be adding a "$100,000 Mystery Tune" for the 1976–77 season, Viacom did not wish for their series to only have the second-biggest payoff and added an end-of-season $64,000 tournament to the format.[1]

Further hindering the show was that a planned deal with CBS owned-and-operated stations to carry it in major markets had to be scrapped because of the network-imposed $25,000 winnings limit for game shows (which, at the time, was also extended to syndicated games airing on the O&Os). While the producers were able to get the Metromedia-owned stations to fill these gaps and the series did well enough to be renewed for a second season, The $128,000 Question proved not to be as popular as its predecessor and it came to an end in 1978.[2]

Hosts and announcers

Mike Darow hosted the first season with Alan Kalter as announcer, and the series was taped in New York City at CBS's Ed Sullivan Theater. The second season moved production to Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario at Global Television Network's studios. Alex Trebek became host, with model Sylvie Garant as his assistant, and Sandy Hoyt became the announcer.

Gameplay

As on The $64,000 Question, each contestant was quizzed in a category which was his or her own area of expertise. In the first season, contestants selected categories from a board with several options. Once the contestant chose a category, a cassette tape containing four questions was given to host Darow, who then fed it into an electric typewriter onstage. For each question, Darow read it as the typewriter printed it onto a sheet of paper. After the contestant gave a response, the typewriter printed the correct answer. The first question was worth $64 for a correct answer, and the next three subsequent answers doubled that amount, up to $512. The contestant was given a chance to stop after every question, as answering incorrectly at any point ended the run and he/she was awarded a consolation prize; the value of said prize varied depending on when the incorrect answer was given.

If a contestant continued on from $512, the next question was worth $1,000 and play moved across the stage to a podium positioned in front of a television monitor. Game play remained the same as before, with each question displayed on the screen. Once the contestant gave a response, the correct answer was displayed on the screen. If the contestant answered the $1,000 question correctly and elected to play on, a pair of multi-part questions were asked one at a time. Once again, and from this point forward, answering correctly doubled the contestant's money. If both multi-part questions were answered correctly, the contestant ended up with a total of $4,000.

If the contestant was still in the game after seven questions had been asked, he/she was placed in an isolation booth onstage. Darow was handed an envelope containing a question with four or more parts, and after the question was asked the contestant was given some time to think before being prompted to answer. Answering each part of the question correctly doubled his/her winnings to $8,000.

If the contestant kept going from here, he/she would be brought back on the next program to play for $16,000 with another, more difficult multi-part question. After that, the contestant could potentially face two more questions depending on his/her willingness to press. The first was played for $32,000 and, if the contestant went on, he/she faced one last question. Answering it correctly won the contestant a total of $64,000 and enabled him/her to return at the end of the season for a chance to double that total to $128,000.

With the move to Toronto for the second season, the set and format were overhauled. A contestant's field of expertise was chosen prior to the show and revealed on air instead of chosen from the category board. Contestants now stood behind a podium with a numerical readout for the first five questions and the typewriter and television monitor stations were removed, with Trebek reading the questions from a booklet. Players entered the isolation booth following the $2,000 question and if they answered the second-to-last question correctly they received $24,000 cash and a car instead of an all-cash prize.

$64,000 Winners

1976-1977 season:
1977-1978 season:

Consolation prizes

If a contestant missed on any question up to the $4,000 question, he/she received $1 as a consolation prize. If the miss came on the $8,000 or $16,000 question, the contestant left with a new automobile. If a contestant answered the $16,000 question correctly but failed to answer either the $32,000 or $64,000 questions correctly, he/she was guaranteed to leave with no less than that amount in cash in season one, and with a car and $8,000 cash in season 2.

Tournament play

Four contestants won $64,000 during the first season. The semifinals consisted of three rounds of questions for each contestant, and contestants were asked four questions in each round. If the contestant answered all four questions correctly, an additional question was asked. Each correct answer scored one point in round one, two points in round two and three points in round three. After three rounds of questions, the two contestants with the highest scores advanced to the finals, in which the finalists alternated answering questions. The first contestant to answer six questions correctly won $64,000. However, each contender would be given an equal number of questions. If both contestants were tied at six points each, the contestants continued answering questions until the tie was broken.

Season two featured two $64,000 winners. The playoff game consisted of four rounds of gameplay. In each of the first four rounds, each contestant was given four questions. Each correct answer scored one point in round one, two points in round two, four points in round three and eight points in round four. After the fourth round, both contestants took turns answering 16-point questions until one contestant achieved a total score of at least 128 points, thereby winning an additional $64,000.

Home game

A home version of The $128,000 Question was released by Ideal Toy Company in 1977 and followed the first season format, complete with a "category tree". It was given to all contestants who appeared on the show during that first season.

Theme music

The theme music was an updated version of the original composition by Norman Leyden and performed by Charles Randolph Grean, the show's musical director during its first season. Grean's group, The Charles Randolph Grean Sounde, recorded the theme and it was released as the B-side of Grean's 1976 single "Sentimentale" on Ranwood Records (R-1064). The track was a medley of the main theme, the cue heard when the printout tape was given to Darow, the "isolation booth" theme, a reprise of the main theme, the music heard during the announcement on how to apply to be a contestant, and a second reprise of the main theme ending in a grand crescendo.

The Welk Music Group, parent company of Ranwood, currently owns the master tape of Grean's recording of the $128,000 Question theme. WMG has not rereleased the track themselves on CD or licensed it to other labels to appear on compilation albums as of this writing.

The second season featured a live orchestra conducted by Guido Basso.

Reruns

The entire series was rebroadcast on KDOC-TV in Anaheim, California from January 31 to June 7, 1983. Additionally, other local stations aired reruns of The $128,000 Question during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

References

Шаблон:Reflist

External links

Внимание. Ключ сортировки по умолчанию «128000 Question, The» переопределяет прежний ключ сортировки по умолчанию «64,000 Question, The».

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