Wow, somebody remembers that show? It was done in the same studio as The Anniversary Game, Oh My Word and The Gong Show pilot (for ABC). I worked on the local news there in 1975. KGO-TV has since abandoned that building.

That's not what I meant. When I said 60s-era, I was directly implying the Collyer-era run. You had Bill in among all of *those* guest hosts, and not stuck in between Garry and Joe in an otherwise chronological list - which puzzled me as I'd never heard of Bill guest-hosting THAT version.

Are you sure this wasn't the very similar Give or Keep? Give or Keep was always seen in advance because it's the only pricing game whose main prop was placed on the stationary part of the turntable (the small prizes got the privilege of spinning around). Also, Give or Keep was also in the 'box shape' common of the early days (of which Bonus Game and Clock Game are the only surviving examples, I think).

Not much, but ....

The video used in the pre-wipe portion of the Card Sharks opening is from the pilot, which had a different set. Therefore, the set seen before the wipe effect doesn't match the set seen after.

Pass the Buck is never regarded as a cash game. In fact, of the 13 shows it was played on last season, 10 of them had a cash game.

And it's also a myth that there's "usually" a cash game. I'll grant that it happens more often than not, but not having one is far from uncommon. For example, of the 175 shows last season, only 115 had a cash game. That leaves a good 60 that didn't -- more than 33% of the episodes.

You can tell what studio an episode of "Press Your Luck" taped in by looking at the blue windows in the background.

If you can see the audience, you're in 41.

If you can't, you're in 33.

ALSO:

When PYL taped in Studio 41, the audience sat on the same bleachers that were used for Tattletales.

During some commercial outros where the audience area is visible, you can see the red/yellow/blue rugs on the stairs.

You live at a train station? We already determined in this thread that I'm far from being the biggest game show fanboy here...and now it turns out I'm not even the biggest railroading fanboy here, either!

(Yeah, I know what you meant. I love train station Solari boards. I passed through the Trenton station this past summer and paused to admire theirs, but I fear it's not long for the world, with the new station under construction. They're getting almost as rare as game show Solari displays...for many of the same reasons.)

Perhaps you can answer me this--I recall noticing in one past season, at I think the same time that a new cash game was introduced (for a new total of 5?), that they did seem to be making an effort to have a cash game on every episode. I recall being able to predict, with great regularity, Friday's cash games because they would always be the only one that hadn't yet been used during the week. Any facts behind this hazy memory?

(And yes, there were a few years in the past when I watched TPIR with frightening regularity.)

Since no one has mentioned it, WWTBAM is staged in the same studio where the Money Maze was taped.

That Judith Keppel was the first Briton to win the million-pound prize on WWTBAM in the UK. And that her final question was the name of the king whose wife was Eleanor of Aquitaine (Henry II, final answer). AND that this same question was used at WWTBAM-Play It! (I believe it was in Orlando, but don't hold me to it) as a million-point question (and the player got it right).

Last one, also from Play It! - the million-point pins are individually numbered on the back.

--Charlie, MPW

/Gee, how does he know that last one?

Yeah, I seem to remember this happening quite a bit for a while after 1/2 Off debuted.

The names of the GONG staffers who played Scarlett and Rhett--makeup artist Jefferson Becker (Scarlett) and wardrober Peter Mims (Rhett).

I probably have more useless GONG tidbits than anyone. Then again, GONG was pretty useless itself, but dangit was it fun.

Speaking of which:

It probably takes somewhat of a fanboy to know that Gene Gene the Dancing Machine was actually an NBC stagehand.

I don't think it does. I think that tidbit is a little more widely known among general TV aficionados.

Did you see the potted plant? That was the Triple Play giveaway, until the director changed the staging to use different cameras.

I thought they stopped showing Rich Fields on camera by then.

And there's Chris with the Line of the Day, folks.

Anything SteveGavazzi ever told me.