Now You See It
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- For the 2005 Disney Channel film, see Now You See It...
Now You See It was an American television game show where contestants tried to find words that were hidden within a jumble of letters.
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[edit] Broadcast history
Now You See It, a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production, had two runs on CBS. The first version ran from April 1, 1974, to June 13, 1975, with Jack Narz hosting. The second version ran from April 3 to July 14, 1989, with news anchor Chuck Henry hosting. Before that, Jack Clark hosted a pilot for a possible revival of the show in 1985. (Although this version did not make it to air, copies of this pilot have circulated among video tape collectors.)
Johnny Olson was the original announcer of the show, with Gene Wood substituting. Wood also announced the 1985 pilot. The announcers on the 1989 version were Mark Driscoll and Don Morrow.
All versions of the show used the instrumental theme "Chump Change," composed by Quincy Jones.
[edit] Rules of the game
Contestants played a game based on Wordsearch in which finding words can win them money. The game boards in all versions of Now You See It had four rows ("lines") with 14 letters of the alphabet ("positions") in each row. The host of the show read general-knowledge trivia questions with single-word answers that were concealed within the jumble of letters on the board. It was up to the contestants to find those answers.
Although the premise of the show remained the same, the main game was played differently on each version of the show.
[edit] 1974-75 version
This show had two formats in its 70s run.
[edit] Format #1
[edit] Elimination Round
The first round of Now You See It under its original format began with four new players -- two "outside" and two "inside" -- who were randomly placed on two teams. The "outside" players turned their backs to the camera & the board. Host Narz read a question and one of the "inside" players hit a buzzer before guessing the line number. If the correct line was guessed, the "outside" player on that team turned around to give the position number and the word. If correct, the team earned points based on the sum of the line and the position numbers (for instance, a word on line 3 and in position 8 was worth 11 points) (Not a good scoring format in most people's opinion). Halfway through the round, the players on each team switched positions. The team that was in the lead when time ran out won the elimination round.
[edit] Qualifying Round
In the "qualifying round," the two contestants on the winning team now competed against each other. The host read a crossword puzzle-style clue (similar to the speedword format on Scrabble in later years), and the answer was revealed one letter at a time on a single row of 16 letters (sometimes using one or more letters of the previous word). Letters were revealed until someone buzzed in and gave the correct answer or if only one letter was left in the word. (If a contestant gave an incorrect answer, the opponent was given a free guess before any more letters were revealed. If nobody guessed the word after the next-to-last letter was revealed, nobody scored.) The first player to guess four words correctly won the round and a prize package.
[edit] Championship Round
The winner of the qualifying round competed against the show's returning champion in the "championship round." This round was played like the elimination round, except that there are no partners. Contestants must give both the line and position numbers of correct answers in order to score. The contestant who had more points when time ran out won the game and played the "solo round" (described below) for a chance at a cash jackpot. (If the winner won the jackpot in the solo round, the runner-up of the championship round came back on the next show as the "designated champion.")
[edit] Bonus Words
For a short time in this version, contestants also wrote down "bonus words" on index cards at the beginning of the championship round and of each half of the elimination round. A contestant or team could earn 10 bonus points if a bonus word was given as a correct answer.
[edit] Format #2
The format of the show was changed toward the end of the show's run. The elimination round was dropped, and two new players competed in the qualifying round. This time the first player to guess five words correctly won a prize package and faced the returning champion in the championship round. The championship round was played the same way except point values were doubled when somebody reached 50 points (Example: a word on line 4 and in position 5 multiplied by 2 was worth 18 points), and the first player to reach 100 points played the solo round. Under this "straddling" format, a game could stop at the end of one episode and resume at the beginning of the next.
[edit] 1985 pilot
Two teams of two players competed for the whole show.
[edit] Round One
During the first round, one partner was given a word to define (much like The $25,000 Pyramid), and the other partner had to find that word on the board within 15 seconds. If successful, the team earned as many points as there were seconds left on the clock (e.g., eight points if there were eight seconds left). Each team played four words, with the winning team earning 20 bonus points.
[edit] Round Two
In the second round, the host read clues to words on a new board, and the first contestant to buzz in and correctly identify that word earned 20 points. The first team to reach 100 points won the game and chose one player to play the solo round. After that, the players on both teams switched positions and played another game. The team with the most money at the end of both games would have returned on the next episode.
[edit] 1989 version
[edit] Qualifying Round
Two new contestants competed to find the answers to the host's questions. Scoring was determined by how much time was left on the clock when the contestant buzzed in; the clock started at 100 points and decreased by 5 points as each 1/3 second passed. If nobody guessed the correct answer when the clock reached 25 points, the host gave the line number that the word was on. Halfway through the round, points were doubled and the contestants were given a new board. The first player to reach 1,000 points won the round and competed against the show's returning champion in the championship round.
[edit] Championship Round
In this round, The host gave a category, and a new board containing six possible words in that category was revealed. The first contestant to buzz-in and find one of those words was given 20 seconds to find the five remaining words to win the board. If unable to do so, the opponent was given an additional five seconds to find one word, winning the board if successful; otherwise, the money went to the contestant. Each board was worth money; the first board was worth $200 and each board after that was worth $100 more than the previous one. The first player to reach $1,000 or more won the game and played the solo round. Only the winner got to keep the money.
[edit] Solo round
The bonus round on this show was better known as the "solo round". It was played the same on all versions of the show. The winner of the main game was given a new board and 60 seconds to find ten words on that board. Once the host read a clue to one of those words, the contestant used an electronic pencil to circle the word that was being guessed. The contestant had the option to pass at any time and return to that question later. Each correct answer was worth $100, and if all ten words were found before time expired, the contestant won a cash jackpot. The jackpot started at $5,000 and increased by $1,000 each game, up to $25,000 (1974-75) a straight $5,000 in the pilot or $5,000 each game (1989) until it was won -- jackpots in the 1989 version went as high as $50,000.
[edit] Australian children's version
From 1985 to 1993 a children's version of Now You See It aired on the Seven Network in Australia. It was hosted by Mike Meade until 1990 with Sofie Formica taking over until the end of the show. For much of its run the show was also "co-hosted" by a robot named "Melvin" who was a Tomy Omnibot toy.
In 1998, Beckers along with Fremantlemedia revived the show. Broadcast on the Nine Network, it hosted by Scott MacRae. In 2000 the show was renamed Download to co-incide to new millennium. Regardless of the name, it lasted for three years until it was cancelled in 2001.
[edit] Line Games
The Line Game is played the same as the qualifying rounds of the 70s version. The host read a clue, and the answer was revealed one letter at a time. (sometimes using one or more letters of the previous word). Letters were revealed until someone buzzed in and gave the correct answer and score or if only one letter was left in the word. Each subsequent word uses one or more letters of the previous word is The first player to guess four words correctly won the round and a prize package.
Two line games are played and the winners of the line game plays the Big Board round.
[edit] The Big Board
The Big Board round is the same as the championship and elimination rounds in the 70s version & the qualifying round in the 1989 version. It uses the same scoring format of the 70s version. The host read a question and the first kid player to buzz in guesses the line number. If correct he/she then gives the position number and the word. Players score based on the line number & position of the first letter. The player with the most points when time runs out wins the game.
[edit] Solo Round
The solo round was played the same as in all the other versions, except that the winning kid player needs to find seven words with the help of the clues read by the host. Since this was foreign kid's version, if successful, he/she wins a grand prize.
[edit] Episode status
All episodes are known to exist. GSN has rerun the 1974-75 version in the past, but not the 1989 version as per host Chuck Henry's request.
[edit] Trivia
In a vidcap of the game board from the intro of the original 1974-75 CBS version, the words "Line, Truth, Clock, Price, Match, Password, and Tattle" appear along with Now You See It. Those match with the Goodson-Todman game shows then airing on network and syndicated television, most of them revivals -- What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth, Beat the Clock, The Price Is Right, The Match Game, Password, and Tattletales.
[edit] External links
- Curt Alliaume's Game Shows '75: Now You See It
- Screengrabs of NYSI '89 at SuperShow 8000
- Chuck Donegan's Now You See It Rule Page
- Pictures of the Australian Children's version of Now You See It
