Bullseye (US game show)
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| Bullseye | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Game Show |
| Creator(s) | Jack Barry and Dan Enright |
| Starring | Jim Lange; Announcer: Jay Stewart, Charlie O'Donnell |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Syndication |
| Original run | 1980 – 1982 |
Bullseye was an American game show that aired in syndication from September 29, 1980 to September 24, 1982. Jim Lange was the host, and the program was produced by Jack Barry and Dan Enright. Jay Stewart was the announcer for the first season, and Charlie O'Donnell announced for the second and final season. The series' executive producer was Ron Greenberg.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Main Game
Two contestants, one a returning champion, competed. The game began with the champion stopping a gameboard of three spinning windows by hitting a three-colored plunger in front of him. The first two windows contained eight different categories (four in each window) with dollar amounts ranging from $50 to $200 (representing the value of each question). The third window (below the two category windows) was the Contract window, and displayed numbers from one to five, as well as a "Bullseye" graphic.
When the windows stopped spinning, the player chose either of the displayed categories, and had to fulfill the contract by correctly answering the number of questions indicated in the Contract window. If the Contract window contained a Bullseye, the contract was unlimited; the player could continue answering questions for as long as he wanted to. Each correct response added the value of the question to a pot. A missed question gave the opponent a chance to steal control of the contract with a right answer.
After the contract had been completed, the player who completed the contract could elect to either bank the money in the pot & pass control of the board to the opponent, or continue playing with a new contract; choosing the latter option would leave the accumulated money in the pot, up for grabs by either player.
The first player to bank $1,000 or more won the game. (After a few months, this was increased to $2,000, with question values increasing to $100 to $400.) Any money banked during a game was the contestant's to keep, no matter the outcome of the game, making "Bullseye" one of the few Barry & Enright shows to allow losing contestants to keep earnings from the game.
In the event of a champion winning the game without the challenger having an opportunity to play (for example, if the champion spun a Bullseye in the Contract window and answered several consecutive questions to win the game), the challenger would return after the bonus round to play again.
As is the case with most Barry & Enright game shows, a new automobile was awarded to any contestant who won five consecutive games.
[edit] Endgame ("Bonus Island")
In the bonus round (known to fans as "Bonus Island or the Lightning Round"), the champion again stops the spinning wheels by hitting the plunger on the bonus island. This time, the windows contained dollar amounts of $100, $200, or $300 (earlier $50, $100 or $150, then $100, $150 or $200), or Bullseyes. One and only one window also contained a dreaded bolt of lightning.
If money came up in a window, it was added to a bank. If a Bullseye appeared, the player had the option to "freeze" that window, which was then out of play for the remainder of the game. Later, that rule was changed to when a bullseye appeared, that window was automatically frozen, which was good if there was lightning behind that window. Lightning, if it came up (along with a loud thunderclap), bankrupted the player and ended the game. The player had the option to stop after every spin and keep the money banked.
The object was to either get Bullseyes in all three windows, or to survive ten (later reduced to seven) spins without getting "struck or hit by lightning". Doing either of these won a bonus prize package usually worth $3,000 to $4,000 in value; getting three Bullseyes also doubled the current value of the bank, while going the maximum amount of spins augmented the bank to a flat $5,000. If a player was fortunate enough to spin three bullseyes on one spin, that player won a cash bonus of $10,000 and the prize package. This happened very few times.
Since only one of the three windows contained lightning, if a player froze a Bullseye in the window which had it, he or she was home free and could not lose; of course, he or she had no way of knowing that until the contents of the windows were revealed at the end of the game. This Bonus Island game is all about luck as well. On occasions, players might think that it is safe when there were two bullseyes frozen, but the only window left had lightning which if spun ended the bonus game and whatever was in the pot was gone. On the other hand, there have been occasions that there was only one bullseye frozen and it was the window that had lightning, which meant the contestant can keep getting money without being hit by lightning, although host Lange would ask the contestant to keep going or stop and take the money in the pot and at the end of the game, if the contestant won, host Lange would see if the contestant was flirting with danger or was safe during each spin when the contents of the windows were shown without stopping.
[edit] Celebrity Bullseye (1982)
In January 1982, the show changed its name to Celebrity Bullseye (like many other struggling game shows had done before and have done since) and featured celebrity contestants playing for their favorite charities. At this point, the game became a two-out-of-three affair, but few if any other rules were changed, other than that categories no longer were announced by host Jim Lange before the game began, and most questions were multiple-choice, containing three possible answers, with the celebrity's job to choose the right one; the exceptions to that being visual categories or Two of a Kind. It was as Celebrity Bullseye that this series left the air in September of that year.
[edit] Notes
- The original pilot, made in 1979, featured a somewhat different bonus round. To begin, the player stopped a "Number Jumbler," which contained numbers from 3-5, or a Bullseye. The windows on the gameboard all contained either Bullseyes or lightning bolts. Starting with the $1,000 (or more) won during the main game, the contestant stopped the windows, and if all three of them contained Bullseyes, it doubled his or her money. This process continued until reaching the number in the contract set by the "Number Jumbler," or a lightning bolt appeared (which bankrupted the player). If the "Number Jumbler" was stopped on a Bullseye, the contestant could continue to spin, up until breaking the $1,000,000 barrier (which, starting at $1,000, would take ten spins). For obvious reasons, this ambitious game was considerably scaled back for the show as aired.
- The "Bonus Island" was a stage prop that would travel from one end of the stage (stage right) to the area between the host's podium and the game board. It was a circular prop, about 6 feet in diameter with a tall four-foot plunger in the center, used to stop the spinning windows. Below the island was flashing blue and pink neon.
- Bullseye was among the earliest game shows to use plungers as buzzers (half-shaped oval oversize buttons which can be pushed down by two to three inches), which are used in this show to stop the spinning wheels. The phrase plunger was never used, instead identified as buttons (the term plunger was not in game show terminology until 1984, when Scrabble began airing).
- Bullseye was well-known in its day for having one of the most expensive and stylish sets of any game show. It featured lots of neon and chaser lights, giant slide-projector windows, a large moving "bonus island", and a bombastic music package (including a main theme strongly reminiscent of the Santa Esmeralda disco hit "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," which had been used itself on the pilot) to round out the show's "look and feel." A popular story among genre fans is that, during the period Bullseye originated from NBC Studios in Burbank, no less an authority than Johnny Carson (whose Tonight Show taped just across the hall from where Bullseye was recorded) gave a personal thumbs-up to the set design.
- Bullseye first originated from NBC Studios in Burbank, California. By 1981 production of Bullseye moved to Studio 31 of CBS Television City in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. By 1982, production moved once more ,originating from the "Bob Barker Studio" of Television City. (also known as "Studio 33"). The Bullseye logo behind the studio audience was placed in the same spot as the logo for The Price Is Right during its tenure at Studio 33.
- Bullseye was one of three Barry & Enright-produced quiz shows of the time; its "sister" series were The Joker's Wild and Tic Tac Dough. Among students of game show history, these three series are considered to be the core of B&E's "comeback" following the disastrous quiz show scandals of the late 1950s. After the cancellation of Bullseye, Jim Lange was to return with a new B&E game show, Twenty-One in its place (which was also produced at Studio 33). That game show never made it to the air. Lange did host a San Francisco-based game show, Take My Word For It instead following Bullseye's demise.
- Not to be confused with an entirely different British game show, also called Bullseye.
