Dollar a Second

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Dollar a Second was a comedy game show hosted by Jan Murray in 1953. Over the next few years, the show was broadcast first on the DuMont network, then to NBC in 1954, ABC that same year, back to NBC in 1955, then ABC again that same year until 1956, and finally back to NBC in 1957, the year the series itself ended.

[edit] Game Play

One pair of contestants (or a solo player) were selected to perform a certain task, which could be anything. They earn one dollar for every second they were on the stage, and, unless they are paying the penalty, may quit out at any time. If at any time one or both players make a mistake, they have to pay a penalty. For example, one player is placed on a slide that goes down towards a small above-ground swimming pool, and the partner has to pick one of five telephone numbers on the list, one of which nobody on the other side will be available to answer. Should someone be there on the other end of the line, the person who dialed the number would say "I've got somebody!" and the penalty is beaten, and they would then resume the previous activity before they were interrupted. If they fail to beat a penalty, the game ends, but they keep whatever money they won at that point.

However, while all this is going on, there is something else in the background that can also affect the final outcome of the game. The "outside event" is something that when it has occurred, the game ends and the couple loses all the money they made while playing. (For example, the couple has to pick an envelope that contains the number of round trips a model train can take until it has reached a certain number, but they won't know how many trips that train will have made until that mystery number has been attained.)

[edit] 1981 Pilot

The 1981 pilot was produced by Chuck Barris Productions and hosted by Bob Eubanks. Despite negative opinions by some fans who saw it on Game Show Network's unsold pilots marathon on October 28, 2000 (the marathon was hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark), this version actually had very little changes (aside from starting the player(s) off with $100) when Chuck Barris acquired the rights to both this show and another Jan Murray series Treasure Hunt. Had Dollar a Second been sold, it would have most likely entered syndication, just like the most recent U.S. version of Treasure Hunt.