| Sale of the Century | |
|---|---|
Logo used from 1983–1989. |
|
| Format | Game show |
| Created by | Al Howard |
| Presented by | Jack Kelly (1969–1971) Joe Garagiola (1971–1974) Jim Perry (1983–1989) Co-hosts: Barbara Lyon (1969–1971) Kit Dougherty (1971–1974) Sally Julian (1983) Lee Menning (1983–1984) Summer Bartholomew (1984–1989) |
| Narrated by | Bill Wendell (1969–1974) Jay Stewart (1983–1988) Don Morrow (1988–1989) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 1,000 (NBC 1969–1973) 260 (SYN 1973–1974) 1,578 (NBC 1983–1989) |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | NBC Studios New York, New York (1969–1974) NBC Studios Burbank, California (1983–1989) |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Al Howard Productions (1969–1974) Reg Grundy Productions (1983–1989) |
| Distributor | Screen Gems (1973–1974) Genesis Entertainment (1985–1986) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC (1969–1973, 1983–1989) Syndicated (1973–1974, 1985–1986) |
| First shown in | 1969 |
| Original run |
September 29, 1969 – January 3, 1983 – March 24, 1989 |
Sale of the Century is an American television game show which debuted in the United States on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being the short-lived Letters to Laugh-In and Name Droppers. The series aired until July 13, 1973, and then aired in a weekly syndicated version for one additional year. Jack Kelly hosted the series from 1969–1971, then Joe Garagiola, Sr. took over for Kelly, who returned to acting.
The rights to Sale of the Century were purchased in 1980 by Australian TV mogul Reg Grundy, who turned the show into a huge hit in Australia (see Sale of the Century (Australian game show)), and eventually succeeded in selling NBC a new version of the format in 1983. The new version aired weekday mornings from January 3, 1983 to March 24, 1989. Again, it was one of three NBC game shows premiering on the same date, along with Hit Man and Just Men! (which both lasted only 13 weeks). This version of Sale originally aired at 10:30/9:30 AM Central and later moved to 10:00/9:00 Central. A concurrent daily syndicated version ran from January 7, 1985, to September 1986. The 1980s versions were hosted by Jim Perry.
Al Howard was the executive producer of the initial 1969–1973 version, and for a short time was co-executive producer of the 1980s version with Robert Noah.
A new version of the series entitled Temptation, like the recent Australian revival, debuted in syndication on September 10, 2007, following a September 7 preview on MyNetworkTV. This series ran for one year.
Contents |
The game format varied in its details over the years; however, the core format, as presented below, remained unchanged.
From 1969–1973, all contestants began with $25. General knowledge questions were posed to the contestants by the host at a value of $5 for correct answers. Should the contestant answer incorrectly, $5 is deducted from their score and a new question is asked; unlike most other quiz shows, only one answer is permitted per question. Midway through the game, the question values doubled to $10. At first, the final round consisted of 30 seconds of $15 questions; later, this was replaced with five $20 questions (called "The Century Round," as the total value of the questions was $100). If a player's total was reduced to zero (or lower), that player was out of the game.
According to the several editions of "The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows" by David Schwartz, Steve Ryan, and Fred Wostbrock, during the show's last thirteen weeks on the NBC network and the year in U.S. syndication Sale used two married couples instead of three single competing studio contestants. Each couple was given $20 at the start of the game. Host Joe Garagiola, after conducting one round apiece of $5 and $10 questions, then asked a concluding series of five $20 questions to determine the winning couple. If either couple's score reached $0, both couples were given an additional $20.
In the 1980s version, each contestant was given $20 at the start of the game and all questions were worth $5. Any player whose score was reduced to zero stayed in the game and never dropped below zero.
On the original 1969–1974 version, at certain points during gameplay, all contestants were offered the opportunity to purchase merchandise at a bargain price. The first player to buzz in after the prize was revealed purchased that prize. In doing so, a losing contestant might not advance to go shopping at the end of the show, but could leave the show with a considerable total for one day's play. The prices of all prizes offered were expressed much as one would hear in a department store (ending with "and 95 cents"), and the prices increased as the episode progressed (e.g., $7.95, $11.95, $14.95, $21.95). All prize values were rounded up to the nearest dollar before being subtracted from the score of the player who purchased the prize. Each instant bargain was hidden behind a curtain; the announcer mentioned the price and then the curtain opened as the prize was revealed. If a contestant buzzed-in before the curtain opened, "No Sale" was declared. The contestant was then penalized by having the price of the prize deducted from their score and was locked out of buying it. The other two contestants could then buzz-in.
Once per round on the 1980s version, the highest-scoring player was offered the chance to purchase an Instant Bargain. The prizes became more valuable as the game progressed, and their cost increased. Depending on the game situation, the host often reduced the cost and/or offered cash in order to entice the contestant to purchase. In case of a tie for the lead, a Dutch auction was usually conducted for the prize, although sometimes the price remained the same.
Beginning in May 1984, a "Sale Surprise" (a cash bonus of anywhere from $300 to $1,200) was occasionally added to any one of the Instant Bargains, although the bonus was not used for every show. The Sale Surprise was always revealed following the conclusion of the Instant Bargain it was attached to regardless of whether or not the player had bought the merchandise, and was always announced with clanging bells.
The "Open House" round was played in early episodes of the original version usually about halfway through a particular episode. Five prizes were presented to the players and each could buy as many of them as they wanted. Unlike Instant Bargains, multiple players could buy the same item. This was later replaced with an "Audience Sale" round where three studio audience members had to guess the "sale price" of an item. The one that bid closest without going over won the item. The three contestants could increase their score by correctly guessing which, if any, audience member would win.
Instant Cash replaced the third Instant Bargain in March 1986. Instead of having the opportunity to purchase more merchandise, the leading player (or, in case of a tie, the winner of an auction) had a chance to win a growing cash jackpot for themselves. The pot started at $1,000 and went up by that amount each day until someone claimed it.
In order to play the round, the leader had to give up their lead over the second place contestant. Three boxes were available to choose from, with one box containing the jackpot while both of the other boxes contained $100 bills. As with the purchased Instant Bargains, if the player won the jackpot it was theirs to keep regardless of the game's outcome. The highest Instant Cash jackpot was $17,000, and the pot reached $16,000 two other times.
Beginning in January 1983, the American Sale added an additional round of play that was called the "Fame Game". Three times per game, the contestants were given an opportunity to win a bonus prize, cash, or add money to their score by answering a "who-am-I?" question. Jim Perry began reading clues describing a person, place, or thing, and the clues got more descriptive as the question continued. If one of the players buzzed in and answered correctly, they played the second half of the round; if not, that player was eliminated from the round and play continued until one of the remaining players either answered correctly or failed to answer.
The contestant who answered correctly was given a choice of nine spaces on the Fame Game board, each displaying the face of a celebrity. As noted above, eight of the spaces hid either small bonus prizes or various amounts of cash. One hid a Money Card, which if found added $25 to the player's score. Later, two additional Money Cards were added valued at $10 and $15. When these were introduced, they were put on the board one Fame Game at a time: the $10 card was available in the first, the $15 in the second, and the $25 in the final. These Money Cards remained on the board in later rounds if they were not picked.
Changes were eventually made to the Fame Game format. In 1984, the celebrity faces were removed and replaced by the numbers 1 through 9. A fourth money card, worth $5, was added and would appear sporadically. In addition, a space was added to the board that offered the contestant a vacation, a cash bonus, or an undetermined amount of money or a choice of another number; these were referred to as "Trip/$XXX/Mystery Money or Pick Again". In the case of the Mystery Money, the amount varied from $1.75 to over $1,000.
In fall 1985, the Fame Game board was changed. Instead of selecting a number, a randomizer light similar to what was used on Press Your Luck was employed and the contestant chose a space by hitting their buzzer, which stopped the randomizer. In order to heighten dramatic effect, the locations of the Money Cards were revealed to the contestant.
From its debut until March 1984, each Sale game ended with a round of three questions. If the game ended with two players tied for the lead, a Fame Game question was asked to break the tie.
Since only $15 was up for grabs after the third and final Fame Game and most games were often decided by this point, the producers decided to follow their Australian counterparts and institute a speed round to end the game. Perry asked as many questions as possible in 60 seconds and whoever was ahead at the end of the speed round was the day's champion. As per the first round rules, correct answers added $5 to a player's score, and incorrect answers deducted $5 from a player's score. If there was a tie for the lead after the speed round, one final regular question was asked. Buzzing in and answering correctly won the game, but an incorrect answer meant the other player won by default. All players kept any cash and prizes accumulated throughout the main game, in addition to receiving their main game score in cash.
A cycle of the question segments and the special games occurred three times on each show, depending on the time used. The format of each program (after 1984) was as follows:
During the original series, the winning contestant or couple was given the opportunity to spend their cash total on at least one of several grand prizes at the "Sale of the Century". Contestants either purchased a prize with their cash winnings and retire, or elect to return the next day and try to win enough to buy a more expensive prize. Champions could buy more than one prize, but unlike the later 1980s version, they could never buy every prize at less than the total of all of the sale prices. Also, when contestants chose to come back the next day, they were asked which prizes they were considering buying; as long as the contestant kept winning, those prizes remained while others were replaced by more expensive ones.
The 1970s syndicated version had two different formats. Both had three possible prizes (almost always a trip, a fur coat, and a car), of which the couple could win one. Originally, each prize had a sale price, and Garagiola asked questions worth $100 each, which was added to the couple's score from the game. When the amount reached the sale price of a prize, the couple could buy the prize or keep playing for a more expensive prize. Later, this was changed to "The Game of Champions"; the three prizes had sale amounts in the areas of $150, $300, and $600, and the winning couple chose a prize and had to answer three questions (worth $50, $100, or $200 each, depending on the prize).
From the daytime series' debut until October 1984 and from January 1985 until November 1985 on the syndicated series, Sale used a reworked shopping endgame. A series of six prizes was offered, culminating in a luxury car. If a new champion had not accumulated a score high enough to purchase the first level prize on their first day, which almost always required $85 to purchase, the price of the prize was reduced to whatever their winning score was. As before, a contestant could buy a prize and retire, or elect to return the next day and try to win enough to buy the next most expensive prize. However, as noted above, a contestant could not buy more than one prize at a time with their winnings unless they had earned enough to buy them all.
For the first four months of Sale's run on NBC, if a player accumulated at least $500, they won all the prizes and enough cash to make the entire package worth exactly $95,000. After that, an escalating cash jackpot was added to the game. The jackpot, which was used as one of the prize levels for champions and took $510 to purchase, began at $50,000 and increased by $1,000 per day until someone either bought it or earned $600, which was enough to win the jackpot and all of the prizes on the stage. Upon the implementation of the speed round in 1984, the values increased to $650 for the jackpot and $760 for the entire lot.
During the NBC shopping era, the lot was won twice. Mort Camens was the first to win the entire lot, doing so prior to the introduction of the cash jackpot. Barbara Phillips was the second, doing so in August 1983 after the cash jackpot was introduced, and was the only player on the daytime Sale to win the lot after the jackpot was added to it. The highest jackpot during this period, as well as of all-time on the American Sale, was won by David Rogers in April 1984 after he purchased a $109,000 cash jackpot.
The syndicated Sale shopping round was similar to its network counterpart. However, the second to last prize level for a champion was all of the shopping prizes, and the cash jackpot was added to the lot as the final prize. Originally it took $830 to win the lot, but by the series' fifth week, the amount was fixed at $750. As a result, several more contestants were able to win the lot than before as they were no longer able to buy the jackpot and leave. Contestant Tim Holleran won the largest jackpot in the history of the syndicated Sale when he won a $90,000 jackpot in the fall of 1985.
Introduced in October 1984 on NBC and November 1985 in syndication, the Winner's Board gave a player an opportunity to win a prize simply by matching two squares on a 20-square board. Ten prizes were available, with the largest prizes being $10,000 cash and a car. Two "Win" cards were always on the board, and if they were selected at any time the player won whatever prize they revealed with their next pick. Eight of the prizes had matching pairs, with the car and $10,000 requiring a "Win" card to match. In the event the $10,000 and the car were the only two prizes left on the board, only two numbers were displayed and the champion won whatever prize was behind the number chosen.
Once a champion cleared all ten prizes from the Winner's Board, they were presented with two choices. The champion could either take all of their winnings and retire undefeated, or put all of the Winner's Board prizes (generally totaling over $60,000) at risk and return on the next program for a final game where, if the champion won, they were awarded a $50,000 cash bonus on top of their Winner's Board prizes. Although the champion would lose all of the Winner's Board prizes with a loss in the final game, every player who elected to take the risk did so successfully.
Mark DeCarlo was a contestant during this period and was the first contestant to play for (and win) the $50,000, doing so in April 1985 on the daytime Sale. His grand total was $115,257. The biggest winner during this period was Tom O'Brien, who won over $152,000 in late 1987 on the daytime series.
The Winner's Board was discontinued in late December 1987 in favor of the Winner's Big Money Game. When this round was introduced, another smaller change was put into place. In addition to whatever they had won in the main game, the winning player received a bonus prize. Until mid-1988, six prizes were available to choose from in a blind draw. Originally, the day's defending champion chose the prize at the midway point of the show, but this was later changed to having the day's winner pick their prize. After mid-1988 the bonus prize was announced at the beginning of the show.
The champion was given a choice of three envelopes (red, yellow, blue) before the start of the round. Inside each of the envelopes was a series of six-word puzzles that served as clues to lead to a famous person, place, or thing. The champion was originally given 25 seconds to figure out 5 puzzles, but this was later reduced to 4 in 20 seconds. The clock began when the first word of a puzzle was revealed and only stopped when the champion hit a plunger to stop the clock and give an answer. Passing was allowed, as was one incorrect guess; a second incorrect guess ended the round. Solving all puzzles before the time ran out won the round and whatever cash prize the champion was playing for.
The prize for the Winner's Big Money Game increased every day a champion returned to play, regardless of whether or not the champion had won the previous round, and a champion could play the round for up to eight consecutive days. All champions played for $5,000 on their first day, $6,000 on their second, $7,000 on their third, $8,000 on their fourth, $9,000 on their fifth, $10,000 on their sixth, and a car on their seventh. If the champion failed to win the car, they were retired undefeated. Otherwise, they got to return for a final match and played the Winner's Big Money Game for $50,000 if they won.
The $50,000 grand prize was played for twice and won once. On at least two other occasions, including one during the last week of the series, players made it to a seventh day but failed to win the car. There was no penalty for losing the $50,000 game as there was with the Winner's Board.
In the United States, the original version was hosted by Jack Kelly (who earlier appeared on the series Maverick with James Garner) until 1971, when he was replaced by Joe Garagiola. Bill Wendell announced. The original version was created and produced by Al Howard.
Sale premiered on September 29, 1969 on NBC's daytime schedule at 11:00 AM (10:00 Central), replacing the three-year-old Personality, which was hosted by Larry Blyden.
Garagiola, who at the time was a regular on NBC's Today Show and had recently hosted a game show of his own, Joe Garagiola's Memory Game, took over for Kelly on August 23, 1971.
Sale ran at that time slot for the entirety of its initial three-and-a-half years on the network, and was generally a ratings success against situation comedy reruns on CBS and non-network programming on ABC stations. However, in Fall 1972 CBS scored a ratings winner with Gambit at that time slot, and the producers of Sale attempted a last-ditch effort at saving the show's audience by changing the three-contestant configuration to that of two married couples, which also was the contestant configuration used by Gambit. It was not enough, and NBC canceled Sale on July 13, 1973 in favor of The Wizard of Odds, noted as the first American program hosted by Alex Trebek.
Nevertheless, Howard contacted Screen Gems to continue the game in syndication for another season from September 10, 1973 until September 13, 1974. This version, with Garagiola hosting again, continued the married-couple configuration of the final NBC weeks.
After production of this version ended, the show went dormant for several years until Howard sold the worldwide rights for Sale to Australian TV producer Reg Grundy. In 1980, building upon the success of his earlier Temptation, Grundy brought the show to prime time in his country, where it became the nation's top-rated show. Eventually its success prompted him to bring it back in the United States. Production of this new version began in late 1982.
The 1980s version was hosted by Jim Perry, who commuted between Los Angeles and Toronto during his run as host as he hosted two Canadian-produced game shows, Definition and Headline Hunters, during his time on Sale.
For the first two months of the NBC series, Perry's co-host was actress Sally Julian. Due to dissatisfaction with her performance, Grundy quickly replaced her with Lee Menning. Menning left for family reasons in 1984 and was replaced by Summer Bartholomew, who remained with the show until its end. Jay Stewart announced until his retirement in 1988, when he was replaced by Don Morrow. Stewart also co-hosted with Perry on several occasions when Menning was not available due to her maternity leave in 1984.
Sale was placed in the 10:30/9:30 AM slot by NBC upon its debut. CBS's Child's Play, which was hosted by Bill Cullen, premiered on September 20, 1982. Child's Play was Sale of the Century's major competition, and had already been struggling to gain ratings against NBC's hit Wheel of Fortune. Child's Play continued to lose the ratings battle with its new rival Sale and left the air on September 16, 1983. The following Monday (September 19), Sale received its first serious ratings challenge as Press Your Luck, a loud, colorful, and rambunctious game, debuted opposite it on CBS. This began a spirited battle over the 10:30 AM slot's ratings lead for the next 16 months, with Press Your Luck taking a lead thanks in large part to a contestant winning over $100,000 in one game. However, as fall 1985 began, Sale reclaimed the lead while Press Your Luck began to slide in the ratings.
Thanks to its solid performance on NBC, Genesis Entertainment syndicated the show to local stations beginning on January 7, 1985 as a daily five-a-week strip, seen mainly in the Prime Time Access time slots. The show did well enough in its first half-season to be renewed for the 1985–1986 season, but the ratings suffered due to a glut of new syndicated games taking over most of the Prime Time Access slots the show had in its first season (for example, the first season of the syndicated Sale aired nightly on WOR-TV in New York City; the second season aired following Jeopardy! weekday afternoons on WABC-TV). The syndicated Sale went off the air in September 1986.
Meanwhile, the network version of Sale received a new opponent in the ratings race at 10:30 when CBS dropped Press Your Luck from its morning lineup in January 1986 in favor of a revival of Jim Perry's first hit game show, Card Sharks. The new series did little to put a dent in the ratings of Sale, which continued to win the time slot while Press Your Luck moved to the afternoon for most of the remainder of the year.
On January 5, 1987, NBC moved Sale to 10:00 AM. The move put the series in direct competition with CBS' long-running hit, The $25,000 Pyramid. Although Sale went up against a dying $25,000 Pyramid and the 13-week flop Blackout in the eighteen months that followed, by 1988 the series began to fall victim to a growing lack of clearances by local stations. The problem, which was not strictly confined to NBC affiliates, stemmed from the local stations' desire to air potentially more lucrative programming, such as syndicated talk shows, in the morning hours.
To make matters worse, CBS launched a revival of Family Feud on July 4, 1988. The popularity of the Ray Combs-hosted Feud further eroded the ratings for Sale, and NBC decided to cancel the series. The 1,578th and final episode of Sale of the Century aired on March 24, 1989. Scrabble, whose own place on the NBC daytime schedule was given to Generations, moved to the time slot occupied by Sale. Sale was the last major game show to be hosted by veteran host Perry, who retired in 1990.
On the original series, a champion retired undefeated after buying at least one prize at the Sale of the Century. Until the Winner's Board format on both 1980s editions, a champion remained on the show until he or she was defeated, had amassed enough to buy every prize on stage, or decided to leave on his or her own at a certain prize level (more than a few contestants stopped before getting to the last level, with several stopping after their first day). A defeat meant the contestant left with whatever he or she had won in the front game up until that point. Since NBC had no winnings limit for its game shows (unlike CBS and ABC), a player only retired as champion when he or she was defeated, reached the highest level of prizes, or elected to stop at one of the lower levels.
When the Winner's Board was introduced, players stayed for a maximum of 11 days, depending on whether they decided to play the $50,000 game. Once again, a defeat meant the player left with whatever he or she had won to that point except, as noted above, if the loss was in the $50,000 game.
With the introduction of the Winner's Big Money Game, champions stayed a maximum of eight days, depending on whether or not they won the car in their seventh attempt in the bonus round.
Over the years, Sale had several special weeks, including Teen Week, College Week, and others, as well as a few Tournaments of Champions.
Beginning in 1988, during these special weeks where three new contestants competed each day, Instant Cash was worth $2,000, all Winner's Big Money Games were worth $5,000, and on the week-ending program, all five winners of the week played a special round for the right to win a new automobile. Standing at the Fame Game board, each player had one turn to stop on a number, hitting a plunger to stop the lights from flashing. The player with the highest number won the car. In the event of a tie, the tied players again stopped the random lights on a number until a winner was determined.
As with many American game shows of past and present, a slot machine based on and named for the show has been manufactured for use in American casinos. The machine is based on the 1983–1989 version but, due to the unavailability of Jim Perry, Joe Garagiola's voice and face was used instead.
All but nine episodes of the original 1969–1973 series are believed to have been wiped by NBC as per network practices of the era. The surviving nine episodes are held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.[1]
The 1970s version of Sale of the Century was produced in Studio 8H at the NBC Rockefeller Studios in New York City. The 1980s versions were taped at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. Originally, the show used Studio 25, also known as the Art Fleming Studio. It later moved to Studio 3, which was used from 1992 to 2009 by The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
| Preceded by Personality |
11:00 a.m. EST, NBC 9/29/69 – 7/13/73 |
Succeeded by The Wizard of Odds |
| Preceded by Wheel of Fortune |
10:30 a.m. EST, NBC 1/3/83 – 1/2/87 |
Succeeded by Blockbusters |
| Preceded by Family Ties |
10:00 a.m. EST, NBC 1/5/87 – 3/24/89 |
Succeeded by Scrabble |