Pyramid (game show)

The Pyramid
Genre	Game show
Created by	Bob Stewart
Presented by	Dick Clark (1973–88) Bill Cullen (1974–79, syndicated) John Davidson (1991) Donny Osmond (2002–2004) Mike Richards (2012)
Narrated by	Bob Clayton (1973–79) Steve O'Brien (1979–82) Jack Clark (1982–85) Johnny Gilbert (1982–88, 1991) John Cramer (2002–2004) JD Roberto (2012)[1]
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bob Stewart
Location(s)	CBS Television City Hollywood, California (1973, 1982–88, 1991) Ed Sullivan Theater New York, New York (1973–74) ABC Studio TV-15 New York, New York (1974–81) Sony Pictures Studios Culver City, California (2002–2004) CBS Studio Center Studio City, California (2012)
Running time	22:30 (1973–81) 21:50 (1982–91) 20:30 (2002–04)
Production company(s)	Bob Stewart Productions (1973–88) Basada, Inc. (1973–74, 1978–81, 1986–88) Stewart Tele Enterprises (1991) Sony Pictures Television (2002–04, 2012) Embassy Row (2012) GSN Originals (2012)
Distributor	Viacom Enterprises (1974–79) CPM, Inc., Chicago (1981) 20th Century Fox Television (1985–88) Orbis Communications (1991) Multimedia Entertainment (1991) Columbia TriStar Television (2002) Sony Pictures Television (2002–2004, 2012)
Broadcast
Original channel	The $10,000 Pyramid CBS 1973–74 ABC 1974–76 The $20,000 Pyramid ABC 1976–80 The $25,000 Pyramid Weekly syndication 1974–79 The $50,000 Pyramid Daily syndication 1981 The (New) $25,000 Pyramid CBS 1982–87, 1988 The $100,000 Pyramid Daily syndication 1985–88, 1991 Pyramid Daily syndication 2002–2004 The Pyramid GSN 2012
Original run	March 26, 1973 (1973-03-26) – October 26, 2012 (2012-10-26)

Pyramid is an American television game show that has aired several versions. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted March 26, 1973, and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series (most with a full title format matching the original series, with the title reflecting the top prize increase from $10,000, $20,000, $25,000, $50,000 to $100,000 over the years). The game featured two contestants, each paired with a celebrity. Players attempt to guess a series of words or phrases based on descriptions given to them by their teammates. The title refers to the show's pyramid-shaped gameboard, featuring six categories arranged in a triangular fashion. The various Pyramid series won a total of nine Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Game Show, second only to Jeopardy!, which has won thirteen.

Dick Clark is the host most commonly associated with the show, having hosted every incarnation from 1973–88, save for a 1974–79 syndicated version, The $25,000 Pyramid, hosted by Bill Cullen. John Davidson hosted a 1991 version of The $100,000 Pyramid, and another version, simply titled Pyramid, ran from 2002–04 with Donny Osmond as host.

A new version titled The Pyramid premiered September 3, 2012 on GSN. This version was hosted by Mike Richards. The show only lasted one season before being canceled.

Reruns of The $25,000 Pyramid, The $100,000 Pyramid, and The Pyramid air weekdays on GSN.

History

Broadcast history

The $10,000 Pyramid, with host Dick Clark, made its network debut on March 26, 1973 and was a ratings hit, sustaining its ratings even when episodes were delayed or preempted by the Watergate hearings. A year later, the ratings temporarily declined (against the original version of Jeopardy! on NBC) and CBS canceled it. The show was quickly picked up by ABC, and began airing on that network on May 6, 1974. As per CBS custom at the time with celebrity game shows, three weeks of episodes for CBS were taped in Hollywood, at CBS Television City, Studio 31.^[2]

On September 20, 1982, the series returned to the CBS daytime lineup as The $25,000 Pyramid, again with Clark as host, but now taped in Los Angeles at CBS Television City's Studio 33 (currently known as the Bob Barker Studio) and remained there for the entire run and the brief 1988 return.^[3]

Another series titled The $100,000 Pyramid, hosted by John Davidson, appeared in 1991. This version taped in Studio 31. Production began in December 1990 and ended in November 1991.^[4] Pyramid, hosted by Donny Osmond, ran from September 16, 2002 to September 10, 2004.

Later developments

Following CBS's cancellation of Guiding Light in April 2009, Pyramid was one of three potential series considered as a replacement for the veteran soap opera. (Let's Make a Deal and The Dating Game were the other two, with a pilot shot for the former series.) During the tapings that took place in June of that year, the top prize was raised to a potential $1,000,000.^[5]

CBS passed on Pyramid and opted to pick up Let's Make a Deal, hosted by Wayne Brady, as Guiding Light's replacement. Several months later, in December 2009, CBS announced the cancellation of another long-running soap opera, As the World Turns. Pyramid was among the series being considered as a potential replacement.^[6] CBS ordered a third pilot on April 9, 2010.^[7] Andy Richter was identified as a potential host.^[8][9]

On May 18, 2011, TBS announced development of a possible new version of Pyramid, again to be hosted by Andy Richter.^[10] It was later announced^{[citation needed]} that the show was not picked up. Another pilot, titled The Pyramid, was taped on June 16, 2012.^[11]

On July 12, 2012, GSN announced The Pyramid had been picked up and would premiere on the network on September 3, with Mike Richards hosting the show.^[12]

40 episodes were produced and aired for the show's initial cycle. The show only lasted one season before being canceled due to low ratings. Reruns currently air Monday thru Friday at 2:30pm ET and Sunday at 11:00am, 11:30am, 2:00am and 2:30am ET on GSN.

Announcers

Bob Clayton was the announcer of Pyramid from its premiere as The $10,000 Pyramid until his 1979 death from cardiac arrest, with Alan Kalter (who would later become an announcer at USA Network and is now the announcer of The Late Show with David Letterman), Fred Foy, and ABC New York staff announcers John Causier, Dick Heatherton, Ed Jordan, and Scott Vincent substituting for Clayton whenever he was unable to attend a broadcast. Jack Clark announced the special episodes taped at CBS Television City in 1973. After Clayton's death, Steve O'Brien became the show's announcer in 1980. O'Brien and Kalter would later rotate announcing duties on The $50,000 Pyramid in 1981.

In 1982, when Pyramid moved back to CBS, and its new regular home, CBS Television City, Jack Clark returned as announcer, with Johnny Gilbert, Charlie Tuna, Rod Roddy, and Jerry Bishop (now the announcer of Judge Judy) substituting on different occasions, and Gilbert announcing the series premiere of The $100,000 Pyramid. Jack Clark also announced a few weeks of The $100,000 Pyramid in 1985. After he left Pyramid, Gilbert, Tuna, Charlie O'Donnell, and Bob Hilton rotated announcing duties on both the CBS daytime and nighttime syndicated versions, although Dean Goss was added to the rotation in 1988 on the nighttime syndicated series.

When The $100,000 Pyramid returned in 1991, Gilbert returned as a primary announcer, although Dean Goss and frequent panelist and actor Henry Polic II substituted on occasion. John Cramer was the announcer for the entire run of Osmond's version, and TV host JD Roberto was the announcer of GSN's version of Pyramid.

Gameplay

Front game

The Pyramid's gameboards, both in the main game and in the Winner's Circle bonus round, featured six categories arranged in a pyramid, with three categories on the bottom row, two on the middle row, and one on the top. In the main game, a category's position on the board was not an indicator of its difficulty. In the Winner's Circle, categories became progressively more difficult the higher they were on the board.

The game featured two teams, each composed of a celebrity and a civilian contestant. At the beginning of the game, the teams were shown six categories, whose titles gave vague clues to their possible meaning (for instance, "I'm All Wet" might pertain to things found in the water). Once the category was chosen, its exact meaning was given (except in certain bonus situations where the meaning was not given and a cash/prize bonus won for completing all the clues). For up to 30 seconds, one player conveyed to the other clues to a series of items belonging to a category. One point was scored for each item correctly guessed. If a word was passed, the giver could not go back to that word, but if the receiver knew the word later on and guessed it, the team still earned a point (no sound effect was played, in order to avoid a distraction). On the Osmond version, a team that passed on any words could return to them if time permitted, but if a word was guessed correctly after it had been passed, it would not count until the word was returned to and correctly guessed then.

Originally, on the CBS version, there were eight possible items in a category. This was reduced to seven when the show moved to ABC, and reduced again to six (in 20 seconds) for the Osmond-hosted version. Subsequent pilots returned to the seven in 30 seconds format, which became the standard for the 2012 version. The short-lived Junior Partner Pyramid format kept the seven words, but increased the time limit to 35 seconds. Using any part of the answer in giving a clue resulting in the item being disqualified (best known for the cuckoo sound in all except the Osmond version, which used a burble sound). Originally, the celebrity gave the clues in both the first and third rounds, and the contestant in the second round. Eventually, the rules were changed so that teams were given the opportunity to choose which player would give the clues in the third round; this was reverted for the Osmond version. The teams alternated in the first two rounds, and the team with the lower score played first in the third round. Whoever had the higher score after three rounds advanced to the Winner's Circle. In the 1970s and 1980s versions, in the rare event that players were mathematically unable to at least tie their opponent before the opponent has had his or her last turn (or even rarer, before that point), the game ended and the remaining categories were left unplayed. However, the eliminated player returned on the next game.^[13][14]

Returning champions and winnings limits

On the 1970s daytime version, contestants were allowed to remain on the show until they were defeated or won the Winner's Circle. Under the $10,000 format, a player who won the Winner's Circle was allowed to keep all earlier winnings. Under the $20,000 format, the player's total was merely augmented to the amount won in the Winner's Circle. The syndicated versions featured no returning champions prior to 1985.

During the 1970s syndicated version, if a player won a bonus prize, then went on to win the $25,000 top prize, the value of the bonus (either the additional bonus cash, or the value of the car offered during the final season) was deducted from the champion's total, leaving them with exactly $25,000. This version did not feature returning champions. On all versions from 1982 onward, all front-game bonus winnings remained intact in the event of a $25,000 win.

On the $25,000 and $100,000 versions of the show, the same two contestants competed for both halves of the episode. A player who won one of the two games on the episode played the Winner's Circle for $10,000. A player who won both games played the second Winner's Circle for a total of $25,000 (thus earning for example, $750 in the first Winner's Circle means the second was worth an additional $24,250 to the player). On all versions from 1982–91, a player who won both games of an episode became the champion and returned on the next show. If each player won one game, the player with the higher total in the Winner's Circle became champion (winnings from the various front-game bonuses did not count). If the two players won equal amounts of money in the Winner's Circle (including $10,000 wins), both returned on the next show.

Contestants from 1982–91 were allowed to remain on the show until defeated, up to a maximum of five shows. Champions on the CBS version also retired after exceeding the network's winnings limit. This was originally $25,000, but was increased to $50,000 on October 22, 1984 (episode #0542) and to $75,000 on September 29, 1986 (episode #1041). Players were allowed to keep a maximum of $25,000 in excess of the limit. The Osmond version featured no returning champions.

In the Osmond version, contestants played the Winner's Circle for $10,000, with a second trip in the same show worth a total of $25,000 plus a berth in the $100,000 tournament provided that the contestant had won the first Winner's Circle. Otherwise, the second Winner's Circle would be for a second chance at $10,000.

In the 2012 version, the main game determined the Winner's Circle value. Contestants started with a base of $10,000, with each successful 7-for-7 attempt meant that contestant's Winner's Circle jackpot was augmented by $5,000, in addition to the $500 cash bonus. A perfect 21 points in the three rounds results in the Winner's Circle being valued at $25,000. Contestants who score all 42 points in the main game and win both Winner's Circle attempts will win a total of $53,000, which includes the $500 bonus won for each perfect round. As with the Osmond version, there are no returning champions.^[15]

International versions

Versions of Pyramid have been also produced for other countries outside the United States:

Country	Name	Host	Channel	Air dates
Australia	Pyramid	Shura Taft (2009-2012) Beau Walker (2013)	Nine Network (2009–12) GO! (2013-present)	September 1, 2009 – present
Canada French	Pyramide	Sébastien Benoit	Radio-Canada	April 28, 2008–April 22, 2011
Chile	Contrarreloj	Esperanza Silva Coco Legrand	Canal 13	2002
Denmark	Pyramide			Not aired yet
Egypt	الهرم El Haram	Moufida Sheeha	ERT 2	May 16, 2009
Estonia	Püramiid	Teet Margna	TV3	March 4, 2006
Finland	Pyramidi		MTV3	Not aired yet
France	Pyramide	Patrice Laffont	France 2	1991–2003
Germany	Die Pyramide	Dieter Thomas Heck Micky Beisenherz and Joachim Llambi	ZDF ZDFneo	1978–94 August 6, 2012–present
	Hast Du Worte?	Jörg Pilawa (1996–97) Thomas Koschwitz (1997–99)	Sat.1	1996–99
Indonesia	Piramida	Ronnie Sianturi Ricky Johannes	RCTI	1995–99 2000
	Pyramida	Ricky Johannes		2001–03
Israel	שחק אותה Play It	Yigal Shilon Dudu Topaz	Channel 1	1983–84
	הפירמידה Ha-Pyramide	Oded Menashe	Channel 2	2002
Italy	Pyramid	Enrico Brignano & Debora Salvalaggio	Rai Due	December 3, 2007
Japan	ピラミッド		Fuji TV	Not aired yet
Poland	Piramida	Hubert Urbański Andrzej Strzelecki	Polsat	1997–99
Russia	Пирамида Piramida	Ivan Urgant	Russia 1	May 16, 2004–March 20, 2005
Singapore	The Pyramid Game	Samuel Chong Benedict Goh Darryl David	Channel 5	late 1990s
Spain	Pirámide			Not aired yet
Thailand	มาตามนัด	Sestha Sirachaya & Yanee Jongwisut	Modernine TV	August 6, 2012
Turkey	Piramit	Mim Kemel Öke	aTV	1994–95
United Kingdom	The ₤1,000 Pyramid Game	Steve Jones	ITV	1981–84
	The Pyramid Game			1989-90
	Donny's Pyramid Game	Donny Osmond	Challenge	2007
Venezuela	Match 4	Juan Manuel Montesinos	Venevisiόn	1984–89
	Contra reloj	Daniela Kosán	Televen	2001–02
Vietnam	Kim tự tháp	Chi Bảo	HTV7	April 30, 2005 – 2008

References

External links

• The (New) $25,000 Pyramid at the Internet Movie Database 1982–87/1988 US Version
• Pyramid at the Internet Movie Database 2002–04 US Version
• The Pyramid at the Internet Movie Database 2012 US Version
• The Pyramid Game at the Internet Movie Database 1981–84/1989–90 UK Version
• Die Pyramide at the Internet Movie Database 1979–94 German Version
• Haste de Worte? at the Internet Movie Database 1996–99 German Version
• Ha-Pyramide at the Internet Movie Database 2002 Israeli Version
• Contra reloj at the Internet Movie Database 2001–02 Venezuelan Version
• Official GSN page for THE PYRAMID (2012 Edition)
• The $100,000 Pyramid (1987) at MobyGames
• The $100,000 Pyramid (2001) at MobyGames
• The $100,000 Pyramid (2001) PC CD-ROM's official website (via Internet Archives)
• The $25,000 Pyramid IGT (2001)
• The $1,000,000 Pyramid Video Slots (2001)
• The $100,000 Pyramid Video Slots (2004)
• Pyramide web site in Quebec, Canada (French)
• description of "Haste Du Worte?" the 1996–98 (German Version) of "Pyramid" from Grundy Light Entertainment
• description of "Haste Du Worte?" from (Old Website)
• About the Indonesian version
• $10,000 Pyramid/$25,000 Pyramid/$100,000 Pyramid-related interview videos at the Archive of American Television

Daytime Emmy Award history

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Hollywood Squares	Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show 1976 as The $20,000 Pyramid	Succeeded by Family Feud
Preceded by Hollywood Squares	Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show 1980–81 as The $20,000 Pyramid tie with Hollywood Squares in 1980	Succeeded by Password Plus
Preceded by Password Plus	Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show 1983–87 as The $25,000 Pyramid	Succeeded by The Price Is Right
Preceded by The Price Is Right	Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show 1989 as The $25,000 Pyramid	Succeeded by Jeopardy!

v t e Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show (1974–1983) Password (1974) Hollywood Squares (1975) The $20,000 Pyramid (1976) Family Feud (1977) Hollywood Squares (1978) Hollywood Squares (1979) Hollywood Squares / The $20,000 Pyramid (1980) The $20,000 Pyramid (1981) Password Plus (1982) The $25,000 Pyramid (1983) Complete list (1974–1983) (1984–1993) (1994–2003) (2004–2013)

v t e Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show (1984–1993) The $25,000 Pyramid (1984) The $25,000 Pyramid (1985) The $25,000 Pyramid (1986) The $25,000 Pyramid (1987) The Price Is Right (1988) The $25,000 Pyramid (1989) Jeopardy! (1990) Jeopardy! (1991) Jeopardy! (1992) Jeopardy! (1993) Complete list (1974–1983) (1984–1993) (1994–2003) (2004–2013)