Hit Man (U.S. game show)

Hit Man
Created by Jay Wolpert
Presented by Peter Tomarken
Narrated by Rod Roddy
Theme music composer Paul Epstein for Score Productions
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 65
Production
Location(s) NBC Studios
Burbank, California
Running time 22 minutes (without commercials)
Production company(s) Jay Wolpert Productions
Metromedia Video Productions
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Original run January 3, 1983 – April 1, 1983

Hit Man is an American television game show that ran from January 3 to April 1, 1983, on NBC. Peter Tomarken hosted this Jay Wolpert production in association with Metromedia Video Productions, while Rod Roddy was the announcer.

Gameplay

Four contestants competed on each episode of Hit Man in a memory-based quiz game. One was either a returning champion or champion-designate, with the other three contestants competing for the right to face the champion in the second round. The surviving contestant at the end of two rounds of play played the Triple Crown bonus round for $10,000.

Round 1

Each game of Hit Man began with the three challengers, who were sitting behind desks colored blue, yellow, and green, viewing a short film narrated by Tomarken. Film topics varied widely and included biographies, the "making-of" specific films, professions, hobbies, etc. The film was also shown to the returning champion offstage, since the subject matter would later come up in the Triple Crown if he/she advanced to the round.

After the film concluded, a series of tossup questions were asked to the challengers about the film they had just seen. For each correct answer the challengers gave, they advanced one step on a ladder displayed behind them. Answering a question incorrectly locked a contestant out of the next question.

It took five answers to climb to the top of the ladder, and the first contestant to do this won $300 and clinched a spot in the second round. The remaining two contestants continued playing until one of them gave a fifth correct answer, and that contestant won $200 and ended the round. The remaining contestant was eliminated from further play and received parting gifts.

Round 2

For the second round, the champion entered the game and sat behind a red desk that was elevated. A second short film was played. After the film concluded, each contestant was given a series of "hit men". The champion was given seven hit men, the winner of the first round got four, and the second finisher was given three hit men, with each player's hit men corresponding to the color of their desk.

As before, a series of tossup questions pertaining to the film were asked. The object for all three players was to eliminate the opposing hit men, with the champion trying to eliminate both challengers while avoiding losing his/her own hit men. The winner of the first round was given a choice of whether to play against the champion first or allow the runner up to play.

Any correct answer knocked a hit man off the board, while any incorrect answer cost a player one of their own. If the champion lost a hit man, the challenging player kept control until either eliminating all of the champion's hit men or having one of their own hit men eliminated. Once the latter happened, control passed to the other player. If at any point a challenger ran out of hit men, that player was eliminated from further play and the game continued.

If the champion managed to eliminate the challengers' hit men first, he/she retained the championship and advanced to the Triple Crown. If the champion lost all of his/her hit men, the challenger who knocked the last hit man off the board became champion.

Triple Crown

In the Triple Crown the champion played for $10,000 by answering questions regarding both films within a full minute of playing time.

The round saw the champion trying to fill columns with correct answers. There were eight columns on the game board, which were shown to the champion before the round began. Each column was numbered and had anywhere between one and five spaces to fill. Answering questions correctly filled these spaces with "money men", and three columns needed to be filled with money men in order for the champion to win.

After the champion was shown what to do, his/her back was turned away from the game board and the columns were shuffled into random order. The champion then picked a column number and began answering questions, unaware of how many money men were needed to fill the column. Answering incorrectly or passing locked the champion out of the column and he/she chose a new one.

Filling one column won the champion $1,000. Filling a second doubled the prize to $2,000. If the necessary three columns were filled within sixty seconds, the champion won the $10,000 grand prize.

Broadcast History

When Hit Man premiered, it ran at 11:30 AM EST following Wheel of Fortune on NBC, replacing the second half of Texas. Its competition consisted of the second halves of CBS's The Price is Right and repeats of The Love Boat on ABC. Hit Man improved upon the previous time slot holder's ratings, but it came in a distant third in the time slot.

As a result of its failure to compete with the aforementioned two shows in the 11:30 timeslot, Hit Man left the airwaves after 13 weeks. The show was replaced by Dream House, with Bob Eubanks at the helm. Just Men!, which aired right after Hit Man, also ended its 13-week run on the same day Hit Man was taken off the air; Wheel of Fortune and Sale of the Century (which debuted the same day as Just Men and Hit Man) would stay on NBC's schedule until 1989.

The show has never been rerun even in syndication since its cancellation, although some clips of the show are available for viewing on YouTube.

Peter Tomarken gained greater fame five months later with his best known game show, Press Your Luck, which ran for three years on CBS. Rod Roddy reunited with Tomarken as the announcer of Press Your Luck, but later earned greater fame in his own right in 1986, when he became Johnny Olson's permanent replacement as announcer on The Price Is Right. Roddy would hold this position until his death in 2003.

Finale

The series finale of Hit Man aired on April 1, 1983; it had Gene Kelly and United States Vice Presidents as its subjects. Future game show announcer Randy West defeated then-champion Sheila and won $1,000 in the Triple Crown.

After the final commercial break, Roddy substituted the traditional contestant plug with "If you would like to be a contestant on Hit Man, forget it! And now, back to Peter Tomarken!" Afterward, Tomarken gave a speech explaining what Roddy just said.

The Pilot Episode

The pilot for the show was very much like the series, except that the first player to make it to round two got five "hit men", the second player to make it to round two four "hit men", and the champion had nine "hit men". The music on the pilot was from the album "Worlds Away" by Pablo Cruise; the series used a loosely-based remix composed by Paul Epstein for Score Productions.

British version

A British version of Hitman was aired on ITV in 1989 between February 21 to May 30. It was presented by Nick Owen.

    External links