The $128,000 Question
Adam Kendall
questions:
1). Did contestants need to come back week after week after week to
get up to $64,000 (a la 50s version), or could a contestant go to
$64,000 in one episode?
2). How did the tournament among $64,000 winners work? Was there
only one $128,000 winner per season?
3). Why did Alex Trebek host one season and the late Mike Darrow the
other? Why was the show moved from Canada to the U.S.?
4). Did the show follow the same general format as in the 50s (one
category, one contestant, isolation booth, etc.)?
5). Do any episodes still exist? Who owns them? Are any episodes
available on the trading circuit?
Any information on any or all of these questions would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks much!
Adam Kendall
ad...@mnyouth.org
Don Del Grande
>Does anybody have any detailed information on this show?
I think I can help (back in the days before VCRs, I remember audio
taping the show and then transcribing the questions).
>1). Did contestants need to come back week after week after week to
>get up to $64,000 (a la 50s version), or could a contestant go to
>$64,000 in one episode?
Usually, the way it worked was, you were asked multiple questions
until you reached $4000 ($2000 in the second season); after that, you
got one question per week in the isolation booth.
In the first season, the first four questions ($64, 128, 256, 512)
were "asked" on some sort of automatic typewriter (they put something
that looked like a cassette tape into the machine, which then printed
out the question and two possible answers - in the earliest weeks, the
$128 question required two answers from three choices - and then, when
the contestant gave an answer, the answer was printed); eventually,
they switched it to Mike Darrow just asking the questions from cards.
The next three questions ($1000, 2000, 4000) were shown on a TV
screen. After that, they went to the isolation booth, and the number
of parts to each question depended on the level:
$8000 - 4
$16,000 - 5
$32,000 - 5
$64,000 - 7 (the only one I'm sure of)
After a few weeks, they changed the rules a little; you were allowed
to miss one part, but had to answer a "makeup" part to win the money.
(The first $64,000 question asked only had 6 parts, but no makeup.)
In the second season, the first 6 questions ($64 through $2000) were
asked with Alex Trebek standing behind one podium and the contestant
behind another. (Again, the first four were multiple choice.) The
$4000 and up questions were in the isolation booth; also, the "makeup"
parts didn't start until $32,000.
If a player lost, they won $1 for missing through $4000, a Buick
(Skyhawk, I think - not the Skylark, but a more "sporty" model) for
missing at $8000 or $16,000, and $16,000 cash (first season) or $8000
and a Buick Electra (second season) for missing $32,000 or $64,000.
(In the second season, a player who stopped at $32,000 actually got
$24,000 and an Electra. In the first part of the first season, anyone
who answered the first five parts of the $64,000 question was
guaranteed $32,000.)
Besides the "makeup" questions, the one real difference (other than
the fact that it wasn't rigged) was that you weren't allowed to have
an expert in the booth at the $64,000 level like you were in the
original.
>2). How did the tournament among $64,000 winners work? Was there
>only one $128,000 winner per season?
Yes. In the first season, there were four winners (let's see if I can
remember the names:
Mike Lipinski - Wines of France and Italy
Don Chu - Big Bands
Dr. Jacqueline Hill - Professional Football
June Bacon-Bercy - John Philip Sousa
(Two $64,000-question missers were pro basketball player Jerry Lucas
(The Bible) and a descendant and namesake of Susan B. Anthony (Women's
Rights).)
In the first three weeks, each was asked four questions, and if they
got all of them, they were asked a fifth. Each correct answer was
worth 1 point in the first week, 2 in the second, and 3 in the third.
The two top scorers (the two men) went on to the final week; the first
to answer 6 correctly won. (Chu won; I think the final score was
8-7.)
In the second season, there were two winners:
Barbara Ann Eddy - Shakespeare
(can't remember the name) - World War I
This was a three-week tournament. In the first and second weeks, each
was asked four questions (and a fifth for getting the first four
correct) twice; correct answers in the first round were worth 1, the
second round 2, the third round 4, and the fourth round 8. On the
third show, all answers were worth 16, and the first to 128 (Eddy)
won.
When Alex presented the check, he pointed out that, as Barbara Ann was
Canadian and, despite the show being taped in Toronto, the production
company was American (the check was in American dollars), she didn't
have to pay tax on it.
>4). Did the show follow the same general format as in the 50s (one
>category, one contestant, isolation booth, etc.)?
Yes.
Some other trivia about the show:
Originally, the "isolation booth 'think' music" was a modern, slightly
faster version of the original, but they soon switched to a recording
of the original. The theme music was a modern version of the
original.
To show just how "not rigged" it was, contestants under the age of 18
were not allowed to decide for themselves whether to keep the money or
go on; they had a parent in the audience that decided for them. (I
wonder how the young Movie Musicals expert felt that, despite not
missing a single part through $32,000, his father decided not to let
him try for $64,000.)
One couple was allowed to compete together - not that it did any good,
as they missed the fourth question (their category was Gilbert &
Sullivan).
The last question ever asked: which Shakespeare play has a father
killed by his son and a son killed by his father? (I don't remember
the answer, although I think it was "(insert the name of a King here)
Part Two".
Two brothers competed with the same category - Opera - and both ended
up with $1 after missing at $4000.
-----------------------------------------------------
Don Del Grande, del_g...@netvista.net
There was even one scene you wouldn't believe unless you witnessed it:
Alex Trebek actually got excited about something
Daniel L Abraham
Don Del Grande wrote in message ...
>>2). How did the tournament among $64,000 winners work? Was there
>>only one $128,000 winner per season?
>
>Yes. In the first season, there were four winners (let's see if I can
>remember the names:
>Mike Lipinski - Wines of France and Italy
It was Bob Lipinski. I still recall Mike Darrow at the $64k level:
"Chambertin is right!"
>Don Chu - Big Bands
>Dr. Jacqueline Hill - Professional Football
>June Bacon-Bercy - John Philip Sousa
>(Two $64,000-question missers were pro basketball player Jerry Lucas
>(The Bible) and a descendant and namesake of Susan B. Anthony (Women's
>Rights).)
>In the first three weeks, each was asked four questions, and if they
>got all of them, they were asked a fifth. Each correct answer was
>worth 1 point in the first week, 2 in the second, and 3 in the third.
>The two top scorers (the two men) went on to the final week; the first
>to answer 6 correctly won. (Chu won; I think the final score was
>8-7.)
>
>In the second season, there were two winners:
>Barbara Ann Eddy - Shakespeare
>(can't remember the name) - World War I
John Krutts (sp) of Ohio (?). His $64 winning answer was on a makeup: Who
shot Archduke Ferdinand to touch off WW1? "Gavrilio Princip."
Obviously, you also remember Gloria Coyle, who won $16,000 (I think) in year
1, and then because of a question foulup, was invited back to try again in
year 2. She told Darrow and Trebek that all she wanted to win was enough
money to buy a new set of pot holders.
Jim
1.) The first four questions (for $64 - 128 - 256 - 512) were answered at a
workstation on one side of the stage. To answer the next questions ($1,000,
2000, and 4000), they walked over to the other side of the stage where the
questions were shown on a television monitor.
Mike Darrow always played up the suspense and excitement of "and now we will
proceed to the monitor where we will continue our game" with great drama.
We were supposed to be in awe of the drama of the moment - proceeding to
sacred ground! They even had this blaring trumpet music piece going as this
pompous host describes in excruciating detail what is in reality two frumps
schlepping over ten paces stage left to stage right.
(Darrow was much better on Jackpot.)
2.) The show had a "llama-boy". The category was "Shakespeare" and a
contestant missed one of the first four questions, which was a multiple
choice question with two possible answers. When the typed answer came out,
Mike Darrow seemed shocked that the contestant missed the question. There
was a murmur in the audience. It turned out the contestant was right; the
show put the wrong answer on the magnetic cassette.
3.) There was a good deal of publicity and anticipation over this show's
premiere. Its famous predecessor was frequently brought up for comparison.
4.) The set was truly barren ticky-tacky before the middle of the first
season when they added a curtain covering the stage and racing lights along
the sides.
Daniel L Abraham
Jim wrote in message <39824c30$0$62223$2a0e...@news.tdin.com>...
>I remember the following funny/unusual aspects about this show
>contestant missed one of the first four questions, which was a multiple
>choice question with two possible answers. When the typed answer came out,
>Mike Darrow seemed shocked that the contestant missed the question. There
>was a murmur in the audience. It turned out the contestant was right; the
>show put the wrong answer on the magnetic cassette.
I recall another false "llama". The contestant was actually Dr. Jacqueline
Hill, a Falcons fan who won $64,000 on the category of pro football. The (I
think) $256 question wanted to know who the MVP was for one of the earlier
Super Bowls, offering Roger Staubach and Roman Gabriel as the choices. Hill
correctly answered Staubach, but the teletype machine clunked out Gabriel.
After a commercial break, an embarrassed Darow (by the way, I recall that
being the correct spelling of his surname) explained the error to Hill, who
accepted the apology, and later accepted a check for $64,000.
From Glendale Heights, everybody ... good night!
The 1 and Only Danster
The tribe has spoken ... it is time for you to GET RICH!
You can earn immunity from the 9-5 rat race forever!
eMail specia...@yahoo.com for all the exciting details.
Michael Brandenburg
on 7-26-2000:
«««In the first season [of the $128K Question], the first four questions
($64, 128, 256, 512) were "asked" on some sort of automatic typewriter (they
put something that looked like a cassette tape into the machine, which then
printed out the question and two possible answers …and then, when the
contestant gave an answer, the answer was printed); eventually, they switched
it to Mike Darrow just asking the questions from cards.
»»»
That was 1976 computer technology in those days! -- it was almost the same
way when I got my first computer (an Atari 800XL in 1985) and related software
and hardware to get into word processing.
The questions were indeed on standard audio cassette tapes, the same data
storage means I used at first with my Atari. (It was not until later that I
finally did get a 5¼" disk-drive that worked much faster and was much easier
to use!) The on-stage computer read in the data from the tape and printed out
the question and the possible answer choices, and after the contestant selected
an answer, Mike Darrow would push a button on his console that would have the
computer print out the correct answer. Then another push of his button would
cause the computer to print out the next question and possible answer choices.
My own computer printer in that mid-80s era was a Smith Corona L-1000 —
definitely "letter-quality" in those days (it was essentially a daisy-wheel
typewriter with no keyboard and an input port for receiving data signals from
the host computer), but very slow and very noisy!
But then -- the $128K Question had come a long way in that regard from its
$64K counterpart of 20 years before -- when the computer took up half the stage
and printed the show's questions out on IBM punch cards!
Michael Brandenburg
(IRS employee since 1984 -- and now I can watch WWTBAM on a new modern 27"
JVC color TV that I bought yesterday to replace my vintage 1984 Sony Trinitron
with a variactor tuner that could only receive up to 14 preset channels!)
Don Del Grande
>2.) The show had a "llama-boy". The category was "Shakespeare" and a
>contestant missed one of the first four questions, which was a multiple
>choice question with two possible answers. When the typed answer came out,
>Mike Darrow seemed shocked that the contestant missed the question. There
>was a murmur in the audience. It turned out the contestant was right; the
>show put the wrong answer on the magnetic cassette.
Actually, the show DID have someone miss the $128 question (during the
second season, I think, as it was after they stopped using the
machine); "Who was the first president sworn in by a woman?" (I don't
remember the choice the player selected, but I think the answer was
Lyndon Johnson.) There were quite a few people who ended up with $1;
since, in the second season, the $4000 question was always four parts,
this isn't particularly surprising.
The "mistake on the cassette" happened to one of the $64,000 winners
(Dr. Jacqueline Hill); I think it was at the $512 level.
There was another "mistake", with a $128 Sherlock Holmes question, but
it wasn't as much a "they just put the wrong answer on the card" as it
was "they based a question on the movie versions rather than the
original Arthur Conan Doyle stories".
--------------------------------------------------
Don Del Grande, del_g...@netvista.net
I wonder how many of those cassette typewriter things IBM sold, anyway