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| Four players competed in this game. A category is revealed (e.g., "Food eaten at a fast food restaurant") and it is the job of the contestants to give answers that fit into to that category. The order of contestants giving answers goes down the line from left to right. The bank for each game starts at $100, and each correct answer adds $25 more to the bank.<ref></ref><ref></ref> The most money ever accumulated in the bank was $1,400. | Four players competed in this game. A category is revealed (e.g., "Food eaten at a fast food restaurant") and it is the job of the contestants to give answers that fit into to that category. The order of contestants giving answers goes down the line from left to right. The bank for each game starts at $100, and each correct answer adds $25 more to the bank.<ref></ref><ref></ref> The most money ever accumulated in the bank was $1,400. | ||
| If at any point an answer is repeated or the judges think an answer is incorrect, the next player in line can give one correct answer and knock that person out of the game, with the eliminated player going to the " |
If at any point an answer is repeated or the judges think an answer is incorrect, the next player in line can give one correct answer and knock that person out of the game, with the eliminated player going to the "bullpen" to sit out the rest of the game. If that person misses in any way, the next person in line can knock out both contestants who answered wrong. If all the players alive during a question give consecutive incorrect answers for a question, that question is thrown out and play resumes with a new question. A new round begins after a player (or players) are eliminated from the game played under the same process. | ||
| Play continues until one player is left, with that last player winning the contents of the bank and going onto the "Fast Bucks" bonus round. | Play continues until one player is left, with that last player winning the contents of the bank and going onto the "Fast Bucks" bonus round. | ||
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| The same four players stay on the show until one of them wins the $5,000, at which point the other three players leave the show (but they keep any money won up to that point). The $5,000 winner faces three new challengers. | The same four players stay on the show until one of them wins the $5,000, at which point the other three players leave the show (but they keep any money won up to that point). The $5,000 winner faces three new challengers. | ||
| ==Notable moments== | |||
| * The Premiere's fourth contestant introduced herself as "Betsy Tooker, and I'm a page at another network"; Bill followed the introductions with "Hi, I'm Bill Cullen and I'm an emcee - and if this doesn't work, I'll be over there." | |||
| ** The first Fast Bucks round had its contestant get to the third row, which required "Two famous Johns". After a bit of silence, Bill quickly added "NAMED John. Just want to clarify that." The two names were ] and ]; the contestant required the fourth category, "One romantic gift". Despite giving several good answers, he failed to reveal "a ]" - and according to Bill "didn't get romantic enough". | |||
| * On one episode, a Fast Bucks category required "Four panel or game show hosts"<ref></ref> - the answers were ], ] ("Boy, I'm glad I was up there - I'm glad I still fit in the category"), ], and ]; however, the contestant only got the second one. | |||
| * On another episode, a question involved naming "Something being on or carried by" Bill himself, with the exception of the items on his podium;<ref></ref> only six acceptable answers were given to raise the jackpot from the base $100 to $250, as one contestant duplicated "eyeglasses". This round was repeated at the end of the show with the three contestants in the "Bullpen" - they took turns to name items for $10 each, with twelve named (a total of $120) before time ran out. | |||
| * One of the show's most notable questions involved making a four-word phrase - the first word was someone's name, the last word had to rhyme with the name, the phrase had to make sense, and no repeats were allowed; the example given by Bill was "Sue has the Flu".<ref></ref> Contestants' phrases (and Bill's responses) included "Nancy planted a pansy" ("She had a pink thumb!"), "Duke's going to puke" ("Because he was watching Nancy!"), "Fran moves her can", "Dick has a...stick", and "Mary is a fairy" ("That's better than if Terry had been!"). | |||
| Eighteen acceptable answers were given, increasing the jackpot from $250 to $700 (while the audience, Bill, and the contestants laughed almost throughout). After the round ended, Bill complimented the three contestants for doing so well and that "I laughed at more things that I ''didn't'' hear than that I ''did'' hear." | |||
| * An episode toward the end of the run featured a question that required "Something that is normally rolled or gets rolled up";<ref></ref> the second contestant replied with "You roll ]", while another answer (deemed unacceptable) was "You roll up a dollar bill". Eleven acceptable answers were given to raise the jackpot from the base $100 to $325. | |||
| * Another question toward the end of the run involved continuing the phrase "Every morning I put on my tie..." with another article of clothing, followed by the next contestant saying the phrase (adding their own article after the first two), and so on until a contestant either messed up the order or couldn't add another article of clothing.<ref></ref> Eight acceptable answers were given (nine items of clothing) to raise the jackpot from the base $100 to $300. | |||
| ==Broadcast history== | ==Broadcast history== | ||
Revision as of 03:46, 6 April 2009
TV series or program| Pass the Buck | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | Bob Stewart |
| Directed by | Mike Gargiulo |
| Presented by | Bill Cullen |
| Narrated by | Bob Clayton |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 65 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Bob Stewart |
| Producer | Sande Stewart |
| Production locations | Ed Sullivan Theater, New York City |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | April 3 – June 30, 1978 |
Pass the Buck was a game show that aired on CBS television's daytime lineup from April 3 to June 30, 1978. The series was hosted by Bill Cullen and was created by Bob Stewart. Bob Clayton was the announcer.
Main game
Four players competed in this game. A category is revealed (e.g., "Food eaten at a fast food restaurant") and it is the job of the contestants to give answers that fit into to that category. The order of contestants giving answers goes down the line from left to right. The bank for each game starts at $100, and each correct answer adds $25 more to the bank. The most money ever accumulated in the bank was $1,400.
If at any point an answer is repeated or the judges think an answer is incorrect, the next player in line can give one correct answer and knock that person out of the game, with the eliminated player going to the "bullpen" to sit out the rest of the game. If that person misses in any way, the next person in line can knock out both contestants who answered wrong. If all the players alive during a question give consecutive incorrect answers for a question, that question is thrown out and play resumes with a new question. A new round begins after a player (or players) are eliminated from the game played under the same process.
Play continues until one player is left, with that last player winning the contents of the bank and going onto the "Fast Bucks" bonus round.
Fast Bucks
The Fast Bucks round is played on a triangular board with four different levels - one box on the top level, two on the second, three on the third, and four on the bottom.
The winning player begins on the bottom level and is given a category with more defined answers (e.g., people from Happy Days, U.S. States). The winner's job is to reveal as many of the four hidden answers on the bottom level in 15 seconds.
If the contestant reveals at least one answer on a level, he or she moves up to the next level. The process is the same for the remaining levels. If at any time the player does not reveal any answers on any level when time expires, the bonus round ends and the player receives $100 for each revealed answer on the board. However, if the player reveals all answers on one level OR at least one answer on each of the four levels, they win $5,000.
The same four players stay on the show until one of them wins the $5,000, at which point the other three players leave the show (but they keep any money won up to that point). The $5,000 winner faces three new challengers.
Broadcast history
CBS tried to make amends with packager Stewart for prematurely canceling his The $10,000 Pyramid four years earlier (with the top prize having increased to $20,000 on the ABC version by then) by taking Pass the Buck to replace Goodson-Todman's Tattletales.
The original (unaired) pilots of Pass The Buck were actually videotaped at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street in Manhattan during the weekend of May 7-8, 1977 and its tapes were then placed on the network's shelves for almost a year until it finally decided to put the show on the daytime schedule.
At the start of its run, Pass The Buck looked to easily dominate Sanford and Son reruns on NBC (the program had already ended in primetime) at 10:00 AM (9:00 Central) and become a stable companion to The Price Is Right, the original version of which Cullen had finished hosting almost 13 years earlier.
However, NBC sprang a surprise three weeks later in the form of its first Goodson-Todman game since 1969, Card Sharks, whose winsome host Jim Perry and thrilling gameplay rendered Pass The Buck tame to many viewers by comparison. Card Sharks doomed Stewart's high hopes when Pass The Buck was cancelled and simply ended after 13 weeks on June 30.
In what transpired as a trial run for its eventual syndicated success, Tic-Tac-Dough replaced it the next Monday, but ran only two months; the syndicated version continued until 1986.
Taping location
The show videotaped during its brief run at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, now the home of The Late Show with David Letterman. It was the last CBS game show taped in New York City until Power of 10 debuted in 2007.
It was also Cullen's last show that he would host from that city, afterward working exclusively in southern California from late 1979 (when The $25,000 Pyramid discontinued production) through his 1987 retirement.
Episode status
The series is believed to be intact; Game Show Network aired the first 25 or so episodes during its "Dark Period" (in which the network lost the rights to all but two Goodson-Todman shows - The Price is Right and the 1994-1995 season of Family Feud).
Clips from an episode near the end of the run have been uploaded to YouTube featuring a champion named Marilyn Hutton who has been on the program for eleven shows, winning $19,725 (participating in the "You roll a joint" and "Every morning I put on my..." questions). After she mentioned this, Cullen replied with "Eleven days - you're liable to be here after we've gone! A little bit of an inside joke there - and much more "inside" than it is a "joke", I suppose."
References
- Premiere of "Pass the Buck", part one
- Premiere of "Pass the Buck", part two
- Clip of a $5,000 win
- Clip of host Bill Cullen addressing the show's cancellation.