"Who! What! Or Where! That's the name of the game!" It was the opening spiel to the first episode of The Who, What or Where game that debuted on December 29, 1969.
Also known as The 3Ws, the show was hosted by Art James, his first NBC game show since the short lived Fractured Phrases in 1965. He also served as the quizmaster for the New York version of the high school quiz show It's Academic. The announcer was Mike Darrow, who at that time hosted ABC's daytime game show Dream House until it was axed in April 1970 to make room for the long running soap opera All My Children. Darrow also filled in for James as host when he was ill.
The show would be the first for Ron Greenberg as an independent packager. He previously worked for Merv Griffin on shows such as Word For Word, Let's Play Post Office and Reach for the Stars. None of them were successful as Griffin's hit show Jeopardy. It would take three years for Greenberg to get The 3Ws on the air. The original pilot was shot in 1966 with Jack Narz as host. But when NBC picked up the show in 1969, Narz was hosting the syndicated version of Beat the Clock and James would become the host.
The game was similar to the show that it followed in NBC's daytime lineup, Jeopardy. Three contestants started out with $125 but if any player lost all their money, he/she was out of the game. A category was shown with odds ranging from even money to on some occasions, five to one. The higher the odds, the more difficult the question. Each contestant would bet up to $50 on a who, what or where question. If more than one player declared for the same question, the highest bidder would get to answer. But if two or three players bid the same amount on a question, an auction would be held, with the player bidding high got the question. Correct answers added points, incorrect answers deducted points.
Several rounds were played in this manner with one round usually "Pot Luck." The final round was called "Pot Limit" where a contestant could bet up to their earnings on the last question like Final Jeopardy. Same as the previous rounds, if more than one player declares the same question, the highest bidder gets to answer. The highest scoring contestant wins the game and returns on the next show. A five time winner would retire a champion.
The only change in the show's four year run was the addition of a 60 second speed round in the later episodes.
The Who, What or Where Game would be the perfect companion to Jeopardy, replacing a Heatter-Quigley game show Name Droppers, that got moved to 4 PM ET as a replacement for Letters to Laugh-In that flopped after 13 weeks. The 3Ws also solidified a solid game show lineup that included Concentration, Sale of the Century and Hollywood Squares.
But on January 4, 1974, NBC vice president of daytime programming Lin Bolen would cancel The 3Ws in a revamping of the network's game show lineup. Baffle, which changed to an all-celebrity format would take over the time period and Jeopardy would move from its noon slot to 10:30 AM in favor of a new game show titled Jackpot!
Greenberg would revive the Who, What or Where game in 1990 as a current events quiz under the title The Challengers, which he co-produced with the man who would also host the show Dick Clark. Don Morrow, who worked with Greenberg on Let's Play Post Office would be the show's first announcer. He was later replaced by Bob Hilton. Unfortunately, the show was not a success and it lost the challenge after one season in syndication.
Fifty years ago, Who, What or where was the name of the game that was the perfect companion to Jeopardy and home viewers could play along for an hour each day.
No comments:
Post a Comment