The Big Showdown
The Big Showdown is an American game show that aired on the ABC television network from December 23, 1974 to July 4, 1975. Jim Peck (in his national television debut) hosted the program and Dan Daniel (then a disc jockey on New York City's WHN) served as announcer.
| The Big Showdown | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Game show |
| Directed by | Dick Schneider |
| Presented by | Jim Peck |
| Narrated by | Dan Daniel |
| Theme music composer | Score Productions |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 140 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Don Lipp Ron Greenberg |
| Producer | Shelley Dobbins |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Don Lipp Productions Ron Greenberg Productions MCA TV Ltd. |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | December 23, 1974 – July 4, 1975 |
The series was recorded at ABC's New York studio TV15 on West 58 Street, and packaged by Don Lipp’s Daphne Productions and Ron Greenberg, with assistance by MCA Television.
Gameplay
Round 1 (The Big Showdown)
Three contestants competed. Before the round began, Peck announced a target score or "payoff point," and selected a dollar value for it by pressing a buzzer on his podium to stop a randomizer ($25, $50, $75, $100, or $500). He then read a one-point toss-up question. The first contestant to buzz-in and correctly answer it chose from one of six available categories, each with a different point value from 1 to 6 as represented by faces of a die. A correct answer to a question awarded the points for the chosen category and allowed the contestant to select the next one. A miss locked the contestant out of that question and gave the opponents a chance to answer. The payoff point had to be reached exactly, and contestants were not allowed to select or answer any question that would put them over that total, being automatically locked out in the latter case. The first contestant to reach the payoff point won the money associated with it. A new dollar value and payoff point were set, the latter raised by several points above the previous one, and Peck asked a one-point toss-up to award control of the board. A toss-up was also asked whenever all players missed a question.
A new set of categories was introduced after the second payoff point had been reached. Four or more payoff points were played during this round, depending on the speed with which the game progressed.
Speed round
A 90-second speed round was played to end the Big Showdown, with each payoff point worth $100 after the one currently in play (if any) was reached. Once time ran out, the contestant with the lowest score was eliminated but kept any money accumulated during the game. In the event of a tie for second place or a three-way tie, Peck asked questions from the one-point category until the tie was broken. Players who buzzed in with a correct answer moved to the Final Showdown, but were eliminated for responding incorrectly.
Round 2 (Final Showdown)
The two remaining contestants competed to reach a payoff point of seven. Three categories were played, again represented by faces on a die, and point values were 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The scores were reset to zero, and the contestant who had been in the lead at the end of the first round chose the first category. As before, no contestant could choose or answer a question that would put him/her above the payoff point. The first contestant to reach seven points won the game and an additional $250; both contestants kept any money they had accumulated during the game.
Bonus Round
The champion now had a chance to win a cash prize by rolling pairs of oversized dice. Model Heather Cunningham joined the proceedings to hand the dice to the champion. Each pair of dice had its sixes removed and replaced with the words “Show” and “Down”, and the object was to have those two sides come up in a single roll.
To start the round, the champion received a free roll of the dice to try and roll “ShowDown”. If successful on the first roll, the champion won $10,000. If anything else came up, the round continued.
If the champion had not rolled “ShowDown” on the first roll, Peck would reveal what he/she had rolled and the number was established as a payoff point; “Show” and “Down” did not represent numbers, so the payoff point could range from one to ten.
The champion was then given thirty seconds to continue rolling as many pairs of dice as he/she could. After every roll, Peck would reveal its result and clear the dice from the table. If the champion hit the playoff point during the thirty seconds, he/she won $250 for each time it was hit and received five additional seconds to roll the dice. Rolling “ShowDown” at any point ended the round and won the champion $5,000 on top of any payoff point bonuses; for instance, if the champion rolled “ShowDown” after rolling the payoff point target twice, his/her total for the round would be $5,500.
If, after the thirty seconds had run out, the champion still had not rolled “ShowDown”, he/she was given a third chance to win as long as the payoff point had been hit at least once. The champion then used whatever additional time he/she had accumulated in the previous segment to try and roll “ShowDown”.
If, at any point in the round, the champion rolled “ShowDown”, he/she automatically retired as champion with whatever money he/she had won to that point. Otherwise, the champion returned on the next program with any previously accumulated money and played until either rolling “ShowDown” in the bonus round or losing in the main game.
Episode status
The series is believed to have been wiped due to network practices of the era. An audio clip of the opening to one episode also exists,[1] as well as audio of the complete series finale. Two episodes also exist on videotape: the 1974 pilot and an episode from 1975 where Jim Peck falls while making his entrance down the stairs (which has made an appearance on The Most Outrageous Game Show Moments).
References
- "Big Showdown Theme Song". Retrieved 1 February 2012.