The Home Game:
Jackpot!
Last Update: February 20, 2003 -- Reruns section, Links, and biographical info ono Geoff Edwards updated.
Airing:
12 noon-12:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, January 1 through July 4; 12:30-12:55 p.m., July 7 through September 26, NBC.
Personnel:
Geoff Edwards, host; Don Pardo, Wayne Howell, announcers. A Bob Stewart Production. Taped in New York City.Jackpot:
Answer the riddles correctly and win some loot. Match the target number, answer the riddle and win a lotta loot.Description:
16, yes, sixteen contestants competed, with fifteen seated in a three-tiered set and one as the "expert" (later called "king of the hill") on a podium. A random target number between $5 and $995 was selected, then multiplied by a random number between 5 and 50 to determine the Super Jackpot, thus making it worth up to $50,000 (if it was $995 x 50, in which case the producers sprung for the extra $250).The Expert chose one of the fifteen contestants by number. They opened a wallet (new wallets were distributed after the previous full complement was exhausted or after a Jackpot or Super Jackpot was won), announced the dollar value of the riddle and read the riddle, which Edwards would repeat. If the expert solved the riddle correctly, they continued; if not, the two players switched positions. This continued until the expert found and solved the Jackpot riddle (and thus the two players involved, both the expert and the one with the Jackpot riddle, split the Jackpot). But if the last three digits in the Jackpot matched the target number, a correct solution to the special riddle Edwards had on hand would result in those two players splitting the Super Jackpot. No matter what the result of either a Jackpot or Super Jackpot riddle, the two players switched positions afterward and a new round of riddles began. If there was a riddle on the board that, added to the current Jackpot would equal the target number, Edwards would announce it before the contestant chose. If upon finding the Jackpot riddle, the expert chose to solve other riddles to increase the Jackpot, they could do so (but if they missed a riddle along the way, tough luck).
Contestants competed for one full week, with the largest cash winner receiving a bonus prize on Friday.
Background:
Jackpot! debuted on January 7, 1974. Geoff Edwards, who had previously helmed CBS’s Hollywood’s Talking and was running the syndicated The New Treasure Hunt, was selected to host. Edwards was also a Los Angeles radio personality (which must have been hard, given that Jackpot! taped in New York) and had appeared in the films W.U.S.A. and The Comic and the TV series Petticoat Junction and Bobby Darin’s Amusement Company.In giving Jackpot! the noon slot,
Jeopardy! was shoved to 10:30 a.m. in the process. Jackpot! has been reviled for this reason, but the decision was Lin Bolen’s, head of NBC daytime, who considered 12 noon a primo spot. (History has determined otherwise: affiliates generally bump a network program at 12 noon in favor of local news.) Up against CBS’s The Young and The Restless and ABC’s Password, Jackpot! actually held its own – it didn’t dominate the time period like Jeopardy! had, but it at least was competitive with Y&R, and usually beat Password.
Going to Pot:
Which didn’t mean that Jackpot! was built to last, either. While Goodson-Todman mucked around with Password in 1974 and 1975, the audience switched not to Jackpot! but to Y&R. The result was both NBC and ABC adjusted their games from 12 noon to 1 p.m. in the first week of July 1975 – NBC sent Jackpot! to 12:30 and inserted The Magnificent Marble Machine in its place, while ABC jettisoned Password and Split Second in favor of Showoffs and the soap Ryan’s Hope.Jackpot! should have been able to compete at this point if given the chance, but it was facing a reasonably highly-rated soap in CBS’s Search for Tomorrow, and was given a weak lead-in in
MMM. A switch from riddles to straight questions and answers wasn’t helpful either (this may have actually occured in late 1974 at the behest of Lin Bolen -- if anyone has more information, let me know), and Jackpot was dumped by NBC three months later.Pot of Gold:
In September 1985, Jackpot! was revived in its original format on the USA cable network in the United States. Produced in Toronto, Canada, Mike Darrow hosted this version, which ran until December 1988 with a few extra gadgets (a weekly Super Jackpot riddle among them). This may actually be the best remembered version because of its long run.The following September, Jackpot! returned in first-run syndication with Edwards back at the helm. Taped in Glendale, CA, this version lasted six more months. Ratings were decent, but the syndicator, which didn’t have a lot of financial resources to begin with (forcing Edwards to tape 130 episodes in 17 days), went bankrupt.
Additional note: in 1984 or so Nipsey Russell hosted a pilot for a new version of Jackpot! for CBS. This never made it to a schedule.
Geoff Shoot Me:
So I couldn’t come up with a good headline. Anyway, Edwards continued with Treasure Hunt, and hosted Bob Stewart’s Shoot for the Stars in 1977 on NBC, his final network outing (save a substitute run for Bill Cullen on 1980’s Chain Reaction). He also has hosted Play the Percentages (syndicated, 1980), a daily Treasure Hunt (syndicated, 1981-82), Starcade (syndicated, 1983-84), and The New Chain Reaction (USA, 1986-91), as well as California’s lottery TV game for several years. He recently hosted a short-lived syndicated radio show, Radio Tonight, and has become a serious travel writer. I believe I just read he's got another radio show starting up in southern California. Nice guy, as well -- he's been very generous in responding to questions from game show fans.Key Phrases:
The Home Game:
Reruns:
It’s likely the entire NBC run has been destroyed. The USA and syndicated runs, however, still exist and have been broadcast on GSN, but aren’t on the regular schedule right now.Revivals:
Actually, parts of this show have been included in the current GSN game Hollywood Showdown, which runs at 8 p.m. weeknights.Curt Alliaume, Executive Producer:
But if Sony really decides to do this, it could work. Actually, I would consider making Jackpot! a kids’ game. It’s certainly easy enough for them to play, plus the running back and forth adds a fun element and perhaps could be expanded upon. Children tend to think in such a way that the riddle format would actually make more sense (whereas adults can puzzle fruitlessly over a riddle for hours).My Grade:
B-.Read More About It:
Sound + Vision:
Jackpot! is a copyrighted title of Bob Stewart Productions. This page is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Bob Stewart Productions, Columbia/Tri-Star Television, their subsidiaries, affiliates, or successor organizations. No challenge to their ownership is implied. Jackpot! home game copyright 1975 by Milton Bradley. All photos originally appeared on eBay.