Now You See It

Now You See It

Last Update: December 28, 2007 – a few YouTube videos added in Sound + Vision and some edits.

Airing: 11-11:30 a.m. Monday-Friday through June 13, CBS.

Personnel: Jack Narz, host; Johnny Olson, Gene Wood, announcers. A Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production. Taped in Los Angeles.

Description: Word search game, and if you don’t like it, wait a few months and the rules will change.

Game Play: In 1975, the game was played in three rounds. The elimination round featured four new players, who were paired off randomly into two teams (woe unto you if your teammate’s not bright). They played on a word search board measuring fourteen letters wide by four letters long. One contestant kept their back turned while Narz read a question, the answer to which was hidden on the board. The first of the two contestants facing the board to ring in identified which of four the answer was located on, then the other contestant turned around and identified which of the fourteen positions the answer started on. A right answer earned that team the number of points corresponding to that position (line three, position five equaled eight points). An additional ten points were rewarded to the team if one of the two team members had written down that particular word when given an opportunity before the round started (a feature added only partway through the show’s run). After about five questions, the team members switched positions and the game continued. The team with the most points at the end of this round went to the second round.

At this point, the teammates played against one another in the qualifying round. Narz read a question, then started revealing one letter at a time on the line. The contestant who rang in and answered correctly first won one point. The next answer was in the last part of the previous word, and so on down that line. Four points won that round and several prizes.

Finally, the returning champion got a chance to play against the survivor of the previous two rounds (what other show has the champion sit out for half the program, anyway?) in the championship round. They played another word search round similar to the first one, identifying both the line and position. The contestant with the most points at the end of this round (about five minutes long) won the game.

Later in 1975, the elimination round was dropped, and two new contestants played in the qualifying round for the right to face the champion, with five points winning the game. In the championship round, point values doubled midway through the game.

End Game: Also known as the solo round, this featured another word search board, and 60 seconds on the clock. The champion had to identify ten words during that time, with the option to pass on a question and return to it later. The prize for identifying all ten words started at $5,000 and increased $1,000 a day if it wasn’t won, with each word worth $100 if all ten weren’t found.

Background: Now You See It began on CBS on April 1, 1974, replacing The $10,000 Pyramid, which of course turned out to be one of the less stellar decisions CBS has made – Pyramid popped up on ABC six weeks later and ran for over six years. Different books have different rules for the game, and from what I gather from descriptions of the reruns, the rules changed several times. What’s described above is what I have on two shows originally taped in late 1974. Jack Narz was getting a good paycheck from Goodson-Todman – he also hosted the five-a-week syndicated version of Concentration simultaneous with NYSI.

Narzissism: Maybe this didn’t happen on every show, but an episode I have on tape shows the following words on the big board at the show’s opening: (What’s My) Line, (The) Price (Is Right), (To Tell the) Truth, Match (Game ’75), and Password – all G-T games. Actually, you can see them on the YouTube show open below.

…Now You Don’t: In 1974, NYSI debuted successfully against NBC’s The Wizard of Odds (ABC didn’t program at 11 a.m. at the time), but the switch to High Rollers eventually eroded Now You See It’s audience. CBS dropped the program on June 13, shuffling the daytime lineup around in the process: Tattletales moved from 4 p.m. to 11 a.m., and Musical Chairs, a New York-based game, debuted at the 4 p.m. spot, after Match Game ’75. Narz continued to host the syndicated five-a-week Concentration into 1978, and wound up as announcer and associate producer on The All-New Beat the Clock as the decade came to a close. He’s been retired (not necessarily of his own choice) since 1980.

Steve Beverly once noted Jack Narz apparently hosted an early pilot of Family Feud and had the inside track for the position from ABC. Richard Dawson, however, had an option to host any G-T game he chose, and he chose Feud. I am not positive about this – especially given Dawson is pictured on a subsequent Feud pilot – but it makes for some interesting possibilities.

Now You See It Again: A 1985 pilot of NYSI featured Jack Clark as host and a radically altered game, and wasn’t picked up. In 1989, CBS and Mark Goodson brought back Now You See It with Los Angeles-based newsman Chuck Henry as host. With minor rule changes from the final edition of the 1975 version, heavy competition from NBC’s Classic Concentration and Henry wondering why he’d signed the contract, the revised Now You See It expired after 15 weeks.

Key Phrases:

"Every answer… to every question… is right before your eyes. And Now…You…See…It! Now You See It!" Johnny Olson’s intro, complete with appropriate horn fanfare. NYSI’s theme song was Quincy Jones’ "Chump Change," originally on A&M Records, now out of print. It’s one of best theme songs ever on a game show – maybe even better than the game itself. (Actually, it was used even earlier as the theme to The New Bill Cosby Show, a short-lived variety offering from 1972.)

"Now You See It…now you don’t." Narz’s commentary as the big board turned around to reveal the game board for a round, only to shut off the lights so players didn’t memorize the board.

The Home Game: Milton Bradley released a home game in early 1975. It plays pretty well, if I remember correctly.

Reruns: Well, if you’re up at 1:30 EST, you’re in luck; the 1974-1975 version is currently rerunning on Game Show Network. Set those TiVos. Henry apparently exercised his option not to let his version of NYSI run, which upset no one.

Revivals: Based on the Henry version, don’t hold your breath. I think Fremantle has bigger fish to fry.

My 1975 Grade: C+.

Read More About It:

Chuck Donegan’s Now You See It Page features full rules of both versions.

Mike Dudas’ Game Show Site features a Jack Narz photo album.

Sound + Vision:

’80s TV Theme SuperSite to download the theme music.

TVParty.com has a couple of streaming Real Audio show openers.

Here are a few YouTube clips. This one shows a $17,000 win from 1974. That was life-changing money; her $21,900 total winnings would be worth over $91,000 today. I will say, however, that someone ripped the clip off without acknowledgement from Jamie Locklin’s far superior Page O’ Clips, currently under reconstruction.

Here’s a show open from the 1974-1975 version.

And here’s a show open and the first few minutes from the 1989 version. Note the very different sets -- the ’70s version was about as ’70s as you could get with the shag carpeting; this one seems to have been stolen from Space: 1999.

E-mail Me With Your Memories of Now You See It

Return to Curt Alliaume's Game Shows ’75

Now You See It is a copyrighted titles of Mark Goodson Productions/Pearson Television. This page is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Mark Goodson Productions, Pearson Television, their subsidiaries, affiliates, or successor organizations. No challenge to their ownership is implied. Now You See It box game copyright Milton Bradley Company. Photos originally appeared on eBay.