$20,000 Pyramid - Show #70 Billy Crystal CLASSIC RETRO GAME SHOW!

Rare $20,000 Pyramid episode with game show champ and record-holder Billy Crystal!

[@jaredjlinden]

I wish there were enough episodes of the 70s Pyramid to rerun. I like the 80s version a lot, but the 70s version has a very different feel to it.

[@tnawcwvictoria]

God Bless You Mr. Clark, R.I.P. to America's Oldest Teenager "See ya tomorrow on the Bandstand" His signature show

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

Yes, I loved that sign off.

[@ryanstrnad8442]

I love that, "see you tomorrow on Bandstand."

[@ericpregosin511]

Well it was being shown on ABC at the time after all

[@Tre404]

Man, me too! Hearing him say that sure takes me back.

[@jad8123]

Great theme music. The Big Pyramid winners circle was so tense. Awesome game show.

[@progrockfan28]

Woah! O_O! That was TOO close, beating the '00" clock time in the Winner's Circle! Also thanks for keeping the ads intact. A historical account on how short commercial breaks were back in the 1970s - early 1980s, basically two ads and (maybe) a network promo, then right back into the action.

[@thewipsportstalkfan3160]

Those are the days that wil never be seen again.

[@dudemanjack98]

This was recorded one week after I was born. All of a sudden I have a craving for Golden Grahams. You know it's a good commercial when 41 years later it makes someone want to purchase their product.

[@christybradfield7812]

Don't forget that it's still being made, shows how much people like it!

[@jmiller297]

I'm currently watching this with my mom and aunt and they said that they "feel like they're in college again!" LOL... They even remember a lot of the old commercials! You rock, Wink! Thanks so much for this gem... :-) :-)

[@millenniumman75]

Madge "You're soaking in it" and the Palmolive "softens hands while you do dishes", and the ABC Love Boat (9-10pm) Fantasy Island (10-11pm) "Da Plane! Da plane!" Friday Nights. All went pretty far into the 1980s.

[@millenniumman75]

Robert Young "Father Knows Best", "Marcus Welby, M.D" and Sanka coffee. I would have to admit, through, that as a four-year-old, I was coming home from preschool and watching Wheel of Fortune with Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford.....but I do remember seeing an episode or two of this Pyramid version!

[@allisons3663]

I love the commercials. Cling Free!!! Thank you, Wink, for this channel!!

[@AskMeByJeanne]

Love this! The commercials are great! Thank you!

[@javiervarela1231]

Thanks Wink's Vault for these game show revisits. I instantly remembered Robert Young in the Sanka coffee commercial. Ahhh, such great memories!

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

I love these commercials. I love these promos for other shows on ABC.

[@jayman25000]

Thanks so much for posting this! I've seen that win in other clips, but it was never as clear as this one. Thank you!

[@theaudieappletonchannel4642]

It sure was convenient for the mother to have the dryer open when the grandmother came into the kitchen with a box of dryer sheets.😄

[@bighomiehandlebar7698]

I was 3 year's old in 1979 ! Is just me but that 20,000 pryramid backround sign used scare the shit out me when the show first comes on 😁 It was all dark & look like big Pyramid Monster . I used to think when the contestants go the winner's circle that Pyramid was going to attack the contestants 😩😩😩😂😂😂😂😂

[@Tre404]

I had similar TV scariness as a kid. The Viacom "V of Doom" was kind of intimidating, and the animated 'Lectric Shave guy at the end of that commercial definitely scared me when I was 3 years old!

[@allijo514]

Tic Tac Dough music scared the mess out of me as a kid...especially in the extended play with those low horns. It's still a little creepy to me but I'm more intrigued by it now.

[@jamesgleason9004]

The ads! Thank you for including them :)

[@samuelfouther2882]

"See you tomorrow on the Bandstand...for now Dick Clark...So Long..." Epic!!

[@jerseyfla]

It’s amazing how low budget this seemed versus it’s Goodson-Todman and Heatter-Quigley counterparts during that time. You could barely hear the fee plugs or theme over the crowd clapping.

[@ericjonmagnuson2728]

That might've been more the result of where this era of Pyramid was taped: the Elysee Theatre in New York, which ended up closing and being demolished in '85.

[@jaketanner7496]

This had nothing to do with being "low budget"...simply was how the sound engineer mixed the various audio channels... And I don't know why you had a problem hearing them but the fee plugs were loud and clear for me...

[@Noveltooner]

@@ericjonmagnuson2728 Actually, it was only the 58th Street entrance and lobby that were demolished. The Elysée"s auditorium was retained and is part of the school that replaced the studio.

[@ThandrieDavis]

I love how they were just like: "Oh, screw it, call it a draw, we don't have time for another full tiebreaker!"

[@wschmrdr]

We have to remember that there was no timing rule for ties unlike the 80's, episodes still could (and did) straddle, and it would be unfair to potentially make a new celebrity go in cold for a winner's circle try. Sure, there was precedence on other shows like Password Plus, but that seemed like a nice touch to also treat the celebrity like a contestant needing to earn their way to the bonus, and not just a prop to get ratings. Especially since the contestant could use the up-front game as a gauge to whether they'd be more comfortable giving or receiving to that celebrity.

[@willjarmon4418]

@@wschmrdr before they developed the Friday tie there were many times a celebrity would go in first thing on a Monday

[@meyerj75]

There was a Monday episode of the $10,000 Pyramid where they had to finish the Winners Circle game with Nipsey Russell as the celebrity guest before leaving after it was done as two others were already scheduled for that week. I believe that was the last time it happened before the Friday ties were relegated.

[@TogonzoMedia]

Nothing like hearing Ken Aldin's "Tuning Up" ... :-)

[@RToddJones]

Thanks, team Wink! This is so fun.

[@VectraQS]

Holy studio master, Batman!

[@karenelizabeth1590]

Wow, Billy Crystal is really focused in this game.

[@Tre404]

The man is absolutely amazing at everything he does!

[@jaketanner7496]

I always had such a crush on Sal Viscuso...

[@bsquared4604]

i want some golden grahams! i can't believe that commercial is 43 years old!

[@pem1974]

It just occured to me that Dick never introduced (or interviewed) Kim (Billy Crystal's partner) at the beginning of the show.

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

"See you tomorrow on _The Bandstand_."

[@jasonbeard4713]

That Fisher Price commercial with clear sound is a treat I fondly remember.

[@ericvansickle4305]

If I were to be on the new $100,000 Pyramid, I would insist on playing with Billy Crystal, and then have him give the clues in the Winner's Circle.

[@jeatig]

Do you think that this new Pyramid could ask both Billy Crystal and Sal Viscuso to be on the show??

[@libertubey2199]

I highly doubt that would happen now. So far, all of the contestants have been giving the clues in the Winners Circle. I do not know if it is now the rule or if during the commercial break, Michael Strahan gives the contestant the option and the contestant chooses to give the clues.

[@misstee101]

Wink my man, you've done it again my friend! 14:20 she did it!

[@DBR00]

Headset is an iffy clue IMO.

[@theaudieappletonchannel4642]

For the subject,Things you clip,a good clue would have been Coupons.

[@danpieroni6316]

I think a brilliant piece of strategy was employed by Billy Crystal in the first winner's circle round. When they went back the box that they passed on, he told the contestant he was going back there. This allowed her to immediately focus on the clues already given and saved her the two or three seconds it would have taken her to focus had he not mentioned he was going back there. As we saw, those two extra seconds made all the difference in the end.

[@chrisarseneault5617]

I love all versions of the pyramid please keep them coming!

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

I love it when the slates are included.

[@epaddon]

Airdate was May 4, 1979.

[@MMB18abel]

In California, ABC flip-flopped PYRAMID and FEUD, Pyramid ran first at 10:30 AM followed by FF at 11:00.

[@wschmrdr]

Sal's now #2? Debbie Kirschenbaum-Herman would probably challenge that. :P

[@oofdaboi3164]

0:26 rip teh master tape

[@JZCRAZY]

My cheap VCR used to eat tapes too. Lucky for me I wasn't sticking Master Tapes in it.

[@georgemaster9271]

@@JZCRAZY Too bad the show with the record breaking time only has that part in existence.

[@meyerj75]

@@georgemaster9271 That was late November 1977. Had Fred Silverman took over ABC beforehand, he would have ended the network's wiping policy then. Sadly, he enforced the wiping ban the following January when he took over which was a month or two late.

[@richardlittle1663]

I wished that former Buffalo then Independent Television Station WUTV Channel 29 carry the former ABC game show The $20,000 Pyramid back in September 1978 at 12 Noon local Eastern Time

[@unknown-kh7dg]

Richard Little, WKBW-TV, Channel 7, the ABC station in Buffalo, NY was airing "Eyewitness News At Noon" at 12:00PM, so the cable system at the time Cable Scope Channel 10 as well International Cable Channel 10 picked up WJET-TV, Channel 24 in Erie, PA or WOKR-TV(now WHAM-TV), Channel 13 in Rochester, NY which carried "The $20,000 Pyramid" in that time slot at the time.

[@RickinBaltimore]

15:00 I had one of those! And I was that age then.

[@DBR00]

For rattle- an afraid snake….

[@Drchainsaw77]

Benny Goodman! Henny Youngman!

[@pem1974]

So I wonder if Robert Urich and Heather Menzies' first order of business was to break that tie?

[@jaketanner7496]

They broke the tie by playing a new game...

[@TLEberle]

No, it would be to play a new game-the split Winners Circle put a cap on that game because it would be awkward to start it again on Monday.

[@jmiller297]

14:20 *YAAAAAAAAAAAAASSS!!!*

[@Jack21Spades]

Oh yeah!

[@matthewbaduria]

I wish gsn might shown the 70's pyramid the 80's version was great but the 70's version was different.

[@theaudieappletonchannel4642]

For the word ,paper cup,they should have watched the Dixie commercial in the preceding break.😄

[@nicoleberry2750]

Wink, I would like to know if you have originally aired episodes of $20,000 Pyramid, Tattletales, Match Game and The Price Is Right with commercials included from 1977; because if so, can you please download them on You Tube so I can see them? I grew up watching these game shows since my childhood.

[@LL-bl8hd]

Sal is dressed like Han Solo!

[@thunderbirdforlife]

Nothing sells like fear. Now I know why every house had a dixie cup dispenser growing up 16:40

[@davidlewis1815]

"For now-Dick Clark. So long"

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

Is there a tape of Sal's 30-second game?

[@chrisarseneault5617]

And RIP Dick Clark.

[@chuckgan]

Don’t remember that tiebreaker. I thought you had to beat the other teams time.

[@banjochris]

That rule started in LA in the '80s.

[@SamHodkin23]

The timed tiebreaker came in during the 80's 25K run, mainly as tiebreakers kept going on and on.

[@daronfaught6158]

I enjoy the fact that you actually had to have some brains to compete on shows like this. The new ABC show isn't terrible but the IQ levels have dropped a bit.

[@MTCesquire]

Yeah it's easier than the old versions but so what? It's still not an easy game to play (I always try it at parties. People have the most DIFFICULT time with it). Besides, I'd rather see games go the distance with easier rules than struggle through a 9-8 game with 2 categories left on the board.

[@diamonddog13]

Nice to see Dick chatting it up at the end. He usually just buggers off like he has a plane to catch.

[@rodney1279TheFlip]

It is great they made up after playing hard all week. Lol.

[@Chainsawslots]

Old school cardboard categories on first half of game. No rotating.

[@darreljones8645]

For the record, no, the Yankees didn't win it all again. The Pittsburgh Pirates did, in one of the best surprises of all time. My father, a native of the Pittsburgh area, still has scars from the ceiling fan he jumped into to celebrate the win.

[@dougghiz8339]

R.I.P. Dick Clark

[@dansog2256]

Did he swear at 25:47 ?

[@nicholaswilliams5396]

What'd he say at 2:25?

[@millenniumman75]

He didn't say anything; he was listening to the rules.

[@MountainHawkPYL]

"contains the essence of the answer"

[@evalehde3869]

The woman is great but the “ok and” before everything gets old in a hurry.

[@bsquared4604]

gee they didn't try that hard to win that pyramid at the end.

[@nextbarker2702]

I never heard of Heather Mendesez, Robert Urich, I heard of.

[@unknown-kh7dg]

Nextbaker, Heather Menzies was married to Robert Urich at the time, and she co-starred with Gregory Harrison on the CBS prime time science fiction series "Logan's Run" which was based on the feature film of the same name. Reruns were shown on cable on TNT back in the 1990's.

[@unknown-kh7dg]

She also guest starred on her husband's Robert Urich's ABC prime time crime drama series "Vega$".

[@johnd8167]

Heather was also one of the Von Trapp children on The Sound of Music.

[@SMCalif1956]

One of the best games ever. Dick Clark was a virtuoso at this, and Bill Cullen's ups for him on the finale were well deserved. Too bad its ABC tenure was cut because Fred Silverman was a humorless bar of soap.

[@unknown-kh7dg]

Fred Silverman cancelled it the first time when it was on CBS as "The $10,000 Pyramid" because the ratings were down just a little bit but not much.

[@kevinfitzmaurice4072]

Also, Silverman moved to NBC in 1978, two years before ABC cancelled "Pyramid."

[@meyerj75]

Is that Billy Crystal or the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel?

[@ericpregosin511]

Not to embarrass you but all the comments that came out earlier than yours, includibg the title by Winston himself tell you it's Billy, and he is clearly identified by name by Wagstaff and Bob Clayton at the beginning

[@evalehde3869]

And another ..ok ok ok ok

[@millenniumman75]

2:56 - haha. Unexpected. Would that be allowed by today's rules?

[@douglasghiz1287]

R.I.P. Dick Clark