Jackpot 6/6/86

[@jamesmoss3424]

I remember watching Jackpot on the USA network when I was a kid and it should come back one day. 😀👍

[@mikedarrow3809]

Great to see this!

[@Noveltooner]

It was good to see the game return to Bob Stewart's original riddle format. What killed it on NBC was when NBC daytime programming director Lin Bolen insisted on turning it into an ordinary question/answer quiz game. She did it just as "Jackpot's" ratings were rising solidly, and, just as the network did with "$ale of the ¢entury" a few years earlier. Just as "Jackpot" should have been simply left alone to continue to grow, all "$ale" needed was an updated set; the huge bi-level "Bloomingdale's" set was not only expensive but becoming long in the tooth. NBC provided "$ale" with a snappy, new and impressive 1970's modern showroom set. However, its daytime programming chief insisted on tampering with game itself, replacing the three individual "shoppers" with a two-team couples format. The revamped format caused a ratings nosedive from which it never recovered. Both Jones, Howard Ltd. and NBC, who jointly own the show, then sold "$ale of the ¢entury" to Australian programmer Reg Grundy after its NBC daytime and syndicated nighttime runs were cancelled. Grundy didn't take long to make NBC and creator Al Howard regret that decision, as he returned the game to its original "three-shopper" format, gave it a set inspired by the second NBC set, and made "$ale of the ¢entury" into an international moneymaking sensation. "Jackpot" and "$ale of the ¢entury" were two prime examples of how NBC was masterful at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

[@Crichtonator1982]

OMG I used to watch this when I was a kid! I LOVED Mike Darrow. Jackpot was my favourite game show. I remember watching Jackpot to this day!

[@jimt.626]

Hillary Crichton me too. That and Super Pay Cards with Art James

[@PREGO1966]

You both realize that both shows you named were remakes of older shows? Jackpot in 74 with Geoff Edwards and plain Pay Cards in 1968 to 1970 also with Art James.

[@ericsamuelson5656]

Mike Darow died way too young. He was only 63 years old when he died Dec 1996.

[@jeffeastwood15]

Thanks for posting and including the commercials =^)

[@bluebear1985]

Listening to the promo at the end, I didn't realize that USA ever showed reruns of Bill Cullen's version of "Chain Reaction". I guess it was popular enough to bring the Geoff Edwards-hosted version to air, which was also taped in Canada, but in Montreal instead of Toronto like this show.

[@PREGO1966]

They showed it a few times in 1986. The last time led up to the Edwards version premiering in the US. Interestingly enough I learned online that Blake Emmons started the series, and the Edwards took over for the rest of the run. However, USA showed the Edwards episodes first when they showed the first season.

[@seanmontgomery801]

The men are Kings of the Hill and the women are the Queens of the Hill on all three versions of Jackpot hosted by Mike Darow,Geoff Edwards and Nipsey Russell,the poet laureate of game shows ,great talent.

[@TimBoyd2012]

Back when the term "King of the Hill" didn't conjure up visions of propane and narrow urethras.

[@gladfan1989]

Boy, I tell you what . . .

[@stevekoenig3684]

1:58--"...I GOTTA GO!"

[@gangstagrandma]

Where do you find other episodes of this show. I was on this show right around the same time. Would love to see them.

[@johnwhite1531]

tune the insrruments. it sounds like the jaws movie.

[@nextbarker2702]

Did this the show have a studio audience?

[@mikemcmahon8982]

The Canadian version with Mike Darrow were shot in studios near Don mills and Eglinton. There was no audience and they shot 10 episodes per day. I was on the show and I won the return trip, so I was there for the entire day. . I almost won a car.

[@danspizzacorner9711]

JACKPOT!!!!!!

[@thedanceys]

Do you know where I can get a DVD copy of the Jackpot gameshow?

[@PREGO1966]

Put a blank in your DVD drive and record it off here, game shows are rarely released to the public on DVD

[@donnapodhurst6552]

the not smartest people play this game

[@johnwhite1531]

tune the insrruments. it sounds like the jaws movie.