Pitfall (Game Show) - Dan, Vivienne & Mary

This game show has an unfortunate history despite being hosted by the venerable Alex Trebek. The production company was essentially bankrupt which led to contestants not receiving their prizes and Trebek being paid with an NSF check. The show had potential but couldn't meet their financial commitments.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to this show. Video is meant for educational purposes only.

[@paulyt5159]

R.I.P Alex, you were an icon and made Canada proud with your amazing career

[@streetcarjay]

Rest peacefully Alex Trebek. Greater Sudbury's favorite son.

[@rickrhinoc9373]

Very sad. Just heard of his passing about 10 minutes ago.

[@jkent6526]

RIP Alex. I used to watch this as a young boy. Loved the elevators.

[@RobertoLopez-xb1mj]

I admire Dan's enthusiasm as a contestant on this show even though Pitfall lasted only a brief period of time and the finances of its production company were the pits (no pun intended).

[@mrmanitoba]

I only remembered this show as a kid once the contestant went down on the pitfall. So weird that this was recommended for me.

[@MurasakiBunny]

I was so disappointed as a child when this show aired and finding out it had nothing to do with the video game. XD

[@missladwig9844]

No I'm sorry but it doesn't

[@markofly76]

I'm glad Alex Trebek recovered from all this mess he had to go through hosting Pitfall. Hosting Jeopardy! and Classic Concentration more than made up for this for him.

[@WizardOfWor]

And Double Dare & High Rollers.

[@mitchellries256]

And Battlestars and To Tell The Truth.

[@quentinraffensperger1699]

Alex Trebek and Monty Hall - 2 Canadian Game Show Host legends.

[@binhkhoiluuuc1718]

3 - including Jim Perry (from Card Sharks and $ale of the Century) (R.I.P)

[@timsmotorcyclediary]

@@binhkhoiluuuc1718 You forgot Jim Perry was originally famous for hosting Definition from Toronto, Canada. The theme song was also used as the main song in the Austin Power movies by Torontonian Mike Myers.

[@WaltGekko]

@@timsmotorcyclediary Actually, before that, Jim Perry actually did news in the overnights on the legendary WABC (770) in New York (plus a short music show early Sunday mornings).

[@donaldpaluga]

Thanks to the latter the former got stiffed

[@mitchellries256]

True. But I think he was talking about Canadian born hosts. Jim was born in New Jersey while Monty and Alex were originally born in Canada.

[@quincee3376]

RIP Mr. Trebek.

[@phoxgrimm9]

I was on this show, sitting to the left of alex, i still have my pitpass, ..wow, un frikin believable, i could be seeing myself so many years later..

[@teresaclarke9908]

phoxgrimm9 lucky you. Did he autographed them for you?

[@beerskittlez9503]

phoxgrimm9 HAY HAPi w DA WAY YA AGED..OF COURSE ..WE ALL GET BETA W AGE haha ..how old were YA WEN DIS HAPN OCCURED ..1985 ..I WAS 21 w TWO BEAUTiii's of BOYS ..3YR OLD N A 1 1/2 YR OLD ..KRR'azy YO

[@5star555555555]

Did you get your prizes?

[@mlubiarz]

Wonder what that pit pass would go for on Ebay?

[@syferdet]

This show has an eight second bonus round music loop that is a product of the 70's to 80's disco to New Wave transition, and is a frightfully devious earworm.

[@allankelly2500]

and announcer John Barton was the host of the CTV Game Show What's The Good Word

[@davincent98]

8:56 Alex Trebek predicted KZbin

[@Angie2343]

OMS! (Ig mt Sun!( He did!

[@johnmiller1376]

"R.I.P. alex-trebek (1940-2020) you'll be missed by everyone including jeopardy-champion ken-jennings always & forever amen".

[@Mike-pj1kv]

The best part is when the automated platform descends into the abyss.

[@DC-vv5ii]

Alex could host a show about paint drying, or ice melting and make it interesting, but man, his hair!

[@teresaclarke9908]

I remember this show. Not only was classic concentration was my fave, but this one as well.

[@zachhoran]

Bill Armstrong, producer of 70s Hollywood Squares and host of the 1976-77 and producer of Liar's Club, was also a producer on this show. Catalena and Rhodes were also involved with the 1980-81 Canadian taped, US aired version of LMAD, but I'd suspect Monty Hall and Co,. would have made sure players and staff got paid. This show when syndicated in the US in 1981-82 wasn't on very many stations. It aired in Canada in reruns in the mid 80s and on WLIg Long Island in 1985-86 in a block with Cullen $25K Pyramid reruns.

[@looneytune9997]

+Zach Horan It was also on WOR (now WWOR) New York in 1981.

[@akampfer]

KPTV in Portland, OR carried it for a time as well.

[@mbclev]

To my knowledge, no Cleveland, OH television station carried "Pitfall", despite what was said in this page on the show: illustriousgameshowpage.com/pitfall.html (even though a limited number of cable TV customers in the Cleveland area could get WWOR out of New York, which carried the show).

[@newstarcadefan]

Right, I remember the legendarily bad management from Catalina Productions...whom ultimately lost their lawsuits against Monty Hall over the 1980 version of Let's Make A Deal. This is a cheesy game, but none the less, it's a part of Game Show History.

[@georgemaster9952]

This show needs a reboot!

[@pontifixmax]

I dunno. It's so high tech it would he hard to replicate haha

[@ericandy88]

It was certainly a show with a lot of promise & could still work today. If only the financial screwovers did not give it a bad taste in the mouth.

[@timsmotorcyclediary]

@@pontifixmax Or replicating the prizes - a 2 door compact. What motivation!

[@thewkovacs316]

notice how with the car they didnt give the make or model that was a clue that dan would never get that car

[@donaldpaluga]

Looked like a Renault to me

[@georgemaster689]

For a moment, I had forgotten that Canadians spell neighbor with a "u", amongst other o/r Canadian words.

[@halon7476]

I remember watching this as a kid. RIP☹

The first game show that lived up to its name as it was just what the title is

[@Sammy4549]

The bonus round music is pretty awesome.

[@marchoffman6878]

i.m sorry that alex trebek who hosted this show isn.t still alive.

[@markjones1184]

The show was taped in North Van BC. I'm surprised they had Californians on it - didn't think there'd be demand ftom States to be on a Canadian show. Although the last word also taped in Van, had people from Seattle, so maybe not shocking

[@davidraglin2833]

Actually, it was filmed in West Van BC at Panorama Studios. I worked on this show and "Let's Make A Deal" with Monty Hall.

[@JackSmith-kx7fe]

@@davidraglin2833 Any behind the scenes stories there at Panorama? Before my time, wish I got to see it.

[@pontifixmax]

This contestant is about as smart as a post.

[@gamblincabbie9505]

Rhodes Productions, the company behind Pitfall, tried having this show and a reboot of Flipper at the same time, spreading themselves too thin causing the issues. Had they stuck with just Pitfall or just the Flipper reboot they would had been fine.

[@Mrtv1017]

I sure wish this show would air on Buzzr

[@mikevanriel7573]

I don’t think there are enough episodes to air this on BUZZR. Even if they did, they are probably wiped.

[@shawnattwells5355]

Every time I hear about the prizes on this show, you have to feel for the poor contestants, a lot of whom never collected, because of the gross incompetence of the powers that be running things.

[@quentinraffensperger1699]

Dan looks like a mixture of Darryl Sittler and Spinner Spencer... 2 NHL players ironically.

[@jgarrison1309]

LOL 19:26 My Gosh you got it right this time LOLOLOL

[@Musicradio77Network]

The Rhodes Productions logo @ 22:28 had the synthesized theme sounded a lot different than what it was used for both the PITS Films and TAT Communications logos.

[@AndyBruinewoud]

Maybe Alex should have been suspicious about the company's ability to pay. I don't think I've ever seen a game show give away a new car without saying what make or model it is (watch at 9:20).

[@mlubiarz]

They NEVER mentioned the company the prizes were from. I always thought that when they plugged the name of the company the company donated the prizes as a promotion.

[@donaldpaluga]

I remember in an interview he mentioned the fact that Catalena wasn't a signatory with the Union in Canada, but he couldn't back out of the contract

[@davidkendrick4453]

The Wizard of Odds/Pitfall era Trebek was the best Trebek.

[@marchoffman6878]

i think this show pitfall was based on the arcade game pitfall.

[@bb3ca201]

i had no idea about the show's history. wow

[@P00katube]

Robert W Produced in Vancouver by CTV or CBC in 1980-81, syndicated to US stations in 1981-82

[@georgemaster9952]

You can tell this was from Canada because one reason I can think of... Neighbor(American English)and Neighbour(Canadian English).

[@sweiland75]

You're clever!

[@georgemaster4225]

@@sweiland75 I'm pretty observant.

[@SomeonewithaSony]

Brand new carrrrr!!

[@Angie2343]

A Rich Fields line.

[@georgemaster9952]

I hope Buzzr will eventually pick up this show.

[@Sammy4549]

Depends if Fremantle can obtain the rights.

[@mitchellries256]

I wish they'd pick up a lot of classic shows. Aside from Supermarket Sweep, Sale of the Century and Press Your Luck, Buzzr only shows episodes of shows by Mark Goodson/Bill Toddmen productions. It would be a much better program if they had aired shows by Jay Wolpert (Whew, Hit Man and Blackout), Reg Grundy (Scrabble, Time Machine and Scattagories), Bob Stewart (Jackpot, Pyramid, Chain Reaction and Go) whatever company made High Rollers, Gambit, Hollywood Squares, Battlestars and Bargain Hunters and whatever company made Tic Tac Dough and Hot Potato.

[@disneyfan8178]

@@mitchellries256 Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley Productions did "Hollywood Squares" (Peter Marshall-hosted version), "High Rollers" (both Alex Trebek-hosted versions), and "Gambit". Now their rights are owned by Sony when Sony bought what was left of MGM. As for the others, "Battlestars" and "Bargain Hunters" were produced by Merrill Heatter Productions (after Bob Quigley retired) and Jack Barry-Dan Enright Productions did 'Tic-Tac-Dough" and "Hot Potato" (the rights to the latter are also owned by Sony).

[@LittleRockElevators]

@@mitchellries256 It would be nice to see Scrabble and Scattergories but Buzzr would have to go through Hasbro.

[@drewconway7135]

Little Lance and Deirdre are both about 50 now.

[@danielruggiero5230]

The theme song sounds somewhat like Steely Dan's "Peg"

[@Sean-me4fv]

I’ve seen your picture, your name in lights above it

[@lovitz69]

I believe this was filmed in the same West Vancouver studio that Robert Altman worked out of in the Late 60s/Early 70s. They were demolished when the British Properties development was being built.

[@threeparots1]

I believe at least the pilot was done at BCTV in Burnaby, as I recall seeing it there. And the cool set.

[@Raymel2366]

Alex on this one sure looked like a talk show host than a game show host once they introduced him.

[@GrimmHollywood]

These set pieces are wild.

[@cg0825]

wow, Alex Trebek back in the day looked totally different

[@WaltGekko]

Yes. He didn't get rid of the mustache until I think around 2000.

[@libertubey2199]

@@WaltGekko It was 2001. When he grew a full beard two years ago (not the first time he had a beard), his wife overruled voters and, as a result, shaved it off. Perhaps she got used to and enjoy his clean-shaven face.

[@foxmccloud7055]

Word of the wise, if you are going to bring back "Pitfall," actually pay your contestants and host.

[@Angie2343]

Yes!

[@tdickensheets]

RIP Alex!

[@johnissoevil]

Look at that host! Looks like someone out of Welcome Back Kotter. They'll never give him a job on a straight up quiz game show, he ain't no Art Fleming!

[@samclark379]

John Fenner I dare you to say that again. In fact, I'll Double Dare you.

[@bluebear1985]

Too much Concentration on this host.

[@eyehatefarcebook11]

He's a high roller now!

[@LittleRockElevators]

John Fenner he had to tell the truth

[@ryansmith1044]

It doesn't take a Wizard to know that the Odds of this man making it big are slim to none!

[@richmoney9348]

Alex is so young

[@gynandroidhead]

Alex Trebek 1940-2020

[@marchoffman6878]

i saw this show.

[@ManfromuncoolBlogspotstars]

This is Canadian? When was this made?

[@LittleRockElevators]

It is a Canadian game show and the show started in 1981

[@toyman81]

A young Alex, What year is this from?

[@d-complexakasnypermclivedr9549]

Is this supposed to be a play on the Pitfall game for Atari 2600? Did David Crane get any compensation for this?

[@Sammy4549]

This Pitfall came first

[@eric7922]

Also stars in SCTV’s High Q...

[@ccbsnyc]

Me. The pitfall questions were pretty easy. The set must have cost something with the elevators. Apparently the entire thing was a financial fiasco with lots of unpaid employees and contestants. No need to revive it.

[@ryangreen2469]

A strange but interesting game-first time viewing Seems Alex hosted many game shows, oh that 1977 look (stache -fro) Prayers for Alex to beat the dreadful illness he is battling.

[@imal25]

I MISS ALEX TREBEK SO MUCH.

[@jamesmoss3424]

Dan did excellent. 😀👍

[@christianinkster1729]

I wonder if Dan got screwed out of his winnings when the company that produced this show went bankrupt (Alex got scammed out of his salary)?

[@RPSteve]

So far as I know, it was the contestants who were on the final week of "Pitfall" episodes who never received their winnings. But I know for certain that Alex Trebek was given a Bounced Cheque and since it never cleared the bank, he has that cheque upon his home office wall in a frame!

[@seanvogt221]

+Steve Flynn Now he makes millions with Jeopardy! so he got the last laugh.

[@ChuckD79]

Probably...a few former contestants resurfaced on YT and said they never received their prizes, among them Eileen Mintz (RIP), who won over $5K, but only ended up getting a trip to Paris that didn't include airfare!

[@blind_t2]

Chuck D's All-New Classic TV Clubhouse that was a major screwjob if i ever did see one!

[@ericandy88]

Wow. A trip to Paris without airfare? How were they going to get there? Swim?

[@dannydougin3925]

Alex was so handsome...

[@Rlotpir1972]

Did the musical director steal a page from Steely Dan's "Peg"?

[@mlubiarz]

Probably used a technique called sampling like many musicians use now a days. Simply Red did that with their song Sunrise. Sampled Hall and Oates Can't go on Like That.

[@jaydabrown7012]

Could someone tell me how did the production company that produced Pitfall ended up bankrupt in the first place?

[@c3po626]

Catalena productions had some nasty business deals, and never had the funds nor the bankroll to even pay alex. Because on the pay end of the scale, alex was dead last instead of first. The guy who was in charge of building the pitfall stage was #1 on the paylist, all the way on down. Which is why they went bankrupt, bad choices on hiring the builders is what cost em, plus they were also the company behind the syndie 80 & 81 version of lmad. Monty also sued them too, which was the nail in the coffin. Hence why only one year was spent in Canada for the all new let's make a deal, before monty had it moved back to Los Angeles.

[@markwillianen6049]

One of the actors had some damage done to one of his hands by the elevator. His lawsuit finished off the unstable company.

[@georgemaster4225]

How many episodes exist?

[@yaywhewclips242]

I can see Y this failed, so boring. Part Family Feud, part play the percentages with the lift gimmick.

[@mitchellries256]

notgrillo collector/ gamer That's not why it failed. The company just went bankrupt.

[@daisycassidy2448]

Boring game and silly.