Scrabble - Champion/Doug, Jenni/Larry Sknr (Aug. 30, 1989)

Originally uploaded by Christopher Ryan. NBC game show hosted by Chuck Woolery.

[@richardhernandez4490]

1989 WAS the best year of Scrabble. I'm officially calling the trio of Lorri Levin, Jacqui Calkin, and Lauri Irving the legendary triple threat of champions. All three were sharp, excellent, and legendary in their own rights. Thank you to all three of you for your amazing gameplay of Scrabble. You three earned it. And Chad Mosher, thank you for posting these three legendary champions' runs. This was excellent.

[@StLawrencePlace]

If they did a tournament of champions for 1990 them three would return.

[@richardhernandez4490]

@@StLawrencePlace We wished. There were no tournaments since the Bonus Sprint format came along. Very rare for three women to retire undefeated in 1989. Lorri Levin ($30,500) Lauri Irving ($35,000) Jacqui Calkin ($38,000)

[@PGTransformed]

Agreed!!!! NBC had a tough task of picking up after most of their shows were canceled. Only one still moved to CBS, 1989 was the best year for both Scrabble and Classic Concentration!!

[@PGTransformed]

What an August for Scrabble!!!

[@MrJamieBattle]

I agree

[@richardhernandez4490]

I kept quiet on August being the best month of Scrabble. Jacqui Calkin and Lauri Irving are the two reasons why I love that month.

[@IvoryM1986]

@@richardhernandez4490 Don’t forget about Hang the Teen champion who first appeared on the June 30 Teen Week episode.

[@richardhernandez4490]

The Chuck Bucks were flying this episode! Love it!

[@coleydstudios3012]

One of the BEST episodes of "Scrabble" BAR NONE!!!! Awesome episode!!

[@richardhernandez4490]

To Lauri Irving, you were a fantastic player! Congratulations to you, well done, and God Bless!

[@MrJamieBattle]

Oh me oh my!! (Final Sprint)

[@richardhernandez4490]

That was a TOUGH one! Congratulations Lauri Irving!!!!

[@darreljones8645]

@@richardhernandez4490 I honestly thought the answer to the last clue was "diction".

[@richardhernandez4490]

"Boy you guys walk a very fine line don't you?" LOL

[@justanotherfaceinthecrowd8573]

Look forward to these uploads. 👍

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

I am once again asking all game shows to get rid of returning champion limits. (If Scrabble had done this, would we have seen someone last as long as, say, Ken Jennings?)

[@whammy3323]

I'm for this to a certain degree... I'd say 10-day lmit... I get bored watching the same person day after day... I got bored of Ken Jennings after 2 weeks... Plus they probably did the limits because they had such a high amount of people who wanted to play the game...

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

@@whammy3323 For seeing different people - you would still see 3 new people every episode. That was standard no matter who the returning champion was. If we’re going to force champions to retire, they’ve gotta be getting paid in a way that would reflect what they would have continued to make had they gone on - for Scrabble, I’d say tournament of champions where all values (blue/pink squares in base game, and Sprint jackpots) are multiplied by 10 would have sufficed.

[@lobstertexas]

Kinda wish they took Chuck's suggestion and showed the writers' faces after each clue. That'd actually be pretty funny. Also, it's somewhat clear that Chuck often hates the clues because he simply doesn't get them. I, for one, find 95% of them freakin' brilliant. There are a handful of clunkers, but it's rare - these guys were excellent pun-writers.

[@donnapodhurst6552]

35 years ago---- wow

[@wschmrdr]

That was a REALLY tough bonus; both words.

[@richardhernandez4490]

...and Lauri aced both words! I had trouble with it.

[@richardhernandez4490]

Chuck really put the entire writing staff on full blast this episode. LOL

[@wschmrdr]

Chuck is originally from Kentucky (Ashland IIRC), and Gallipolis is on the border of Ohio and West Virginia; Ashland is also near the WV border.

[@lobstertexas]

@20:59 @thechadmosher Exhibit A 🤠 Razor thin .. fortunately it worked out for her, but if they happened to say she was a microsecond late instead, there'd be some "tape checkin' " for sure. But again, because this show is almost ALWAYS crunched for time (I knew they'd run late once that guy offered to sing during the TUAY 😐) there's no way they'd have time to squeeze such a thing in - which is probably why this show has had more "invite backs due to an unfairness problem" (be it technical or otherwise) than most any other game show I've seen.

[@wschmrdr]

Shouldn't that first word be 9 letters and spelled with a Q?

[@richardhernandez4490]

I felt that was a weird spelling myself.

[@dougcoffey7354]

There is a difference between a mannikin and a mannequin. A mannequin is what they use for store front windows. A mannikin is what they use to train in medical situations.

[@willjarmon4418]

After watching so many episodes recently, i wonder how the show would have done if Jeff MacGregor hosted the syndicated pilot?

[@krystalgoode3267]

How do you knit brows when expecting?

[@richardhernandez4490]

I found that one weird.

[@ertchin]

To knit one's eyebrows is to kind of scrunch them up, often out of worry or concern. Lots of people would do it, not just expectant mothers--that was just the Scrabble writers being very specific to mislead.

[@charlievillarreal9867]

The last year before they went off the air

[@samsticka]

At 11:29, Chuck forgot to mention they were building on A and there were 8 letters in the word before revealing the clue.

[@firesocks2017]

One of the contestants sang that song that sounded like that Gwen Stefani song

[@richardhernandez4490]

I think when the rest of the 1989 episodes are up, and we are very close to the end here, somebody should do a compilation of the greatest hits of clues the writing staff of Scrabble wrote that often got Chuck railing on them hilariously.

[@richardhernandez4490]

4:28: Oh no. LOL Wait what?! This one is Richard Janaver's?! WOW!

[@misstee101]

20:55

[@richardhernandez4490]

11:27: What a way to start crossword two.

[@richardhernandez4490]

4:15: Not gonna happen Chuck. LOL

[@lobstertexas]

So, can we assume that $35,000 must be a record in the post 10-day-streak=$40k era? It would be relatively hard to accumulate much more within five episodes under this format unless you get lucky with a high jackpot early on and then nail a couple more Sprints at $5k a pop... 🤔

[@peterkrahn2224]

Actually Jaqui Caulkin won $38,000

[@richardhernandez4490]

@@peterkrahn2224 Jacqui Calkin. She was the highest winner in the Bonus Sprint era with $38,000. Some poster once said Yvonne Eubanks in 1987 won $35,500 (I wish somebody has her run). Lauri Irving is third with $35,000, which is impressive.

[@glenncabacungan9269]

She couldn’t figure out alphabet, she couldn’t figure out litter, but somehow she did see portrait and bandwagon. Go figure.

[@richardhernandez4490]

15:44: Honestly that was not a bad guess.

[@richardhernandez4490]

16:46: Obvious edit here.

[@Tubewings]

Based on Chuck's comments, they probably went through two unguessed words after Jenni tied the game at 2-2.

[@richardhernandez4490]

13:10: LOL

[@Scottwilkie18]

Lucky

[@richardhernandez4490]

15:33: Oh I really did not like this puzzle. Yikes.