Wizard of Odds - March 19th, 1974 on NBC, Full Episode (unknown episode #)

[@josephcraig3116]

HI JEFF, I'M JOSEPH I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU FOR POSTING "THE WIZARD 🪄 OF ODDS" & JUST CLASSIC GAME SHOWS & BACK TO A SIMPLER TIME OF TELEVISION 📺 NOWADAYS WE DON'T SEE THAT, IT'S CLEAN 🫧🪥 NO PROFANITY, JUST GOOD FUN 😊 & ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE COMMERCIALS SO '70 ISH!! THANK YOU!! I WISH THERE'S A REBOOT FOR THE YOUNGER GENERATION TO SEE HOW GAME SHOWS USE TO BE!! 😀.

[@ulknavcom054809]

in spite of Pat Sajak still hosting. Alex Trebek (since the golden era) will be long remembered as.... "The LAST of the game show Golden Boys"

[@luisreyes1963]

Pat Sajak announced he will retire from WOF at year's end.

[@michaelj.r457]

​@@luisreyes1963And now, minus some celebrity specials, he officially has.

[@Zneedsmore]

WOW! I have looked for at least one episode of this game show.... loved this show even for the short time that it was on. Trebek was awesome as host.

[@drewski1535]

RIP Alex Trebek you are truly missed alot by everyone

[@tonshaad1230]

Definitely well missed in everything he did. Ken Jennings can't hold a candle to him as an emcee and comes off as conniving and untrustworthy.

[@SunnymunnyHunnybunny]

He’s dead and won’t be reading this.

[@briangreenberg6021]

Keep the memory of Alex Trebek alive.

[@dancingmama6]

My dad was on this game show. He won a trip to Mexico City & Alcapulco, a living room set and furniture for my bedroom when I was a girl.

[@InTheNow2020]

Humble beginnings for sure. When I watched the last year Alex did Jeopardy in 2020, with my dad who passed on October 15th, 2020, I couldn't watch the show for almost a year, after hearing of Alex's passing, just 24 days later. It goes with out saying how intrinsic Alex Trebek was in my family and of course many millions of others around the world. Thank you Alex & Jeopardy.

[@ToRandoms]

R.I.P. ❤❤❤❤❤❤🕊🕊 Both gone too soon. ❤️❤️❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@markstevens9249]

About time someone found an episode of this.

[@stevengolden9009]

I met Peter Marshall back in 2002 when he had a book singing and in his book he mentioned that Alex was the 1st MC he knew who didn't use cue cards. But he had been doing Canadian TV for over 10 years before doing Wizard Of Odds. Thank you for sharing this!

[@scorpius6667]

The color of those carpets definitely put this show in the 70's! 😬😬 So does Alex's permed curly hairdo! 😱😱 🦂🥂

[@TheRecordSaver]

AND his mustache.. Up until then I never saw any game show host that sported a mustache..

[@jeffandbike4503]

Finally got to see Alex's first US game show. I remember watching this way back when I was 3 years old, shortly before he hosted the great hit High Rollers which I liked a lot better.

[@howardcobb4992]

he was also a real quizenater in double dare.

[@nleggin]

I hope you appreciate this video's significance to game show enthusiasts. Thank you for posting this.

[@JDsk8r215]

More than you could know. It’s very special and I was so excited to be able to have it digitized. I am so glad everyone is enjoying it. Unfortunately, this is the only episode I have.

[@reedberry]

I went to the Trebek estate sale last year and bought some cookware from the Trebek kitchen. I also had a friend take a pic of me sitting behind Alex's desk in his home office. I'm sure Alex wouldn't have minded, as I was one of his contestants on "Classic Concentration" in 1987. He slipped and referred to me as the new "Jeopardy!" champion. Oops. I guess that can happen when you host more than one game show at a time. The episodes are on my KZbin channel. RIP, Alex.

[@AquarianNomadic]

I was 1 month old when this aired. Much better times than now 😢

[@howardcobb4992]

he was indeed a spoiler.

[@dustin9893]

I was just a sperm in my daddy's sack for 15 more years

[@vasacca]

This is incredible. I was born about five years after this episode aired, so I was never able to watch an episode until just now. Great find!

[@jehobden]

I was 8 years old when this show was on tv, and I remember liking it when I saw it.

[@tyrese3745]

Fact: Legendary songwriter/actor and future “Growing Pains” star Alan Thicke composed and sung this theme.

[@kidfrombrooklyn66]

I feel that you HIT THE GAME SHOW JACKPOT/LOTTERY in finding this lost episode.

[@jaremieortiz7843]

Alex trebek is the best game show host history

[@juicyfartsofjimcornette1154]

Chuck Woolery is pretty good too.

[@SammyReed-cd4cu]

1:29 - The theme of Milwaukee's "The Bowling Game"!

[@ericsamuelson5656]

Thank you for posting Alex Trebek's American debut. Alex Trebek will host High Rollers a few months later and NBC kept Charlie O'Donnell for Wheel of Fortune by Jan 1975. Answer one at 10:38 will be Alex & Charlie's boss.

[@ulknavcom054809]

This show is just like I remember when I was...."YEH, HIGH?" finding this game show, all I can say is...... IT"S ABOUT TIME!!!!!!!

[@goodstuff8614]

haha this was great... a friend who is deep deep into gameshows relayed to me how rare this is nd we watched it and i love your backstory... your dad was so right to get that recorded... keeps her memory alive and is part of tv history

[@Rlotpir1972]

R.I.P. Alex Trebek (the host of 'Jeopardy!' and many other shows) and Charlie O' Donnell (the voice and announcer of 'Wheel of Fortune").

[@georgemaster4225]

OMG! An actual full episode! After reading that the entire series was wiped!

[@jessyleppert2]

True

[@anthonyguarino4242]

It goes into the lost media wiki!

[@disneyfan8178]

@@anthonyguarino4242 Actually there is another episode of "The Wizard of Odds" at the UCLA Film and Television Archives. I visited there a few years ago, and watched it. All I know is it featured a cameo appearance by actor Don Defore ("Th Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" and "Hazel").

[@anthonyguarino4242]

@@disneyfan8178 can you post another episode on KZbin?

[@disneyfan8178]

@@anthonyguarino4242 Sorry, I can't.

[@robmclean4352]

Four days before my ninth birthday! ("Wizard" aired for less than a year on NBC, from 16 July 73 to 28 June 74, weekdays at 11am Eastern time.)

[@charlesallan-ks6gq]

Stay tuned for The Hollywood Squares next on NBC

[@ConradMason-ei8hm]

I Like this one with the commercials this was back when Game shows was serious & the commercials were not like the stuff you see today, Please post more if available.

[@albertwise6426]

How did you find this show. So cool thank you. Love finding lost shows.

[@ChristopherHagee]

50 yrs. ago today, July 16, 1973 (Mon.) game show "Wizard, Odds" had its initial airing on NBC-TV Network. It was late Canadian-born quizmaster G.A. ("Alex") Trebek's lst U.S. game show that he hosted

[@zacritner208]

This is such a rare find, lesser known game shows are very hard to archive nowadays.

[@charlesallan-ks6gq]

Stay tuned for The Hollywood Squares next on NBC

[@andyleclerc3600]

I knew there was an audio recording out there, but Holy cow! This is a gem👍😎

[@ken_danerdiest1]

Great find!

[@ebrenner5059]

It did happen a couple of times during the course of Mr Trebek's game show tenure that both "Wizard of Odds" and "Wizard of Oz" are subsequently mentioned.

[@halfsourlizard9319]

'You like to entertain -- that's a very diplomatic way of putting it.'

[@mez1515]

I'm as happy to see a full of Wizard of Odds as I am disturbed by the guy in the Decaf ad at 8:40. Ma'am, even in 1973, if someone shows you a pill and calls it caffeine...DON'T TASTE IT!

[@harrymann5523]

The man in the Decaf commercial is David Groh. Valerie Harper’s husband on “Rhoda”.

[@RusstheTroubadour]

Besides writing and performing the theme song, Alan Thicke created the show , and also served as a producer alongside Burt Sugarman. 26:33 Florence Henderson for Klean n Shine.

[@olestereo4622]

This is even more interesting than the seeing the lost episode of Sesame Street with Margaret Hamilton! We were sure any home tapes of this program were thrown away by the time VHS took over Beta. You hit the lost media lottery.

[@Slime_Nine]

Thank you for posting this 🙏🏼

[@bufnyfan1]

Alex Trebek was recommended to NBC for the hosting job of "Wizard of Odds" by fellow Canadian Alan Thicke ("Growing Pains"). Mr. Trebek hosted several game shows when he worked in Canada at the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company)-including a high school quiz show called "Reach for the Top". Although the "Wizard of Odds" didn't last long NBC liked what they saw in Mr. Trebek and hired him to host another game show called "High Rollers" and ultimately in 1984 when Merv Griffith was relaunching "Jeopardy" he remembered seeing Mr. Trebek and asked him to audition to be the host and hired him.

[@anthonyguarino4242]

I counted! This is the 177th episode of the Wizard of Odds. Wizard of Odds debuted on 7/16/73 and ended on 7/28/74 with a total of 250 episodes.

[@RangerRick2022]

During this episode, they repeatedly bring up the Jaycees and Jaycettes. Until 1985, the Jaycees was strictly for men. A 1984 Supreme Court decision stating Minnesota could prohibit sex discrimination in private organizations allowed women to join the parent Jaycees organization.

[@illustriousrocket4476]

This might be one of the most stunning finds ever. Aside from rumors I heard long ago of GSN possibly having one episode deep in the vault at the time the network started, I have never heard anything else that gave me any hope this show had anything left intact. Yet here it is, another series thought to be lost finally unearthed. Who knows what the future could hold? Spin-Off finally getting an episode out to the public?

[@dupont416]

I remember this show. It ran before Hollywood Squares, 11 a.m. EDT, 10 a.m. CDT. This looks like the studio where they taped "The Flip Wilson Show."

[@JerGer918]

R.I.P. Alex Trebek, Alan Thicke and Charlie O'Donnell

[@jmiller297]

*AWESOME FIND!!*

[@nealgordon3712]

I sure would like Buzzr or GSN show these memorable game shows instead of repeating the same game shows that we already saw, watching them time and time again.

[@michaelfalkner1186]

Blame the late-60s early-70s practice of "wiping". You know when you used to have a VCR and you taped over something you wanted to keep on a tape of yours? Television networks made a practice of it -- called "wiping" -- and that's why most of these shows have been completely lost to time.

[@tootalltam143]

My urge to adjust the tracking is overwhelming lol

[@reedberry]

Same here. But, while the video quality is poor, I'm glad this was uploaded since NBC wiped all the videos from this short-lived series. A great memory from the past!

[@Musicradio77Network]

BTW, Burt Sugarman produced this show which would later produced a short lived game show “Whew”.

[@charlesallan-ks6gq]

As well as Celbrity Sweepstakes and the Midnight Special

[@hoagie1978]

Actress Mary Frann (who was on Newhart in the 80's) was in the Future commercial.

[@tnate6004]

Originally aired opposite Gambit, later against Now You See It

[@kennethhuang371]

NBC’s very first game show: THE WIZARD OF ODDS WITH ALEX TREBEK (1973-74). It wasn’t a BIG hit, but better games would soon follow for Alex later on. Kenneth A Huang 10/15/22.

[@TheEggplantThatAteChicago]

I don't know how in the world you found this, but please let me know if you plan to post any more game shows, and I'll subscribe immediately. Thank you either way!

[@jamesklatt]

One of the themes was used for the bowling game on milwaukee tv.

[@dy1497]

Wow amazing treasure found! What a great backstory. I'm sorry to hear about your mom passing she really did win everything possible on this episode. Do you remember her being on the show or were you to young?

[@JDsk8r215]

Vaguely, my brother more so. I was 3, lol

[@MrEazyE357]

I miss Alex.

[@djtforever1414]

Alex looks like he has been to an audition for the lead in Welcome Back Kotter.

[@NEPatriot]

WOW...this was on a month and 2 days after I was born. By the way attention Milwaukee TV fans...that music used as Charlie O was describing the Miami trip...the theme song to the iconic WVTV local show The Bowling Game!

[@gsnfan]

Fantastic!

[@AdamJ617]

RiP Alex Trebek and Charlie O’Donnell.

[@kingporter67]

Dana Diaz was a super contestant on The Wizard of Odds, great 1973 game show treasured classic!!

[@JonesDylan874]

PRAISE! PRAISE THE LOST MEDIA GODS! I never thought I would see this show on KZbin, but here it is!

[@jeffandbike4503]

10 years later Alex Trebek begun his long time with Jeopardy.

[@jessyleppert2]

Speaking of Jeopardy!, Looks who's name is one of the clues at 10:35

[@jeffandbike4503]

@@jessyleppert2 Yes and Merv Griffin became his boss 10 years later.

[@spwash1000]

A rare episode of The Wizard of Odds! We get to see video footage from the late Alex Trebek's 1st game show in the 🇺🇸 which didn’t last long!

[@jeffandbike4503]

Yes and later was replaced with Alex Trebeks 2nd show and a great big hit High Rollers which he hosted NBC 74-76 & 78-80 and Syndicated Nighttime in 1975 which I liked a lot better.

[@GeorgeMaster-xg7lg]

Wasn't Dick Haymes Peter Marshall's brother in law at one time? This episode was taped in 1973 for 1974 broadcast.

[@JasonA.Routhier-vw1wd]

I have to admit this WAS a nice game show!! It,s sort of a combination of The Hollywood Squares Let,s Make A Deal The Price Is Right ala Family Feud(survey/points in bonus round)

[@rivencipher6077]

Holy moly this is amazing! How did you find this??

[@JDsk8r215]

My family has had it since it aired and I didn’t realize we had a digital copy or it would have been up sooner. I am so pleased you enjoy it.

[@rivencipher6077]

@@JDsk8r215 It's awesome your family managed to keep it! It's sad that the show got wiped but it's wonderful someone kept an episode!

[@LogoMan7777]

@@JDsk8r215 Was your family the first to get a VCR, or were they on the show?

[@jimdiaz9968]

I’m JDSk8r’s brother. Our mother was the main contestant and our father had this recorded by a friend at a local affiliate. This is not from the network.

[@JDsk8r215]

@@LogoMan7777 My mom is the winning contestant. And I was mistaken that this was the network copy, but rather my father had some television education and had recorded this on a super Betamax when it aired. He then transferred it onto an regular Betamax tape later in the 80s. Even later he had the Betamax tape put on a dvd, (not sure when exactly). We always had planned on digitizing it and were pretty surprised when he told me he already had it. I took the disk home that night and ripped it, only to find the audio was not playing correctly on the left side, so I had my brother make the audio mono so it sounded better. We’re going to look to get a digital copy of the super Betamax, so we can restore the audio to stereo and hopefully have it enhanced so it’ll remove the poor tracking static so it'll appear clearer.

[@marcpower4167]

I wonder how Alex would have felt seeing this surface for the first time. From my understanding he was pretty critical of his performance, I thought he did a great job.

[@mamoosh4478]

R.I.P. Alex Trebek ❤

[@kennethhuang371]

Alan Thicke sang the Wizard of Odds theme? That’s something that makes me go Hmmmmm…. Kenneth A Huang 10/19/2022.

[@tyrese3745]

This was about 3 1/2 months before “High Rollers“ debuted, with Alex as host (and a new hostess).

[@nealgordon3712]

The budget for this show I guess was ok,as long as you won,but the consolation prizes would let me say " big deal" a jar of Sue Bee Honey or $ 20. 00 for a wrong answer from Ron. Good to see the old commercials in those days. Many of them that are still around, don't advertise anymore.

[@orangehoof]

Look! It's Gabe Kaplan! Oh, wait...

[@mrnmrsifl]

5:40 6:08 The Prize Witch, Mary Poms, aka Shana Forman. Later a substitute TPIR Barker Beauty for Anitra Ford in early '76.

[@johnlewinski6359]

I remember the name of this show but didn't remember anything about it. High Rollers was better.

[@juicyfartsofjimcornette1154]

It certainly was, and Alex wasn't freaking out over assholes in the audience that much either compared to this turkey!

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

It's 1970's Alex with the 1970's hair!

[@charlesallan-ks6gq]

Stay tuned for The Hollywood Squares next on NBC

[@kurtkauffman4326]

Born George Alexander Trebek.His Stage Name is Alex Trebek.

[@JohnWatsonPuppetChannel]

RIP Alex, Charlie, & Florence.

[@guspolly]

If I can be so bold, can I ask how you came in possession of this video? The general consensus of the game show fan community for the last 30 years up until a few hours ago was that we would never publicly see any substantial footage of this show.

[@lucky-fc6pk]

They probably recorded it on tape ages ago. It is a miracle!

[@JDsk8r215]

Be bold!!! So my mother is the winning contestant and had passed recently and my original intent was a memorial to her. I knew we had the tape and that was converted to a Betamax tape. I had no idea my father had had it digitally burned to a disk. I knew I had to rip it and post this as soon as possible. I am blown away at the response it’s getting. I couldn’t more joyed. My whole family loved game shows and I carry that as well. I only wish I had more.

[@Shellinois]

This is really fantastic. So awesome to see your mother be so happy and win all those prizes after all these years all over again. I will echo the other comments above that this was a great find, and we are all grateful for your efforts to have had this digitized and shared with the world.

[@illustriousrocket4476]

@@JDsk8r215 Thank you so much for sharing your family's passion for the genre with the rest of us.

[@stevengolden9009]

@@JDsk8r215 Your mom had a wonderful smile and she was very smart! I am so glad your family has this great keepsake & thank you for sharing this with all of us. I was 10 when this came out and I remember watching "Wizard Of Odds" with my grandfather.

[@jamesmoss3424]

Dana did excellent. 😀👍

[@millenniumman75]

26:33 - Carol Brady herself in her 1973-1974 hairdo.

[@hoagie1978]

Yes. Actress Mary Frann (who was on Newhart in the 80's) was in the Future commercial.

[@tyrese3745]

@@hoagie1978 No, it was Florence Henderson.

[@hoagie1978]

@@tyrese3745 Florence is in the Klean N Shine ad. Mary Fran is in the Future floor wax ad where she is standing on the see through acrylic floor.

[@tyrese3745]

@@hoagie1978 Got it. Thanks.

[@TheVHSReviver]

If you own or have access to the tape this was on i'd love to see the entire tape. I'd imagine it has some other interesting things on it.

[@JDsk8r215]

We do have the original tape from the network. There’s some minor additional footage that goes into Hollywood Squares, but only for a minute. We’re going to try and have better copy of it down the road so we can have a better tracking rip, as yo you can see all the static. But this is such a gem, that I wanted to post it asap. Glad you like it!!!

[@JDsk8r215]

I was mistaken that this was the network copy, but rather my father recorded this on a super Betamax when it aired. He then transferred it onto an regular Betamax tape later in the 80s and then had the regular Betamax digitized to a dvd.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

@@JDsk8r215 Betamax wasn’t out til November 1975. Wonder what this really was recorded on.

[@martinfelsenfeld6012]

#zerotonine at 7:39! (Every digit appears at least once in the right-hand column!) Thanks!

[@jessyleppert2]

10:35 the creator of another Game Show Alex would later host.

[@JustinInAtlanta]

Do you have any idea how rare this is? Thanks for posting.

[@spman]

As far as I know this is the first known episode of this show to exist publicly, one other episode is known to exist privately in the UCLA archives

[@BlueManIan]

@16:12 Thought that was a BetterHelp ad at first

[@VectraQS]

Holy shit. Where did you get this? The original source seems to be an off-air (or feed) recording, but it's been dubbed a few times.

[@JDsk8r215]

It’s been in the garage, lol. It’s a digital rip of the original network tape.

[@JDsk8r215]

I was mistaken that this was the network copy, but rather my father had some television education and had recorded this on a super Betamax when it aired. He then transferred it onto an regular Betamax tape later in the 80s. Even later he had the Betamax tape put on a dvd, (not sure when exactly). We always had planned on digitizing it and were pretty surprised when he told me he already had it. I took the disk home that night and ripped it, only to find the audio was not playing correctly on the left side, so I had my brother make the audio mono so it sounded better. We’re going to look to get a digital copy of the super Betamax, so we can restore the audio to stereo and hopefully have it enhanced so it’ll remove the poor tracking static so it'll appear clearer.

[@VectraQS]

@@JDsk8r215 You mean a 3/4" U-matic tape? Still very interesting. (Original audio was mono - even on the studio master tape.) Did your father record anything else? I (and a lot of others) would be quite interested to see more stuff like this.

[@jasonacg]

@@JDsk8r215 Poor tracking or not, you have given us a glimpse into a show that many of us had only heard about, but never seen. My compliments to you and your family for preserving this.

[@hoagie1978]

I bet she looked sharp driving to the market in that pudding brown Nova.

[@trhansen3244]

The guy who is hosting this went on to host Double Jeopardy.

[@williamboylejr.9098]

I saw in the closing credits of this episode that the producer was Bert Sugarman (produced the midnight special), Alex Trebek’s wardrobe was provided by Rubin Brothers (Best known for providing the wardrobe of Gene Rayburn of the match game), and Mary Pons’ outfits were done by Junior House( Provided the wardrobe for Carol Merrill of Let’s Make A Deal).

[@meyerj75]

Bert Sugarman would also co produce with Ralph Andrews Celebrity Sweepstakes, also an NBC game show and yet another lost gem.

[@williamboylejr.9098]

@@meyerj75 Thanks for the info. It seemed that ABC and NBC were bad about wiping their game shows. CBS may have wiped some of their shows off too.

[@meyerj75]

@@williamboylejr.9098 CBS may have had larger storage space than its competitors as long as Fred Silverman was in charge, I guess.

[@juicyfartsofjimcornette1154]

@@williamboylejr.9098 - You can't actually blame them. No one had the incredible foresight at the time that game show reruns would be in demand. Now the deletion of some of the David Keel era of the British Avengers. That is a sacrilege, and the BBC deserves to burn for that!

[@rtj7777]

Do you have a native download link so I can download this without YT compressing it?

[@jnadle1]

10:35 10 years later, Alex would be working for Merv Griffin.

[@byrd56]

1:35 , etc. - For that matter, announcer Charlie O'Donnell would work for Merv as well, a year or so after this episode, alongside Chuck and Susan (and, in his second stint, Pat and Vanna) on "Wheel of Fortune".

[@JerGer918]

Don't forget about Alan Thicke working for Merv, he'd create the original theme for Wheel of Fortune in 1975, a theme that would be used for a solid eight years.

[@meyerj75]

You would have to be at least 50 years old to have watched at least one full episode of this long lost gem.

[@that90sguy30]

What am I even seeing right now!?

[@JDsk8r215]

70's 🤣

[@meyerj75]

From the grave, a full blown episode of The Wizard of Odds never before seen since it originally aired!!

[@hrtvfan2870]

An extremely rare piece of game show history

[@friedchickenicedtea]

Great find! I'm surprised it didn't last longer!

[@meyerj75]

It may have competed against CBS's Joker's Wild or Gambit. Either one of those two.

[@juicyfartsofjimcornette1154]

I'm not surprised that Jack Barry and Wink Martindale squashed this show like a bug.

[@Rlotpir1972]

One of the props, the monitor, was originally from a failed Jack Barry pilot called 'Simon Says".

[@rongamble8930]

Did Alex say she was part of "The Jay Zeds" at 13:45?

[@millenniumman75]

He thought she said Jay ZEE - but they say "Zed" in Canada and England.

[@JDsk8r215]

It’s the Cerritos Jaycees.

[@jimdiaz9968]

But she was the president of the Jaycettes, the wives of the Jaycees.

[@rongamble8930]

I heard her say "Jaycees" earlier, but figured Alex heard Jay Zees. I just thought it was funny that Alex was trying to lose his Canadian accent, but let a "Zed" slip out.

[@heathercolley6591]

You were very excited about the bar are you a LUSH? 😂 Lol

[@jessyleppert2]

I thought they used a wheel on the Wizard of Odds

[@meyerj75]

Me too. I saw a photo with Alex standing in front of the wheel assuming they use the wheel by the end of each show.

[@samuraicrunchbird]

9:17 CERRITOS *STRONG*!! #lowerdecks

[@supergamer7473]

If this can be found, MAYBE some original High Rollers ('74-'76) can too?

[@meyerj75]

At least two episodes exist from 1975, one from July 4th can be seen on You tube and features a plug in for the Magnificent Marble Machine.

[@misstee101]

26:09