YouTube Find: The $10,000 Pyramid Blooper from 1974-75

[MrExclusive1989]

It has come to my attention that a blooper from The $10,000 Pyramid has popped up in a YouTube clip. This is believed to be from either 1974-1975, and yes the show was by that point moved to ABC. This blooper involves Tony Randall and it's believed this was never aired. The full episode of this doesn't exist as this episode was reportedly erased by ABC.

Here is the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iih5LjRHqdE

[Lingofan97]

I would want GSN to acquire The $10,000 Pyramid but with electronic whipping there aren't enough episodes left for a big lease.

[TheKid965]

Definitely seems like one of those clips that would be saved by the producers for the end-of-year wrap party, which is probably why it exists today when the episode it's from is long gone.

[Lingofan97]

I just actually saw the clip...and wow. Think about it. From 1975 to the mid to late 80's, the set doesn't look too different compared to how some modern game shows have changed over the year. There have definitely been some improvements from then, but that's just me just looking at it.

[TheKid965]

Pyramid did not change sets often, largely because Bob Stewart's purse strings were notoriously tight compared to other producers. A Bob Stewart-produced show was expected to make its toys last a while, for there would be no significant alterations made for the duration of a series no matter how long it ran for, except in cases of extreme necessity; the fatal breakdown of a crucial prop, for example. Or take the example of Three on a Match during its last year or so, when it went to its "first to three games" championship format; an on-set tally of games won was needed, but rather than build an addition onto the contestant podia, the producers instead added some What's My Line?-style flip cards the contestants operated themselves!

In keeping with that tradition, the Pyramid set underwent only very slight cosmetic changes during its New York years, to the point where it was still using Solari-board scoring displays as late as 1981! Oh, the set went from orange to blue around 1976 (roughly concurrent with the $20,000 Pyramid upgrade, though I believe there may have been a few weeks of either a blue-set $10K or an orange-set $20K), but apart from that, it really only saw a complete overhaul when the show moved cross-country to TVC in 1982 -- and that set was more or less kept intact through the John Davidson incarnation.

Curiously enough, both sets saw upgrades to the main-game category board late in their lives; the original pullcards had given way to trilon boxes by '79, while the second and final season of the Davidson $100K version saw the board infamously adopt monitor screens. That was about as major as running set changes ever got for the Pyramid clan.

[JamesFF]

Look how much the Family Feud set changed from Richard Dawson to Ray Combs.

[TheKid965]

Look how much the Family Feud set changed from Richard Dawson to Ray Combs.

Another fine example. In fact, the actual gameboard used on the Combs version was, so I'm given to understand, the exact one used for the ABC era, salvaged and brought to TVC. Granted it got repainted and was given new electronics (which account for the slightly different Ferranti-Packer digits between the two eras), but even so...

For that matter, compare The (New) Price is Right from 1972 to 2007. In terms of the permanent set pieces (ignoring Pricing Games), what really changed between Bob Barker's first day and his last? Other than the Contestant's Row displays (1975) and the Showcase podia (1984?), not much except for colors. The set didn't really start to evolve until Season 38, two full years after Bob retired and one season following Roger Dobkowitz's controversial exit.

[catnap72]

it really only saw a complete overhaul when the show moved cross-country to TVC in 1982 -- and that set was more or less kept intact through the John Davidson incarnation.

Big pyramid (winners circle) was a recreation as the trilons were larger in the Davidson version and took up most of that space. Not sure if the rest of the set was also remade or was recycled.

[TheKid965]

Hence why I said "more or less" kept intact. Also, even though it was a rebuild, I believe because the original wouldn't physically fit in the studio it got moved to (which would qualify as an "extreme necessity"), it still followed the blueprints and design line of the 1982 set.

[Lingofan97]

Look how much the Family Feud set changed from Richard Dawson to Ray Combs.

And now, Richard Karn to Steve Harvey

[AlohaDave]

Hence why I said "more or less" kept intact. Also, even though it was a rebuild, I believe because the original wouldn't physically fit in the studio it got moved to (which would qualify as an "extreme necessity"), it still followed the blueprints and design line of the 1982 set.

I believe you may be confusing this "1982 set rebuild" issue. The original 1973 set from The Ed Sullivan Theater was moved to Tevevision City. It was THAT set that was rebuilt when the show moved back to the east coast after CBS cancelled the show and ABC revived it in May 1974. The big pyramid was totally rebuilt (slightly smaller) because it was too tall to fit the stage at The Elysee Theater at 202 W. 58th Street (aka ABC-TV 15).

I don't think there ever was a rebuild of the 1982 Television City set, other than perhaps the enlarged trilons mentioned above. I saw a live taping of Davidson's $100,000 Pyramid in studio 31 at Television City and it certainly seemed identical to the set used by Dick Clark all those years. I believe the host's podium was different (clear plexiglass if I recall?).

[TheKid965]

I believe you may be confusing this "1982 set rebuild" issue. The original 1973 set from The Ed Sullivan Theater was moved to Tevevision City. It was THAT set that was rebuilt when the show moved back to the east coast after CBS cancelled the show and ABC revived it in May 1974. The big pyramid was totally rebuilt (slightly smaller) because it was too tall to fit the stage at The Elysee Theater at 202 W. 58th Street (aka ABC-TV 15).

Okay, I think that was what I was thinking of. I knew there was an issue somewhere along the way of the set not fitting in this or that studio. Guess somewhere along the way my wires got crossed.

I don't think there ever was a rebuild of the 1982 Television City set, other than perhaps the enlarged trilons mentioned above.

Is that what it was? If anything the trilons looked smaller on the 1990 set than on the '82 one, though I suppose that could have been an unintentional camera trick. Or perhaps the trilons were the same size but the actual gameboard shrunk. It's hard to say.

Only thing I know for sure is that if you put a picture of the Davidson Winner's Circle next to one from the CBS $25K days, there is a very noticeable difference in the board itself, whether it's due to bigger trilons or a smaller façade. One way or another, that board did not get moved from 33 to 31 without something being done to it!

I saw a live taping of Davidson's $100,000 Pyramid in studio 31 at Television City and it certainly seemed identical to the set used by Dick Clark all those years. I believe the host's podium was different (clear plexiglass if I recall?).

The clear plexiglass host's podium I can tell you right now was not from Davidson's run, but from the end of the New York run (the last year to eighteen months of $20K and the balance of $50K). Davidson used the same podium Mr. Clark used throughout the '80s, avec the burnt-orange reupholster job it got during the last weeks of the CBS run.

There was a plexi base to the host's podium, but that's about it.