Pyramid (franchise)

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Pyramid was an American television game show where contestants tried to guess a series of words or phrases, based on descriptions that were given to them, in the shortest amount of time. It won nine Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Game Show.

Broadcast history

Pyramid was created by Bob Stewart. It went through several name changes over the years, with the title originally reflecting the top prize that contestants could win in that particular version.

Basic broadcast rundown

Title Host Network Run
The $10,000 Pyramid Dick Clark CBS, ABC CBS: March 26, 1973 - March 29, 1974 ABC: May 6, 1974 - January 16, 1976
The $20,000 Pyramid Dick Clark ABC: January 19, 1976 - June 27, 1980
The $25,000 Pyramid Bill Cullen syndication September 9, 1974 - September 9, 1979
The $50,000 Pyramid Dick Clark syndication January 26 - September 4, 1981
The (New) $25,000 Pyramid Dick Clark CBS September 20, 1982 - December 31, 1987; April 4 - July 1, 1988
The $100,000 Pyramid Dick Clark syndication September 9, 1985 - September 2, 1988
The $100,000 Pyramid John Davidson syndication January 7, 1991 - March 6, 1992
Pyramid Donny Osmond syndication September 16, 2002 - September 2004

1970s editions

File:The $20,000 Pyramid.jpg
The $20,000 Pyramid with Dick Clark.

Dick Clark hosted most of the 1970s/1980s runs. The show debuted as The $10,000 Pyramid on March 26, 1973 (the same day as the premiere of the daytime drama The Young and the Restless). It ran for one year on CBS at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time before being cancelled on March 29, 1974 due to some declining ratings. ABC would revive the show on May 6, 1974, airing it for the rest of the year at 4 p.m., where it made headway (not just in ratings, but in affiliate clearances) against Tattletales on CBS and the soap opera Somerset on NBC.

The day before Christmas Eve, ABC relocated Pyramid to the old time slot of The Newlywed Game, 2 p.m., and there it would become, for three consecutive seasons, the third highest rated game show on US television (behind Hollywood Squares and Match Game). On January 19, 1976, the show was renamed The $20,000 Pyramid. After being displaced by the expansion of the soap One Life to Live to a full hour, the show moved to noon on January 16, 1978 for the rest of its ABC run.

A weekly nighttime syndicated version called The $25,000 Pyramid, hosted by Bill Cullen, ran from September 9, 1974 to September 9, 1979. Originally sold and distributed by Viacom, this edition was mostly seen in the prime-access time slot, usually at 7:30 p.m. Eastern (6:30 Central) on many stations in various markets, on different days of the week (known in the trade as "bicycling" videotapes). In New York City, the show was first seen on CBS' flagship station, WCBS-TV on Thursday, September 12, 1974, with an episode featuring Anne Meara and William Shatner.

A special week of five shows with celebrity adult-children contestant teams featuring Susan Richardson and Jimmy Baio on the network daytime version was titled as The Junior Pyramid and it originally aired between Monday, July 9 and Friday, July 13, 1979. A network primetime celebrity half hour special, The All-Star Junior Pyramid, aired on ABC on Sunday, September 2, 1979 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. It featured Susan Richardson and Tony Danza playing the game for charity with young future stars from the new ABC shows debuting in the fall of that year (including Rob Lowe).

That broadcast's ratings success led to the daytime version briefly adopting a full-time Junior Partner Pyramid format featuring civilian adult-children teams (with no celebrities at all) between Monday, October 1 and Friday, November 9, 1979. A special Celebrity Junior Pyramid week followed suit with celebrity guests Susan Richardson, LeVar Burton and Michael McKean, but beginning with the Monday, November 19, 1979 telecast, the daytime show reverted to its original $20,000 Pyramid format.

By 1980, The $20,000 Pyramid was the last remaining network daytime game show among the three commercial broadcast networks then to be produced and videotaped in New York City. It was ABC's last game show to be recorded there until 1999, when that network introduced Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for its primetime schedule. ABC's daytime version, which had faced hard competition from the soap The Young and the Restless on CBS, ended its run on June 27, 1980 (in favor of Family Feud the following Monday), bringing the overall total of episodes that had aired on both CBS and ABC to 1,808 telecasts.

The theme music used on the versions between 1973 and 1981 was "Tuning Up", composed by Ken Aldin. The original set built for the CBS version was created by its in-house network scenic designer Jim Ryan, while the replica set made and constructed for the ABC daytime and 1970s syndicated versions (necessitated because of union refusals to grant permission for transport out of the Ed Sullivan Theater), copying much of Ryan's basic design at a cost of approximately $80,000, was co-credited to Dick Bernstein.

1980s and 1990s editions

File:The $100,000 Pyramid.jpg
The $100,000 Pyramid logo.

A short-lived syndicated revival known as The $50,000 Pyramid, which employed a complicated tournament format, aired from January 26 to September 4, 1981. Afterward, episodes from that version were acquired by the CBN Cable channel, currently known as ABC Family, and aired as repeats during 1982. The show returned to CBS in first-run production with new episodes as The $25,000 Pyramid on September 20, 1982.

The CBS revival entailed a move to Television City in Los Angeles. Prior to then, the show had been based in New York City, first at the Ed Sullivan Theater (CBS-TV Studio 50) and then the Elysee Theatre (ABC TV-15) since its 1973 debut, except for a few weeks in Fall 1973, during which tapings were held at Television City. With Pyramid and To Tell the Truth gone after 1981, only cable TV outlets produced game shows (such as MTV's Remote Control) in New York, until Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 1999.

CBS placed the show at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Within a few weeks of its CBS-TV return, the show was retitled The New $25,000 Pyramid for (as Dick explained on-air once) the benefit of viewers who thought the new series was actually reruns of an earlier one (despite the new set, music, etc). It also served to seperate this version from reruns of the Cullen version that still aired at this time. The "New" was eventually dropped from the title on the January 28, 1985 episode (#608).

With its placement in the 10:00 a.m. timeslot in 1982, the show was the first of three consecutive game shows in the CBS lineup (Child's Play — later, Press Your Luck — and later, Card Sharks, followed Pyramid at 10:30 a.m., and The Price Is Right wrapped up the package at 11:00 a.m. — the same timeslot it occupies today). The CBS daytime version basically remained there at 10:00 a.m. throughout its network runs, except for a three-month hiatus (discussed below), without a change in timeslots 1982-1988.

During the updated Pyramid run on CBS, a second weekday version also aired in late-afternoon or nighttime syndication as The $100,000 Pyramid from September 9, 1985 to September 2, 1988 (still taped at CBS Television City) ; this arguably became the most famous incarnation of all the versions of Pyramid produced. The gameplay was identical to the daytime version, except the three players with the fastest winning time in the end game returned to play for an additional $100,000. The tournament took place about every six weeks. The nighttime version was distributed by 20th Century Fox Television.

The updated Pyramid ran on CBS until the last episode on December 31, 1987, but viewer demand prompted CBS to bring the show back to its daytime schedule on April 4, 1988 after the game show Blackout failed in Pyramid's time slot. The returned show only lasted until July 1, 1988, however, giving way to the new version of Family Feud the following Monday (marking the second time in daytime network television history Family Feud has replaced a cancelled Pyramid). A total of 1,404 half-hour installments had been taped.

Reruns aired on the USA Network from October 17, 1988 to September 8, 1995 before GSN acquired the rights to Pyramid reruns in 1997. CBS did broadcast two repeat episodes, one each on December 24 and December 31, 1993, originally from January 1983 featuring Lynn Redgrave and Billy Crystal during the same period as the reruns being shown on the USA Network.

Pyramid returned to syndication again from January 7 to December 6, 1991 as The $100,000 Pyramid, with John Davidson hosting. Reruns of the Davidson show continued airing into the following year until March 6, 1992. This version was at first distributed by Carolco Pictures's distribution arm, Orbis Communications. Midway through the run, the show changed syndicators, moving to Multimedia Entertainment.

The new set for the 1982 - 1992 run was created by Ed Flesh, but the show did list, in the long closing credits, original set designer Jim Ryan, who was responsible for the 1970s New York set. The music used was a new version of "Tuning Up" as orchestrated by Bob Cobert.

2002-2004 revival

File:New Pyramid.jpg
The new Pyramid version hosted by Donny Osmond.

In the fall of 2002 Pyramid — without any dollar amount in the title — returned in syndication. Although the show was reasonably successful, Sony Pictures (the production company that currently owns the format rights) did not renew the show after two seasons.

The ABC Family cable network aired one episode weekly on Friday mornings only at 9:00am Eastern from October 4, 2002 to September 24, 2004. The i network (formerly PAX) then began airing reruns of the show from October 4, 2004 to February 17, 2006.

Hosts

Dick Clark, who is most associated with the program since its original 1973 debut as its emcee, hosted the following versions: the CBS and ABC versions of The $10,000 Pyramid (including its renaming in 1976 as The $20,000 Pyramid), the CBS version of The (New) $25,000 Pyramid, the syndicated $50,000 Pyramid and the first $100,000 Pyramid. Bill Cullen hosted the 1974-79 version of The $25,000 Pyramid and John Davidson hosted the 1991 revival of The $100,000 Pyramid. Donny Osmond hosted Pyramid from 2002-2004. Clark has appeared in all versions, either as a host or a celebrity player, except for the Davidson version. (However, on the series premiere of the Davidson version, Clark did appear in a pre-taped greeting.)

Game play

Main game

Two teams, consisting of one celebrity player and one contestant, competed against each other. Six categories, each of which had a name pertaining to what that category was about, were placed on the pyramid-shaped game board. A contestant chose one of those categories, and after the host explained the subject of that category, the contestant was given 30 seconds (35 on the Junior shows from 1979) to guess seven words (originally eight), phrases, or names (20 seconds for six words in the most recent version of Pyramid) using clues given by his/her celebrity partner. If any descriptions were deemed illegal by the judges, a "cuckoo" (later "burble" in the most recent version of Pyramid) sound was played, the clue was immediately thrown out, and the contestant couldn't earn any points for it. On The versions from 1973-1991, if a word was passed, the giver could not go back to that word, but if the receiver knew the word later on and guessed it, the team still earned a point; on the Donny Osmond-hosted Pyramid, however, if time permitted, the giver was allowed to go back to the passed words.

Illegal clues included:

  • Using the word, or part of it, in the clue
  • Saying that the word rhymes with another word (rhyming words could be used in clues, however)
  • Saying the first letter of the word (unless the category indicated that the word would begin with a certain letter)

Once time had expired or the contestant guessed all of the necessary clues (whichever came first), the opposing team followed the same procedures.

Three rounds, with two subjects per round, were played in the main game. While the celebrity gave the clues and the contestant received them in the first round, the roles were reversed in the second round, meaning that the contestant gave the clues and the celebrity received them. In the third round the contestant had the option to give or receive, with the team trailing going first.

Tiebreaker rounds

If the score was tied after three rounds, tiebreaker rounds were played using words that begin with a letter of the alphabet.

During the 1970s editions, especially on the ABC daytime version, tiebreaker rounds would normally be continued to be played until the score was untied, and a winner declared. There had been occasions when tiebreaker rounds would finally end with high point totals, such as that it was on July 4, 1975 with Lucie Arnaz versus Anson Williams and a 45-44 score; on June 12, 1978 with Sandy Duncan versus Nipsey Russell and a 43-42 score; and on August 7, 1979 with Jo Anne Worley versus David Letterman and a 40-39 score.

During the 1980s and 1990s editions, the scores were reset to zero before the tiebreaker rounds began. If the first team completed its tiebreaker round with seven words answered successfully, the opponents would have to beat the time it took the first team to get all seven. (The result was almost always that only one tiebreaker round was needed; on the rare occasions that the second team completed its words in the same time the first did, a second tiebreaker would be played with the same rules.)

The winner of the game played the Winner's Circle bonus round (see below).

In the original daytime version, when a contestant lost the main game, he/she left with parting gifts. In the syndicated and daytime versions since 1982, both contestants played on the entire show, swapping celebrity partners after the first game. In the 1980s version, whoever had the highest score at the Winner's Circle or won both of that day's games returned on the next show, unless that player won $25,000, in which case, he/she was retired. If both players matched their Winner's Circle totals, both returned the next day. The "bonus" dollars such as the "7-11" (discussed below) did not count as for "score". The "score" money is to be won only in the Winner's Circle.

Bonuses

One randomly-chosen category in each game contained a hidden bonus on the mini-pyramid main game board, which allowed the contestant to win additional cash or prizes if all of the clues were guessed correctly.

The 1973-1980 daytime network versions featured the "Big 7", instituted on the ABC version on December 23, 1974, where contestants could win $500 for getting seven out of seven in less than 30 seconds. This was played once per show and could appear in either main game (though it was most often played in the first round). In early appearances of the "Big 7", a vacation trip to a holiday destination was first offered. It was later changed to bonus cash as an option was first given to the contestant's choice of either $25 per answer up to $175 ("Play it Safe") or $500 bonus for all seven. Eventually, the "Big 7" would be modified and best known as answering all the words correctly in an all-or-nothing fashion for the additional bonus. If the "Big 7" also had a perfect score of 21, the contestant would win $1500 for both bonuses.

The 1974-1979 nighttime syndicated version also featured the "Big 7", first in the 1975-1976 season for $1000. It was later changed as "The Big Money" card displaying a random cash amount from $1000 to $5,000 in the 1976-1977 season and from $1,000 to $4,000 in the 1977-1978 season. For the 1978-1979 season, the "Big 7" card returned to which a contestant could win an automobile as the bonus prize. There were no bonus cards in play on the 1981 syndicated $50,000 version.

The short-lived daytime "Junior Partner Pyramid" followed similar game play as the daytime "$20,000 Pyramid" with a few minor differences. Instead of hiding a "Big 7" card during one of the main games on the smaller main game board, each team was given the option to pick one of the categories each front game what category would be their "Bonus 7." If a team could identify all seven words on that category that they designated as their "Bonus 7," the team would receive $500. At the end of the day, the team with the most money won after two main games and two Winner Circle rounds would return the next day. The Winner's Circle consolation amounts and any $500 "Bonus 7" bonuses would be included in determining that team's score for the day. If a team however should win at the Winner's Circle, that team would retire undefeated. The consolation amounts on the Pyramid incremented in different unusual amounts than the regular "$20,000 Pyramid."

The 1982-1988 versions featured the "7-11" in the first game, first introduced on April 11, 1983 and similar in format like the "Big 7", contestants won $1,100 for seven correct answers in that subject. Early on, the player had the option to play for $1,100 in that fashion or to "play it safe" and take $50 per answer up to $350 total. This option was eventually dropped when most contestants opted to try for the bigger money. The "bonus" dollars won in the "7-11", and later in the 21-21 tiebreaker round (discussed below), did not count as for "score" during 1983-1988. Thus, the "score" money is to be won only in the Winner's Circle.

There was also the "Mystery 7" in the second game, begun on the premiere episode of the CBS $25,000 Pyramid, where contestants won a prize (most of the time either a trip or a car) for seven correct answers without receiving the subject of that category from the host (the subject was revealed after the 7 was played). Originally, the "Mystery 7" was displayed in plain sight on the gameboard, but beginning on April 11, 1983, it was hidden behind a category just like the "7-11."

For a brief time in 1983, the CBS version of The $25,000 Pyramid brought back a "Player of the Week" bonus rule as similar from the syndicated $50,000 version introduced in 1981, whereas at the end of the week which ever player identified 7 out of 7 answers in the quickest time (excluding the tiebreaker round) won a trip to Greece. During that short period, the program had dropped the "Mystery 7", but this concept was soon discontinued when the same player would have been disqualified for the following week after having won the trip on the prior week.

The 1991-1992 version originally retained the bonuses of its immediate predecessor with the "7-11" and "Mystery 7" played as described above on the Monday, Wednesday and Friday episodes of a given week. The Tuesday and Thursday episodes, however, saw the "7-11" dropped, the "Mystery 7" moved to the first game and a new bonus called "Double Trouble", played in the second. Two categories on the board were designated as "Double Trouble" subjects (numbered 1 and 2), which consisted entirely of two-word answers. These subjects gave the teams 45 seconds (rather than the standard 30), and paid off $500 for getting through all seven. Each team was required to pick one "Double Trouble" category during the course of the game. Later on, during the 1991-1992 season, the "7-11" was dropped altogether in favor of "Gamble for a Grand" (also played as "Gamble for a Trip"), which gave contestants the option of playing that category normally for no bonus or to take a chance at winning $1000 (or the announced trip) by getting all seven answers in 25 seconds instead of the usual 30.

On The $100,000 Pyramid, no bonus cards were used during tournament play, but during the 1985-1988 run, the 21-21 tiebreaker rule resulted in winning an additional $5000 cash prize discussed below).

The most recent version of Pyramid featured a "Super Six" in each game where contestants won a prize (a trip or a Sony electronic device of some sort) for guessing all six answers correctly within the 20-second time limit.

From 1976 to 1980 on the daytime version, $1000 was won for achieving a perfect score of 21 points. This bonus only appeared in the 1977-1978 season of the nighttime show, but for $2100. On the 1982-1988 version, if the game ended in a 21-21 tie, the tiebreaker was played for a new car in 1984, but starting in 1985 it became a $5000 cash bonus. As mentioned, this was not used in the 1991-1992 run.

Winner's Circle

The Winner's Circle round, named for the circular structure around the chairs that the celebrity and contestant sat in, also featured a pyramid of six subjects: three on the bottom level, two in the middle and one at the top.

Each subject, however, was revealed one at a time and whoever gave the clues (usually the celebrity, but the contestant always had the option of giving or receiving) had to give a list of objects that fit into that subject. The subjects increased in difficulty toward the top of the pyramid.

During most of Pyramid's runs, the round started with: "For ${Dollar amount}, here is your first subject. GO!" On the John Davidson version, he would use that phrase, but not before using this tagline: "You have 60 seconds". Osmond never used the phrase.

Any descriptions other than a list of items resulted in immediate disqualification of that category; this was signaled by a buzzer (instead of the cuckoo sound used in the regular rounds), which was also used to indicate that time expired. The strictness of the judging has varied over the years. The following clues were considered off-limits to the givers:

  • Using hand gestures (the cluegiver had arm straps to help discourage this); hand gestures were allowed for a short time in the early CBS days and during special weeks in which the contestants were blind.
  • Giving the "essence of the answer" (e.g. "a building" for Things You Build)
  • Using synonyms (e.g. "a beautiful woman" for Things That Are Attractive)
  • Using a prepositional phrase (e.g. "the train on schedule" for Things That Arrive; titles with prepositions were acceptable)
  • Using an overly descriptive phrase (e.g. "A dress that doesn't fit" for Things You Return)
  • Describing the category itself rather than naming items (e.g. "open your mouth and I'll drill your teeth" for Things A Dentist Uses)
  • Listing items that do not fit the category at all (e.g. "Benjamin Franklin" for U.S. Presidents)
  • Using a made-up expression (e.g. "Ocean taffy" for Things That Are Salty)

Often, the second box would be "What {person or thing} Might Say" or "Why You {verb}"; on these two categories, judging was much less strict. For instance, the example above, "Open your mouth and I'll drill your teeth", while illegal for Things A Dentist Uses, is acceptable for What a Dentist Might Say.

The contestant must reach to the top of the pyramid by guessing all six subjects correctly within a 60-second time limit; doing so won the grand prize, which had changed with each incarnation of the show:

  • The network daytime versions from 1973 to 1976 and 1979's All-Star Junior Pyramid special offered $10,000 as its top prize. If won, the contestant retired undefeated with the $10,000 and any other winnings to that point.
  • On the 1974-1979 syndicated version and the versions played from 1982-88 and 1991, a player's first trip to the Winner's Circle was played for $10,000. If a contestant won both games, his/her second trip to the Winner's Circle was played for a grand total of $25,000.
  • From 1976 to 1980, the top prize offered on the network daytime version was $20,000. The contestant who went to the Winner's Circle the first time played for $10,000; the second time for $15,000 and the third and subsequent times for $20,000. Players in this version continued until a successful Winner's Circle try at whatever cash prize level (thus retired at that point), or defeated in the main game. If the Winner's Circle was won, whatever money earned up to that point would be augmented to that top prize (so if a player won $1000 in the front game, then won the Winner's Circle for $10,000, they actually would win an extra $9000 for a total of $10,000.
  • On Junior Pyramid from 1979, a contestant's first attempt at the Winner's Circle would be for $1000. A contestant who played the Winner's Circle a second time would play for $2500. The third and subsequent attempts would have the contestant play for $5000.
  • On 1979's Junior Partner Pyramid, teams competed for the entire show. A teams first attempt at the Winner's Circle would be played for $2500. A team's second Winner's Circle would be played for $5000. The team who won the most money returned on the next show, unless that team conquered the Pyramid.
  • On the 1981 syndicated version, the first trip to the Winner's Circle was worth $5,000 and the second time was worth $10,000. Each tournament attempt would be played for the $50,000 grand prize.
  • On both versions of the $100,000 Pyramid, whenever it was tournament week, each attempt was always worth the grand prize. If the $100,000 was won the first half of the show, the other two finalists would play for a consolation $10,000 in the second half (difficult to win, as the harder "tournament" material remained in play).
  • For the 2002-2004 version, a player had to have won the $10,000 in his/her first trip to qualify for the $25,000 attempt and a spot in the tournament.

The first Winner's Circle win occurred on the first broadcast in 1973, when Rob Reiner successfully used the clue "A doughnut" for "Things With A Hole". Interestingly, when Dick Clark was playing as a celebrity player on the syndicated $25,000 Pyramid, he had trouble with the same exact subject and eventually came up with the same clue Reiner used earlier when time was running out, resulting in a $25,000 win.

If the top prize was not won, the contestant was awarded money for every subject guessed. The amount was displayed after the subject was guessed. Dick Clark would also provide clues for the subjects missed after the round ended to the player receiving the clues as suggestions had he been the clue-giver; even asking the judges if a certain clue would be acceptable with the judges responding either with a bell or a buzzer. (Occasionally, the judge would also respond to Dick's questions in the maingame with a bell or buzzer; usually, these questions would involve whether or not a clue was answered in time.)

The payoffs

  • 1973-1980 (network) and 1981 (syndicated) - $50 for the bottom three subjects, $100 for the middle two subjects and $200 for the top subject.
  • 1974-1979 (syndicated) - $100 for the bottom three, $200 for the middle and $300 for the top.
  • All-Star Junior Pyramid special (1979)- $100 for each bottom subject, $250 for each middle subject, and $500 for the subject at the top.
  • Junior Partner Pyramid (1979) - The values for the first five subjects ranged from $100 to $200 in increments of $25, with the final (top) subject being worth $250.
  • 1982-1991 - the first subject was worth $50 and increased in value by $50 for each subject up to $300 for the top subject.
  • 2002-2004 - the bottom three subjects were worth $200, the middle two $300 and the top subject $500 ($500 for each of the three bottom categories, $1000 for each of the two middle categories, and $2500 for the category at the top during six-player tournament play and during the semifinals of a four-player tournament; $1000 for each of the bottom three subjects, $2500 for each of the two middle subjects, and $5000 for the top subject during the finals of a four-player tournament).

In most versions, each subject was displayed on a trilon containing: the name of the subject, visible both when clues were being given for that category as well as if the subject was passed by the clue giver; the appropriate dollar value for that subject, displayed when the receiving contestant correctly identified the subject; and a pyramid graphic, displayed prior to the subject's revelation, as well as if the clue giver gave an illegal clue for that subject. On occasion (primarily when contestants on the "$100,000 Pyramid" won the grand prize of $100,000), the trilons would appear to tremble during the post-game celebration.

The 2002-2004 version used television monitors instead, as producer Sony used their brand of television monitors. These monitors started swiveled horizontally, but then swiveled up to show the big pyramid. Passed categories had a red background, and the monitors for categories for which illegal clueswere given had the Pyramid logo. For a win, all the monitor showed the prize.

During the 1970s run of the series, if there was no time for the second bonus round, it would be played at the top of the next show. On the week-ending Friday episode, if there was no winner from the main game, the celebrities would play the winner's circle themselves and, if won, their contestant partners split $5000 (which was instituted after a Monday episode started with a Winner's Circle, requiring one of the previous week's celebrities, Nipsey Russell, to return just for that round). This procedure was eliminated in the 1982-1988 version when both contestants would play both games with celebrity switching between games.

Tournament play

On The $50,000 Pyramid, the player with the fastest time in the front game during that week qualified for the $50,000 tournament. The field started with eight contenders but was narrowed down to three by the end of the first week of the tournament. On Monday and Tuesday, each game pitted two players in one game, with the winner advancing to the Wednesday-Thursday semifinals in adition to playing the Winner's Circle for $5,000. During the semifinals, each show featured two semifinalists playing both games in one show as during regular play, with the player earning the most money in the Winner's Circle advancing to the finals. The losing contestants from the semifinals competed on Friday's "wild card" show which was played the same as the semifinals. Starting the following Monday, two finalists would play one game and the winner would play the Winner's Circle for $50,000. If the grand prize was lost, that player would play the next game against the finalist who sat out the previous game.

Tournaments were frequently held on The $100,000 Pyramid where the three contestants who reached the top of the pyramid in the shortest amounts of time played until someone won the Winner's Circle, where $100,000 was awarded. These tournaments were played like the tournaments on The $50,000 Pyramid, but without the elimination process. If a contestant won the $100,000 Winner's Circle during the first half of a given episode, the second half would then feature the two remaining tournament contestants playing a consolation game, the winner of which would play the Winner's Circle for $10,000. This happened four times, with the first time coming in Pyramid 's first six-digit win. On most occasions, if the $100,000 was won the entire audience came up to congratulate the winner.

In the fall of 1985, Richard Mahaffey became the first contestant to win $100,000. He and celebrity partner Shelley Smith went up to the top of the pyramid and correctly guessed "Things That Are Warped" with three seconds left on the clock to become the first contestant to win $100,000 on any version of the show. Three years earlier in 1982, Richard's wife Lani was on The $25,000 Pyramid. She won $25,000 with the help of Fred Grandy.

The fastest tournament ever was finished in the first half of the second episode, when Nathan Cook helped contestant Keif Ferrandini win the $100,000 in early 1988. The longest tournament was twelve days with Linda Kelsey and contestant Marilyn Evans during the spring of 1987.

Other players who won the $100,000 tournament include: Andy Culpepper, Patty Geiger, M.G. McCormick, Mary Monte and Cheryl Reinwand, who would become the program's biggest winner with a total of $150,800 in cash. After that, Barry Jenner and contestant M.G. McCormick almost broke the Pyramid record, once set by Billy Crystal in 1977 with a time of 26 seconds, by winning the $100,000 in 27 seconds.

In the winter of 1991, Teresa Mueller became the first contestant to win $100,000 on the John Davidson version of The $100,000 Pyramid, with the assistance of her celebrity partner Adrienne Barbeau. She and Adrienne went up to the top of the pyramid and correctly guessed "Things That Are Dedicated" with eight seconds left on the clock.

The last version of Pyramid held four three-day tournaments where a contestant could win $100,000. In a six-player tournament, two players would compete for the first show, two more would compete on the second show and the last two players competed on the final show.

Each contestant's first attempt at the Winner's Circle would be played for $25,000. If $25,000 was won in the first half, and that same player returned to the Winner's Circle that contestant played for an additional $75,000 and the tournament title. If the tournament ended with neither player able to win both Winner's Circles in one show, the contestant who won $25,000 in the fastest time, would have his or her tournament winnings augmented to $100,000.

In a four-player tournament, the first two semifinalists would compete on the first two days. Each attempt at the Winner's Circle would be played for $25,000. The category payoffs remained the same as with the six-player tournaments. On each of the two semifinal shows, whoever won more money returned to compete in the finals, in which each Winner's Circle attempt would have the player attempt to win $50,000. This was the only version where a $100,000 win was not guaranteed, or even a contestant winning $100,000, however a payoff of $175,000 was possible if one contestant won all four games and got to the top of the pyramid in each round.

The bonus round evolves

In the original concept for the Winner's Circle, a team had to guess ten subjects in 60 seconds to win the top prize. This idea survived long enough for the Winner's Circle gameboard to be constructed with ten trilons rather than six.

Perhaps realizing that ten in sixty seconds made it too unlikely for the $10,000 to be won with anything less than perfect gameplay, Bob Stewart changed the game to its familiar six-subject configuration. The bottom four windows on the gameboard were "dummied out" by having a large piece of plywood nailed across them, which would remain for the entire duration of its initial 1973-74 CBS run. The set was reconstructed without the eliminated trilons when the show moved to ABC in 1974, though the bare section on the ABC board briefly carried a cushion-like bottom.).

It is generally assumed by fans (though by no means confirmed) that the four bottommost categories would have been worth $25 apiece, keeping with the established doubling pattern of the six categories that remained.

Other comments

Despite Pyramid 's moving to ABC in 1974, the first few episodes on the Alphabet Network were taped at CBS's Ed Sullivan Theater while a replica set was being built at ABC's smaller Elysee Theater. One reason may have been the size of the set (including the Pyramid), but according to Pyramid historian William Padron, a key factor was the objection of the CBS union staff to seeing their creations moved to an ABC studio.

The $50,000 Pyramid was unusual in that the clock in its main game actually counted up, from 00 to 30 (to facilitate "Time of the Week" scoring). It was also the first Pyramid version to use a fully electronic display for the main-game clock (using a vane-display clock), rather than a chromakeyed Solari board display. During regular gameplay, the Winner's Circle clock was also vane-display, with it starting at "1 00" and counting down from there. The Solari boards were used for the clock during tournament play, going as before (counting down from "30" and "60").

When Pyramid returned to CBS, the clock and score displays were all vane displays (each digit using seven flipper pieces to display numbers). However, during the Winner's Circle round, the player receiving the clues and host Dick Clark would see an eggcrate-display clock to indicate how much time is left. When time was running short when the next to last subject was guessed, Clark would advise the clue giver to hurry on the final subject.

Billy Crystal set the record by going up the giant Pyramid board in 26 seconds during a fall 1977 episode, helping in winning $10,000 for his civilian contestant partner Natalie Hearst (discussed below).

Celebrities

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy both guested on the ABC Pyramid in the 1970s, on a week which was billed as Kirk vs. Spock. Shatner became infamous in 1977 for throwing a chair across the stage after giving an illegal clue on the final subject ("Things That Are Blessed"; Shatner inadvertently gave a clue containing the word "blessed"), which cost his partner $20,000. (Interestingly, Shatner — an occasional Pyramid panelist — rarely appeared as a semi-regular on the daytime show after that.) On one episode two years earlier, Shatner played the Winner's Circle by himself (giving the clues in one chair then racing to the other and guessing the subject).

Several game show hosts (mostly those hosting Bob Stewart games) appeared as celebrity guests, most notably Bill Cullen and Geoff Edwards. Nipsey Russell, Betty White and Henry Polic II would eventually host a game show. Clark himself appeared as a celebrity guest on the syndicated Cullen Pyramid on a few occasions, as well as on three episodes of the Donny Osmond-hosted Pyramid.

Celebrity partner Billy Crystal holds the record for the fastest Winner's Circle win at 26 seconds, in an episode aired on December 2, 1977. That original achievement would be later fully replayed in a flashback segment during the April 30, 1979 episode featuring Crystal and Sal Viscuso. GSN played that episode as part of its 50 Greatest Game Shows series -- during the preface, host Bil Dwyer revealed that the tape of the original record-setting episode has since been destroyed.

Barry Jenner almost broke Crystal's record in the Winner's Circle, as he and contestant M.G. McCormick went up to the top in 27 seconds in 1987. Kelly Packard also achieved a 27-second mark in 2002 in leading a contestant to a $10,000 win, the fastest win in the Osmond version, while Picabo Street was close behind with a 28-second win in 2003.

Celebrities giving the clues in the Winner's Circle that have won for their partners the $100,000 cash prize during those special weeks included Shelley Smith (twice), Brian Stokes Mitchell, Mary Cadorette, Audrey Landers, Lauri Hendler, Linda Kelsey, Barry Jenner, Markie Post, Nathan Cook, David Garrison and Teresa Ganzel. The only mid-1980s $100,000 tournament winner that had a celebrity guest receiving the clues from his civilian partner was in early 1988 with Nathan Cook and contestant Kief Ferrandini.

Betty White also became a semi-regular during the 80s version. It was on a 1987 week of CBS Pyramid shows playing opposite White that Bill Cullen made his last network TV appearance. Her most recent Pyramid appearance was on November 25, 2002, on a special episode with former Pyramid host Dick Clark as the other celebrity guest.

David Graf of the Police Academy film series appeared as a contestant in 1979 and won $10,000 with his partner, Patty Duke. When the two were reunited as celebrities for a week in 1985, a clip of the big win was shown, prompting Duke to remember Graf as "the big fellow who almost broke my back!".

Constance McCashin of Knots Landing appeared as a contestant on the Cullen version, and later made frequent appearances on the show as a celebrity guest in the 1980s.

Mel Harris of thirtysomething appeared on Pyramid as a contestant in 1979 on the ABC daytime version, and again in 1985 on the syndicated $100,000 version, before finding success as an actress. She later appeared as a celebrity on the Davidson era in 1991 (and a clip of her winning big on the mid-1980s version was shown during the Monday episode of that week). GSN had aired her appearance from 1979, in a complete episode featuring celebrity guests Dick Cavett and Tony Randall, on Thursday, December 5,2002 as part of the channel's then weekly Pyramid Thursday two-hour block.

Kathy Najimy appeared as a contestant in 1985 and later returned as a celebrity on the Osmond version.

Michele Lee also of Knots Landing appeared twice on the Cullen version as a celebrity, as well on the ABC daytime version during the 1970s.

Announcers

Former Concentration announcer and host Bob Clayton handled the announcing chores on the 1970s Pyramid (and other Stewart-produced shows) until his death in 1979 after a heart attack. Other New York-based announcers, including Alan Kalter and Steve O'Brien, rotated the announcing duties until its last New York broadcast in 1981.

When Pyramid moved back to CBS in 1982 — relocating at Television City in Los Angeles — LA-based announcers such as Jack Clark, Rod Roddy, Johnny Gilbert, Bob Hilton, Jerry Bishop, and Charlie Tuna rotated, with Jack Clark and Gilbert credited as regular announcers. In 1985, Charlie O'Donnell, Dick Clark's announcer on American Bandstand, worked with Clark again on Pyramid — mostly on the $100,000 version. Dean Goss also announced on the show.

When The $100,000 Pyramid returned in 1991 with Davidson as host, Gilbert was the sole announcer, although actor (and frequent 80s Pyramid player) Henry Polic II filled in for him for several weeks during the first season.

John Cramer announced on the Osmond 2002 revival.

Versions outside the USA

Foreign editions have been produced as well.

Among them:

United Kingdom: The Pyramid Game for ITV (originally featured on the short-lived Bruce's Big Night as the £1000 Pyramid), produced by London Weekend Television and hosted by Steve Jones, which aired from 1981-1984 and again from 1989-1990. Donny Osmond, who hosted the 2002-2004 version in the US, is set to host a new version called Donny's Pyramid Game on Challenge.

France: Pyramide for France 2, hosted by Patrice Laffont.

Germany: Die Pyramide, first on ZDF from 1978-1993, and hosted by Dieter Thomas Heck, then later called Hast Du Worte?, and airing on Sat.1 from 1996-1999, and hosted by Jörg Pilawa, then Thomas Koschwitz.

Singapore: Aired on MediaCorp TV Channel 5 and hosted by Benedict Goh, with the same title as the UK version.

Estonia: Called Püramiid for TV3, airing since March 2006.

Vietnam: A local version called Kim Tų Tháp and airing on HTV7.

Russia: Called Piramida.

Indonesia: The local version stands several years with title Kuis Piramida.

Chile: The show is called Contrareloj, and the set is a dead ringer to the Donny Osmond-era set. It airs on Canal 13 and is hosted by a female-- Esperanza Silva.

Home versions

Main article: Pyramid (Home game)

Milton Bradley made eight editions of the CBS/ABC versions starting in 1974. The dollar values in the MB editions changed over the years as the TV show did, with the eighth edition titled The $50,000 Pyramid, which is now rare. Cardinal Games created the first $25,000 Pyramid game in 1986, with a picture of Dick Clark on the box; the game also had the option of playing it as The $100,000 Pyramid. Endless Games created a similar (to the Cardinal edition) version in 2000, still calling it The $25,000 Pyramid with a second edition based on Osmond's Pyramid in 2003.

The first computer version of The $100,000 Pyramid was released in 1987 for MS-DOS, Commodore 64 and Apple II computers by Box Office Software. Sierra Entertainment released a version from 2001 for the PC; which is mostly based on the 1985 version with some elements of the 1991 version. In 2006, MGA Games released a DVD game of The $100,000 Pyramid with gameplay different from the 80s version.

Episode status and rights

All versions are assumed to exist, with the following exceptions:

  • The original CBS $10,000 Pyramid is believed to be largely erased; the only episodes confirmed come from a special three-week period where the show originated from CBS Television City in Hollywood rather than its usual New York home base. GSN has aired these episodes in the past.
  • GSN has only the last two seasons (1978-80) of The $20,000 Pyramid in its archive (which was purchased from Bob Stewart when Sony acquired the rights to that library). It is believed that the tapes of episodes prior to that were erased and recycled by ABC.
  • The Bill Cullen $25,000 Pyramid exists in what is believed to be its entirety, but GSN does not have rights to this version; it remains with its original syndicator, Viacom (now CBS Paramount). The $50,000 Pyramid is in a similar limbo, as is the '90s $100,000 Pyramid (discussed below). The $50,000 Pyramid did air as repeats in 1982 on the then-CBN Cable Network, currently known as ABC Family, shortly before the premiere of the revived CBS version.
  • Sony has rights to the Pyramid game format and most of the numerous incarnations. Sony does not own the following versions: the Cullen $25,000 Pyramid version (held by Viacom), the brief 1981 $50,000 Pyramid edition (formerly distributed by CPM Programs) and the Davidson $100,000 Pyramid version (held by CBS Paramount Television and StudioCanal via the latter's acquisition of the library of Carolco Pictures, which distributed the Davidson/$100,000 Pyramid version).
  • The 1980s CBS $25,000 Pyramid is fully intact and did air as complete in repeats on the USA Network, but GSN has only played approximately 350 of the 1,404 episodes because the bulk of them have not been converted from an analog to a digibeta tape format required to air on the latter channel.
  • The syndicated 1980s $100,000 Pyramid is completely intact, and have aired on both the USA Network and GSN. However, Sony is currently only permitting GSN to air just one season's worth of episodes, about 180 of the 550 episodes, due to current license fee requirements.

References in popular culture

  • The theme song to The $25,000 Pyramid was featured in a scene introducing the psychology of the universal remote control of the 2006 film, Click starring Adam Sandler.
  • On Dr. Dre's 1992 G-Funk album The Chronic, Track 10, entitled "The $20 Sack Pyramid" is a parody of the show featuring much more gritty subject matter.
  • The $25,000 Pyramid was satirized on an episode of Jim Henson's Muppet Babies in which Baby Miss Piggy played the Winner's Circle on "The 25,000 Dollhouse Pyramid".
  • A television commercial for Comcast in 2005 featured footage from a 1978 episode of The $20,000 Pyramid. The dialogue was dubbed and the subjects in the Winner's Circle were edited to relate to Comcast products (such as "Things You'd Give Your Right Arm For" and the clincher, "Things That Are Comcastic"). The celebrity player featured in this clip was Loretta Swit.
  • On an episode of Friends, Joey makes an appearance on the Pyramid show hosted by Donny Osmond. He fumbles over most of the answers, but somehow makes it to the Winner's Circle. There he stumbles his way to the top, where he jokingly makes fun of Chandler and time runs out.
  • Pyramid turned up in a live 2003 Ellen DeGeneres standup special on HBO, during which she described what happens when a speaker loses the thread of a conversation... in mid-conversation: "Suddenly, it's like The $10,000 Pyramid with these people. 'Things that taste like chicken. Things a monkey would wear!' "
  • In the 2006 American Dad! episode "Rough Trade", Stan was seen watching a Winner's Circle round of The $100,000 Pyramid while he was at home on house arrest. Later, a drunk Stan plays along with the show, after which Klaus (the talking fish) informed him that he was watching The Price Is Right instead.
  • Even Dick Clark was involved in a comedy spoof of The $20,000 Pyramid on the short-lived 1978 syndicated revival of The Soupy Sales Show, with Soupy Sales and Pookie the Lion playing a very long and quite futile Winner's Circle round. After the end of that round, both Sales and Dick Clark each get hit with a pie in the face by Pookie.
  • Saturday Night Live had a game show parody sketch called "You Think You're Better Than Me?" in 1995 that used a sped-up version of the theme song from The $10,000 Pyramid.
  • The Donny Osmond-hosted Pyramid was involved in a prank on an episode of The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.
  • In a 2004 episode of Scrubs entitled "His Story II", the characters of Doctor Cox and JD each make subtle references to the show when trying to make jokes at one another. Here, JD is using the line, "Things your ex-wife might say", and Doctor Cox replying, "Things you say to your patients".
  • The show was parodied by the crew of SCTV in a spoof called, "The $211,000 Triangle", with Dave Thomas hosting, and guest starring (incompetent) Bobby Bitman as the celebrity guest clue recipient in the winner's circle. He did very poorly, causing great distress for his teammate played by Andrea Martin.
  • The theme song to The $25,000 Pyramid could be heard faintly in the movie Rain Man as Dustin Hoffman's character was watching it in a motel room.
  • In a 2005 episode of The King of Queens, Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller) threatened to sue Dick Clark for not awarding him a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni after an appearance on The $10,000 Pyramid in 1976 (which his son-in-law Doug Heffernan catches a glimpse of). Initially, the law firm that Arthur's daughter Carrie works for refused to take the case, as the show had long been cancelled at the time, but Arthur finally got his wish, plus enough cases of Rice-A-Roni for the next 30 years.
  • All four Atlanta sports teams — the Braves, Falcons, Hawks, and Thrashers — have played the theme to The $25,000 Pyramid at their home games. During the 1980s, the Braves and Hawks frequently used the song in such situations as pitching changes and timeouts, respectively. The Falcons followed suit in 1992, when they moved to the Georgia Dome. The reason behind this is because Dick Clark is very popular in Atlanta, even though he's not a native there.
  • In the HBO comedy Arli$$, Arliss (Robert Wuhl) watches a clip of himself on The $10,000 Pyramid. The contestant in the clip is truly Robert Wuhl, in the 1970s. He appeared on the show, and used his winnings to start his comedy career.

$100,000 Pyramid Tournament winners

Dick Clark series

  • Richard Mahaffey - $119,450
  • Andy Culpepper - $113,250
  • Patty Geiger - $123,800
  • Cheryl Reinwand - $150,800 (All-Time Winner)
  • Denise Bumbliss - $118,600
  • Mary Monte - $123,600
  • Marilyn Evans - $147,600
  • M.G. McCormick - $133,650
  • Debbie Seppien - $129,400
  • Keif Ferrendini - $122,450
  • Tracy Trench - $121,250
  • Carrie Etheridge - $119,100

John Davidson series

  • Teresa Mueller - $114,600
  • Kris McDermont - $147,750
  • Peggy Belski - $115,700
  • Melia Kline - $127,800
  • Baron Harris - $124,800

External links

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