Bullseye (U.S. game show)
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| (Celebrity) Bullseye | |
 Bullseye title logo. |
|
| Format | Game show |
|---|---|
| Created by | Jack Barry & Dan Enright |
| Presented by | Jim Lange |
| Narrated by | Jay Stewart Charlie O'Donnell |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | ~390[citation needed] |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Syndicated (daily) |
| Original run | September 29, 1980 – September 24, 1982 |
Bullseye is an American game show that aired in syndication from September 29, 1980 to September 24, 1982. Jim Lange was the host, and the program was produced by Jack Barry and Dan Enright. Jay Stewart was the announcer for the first season, and Charlie O'Donnell announced for the second season. The series' executive producer was Ron Greenberg.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Main Game
Two contestants, one a returning champion, competed. The game began with the champion stopping a game board of three spinning windows by hitting a three-colored plunger in front of him. The first two windows contained eight different categories (four in each window) with dollar amounts ranging from $50 to $200 (representing the value of each question). The third window (below the two category windows) was the Contract window, and displayed numbers from one to five as well as a bullseye graphic.
When the windows stopped spinning, the player chose either of the displayed categories, and had to fulfill the contract by correctly answering the number of questions indicated in the Contract window. If the Contract window contained a bullseye, the contract was unlimited; the player could continue answering questions for as long as he wanted to. Each correct response added the value of the question to a pot. A missed question gave the opponent a chance to steal control of the contract with a right answer.
After the contract had been completed, the player who completed the contract could elect to either bank the money in the pot & pass control of the board to the opponent, or continue playing with a new contract; choosing the latter option would leave the accumulated money in the pot, up for grabs by either player.
The first player to bank $1,000 or more won the game. (beginning with a Nov. 1980 celebrity week, this was increased to $2,000, with question values increasing to $100 – $400.) Contestants kept any money banked during a game, regardless of the outcome, making Bullseye one of the few Barry & Enright shows to allow losing contestants to keep earnings from the game.
In the event of a champion winning the game without the challenger having an opportunity to play (for example, if the champion spun a bullseye in the Contract window and answered several consecutive questions to win the game), the challenger would return after the bonus round to play again.
As is the case with most Barry & Enright game shows, a new automobile was awarded to any contestant who won five consecutive games.
[edit] Endgame ("Bonus Island")
The champion advanced to play the bonus round (referred to as "Bonus Island"). Once again, the object for the player was to use their plunger to stop the spinning windows. However, this time the windows contained various dollar amounts ($100-$150-$200 originally, later $100-$200-$300). All three windows also contained bullseyes, and one also contained a lightning bolt.
The player's task was to spin three bullseyes, which resulted in an automatic win, or survive ten spins (later seven) without being "struck" by lightning. With each spin, whatever money the contestant accumulated was added to their bank for the round. bullseyes, if spun, were automatically frozen (a player originally had the option to freeze the window in which a bullseye appeared). A player could stop after any spin if they so chose, but if lightning came up in its assigned window (accompanied by a loud thunderclap) they lost the round automatically and whatever money they had won up to that point.
For winning the bonus round a contestant received whatever money they had won while spinning as well as a prize package (a staple on Barry-Enright shows of this era), which usually was worth between $2,000 and $4,000. If a player spun three bullseyes in one spin, they won $10,000. Surviving the allotment of spins augmented a player's winnings to $5,000 unless they had accumulated more than that. If a player managed to spin three bullseyes at any other time during their spins, the bank was doubled and the round ended.
A player had no way of knowing whether or not the lightning was still in play until after the round ended and all the amounts in the windows were revealed.
[edit] Pilot version
The original pilot, taped in 1979 at the NBC Burbank Studios, featured a different bonus round. To begin, the player used a plunger to stop a "Number Jumbler", which shuffled the numbers 3, 4, and 5 plus a bullseye back and forth in a contract window. Once the player stopped the Number Jumbler, whatever appeared on it was the amount of spins in the contract.
The player then was staked with their main game winnings to start the round and took whatever spins were allotted.
The three windows each contained bullseyes and lightning, and as before hitting lightning ended the round and cost the player whatever they had earned up to that point. Every time a player spun three bullseyes, their bank was doubled. They were then given the option to keep playing or quit with what they had earned so far, as lightning was always in play.
If a player was lucky enough to spin the bullseye with the Number Jumbler, the amount of spins was unlimited and they could keep spinning until they reached $1,000,000. This would have taken 10 spins to accomplish. (Example: A $1000 stake would become $2000, $4000, $8000, $16,000, $32,000, $64,000, $128,000, $256,000, $512,000, then would finally augment to $1,000,000.)
[edit] Celebrity Bullseye (1982)
In January 1982, the show changed its name to Celebrity Bullseye and featured celebrity contestants playing for their favorite charities.
At this point, the celebrities would play a best two-out-of-three game and a $500 value was added to the main game, but few other rules were changed. One of these rules was that the categories were no longer announced by host Jim Lange before the game began. Another was that most questions were multiple-choice, containing three possible answers, with the celebrity's job to choose the right one; the exceptions to that being visual categories or Two of a Kind. It was as Celebrity Bullseye that this series left the air in September of that year. This version has been criticized by fans of the show as slowing the game down, as there would be episodes where no Bonus Island would be played at all.
Celebrities who played the celebrity version included Harvey Korman, Greg Morris, Doug Davidson, Roxie Roker, Rue McClanahan, Diane Ladd, Richard Kline, Gloria Loring, Patrick Wayne, Lynn Redgrave, Jerry Mathers, Meredith Baxter-Birney, Ernest Borgnine, and F. Lee Bailey.
[edit] Set
Bullseye was known for having one of the most expensive and stylish sets of any game show. It featured lots of neon and chaser lights, giant slide-projector windows, a large moving "Bonus Island", and a bombastic music package (including a main theme strongly reminiscent of the Santa Esmeralda disco hit "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," which had been used itself on the pilot) to round out the show's "look and feel".
Shortly after Bullseye premiered, the set of another Barry-Enright game show, The Joker's Wild, received similar upgrades.
Bullseye first originated from NBC Studios in Burbank, California; which would be the first true Barry & Enright game show to originate from NBC Burbank; an earlier 1975 game show, Blank Check, was produced at NBC under the Jack Barry Productions brand.
By 1981, production of Bullseye moved to Studio 31 of CBS Television City in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, where Jack Barry's The Joker's Wild originated nearly a decade before. In 1982, production of Bullseye was moved to Television City's Studio 33 (now known as the Bob Barker Studio), sharing a stage with The Price is Right. The Bullseye logo behind the studio audience was placed in the same spot as the logo for The Price is Right during its tenure at Studio 33. A total of approximately 390 episodes of Bullseye was produced, including the Celebrity Bullseye tenure.
The "Bonus Island" itself was a stage prop that would travel from one end of the stage (stage right) to the area between the host's podium and the game board. It was a circular prop about six feet in diameter with a tall four-foot plunger in the center used to stop the spinning windows. Below the island was flashing blue and pink neon.
[edit] Episode status
All episodes exist, with reruns airing on CBN Cable (1982-1983), WOR EMI Service (1983-1984), and USA Network (1984-1987) with GSN doing so in more recent years; the most recent such instance was in November 2007 for its "Viewers' Choice" marathon.
