Password Plus and Super Password

Password Plus
Password Plus opening title.
Genre	Game show
Created by	Bob Stewart
Developed by	Robert Sherman
Presented by	Allen Ludden (1979–1980) Tom Kennedy (1980–1982)
Narrated by	Gene Wood John Harlan (1979) Johnny Olson (1980) Bob Hilton (1980, 1981, and 1982) Rich Jeffries (1981)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	801 (including 1 unaired)
Production
Camera setup	Six cameras, later five
Running time	22–26 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	NTSC
Original run	January 8, 1979 (1979-01-08) – March 26, 1982 (1982-03-26)
Chronology
Preceded by	Password (1961–1967, 1971–1975)
Followed by	Super Password (1984–1989) Million Dollar Password (2008–2009)

Super Password
Opening title for Super Password.
Genre	Game show
Created by	Bob Stewart
Developed by	Robert Sherman
Presented by	Bert Convy
Narrated by	Rich Jeffries (1984) Gene Wood (1984–1989) Bob Hilton (substitute, 1985)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	1,151
Production
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	NTSC
Original run	September 24, 1984 (1984-09-24) – March 24, 1989 (1989-03-24)
Chronology
Preceded by	Password (1961–1967, 1971–1975) Password Plus (1979–1982)
Followed by	Million Dollar Password (2008–2009)

Password Plus and Super Password are American game shows that are revivals of the game show Password. Both Password Plus and Super Password had the same format other than some subtle changes.

Password Plus and Super Password aired on NBC, and were taped on Stage 3 at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. As with the previous editions, Password Plus was a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production, and Super Password was a Mark Goodson Production.

Password Plus ran from January 8, 1979 to March 26, 1982 for 800 shows and won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show in 1982. Super Password aired 1,151 episodes from September 24, 1984 to March 24, 1989.

Cast

Hosts

Password Plus was hosted by Allen Ludden from January 1979 to April 1980, when he had to take a leave of absence from the show due to health problems. Bill Cullen substituted for Ludden during his first absence. Ludden returned in May, but he left the program in late October due to further health problems; he did not appear on television again before his 1981 death. Because Cullen had recently begun hosting Blockbusters, Tom Kennedy took over the podium and remained host until Password Plus ended.

Kennedy was considered to host Super Password^{[citation needed]} but was already busy hosting Body Language on CBS. Therefore, Bert Convy was selected as the host for the program's entire run. Coincidentally, CBS had cancelled Convy's previous game show Tattletales to make room for Body Language.

Announcers

Gene Wood was the regular announcer on both Password Plus and Super Password. Johnny Olson, Bob Hilton, John Harlan, and Rich Jeffries substituted for Wood on a few episodes of Password Plus, including a stretch in 1981 when Wood was recovering from an accident. Harlan substituted for Wood in March 1979, Olson substituted for Wood in 1980, even when Bill Cullen filled in for Ludden, Hilton substituted on a few 1980 Ludden episodes and also substituted in 1981 and 1982, and Jeffries substituted for Wood for three weeks in January 1981.

Jeffries was the first announcer of Super Password and served as a regular announcer until November 23, 1984. After the first nine weeks totaling 45 episodes, Wood succeeded Jeffries the following Monday. Jeffries and Hilton filled in for Wood on occasion on Super Password. Wood whispered the passwords to home viewers from November 3, 1986 until Super Password ended.

Gameplay

The rules for Password Plus and Super Password were almost identical. Two teams, each composed of a contestant and a celebrity, competed. The object, as on the original Password, was for the clue-giving partner to get the receiving partner to guess a given word (the "password"). The giving partner on the first team offered a one-word clue, to which the receiving partner was allowed one guess; there were brief time limits for both the clue and the guess. Teams alternated giving one-word clues until the password was guessed, or until each side had given two clues (three in the early days of Password Plus until June 15, 1979). Giving an illegal clue (multiple or hyphenated words, going over one word, using over-expressive gestures, forms of the password, made-up words, etc.) forfeited the receiver's turn to guess, as did having clue-giving time expire without giving a clue. If the word itself was given away by any of the players, or a clue was ruled illegal after the word had been correctly guessed, the opposing team was given the right to guess the puzzle. If the word was revealed prematurely by anyone other than the players, the word was put on the board and neither team guessed.

Like the ABC run of Password, the first clue-giver for each password on Password Plus had the option to give the first clue or pass to the other team. Originally, the team that didn't get the previous password was given the option, but this changed a few months into the run. This option was eliminated on Super Password, with the team that got the previous password given first crack at the next one.

Initially, the rules regarding cluegiving were the same as on all previous versions of Password. Beginning with the April 23, 1979 edition of Password Plus and continuing until the series left the air in 1982, two rules were put into place. The first disallowed any password's direct opposite as a legal clue (such as "loose" for "tight"). The second added a penalty to the game; if a team in control either took too long to decide whether to play or failed to come up with a clue before the buzzer, the other team was given two chances to guess the password. Super Password did not use these rules.

Password Puzzle

The new element of the revivals was the "Password Puzzle." Each password, once revealed, became one of five clues referring to a person, place or thing. The passwords themselves were not worth any money; only the puzzle affected the scores. A guesser who correctly guessed a password was given a guess at the answer to the puzzle. A password that was not guessed by either player was added to the board without a guess at the puzzle, and if it was the final password in the puzzle the solution was revealed and a new puzzle was played.

For the final password in a puzzle, if the guesser was incorrect, their partner was given a guess as well. On Password Plus, the puzzle was thrown out if the partner failed to guess, but on Super Password, both members of the opposing team could attempt to guess for the value of the puzzle.

Correctly guessing the puzzle won the contestant money; any remaining clues would be revealed and new puzzles were played until one contestant had enough money to win the game. If, by chance, the solution to the puzzle was accidentally revealed by anyone, the puzzle was thrown out.

From	To	Goal	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4+
1979	1981	$300	$100		$200
1981	1982	$500	$100			$200
1984	1989		$100	$200	$300	$400

In 1981, the switch in celebrity partners that normally took place before the start of each game was moved to after the third puzzle. On Super Password, the contestants switched partners after the Cashword game which followed the $200 puzzle.

Cashword

Super Password instituted "Cashword," an additional bonus during the main game, played between the second and third puzzles for an accumulating cash jackpot. The celebrity acted as the clue-giver and was given a more difficult password. If the contestant guessed the password within three clues they won the jackpot which started at $1,000 and increased by that much each time it was not won, without limit. If at any time an illegal clue was given, the Cashword round immediately ended, and the contestant forfeited their chance at the jackpot.

Alphabetics/Super Password

The winning team played for a cash prize in the bonus round, called "Alphabetics" on Password Plus and, initially, "Super Password" (later simply referred to as "the End Game") on Super Password.

The gameplay of the round was the same on both shows. The round featured 10 passwords beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet (A-J, B-K, etc.). The celebrity was always the clue-giver. The celebrity was shown only the current password until it was guessed or they passed and had to give one-word clues until the contestant guessed the password. The clue-giver could use multiple individual words to form sentences, but had to pause distinctly between each word. For the period on Password Plus in which opposites were forbidden, this was enforced in Alphabetics as well. The contestant won $100 per guessed word, and the entire jackpot for guessing all ten words in 60 seconds.

On Password Plus, the grand prize was originally a flat $5,000, with each illegal clue reducing its potential value by 20% of the total ($1,000). Saying the word in attempt to give clues put the word out of play and forfeited the jackpot all together. Later, during the time Tom Kennedy hosted, the bonus round was played for an accumulating jackpot which started at $5,000 and increased by that much each time it was not won, up to a limit of $50,000 (which was never reached). Illegal clues still reduced the pot by 20% (e.g., a $35,000 pot would have $7,000 deducted for each illegal clue), but this was later changed to a flat $2,500 reduction in late 1981. By the final week, the 20% reduction had returned.

Super Password's bonus game was played for the same accumulating pot. However, illegal clues of any sort took that password out of play and the contestant lost any chance at the jackpot; if any non-guessed passwords remained, gameplay continued for $100 apiece. Also, NBC imposed no limit as to how high the pot could go. The top prize ever awarded was $55,000, which was won twice. On four other occasions, the pot reached $50,000 before it was won.

Champions could return for a maximum of seven matches on Password Plus. On Super Password, champions could return for up to five matches.

Tournaments

Super Password held its only Tournament of Champions in 1985. In it, eight of the top winners competed. Front-game rules were identical to the regular season with no Cashword played throughout the tournament. First-round matches consisted of only one game, with the winners playing Super Password for $2,500. The semi-final and final matches were best-of-three game matches. In the semi-finals, the first win by a player gave the contestant a chance at $2,500 in Super Password, and winning the match sent that player to the finals and gave the player a chance at $5,000 in Super Password. The winner of the tournament won $25,000 and a chance to double it in Super Password. The overall champion, Natalie Steele, became Password's all-time big winner (only due to this tournament), earning $106,000.

Both shows also held all-star weeks with various stars playing for charity. The endgame was played for $5,000 to be split between the partners' respective charities. Super Password's Cashword was worth $1,000 throughout the entire week. When played on Password Plus, a $5,000 bonus was awarded to the player(s) with the highest single total.

In February 1986 and again in September 1986, Super Password also held a "Tournament of Losers." In it, players who had won nothing on their previous appearances returned to play in a week-long tournament. The Cashword was worth $1,000, and the end game was worth $5,000 all week. The overall winner of the tournament won an additional $10,000. Regardless of the outcome, all players in the Losers tournaments were guaranteed at least $100 so that they did not walk away empty-handed again.

Merchandise

Password Plus

Three editions of the Password Plus board game were made by Milton Bradley in the early 1980s. Milton Bradley made an eight-track cartridge version of the game for its Omni Entertainment System.

Super Password

A Super Password video game was released for DOS, the Apple II, and the Commodore 64 in 1988. A version for the NES was also planned around that time, but never surfaced.

In 2000, a Super Password hand-held game was released.

Theme music

The theme music for both Password Plus and Super Password were composed by Score Productions. The theme song for Password Plus is called "Not Enough Disco Inferno". The opening theme for Super Password is called "Stardust" while the closing is a longer version of the theme.^{[citation needed]} The show's opening used an alternate version of "Stardust", which has not been released until August 2009 through YouTube.

Broadcast history

Password Plus was first shown at 10:30 A.M. where a recent revival of Jeopardy! had aired before moving to Noon. Starting March 5, Password was moved one half-hour later but, less than two months later, it went up against The Price is Right on CBS. On June 20, 1980, three other NBC game shows were cancelled to make room for David Letterman's morning talk show. On October 4, 1981, Password Plus moved to 12:00 Noon, a historically low-rated time slot. Many stations aired local news in that hour. while on other stations, it went up against Family Feud and The Young and The Restless on ABC and CBS respectively. The show ended its run on March 26, 1982.

The program returned in 1984 as Super Password and again aired in the 12:00 Noon time slot. NBC stations in the Central and Pacific time zones usually preempted Scrabble at 11:30 for local news and aired Super Password at 11:00.^{[citation needed]} However, many stations aired the show instead of local news^{[citation needed]}, which may have contributed to Super Password lasting four and one-half years at noon against CBS's The Young and The Restless.^{[citation needed]} Later in the decade, though, NBC affiliates were dropping most of their other daytime game shows along with Super Password and ratings began to slide and the show's final episode aired on March 24, 1989, the same day Sale of The Century aired its series finale. Super Password was Bert Convy's last network game show hosted before his death two years later.

Episode status

All episodes of both shows exist, and both have been seen on GSN at various times.

See also

• Password
• Million Dollar Password

External links

• Password Plus at the Internet Movie Database
• Super Password at the Internet Movie Database
• Password Plus at TV.com
• Super Password at TV.com

Preceded by The $20,000 Pyramid

Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show Password Plus, 1982

Succeeded by The $25,000 Pyramid