Whew!

Whew!
Format	Game show
Created by	Jay Wolpert
Directed by	Bill Carruthers Chris Darley Tom Trbovich
Presented by	Tom Kennedy
Narrated by	Rod Roddy
Theme music composer	Alan Thicke
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	Unknown
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bud Astin Burt Sugarman
Producer(s)	Jay Wolpert
Running time	Approx. 25 minutes (with commercials)
Production company(s)	The Bud Astin Company Jay Wolpert Productions Burt Sugarman Inc.
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	April 23, 1979 – May 30, 1980

Whew! is an American game show that aired on CBS from April 23, 1979, until May 30, 1980. It was hosted by Tom Kennedy and announced by Rod Roddy.

The game was created by Jay Wolpert. Production was initially credited to the Bud Astin Company, then later changed to Jay Wolpert Productions in association with Burt Sugarman Inc.

Gameplay

Main game

Two contestants (or during the later half of the run, two teams of a civilian and a celebrity), were told the categories for the first two rounds of play, and were designated as either the blocker or the charger by the current challenger (or a person decided by coin toss if there was no champion). The blocker, while the charger was in a soundproof booth, placed six blocks on the game board, consisting of a 5×5 matrix of 25 spaces (with ascending values from $10 to $50) with an extra row of three additional spaces at the top (worth $200, $350 and $500). No more than three blocks could be put on any of the first five levels, and only one block could be put in the sixth level.

The designated charger is then given 60 seconds to progress his or her way up the six levels of the board by choosing one of the five spaces on a level and correcting a blooper, a factual statement with an incorrect word creating a pun (e.g., "The B&O was the first American passenger smell", with train as the correct answer). After the blooper was read, the contestant must correct the incorrect part of the statement (marked out in underline on the board's trilons) to progress to the next level. If the charger chooses a space concealing one of the blocks placed earlier, a five-second penalty is incurred and counted down by Kennedy and the audience and sometimes the blocker. If the charger reveals all five spaces on a level and cannot progress ahead, the row is exhausted and the contestant moved up to the next level automatically. If the charger believes that there will not be enough time to complete all six levels, he/she could call for a Long Shot. The clock would then be stopped and the charger would move to level six and select one of the three bloopers. However, calling for a Long Shot was not without risk. In addition to any block that was already placed on the level, the blocker was allowed to place one secret block on another blooper on level six if a Long Shot was called.

The charger wins the round and the money earned if they successfully clear all six levels within the time allotted, or if they successfully complete a Long Shot by correcting one blooper on level six. Otherwise, the blocker wins the round. Regardless of who wins the round, the charger is credited with the money attached to the bloopers that he/she corrects, while the blocker is credited with the money attached to the blocks that the charger encounters. Although the money earned is not used as a score to decide the match, it does serve a purpose during the bonus round.

The main game is played in a best-of-three format; the contestants switch roles for the second round, and if a third round is needed, the current champion (or the player who did not win the coin toss) chooses roles for the tie-breaker. The first player to win two rounds wins the match, and progresses to the bonus round, the Gauntlet of Villains, for a chance at a $25,000 grand prize. Their opponent received a consolation prize.

The Gauntlet of Villains

In the Gauntlet of Villains, the winner of the main game is faced with a path lined with 10 wooden caricatures of stereotypical villains. The player must progress down the path in the time limit given by correcting bloopers as in the main game. At the beginning of the round, the player was given a base time of 60 seconds to clear the gauntlet. One second was added for each $100 the player won in the main game; for example, a player who won $370 received 3 more seconds (amounts were rounded down).

If the contestant successfully cleared the gauntlet, he or she won the grand prize of $25,000 and retired (the CBS daytime winnings limit was $25,000 at the time). Otherwise, they earned $100 for every villain cleared, and returned on the next game. Originally there was no formal limit on how many matches a contestant could win, but after a contestant won seven matches as champion until he beat the Gauntlet, a five-match limit was implemented soon after.^{[citation needed]}

If the contestant either responded incorrectly or failed to answer within the two second time limit, the correct response was shown on a screen within the caricature.

Production information

Broadcast History

Whew!'s debut at 10:30 AM was part of a morning lineup shuffle at CBS.^{[citation needed]} In order to make room for the game show and daytime All in the Family reruns in the 10 AM hour, the hour-long game show The Price Is Right was moved^{[citation needed]} to 11 AM where it continues to air in most markets to this day. Its actual run time, with commercials, was 25 minutes; the remaining time (in between the show and The Price Is Right) was taken up by the five-minute CBS Mid-Morning News with Douglas Edwards. Whew! went up against The Hollywood Squares for its entire run^{[citation needed]} and the latter show easily beat out Whew!.^{[citation needed]}

Whew! was taped in Hollywood, California at CBS Television City, with production alternating between Studios 31 and 33.

After the final episode of Whew! aired, the series was replaced the following Monday by repeats of Alice, which aired until September 17, 1982, when it was replaced by Child's Play the following Monday.

Celebrity Whew!

Starting November 5, 1979^{[citation needed]} and continuing until Whew! went off the air in May 1980, the program became known as Celebrity Whew! and two contestant-celebrity pairs competed. When a team was Charging they alternated turns, and when Blocking they each placed three blocks on the board. Although episodes briefly continued to straddle, this was quickly changed. Instead, if a team swept the first two boards, the third board was played for bonus money and (in turn) extra Gauntlet time with the six blocks placed randomly by the Villains.

In the Gauntlet of Villians, the celebrity took the first half of the Gauntlet and the contestant the second half. The rules were the same as before- each $100 earned in the front game was worth one additional second on top of the base sixty, and completing the Gauntlet won $25,000 which retired the player immediately upon winning it.

Episode status

All episodes are presumed to exist in the possession of Burt Sugarman, the current copyright holder of the Whew! program and format.

Theme

The theme song was composed by Alan Thicke. Original recordings of the theme are presumed to have been lost.

External links

• Whew! at the Internet Movie Database