Password Plus and Super Password

Password Plus and Super Password
Password Plus opening title.
Genre	Game show
Created by	Bob Stewart
Developed by	Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions
Starring	Allen Ludden (1979-1980) Bill Cullen (1980) Tom Kennedy (1980-1982)
Narrated by	Gene Wood
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	800
Production
Camera setup	Six cameras, later five
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	January 8, 1979 – March 26, 1982

Password Plus and Super Password
Title card for Super Password
Genre	Game show
Created by	Bob Stewart
Developed by	Mark Goodson Productions
Starring	Bert Convy
Narrated by	Rich Jeffries (1984) Gene Wood (1984-1989)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	1175
Production
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 24, 1984 – March 24, 1989

Password Plus and Super Password are American game shows that were revivals of the original CBS and ABC game show Password (1961-67; 1971-1975).

Password Plus and Super Password aired on the NBC television network, 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.

The original title of Password Plus was supposed to be Password '79, a la Match Game's annual title change upon the new year. However, during a run through, Carol Burnett was reported to say, "This is more than Password, it's Password Plus," which led to the name and the opening spiel.

Password Plus ran from January 8, 1979 until March 26, 1982 for 800 shows. Super Password's run lasted for 1,175 installments, from September 24, 1984, to March 24, 1989.

Password Plus won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show in 1982, the same year its run ended.

Crew

Hosts

Password Plus was hosted by original Password host Allen Ludden from January 1979 to April 1980, when he had to take a leave of absence from the show due to stomach cancer. Bill Cullen, who was hosting Chain Reaction at the time, took over as substitute host for a month while Ludden recovered. Ludden returned in May, but by October, had suffered a stroke as well as having his cancer recur, and was forced to retire; he would never appear on television again before his 1981 death (though he did do a phone-in on The Mike Douglas Show and voice-overs for some Los Angeles bank commercials shortly before passing). Because Cullen had recently begun hosting the Goodson-packaged Blockbusters, Tom Kennedy took over the podium and remained host until Plus ended.

Tom Kennedy was considered to host Super Password, but was already busy emceeing Body Language on CBS, therefore, Bert Convy was tapped as the new host, and did so for the entire run.

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 him on some episodes of Password Plus, including a stretch in 1981 when Wood was recovering from an accident. Rich Jeffries filled in on occasion in 1981 and 1982 on Password Plus then announced on the first fifty episodes of Super Password in 1984 and, along with Hilton, would substitute occasionally afterwards. Also, John Harlan filled in on occasion in 1985 on Super Password, and Bob Hilton filled in on occasion in 1984, 1987 and 1988.

Game play

Password Plus and Super Password had almost identical rules.

Two celebrity-contestant teams competed against each other. The object, as always was the case on Password, was to try to get your partner to guess the password through the use of one word clues. A clue limit of three per side (later two) existed on Password Plus, while a strict limit of two was used on Super Password. Illegal clues (two word clues, overexpressive hand gestures, form of the word, made-up word, etc.) lost control.

Once the password was guessed, a new wrinkle came into play that hadn't been present before in Password (Allen Ludden referred to it as "the Plus" on the first episode of Password Plus). The password would then be revealed as part of the "Password Puzzle": a five word puzzle that would lead to a person, place, or thing. After the player correctly guessed the word, they would then get a chance to guess the puzzle (if neither player is able to guess the password within the allotted clue limit, the word would go in the puzzle, but nobody would get to guess). A correct guess netted the contestant money; if not, play continued until either one player guessed the puzzle, nobody guessed the final word of the puzzle, or if the puzzle still went unsolved after everyone eligible had a chance to guess the puzzle. If one of the last two scenarios occurred, the puzzle was thrown out and nobody scored for that round.

On Password Plus, if the puzzle guesser for that round failed to solve the puzzle, only his/her partner got the next chance to guess the puzzle before the puzzle was thrown out (whenever this happened during the Kennedy era, he would have the audience shout out the correct solution in unison after he says "1, 2, 3!"). On "Super Password", should the team who got the final word correct fail to solve the puzzle, the other team, one person at a time, would get a chance to solve and thus steal the puzzle. If the host accidentally said the password or gave away the solution, or if a significant mechanical or technical difficulty occurred, the puzzle was also thrown out.

A player could also guess the puzzle if the opposing team's cluegiver gave away the password by either saying it or a form of the word.

The ABC Password play-pass option rule was in effect throughout Password Plus's run. Originally, the team that didn't get the correct password was given the option, but this changed a few months into the run. Also, after a few months, direct opposites were disallowed as clues, and if the clue giver of a team failed to give a clue in a certain amount of time, they would be buzzed and the opposing clue giver was allowed to give two clues for the word. Super Password did not use any of those rules.

CA$HWORD

Super Password instituted a bonus password to be played for an accumulating cash jackpot every game after the $200 puzzle. A more difficult password would be displayed on a prop (that host Bert Convy affectionately called the "Magic Toaster"), and the celebrity had three clues to use to try and get the contestant to guess it. If the contestant guessed the password correctly, they'd win the pot, which started at $1,000 and went up by that amount each day until claimed. There was no limit as to how high the pot could go. The highest it ever reached was $12,000. If at any time an illegal clue was given, it automatically ended the CA$HWORD.

Betty White (who was married to Allen Ludden) appeared on the last episode of Super Password. This appearance was marked by her destruction of the "Magic Toaster" after she failed to win the CA$HWORD bonus for her contestant. This was the second time the prop was destroyed as Bert Convy accidentally threw the first "Toaster" in a 1986 episode after Edie McClurg gave an illegal clue by saying part of the answer.

Alphabetics/Super Password

The winning team would go on to play 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 object of the round was the same on both shows: guess 10 passwords, each beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet (A-J, B-K, etc.). Doing so in 60 seconds won the jackpot. Otherwise, $100 was awarded for every correct password.

On Password Plus, the prize was originally a flat $5,000, with each illegal clue reducing its potential value by one fifth of the total ($1,000). Saying the word by accident forefeited the jackpot automatically. Towards the end of the show's run, the bonus round was played for an accumulating jackpot, which would be increased by $5,000 each time, up to a limit of $50,000 (which was never reached). Illegal clues still reduced the pot by one fifth its original value (eg: a $35,000 pot would have $7,000 deducted for each illegal clue), but this was later changed to a flat $2,500 reduction. By the final episode, the one-fifth reduction had returned.

Super Password's bonus game was played for the same accumulating pot, but illegal clues of any sort took the letter out of play and forfeited the entire jackpot. Also, NBC imposed no limit as to how high the pot could go, and it reached $55,000 on two occasions.

Payoffs

On Password Plus, the goal was originally to get to $300. The first two puzzles were worth $100 each, with each subsequent puzzle worth $200 until a winner was crowned.

Towards the end of Password Plus's run, the goal became $500, with the first three puzzles being worth $100 and the remainder being worth $200 (with a minimum of four puzzles needed to determine a winner, previously a game could be decided in three puzzles). The contestants also switched celebrity partners after the third puzzle (before the change, the champion would switch partners after playing Alphabetics).

Super Password had a set goal of $500 throughout its run, with puzzles that started at $100 and increased in value by $100 until the fourth and final puzzle, worth $400. The contestants would switch partners after the second puzzle, worth $200.

Tournaments

Super Password held its one and 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 Ca$hword 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 an all-star week with various stars playing for charity. The endgame was played for $5,000 to be split between the partners' respective charities. Super Password's Ca$hword was worth $1,000. When played on P+, a $5,000 bonus was awarded to the one (or more) player(s) with the highest single total.

Every year, 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 Ca$hword 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. (These episodes have aired on GSN)

Merchandise

A Password Plus board game was made by Milton Bradley in the early 1980s, but it only had cards for the board, and not for the leatherettes, or readers, as the normal Password games had featured. A Super Password video game was released for DOS and the Commodore 64 in the 1980s. A version for the NES was planned but never surfaced. Also, in the late 1990s, a Super Password hand-held game was released. In the 1991 movie Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, a character makes a reference to a Super Password home game, possibly implying a board game, which was never released.

Episode status

All episodes of Password Plus and Super Password are intact, and both currently air on Game Show Network.

See also

• Password

External links

• password-plus.com
• Password Plus at IMDb
• Super Password at IMDb
• Official CBS Million Dollar Password site. Has link for application