Pyramid (franchise)

Pyramid
File:20kpyramid.jpg The $20,000 Pyramid Title Card
Genre	Game show
Created by	Bob Stewart
Starring	Dick Clark (1973-1988) Bill Cullen (1974-1979) John Davidson (1991-1992) Donny Osmond (2002-2004)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	Bob Stewart
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC, CBS & syndicated
Release	March 26, 1973 – September 10, 2004

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 by their teammates. It won nine Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Game Show.

Broadcast History

Main article: Pyramid (game show) broadcast history

The original concept that emerged, which Bob Stewart presented to CBS, was from a rough pilot presentation titled Cash On The Line taped at CBS's Ed Sullivan Theater on Friday, February 2, 1973. It was said the programming executives at the network disliked much of the proposed program's format, except for its second part. It was suggested to Stewart to perhaps rework that "second" part into another game, which would eventually become the main game portion of Pyramid featuring two celebrity-civilian partnered teams.

Stewart then salvaged and tweaked portions of the game and presented an updated version to CBS, with a bonus round that featured a giant pyramid board and a top $10,000 cash prize to be won there within one minute. He pitched the idea to CBS, making the point that offering such a large amount of money in such a quick fashion had not been done before on television. Without another new pilot episode taped, a run-through presentation was instead made in front of the network executives, with the assistance of Peggy Cass and Bill Cullen in demonstrating the new Pyramid game format.

The $10,000 Pyramid made its network debut on March 26, 1973; it was a ratings hit, even despite later due to episode delays and pre-emptions caused by the Watergate hearings televised on all the three broadcast networks. However, a year later, CBS cancelled the show prematurely when it was in a temporary slight ratings decline, but it would later quickly be picked up by ABC beginning on May 6, 1974.

Despite Pyramid's moving to ABC in 1974, the first thirty episodes (six weeks) were taped at CBS's Ed Sullivan Theater while a replica set was being built at ABC's smaller Elysee Theater, known also as Studio TV-15. One reason may have been the size of the set (including the giant Pyramid board itself), 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 first episode of the network daytime version to be taped at ABC's Elysee Theater was broadcast on Monday, June 17, 1974 with featured celebrity guests June Lockhart and William Shatner.

Also, a once-a-week syndicated nighttime version known as The $25,000 Pyramid made its debut in September 1974, and this version was usually seen mostly on network-affiliated stations in different cities, during the prime access time slot. This edition lasted for a very-healthy five-year run until September 1979.

Meanwhile, the network daytime version was a ratings success for ABC, usually ranked as the #3 show among daytime game shows. On January 19, 1976, the show was renamed The $20,000 Pyramid, and remained with that title, but ratings would begin to slide in 1980. ABC would then issue the show its cancellation notice, and its last episode on that network aired on June 27, 1980. On January 26, 1981, the program returned in first-run syndication as The $50,000 Pyramid, but would remain on the air until September 4, 1981.

Returning to the air once again, originally titled as The New $25,000 Pyramid, then later dropping 'new' from the title, the show debuted as part of the CBS daytime lineup for the fall 1982-83 season. It would remain for six seasons, which also spawned the syndicated The $100,000 Pyramid in 1985.

Later versions included a short-lived 1991 revival of The $100,000 Pyramid, and the 21st century version, simply titled Pyramid which ran two seasons from 2002 to 2004.

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 appeared on the Cullen and Osmond versions as a celebrity player, and offered pre-taped well wishes to Davidson on his version's premiere episode (at the time, Clark was host and co-executive producer of The Challengers).

Game Play

Main article: Pyramid game and tournament play

Clock and Score Displays

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. In very close wins, home viewers were shown this eggcrate clock. 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.

Celebrities

June Lockhart and Rob Reiner were the first celebrity guests on the debut week of CBS' The $10,000 Pyramid in 1973. Although Lockhart was frequently seen as a guest on all the versions of the 1970s, Reiner later reappeared on just the syndicated Cullen-hosted The $25,000 Pyramid during its initial 1974-75 season on two episodes only.

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), but yet he still failed by not clearing the top box subject "Men Named William (Bill)". Then the producers decided that since he played by himself, they gave him the prize anyway.

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.

Lois Nettleton and Bill Cullen were guests on the final episode of the ABC daytime $20,000 Pyramid on Friday, June 27, 1980 (In the last Winner's Circle round (with Cullen) the final category is "Things That Come To An End"; the contestant won). This farewell episode is best remembered for presenting, during its closing end segment, a hilarious possible Winner's Circle round featuring categories that might have been used if the producers "wanted to save the money". (These gag topics are somewhat similar to the names that would later be given to categories on Win Ben Stein's Money)

The gag categories were, in order:

1. "Used Car Dealers You Can Trust"
2. "Hit Shows On NBC-TV"
   (the humor behind this one was that at the time NBC was a distant third in the Nielsen Ratings against then-front runner ABC)
3. "Oil Companies In Bankruptcy"
4. "Famous Japanese Rabbis"
   (Cullen came up with "Ming Toy Rabbinowitz")
5. "Things (Henry) Kissinger Did Not Foul Up"
6. "Famous Italian TV Directors"
   (referring to then-Pyramid director Mike Garguilo)

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.

On one episode of the $25,000 Pyramid in 1986, Tom Poston and contestant Kris (not sure of last name) set a new record for the least money won in the winner's circle, which is zero ($0). Poston received the clues from Kris, and not very often does a contestant give the clues to the celebrity instead of the opposite.

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. She later made frequent appearances on the show as a celebrity guest in the 1980s, including on the debut week of the CBS version of The [New] $25,000 Pyramid in 1982 with Robert Mandan.

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. In a similar fashion, Pine-Sol spokeswoman Diane Amos was also a contestant in 1985 and later returned as a celebrity on a special "Commercial Stars" episode of the Osmond version (with Subway pitchman Jared Fogle).

Michele Lee also of Knots Landing appeared twice on the Cullen version as a celebrity, as well on the CBS and ABC daytime versions during the 1970s. She made her earliest known appearance on the CBS edition during its third week on the air in April 1973 with Jack Klugman.

Announcers

Bob Clayton announced on the 1970s Pyramid 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 both Henry Polic II and Dean Goss 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 hosting a new version called Donny's Pyramid Game on Challenge as of 7 May 2007.

France: Pyramide for France 2, hosted by Patrice Laffont.It was aired from 1991 to 2003.

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 Channel 5 in the late 1990s and hosted at various times by Samuel Chong, Benedict Goh and Darryl David. It had the same name as the UK version. It also had a spin-off Malay version aired on Suria, named Piramid.

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.

The Winner's Circle portion of the Milton Bradley home versions was totally unlike the Winner's Circle on the TV show. In the home version, the Winner's Circle was almost exactly like the previous round, where one player would describe a single word to the other rather than the more familiar list of listing items in a category. Bob Stewart later said that this was because there were a limited number of categories - indeed, there are repeated categories in Winner's Circle games throughout the various Pyramid versions - and they didn't want potential contestants to practice with the home game and then see the same categories on the real show.

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 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 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, 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, whose Orbis Communications syndication unit 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 had only played approximately 350 of the 1,404 episodes because the bulk of them had not been converted from an analog to a digibeta tape format required to air on the latter channel. However, GSN had not aired any episode of The $25,000 Pyramid since 2003.
• The syndicated 1980s $100,000 Pyramid is completely intact, and have aired on both the USA Network and GSN. However, Sony lately had permitted GSN to air just one season's worth of episodes, about 180 of the 550 episodes, due to certain license fee requirements. The episodes that GSN were airing regularly came from the 1986–1987 season, and although GSN removed this version from its programming lineup on Friday, February 2, 2007, it was last seen in a special two-hour marathon on Saturday, April 14, 2007.

References in Popular Culture

• The $100,000 Pyramid was parodied in a 1992 episode of In Living Color, with Jim Carrey playing the role of Dick Clark.

• An episode of The Simpsons, "Old Yeller Belly", featured a clip of Santa's Little Helper as "Suds McDuff" barking clues to a contestant on the Donny Osmond version of Pyramid.

• 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.

• An episode of Histeria! featured a spoof of Pyramid set in ancient Egypt. Among the contestants were Pepper Mills and The World's Oldest Woman portraying Cleopatra.

• In the 1991 film, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, the brothers of Christina Applegate's character are seen watching The $100,000 Pyramid at one point.

• In one scene from the 2001 film Riding In Cars With Boys starring Drew Barrymore, Bill Cullen was seen as a celebrity player and Dick Clark was heard as the emcee in a clip from The $25,000 Pyramid shown on a TV set in the background inside the trailer home of Rosie Perez' character.

• 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". Footage of Dick Clark from the actual TV show intertwined with a new Clark voiceover was used. Frank Welker, who voiced Baby Kermit, Baby Beaker, and Baby Skeeter on the show, was the announcer in this parody.

• 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.

• In the Friends episode "The One Where the Stripper Cries", Joey appears 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.

• The $25,000 Pyramid was featured in the 1982 episode of VH1's I Love the 80s 3-D.

• 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.

• Pinky and the Brain featured a spoof show called "The $10,000 Pile-a-Mud".

• 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.

• A 1970s-era episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson once spoofed The $20,000 Pyramid in the gas station-themed sketch "The 20,000-Gallon Pyramid".

• 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 (footage of Stiller's appearance as a celebrity guest was used).

• 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 is not a native there.

• The $25,000 Pyramid theme was also used in Oldsmobile commercials during the mid-1980s.

• 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.

• In the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, Rob and Ellen lose to Will and Grace every time when playing The $10,000 Pyramid.

• In the movie Splash, Alan turns on the $25,000 Pyramid when he and Madison get to his apartment.

External Links

• SuperShow 8000: The Pyramid (an unofficial website)
• $10,000 PYRAMID from Tim's TV Showcase - photos and links
• Game Show Utopia: The $25,000 Pyramid A page devoted to the 1970s syndicated version of the show starring Bill Cullen
• Funny Pyramid clues and answers
• The $100,000 Pyramid at MobyGames
• "The Short-Lived $50,000 Pyramid", an unofficial website
• 80s TV Themes Featuring the themes to the $10,000 and (New) $25,000 Pyramids.
• $100,000 Pyramid Theme Song A one-minute clip of the $100,000 Pyramid theme song, and the intro to a now-defunct $100,000 Pyramid internet game