- Now You See It (U.S. game show)
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For the 2005 Disney Channel film, see Now You See It....
Now You See It 
Opening shot from a 1989 Now You See It episodeFormat Game show Created by Frank Wayne for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions Directed by Paul Alter
Andrew FelsherPresented by Jack Narz (1974–1975)
Jack Clark (1985)
Chuck Henry (1989)Narrated by Johnny Olson (1974–1975)
Gene Wood (1975, 1985)
Mark Driscoll (April 1989)
Don Morrow (May–July 1989)Country of origin United States No. of episodes 308 (1974–1975 version)
75 (1989 version)Production Location(s) CBS Television City
Hollywood, CaliforniaRunning time 22–26 minutes Broadcast Original channel CBS Picture format NTSC Original run April 1, 1974 – June 13, 1975
April 3, 1989 – July 14, 1989Now You See It is an American television game show created by Frank Wayne for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. Two Now You See It series were produced, and both aired on CBS. The first series ran from April 1, 1974 until June 13, 1975, and was hosted by Jack Narz. The second series ran from April 3 until June 14, 1989 and was emceed by veteran Los Angeles news anchor Chuck Henry. Johnny Olson was the original announcer, with Gene Wood substituting on occasion. Los Angeles disc jockey Mark Driscoll announced for the first month of the 1989 series, with Don Morrow replacing him for the remainder of the run.
Although several tweaks to the game were made over the time Now You See It was on the air, the core format remained the same. Contestants competed to find words on a grid that was similar to a word search puzzle that served as answers to questions asked by the host.
Contents
Gameplay
The game board in all versions of Now You See It had four rows ("lines") with 14 letters ("positions") in each row. The host read general knowledge trivia questions with single-word answers that were concealed within the jumble of letters on the board for that round. The answers on the board were always written horizontally from left to right.
Although the premise of the show remained the same, the main game was played differently on each version.
1970s version
Format #1
An elimination round in progress.
The first round of Now You See It under its original format began with four new players randomly split into two teams with one "outside" and one "inside" player each. The "outside" players turned their backs to the board as Narz read a question. The first "inside" player to buzz in would say which line the correct answer appeared on. If the correct line was given, the "outside" player for that team turned around to give the position number and the word. If the wrong line was guessed, the other team got a free guess. If the correct position and answer was given, the team earned points equal to the sum of the line and position numbers (example: if a word was on Line 4, Position 1, the team scored five points). Otherwise, nobody scored for that word. Halfway through the round a bell rang, and the inside and outside players switched roles. The team that was in the lead when a second bell rang won the Elimination Round. Although the host would say that time had run out, the game was never played to time. Twelve questions were played, six in each configuration, with a thirteenth if needed to break a tie.
In the semifinals, the two contestants on the winning team competed against each other. A string of 16 concealed letters was shown to the contestants, and the host read a crossword-style clue. The 16-letter string began to reveal one letter at a time until a player buzzed in and answered correctly, or only one letter was left in the word. If a contestant buzzed in and gave an incorrect answer, the opponent was given a free guess before any more letters were revealed. If they too came up with a wrong answer, the word would continue to be revealed. If nobody guessed the word with one letter left, it was revealed. The host then read another clue, and began revealing letters; the next answer could use letters from the end of the previous answer in the string. The first player to guess four words correctly won the round and a prize package. During the first two weeks, no prize package was given to the winner. Also, during the third week, it took five points to win the round; this would become permanent when the second format was introduced.
The winner of the semifinals round competed against the show's returning champion in the Finals. This round was played like the elimination round, except that there were no partners. Contestants gave both the line and position numbers of correct answers in order to score. The contestant who had more points when time ran out won the game and played the Solo Round for a chance at a cash jackpot.
Beginning with the 101st episode and continuing until the adoption of the second main game format, contestants were asked to scan the board and write down one word from the board each on an index card at the beginning of each half of the Elimination Round, and the Finals. A contestant or team would earn 10 bonus points if they correctly answered a question with one of their "bonus words". The player must reveal their bonus word when it is found, and cannot come back to it afterwards.
Format #2
Beginning with the 186th episode and for the rest of the show's run, the format of the main game was changed. The Elimination Round was dropped altogether. Instead, two new players began each game playing the Qualifying Round, which was similar to the previous format's semifinals with the exception that five points were required to win the round instead of four.
The winner of the Qualifying Round played the day's returning champion in the renamed Championship Round. Game play was similar, except instead of playing until time ran out the champion and challenger tried to score 100 points first. The scoring rules were the same as the Elimination Round and Finals in the first format. However, once one player reached 50 points, a bell rang to signify all subsequent words would be played for double points. The first player to score 100 or more points advanced to the Solo Round.
The change in format meant that episodes of Now You See It were no longer self-contained and could straddle between episodes, and an episode could end with a game in progress that would have to be continued on the next program. Also, if a champion won the jackpot in the Solo Game and retired, the opponent they had defeated in the Championship Round came back to play again in the Championship Round of the following game.
1989 version
In the qualifying round, two new contestants competed to find the answers to the host's questions. Scoring was determined by how much time was left on the clock when the contestant buzzed in; the clock started at 100 points and decreased by 5 points as each 1/3 second passed. If nobody guessed the correct answer when the clock reached 25 points, the host gave the line number that the word was on. Halfway through the round, points were doubled and the contestants were given a new board. The first player to reach 1,000 points won the round and competed against the show's returning champion in the championship round.
In the championship round, the host gave a category and a new board containing six words fitting that category was revealed. The first contestant to buzz-in and find one of those words was given 20 seconds to find the five remaining words to win the board. If unable to do so, the opponent was given an additional five seconds to find one word, with the contestant hitting his/her button once he or she finds a word, winning the board if successful; otherwise, the board went to the opponent. Each board was worth money; the first board was worth $200 and each board after that was worth $100 more than the previous one. The first player to reach $1,000 or more kept their money and won the game and played the solo round.
Solo round (both versions)
The winner of the main game was shown a new board and 60 seconds to find ten words on that board. Once the host read a clue to one of those words, the contestant used an electronic pencil to circle the word (on a telestrator) that was being guessed and call it out. The contestant had the option to pass at any time and return to that question later.
Each correct answer was worth $100, and if all ten words were found before time expired the contestant won a cash jackpot which began at $5,000. From 1974–1975, the jackpot increased $1,000 for each unsuccessful attempt, to a maximum of $25,000. On the 1989 version, the jackpot increased by $5,000 for each unsuccessful attempt.
On the 1970s version, a returning champion would immediately retire after winning the jackpot, making the player they beat in the Championship Round the designated champion for the next game. On the 1989 version, a returning champion could stay for a maximum of five days regardless of how many jackpots they won.
Production information
Theme
Both versions used the instrumental theme "Chump Change," composed by Quincy Jones and Bill Cosby. For a brief period, the 1970s version used an alternate theme written by Edd Kalehoff.
Broadcast history
1974–1975
The first version ran from April 1, 1974[1] to June 13, 1975 at 11:00 AM (10:00 Central) with Jack Narz hosting, replacing The $10,000 Pyramid, which moved to ABC one month after its CBS cancellation. Initially, it did well against Alex Trebek's American debut on NBC (The Wizard of Odds) but, three months later, NBC gave Trebek a new show called High Rollers at that slot and NYSI began to struggle while the producers altered the format several times. The show was taped at CBS Television City in Studio 33 (also known as the Bob Barker Studio), currently home to The Price Is Right. Some episodes used Studio 41, which at the time was the stage of CBS's Tattletales.[2]
NBC's resurgence in its morning lineup in early 1975 with the likes of Wheel of Fortune prompted CBS to clean house, canceling The Joker's Wild along with NYSI. Gambit (the show actually facing Wheel), which had begun in 1972 at 11/10, returned to that slot after NYSI's departure from the lineup.
This version aired occasionally on Game Show Network during the 1990s and 2000s until the network chose not to renew its contract with FremantleMedia (which now owns the Goodson-Todman library).
1989
Fourteen years later, CBS decided to try the show again from April 3 to July 14, 1989 at 10:30 AM (9:30 Central) with Los Angeles news anchor Chuck Henry hosting. The series was again taped at Studio 33 at Television City in Hollywood for its entire run.
Not only did it face its sister Mark Goodson-packaged game Classic Concentration (hosted by Trebek), but the new NYSI faced a vastly changed television market from the days of the original. Syndicated talk shows such as Donahue and Sally Jessy Raphael had become popular and made games like NYSI seem tame and quaint by comparison. Further, daytime viewership had declined greatly overall since 1975, thanks to a surge in cable and pay channels giving the viewer more choices than just the three major networks. With a greater possibility for local advertising revenue from the talk shows, numerous stations passed on the game despite the solid performance of its lead-in, Family Feud.
In order to counteract affiliate preemption, CBS scuttled NYSI and brought in the daytime Wheel of Fortune following NBC's cancellation of it on June 30.
This version was not shown on GSN.
Foreign versions
Australia
From 1985–1993, a children's version aired on the Seven Network in Australia hosted by Mike Meade, "co-hosted" by a robot named "Melvin" (a Tomy Omnibot toy), and pitted individual children against each other. From 1990–1993, the show was hosted by Sofie Formica, and ran as a week-long competition between two primary schools. The winning students in each episode would win individual prizes, and the overall winning school would win a larger prize, typically valued at around $2,000.
In 1998, Becker Entertainment and All American Fremantle revived the show. Broadcast on the Nine Network, it was hosted by Scott MacRae and produced by Tony Ryan, with Bill Davidson as Executive producer. In 2000 the show was replaced with Download, also hosted by McRae, to coincide with the new millennium. Although a different show, it contained a similar type of game, with the children slowly having letters revealed to them to aid them with general knowledge questions. McRae was replaced with Nathan Lloyd in 2001, and for the 2002 relaunch, he was replaced with Emily Jade.
Gameplay was similar to the 1970s version in the United States, with contestants competing in line games to determine which would move on to the big board round, a round similar to the championship and elimination rounds of the American version. The winner of the big board round competed in the solo round, attempting to find seven hidden words with the help of the clues read by the host. Solo round winners received a grand prize rather than a cash jackpot.
United Kingdom
For UK version, see Now You See It (UK gameshow).References
- ^ "TV TIMES". Los Angeles Times. 1974-03-31. pp. 5. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/643947952.html?dids=643947952:643947952&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+31%2C+1974&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Other+58+--+No+Title&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ "Shows–CBS Television City". http://www.cbstelevisioncity.com/shows#. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
External links
- Now You See It (U.S. game show) at the Internet Movie Database (1974 version)
- Now You See It (U.S. game show) at the Internet Movie Database (1989 version)
Preceded by
Gambit11:00 AM EST, CBS
4/1/74 – 6/13/75Succeeded by
TattletalesPreceded by
Card Sharks10:30 AM EST, CBS
4/3/89 – 7/14/89Succeeded by
Wheel of FortuneCategories:- 1974 television series debuts
- 1989 television series debuts
- 1975 television series endings
- 1989 television series endings
- 1970s American television series
- 1980s American television series
- American game shows
- Australian game shows
- CBS network shows
- Children's game shows
- English-language television series
- Television series by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions
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