Bob Stewart (television producer)

Bob Stewart (born Robert Steinberg on August 27 1920 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former American television game show producer and was one of the most notable producers in that field. He was active in the TV industry from 1956 until his retirement in 1992.

Stewart is known for creating some of the most popular game shows for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. These shows include "To Tell The Truth", "Password", and "The Price Is Right." His biggest success as an independent producer was the "Pyramid" series, starting with "The $10,000 Pyramid" in 1973.

"The Price Is Right" and "To Tell The Truth", both created by Stewart, are the only two game shows to be seen nationally in either first-run network or syndication airings in the US in every decade from the 1950s onward, although the version of "The Price is Right" that has been seen the last 35 years on CBS features a retooled format, in which Stewart was not involved.

tewart with Goodson-Todman

Stewart's early broadcasting career included stints first at WNEW-AM in New York City, and then at NBC's flagship TV and radio stations, WNBC-TV and AM, also in New York. In the book "The Box," the native New Yorker said he got the first spark for "The Price Is Right" during his tenure as a staff producer at WRCA-TV (now WNBC-TV) when he happened to observe an auction taking place on 50th Street on his lunch hour. He developed the idea into the working title of "The Auctionaire."

Stewart joined Goodson-Todman Productions in 1956, after he bumped into broadcaster (and future game show producer-host) Monty Hall on the street and Hall told him he knew Goodson-Todman's attorney. "You got any ideas?" Stewart quoted Hall as asking.

"The Price Is Right," using some of the "Auctionaire" concept, premiered on NBC November 26 1956, with Bill Cullen as host. It lasted seven years on NBC before being bumped in favor of Hall's "Let's Make a Deal" in 1963; after that, "Price" moved to ABC, where it lasted another two years. Seven years later, after Stewart had left Goodson-Todman, CBS retooled the show, mixing Stewart's original bidding format with elements from "Let's Make a Deal" to create "The New Price Is Right". This version of the show debuted in September 1972 with Bob Barker and Dennis James splitting host duties; within a year, the title reverted back to "The Price Is Right", and this version of the show remains on the air today with Drew Carey as host.

CBS's "To Tell the Truth," emceed by Bud Collyer, hit the air less than one month after the original "Price" debuted, in December 1956. Stewart said he auditioned the concept to Goodson and his producers by trying to have them guess which one of three men had been in the infantry in World War II and was now managing a grocery store. (The original title of the of the game pilot was "Nothing but the Truth." A kinescope of this pilot still exists.)

Five years later, in 1961, Stewart scored again with "Password," a word-association guessing game. The show, the first game to pair celebrities and civilian contestants, became the top-rated program on daytime TV and popularized the concept of an end-game bonus round (the popular "Lightning Round") for additional money. (In June 2008, CBS and FremantleMedia revived the game in an updated big-money format titled "Million Dollar Password". It is based on the Lightning Round as well as Stewart's "Pyramid" game formats. His son, Sande Stewart, serves as as Creative Consultant.)

Stewart was one of a coterie of Goodson staff producers who came up with ideas for game shows and segments. Producers such as Stewart, Frank Wayne, Chester Feldman and Gil Fates earned Goodson's respect not only for their concepts but for their skill in executing them.

Bob Stewart Productions

After "Price"'s cancellation (the current CBS version did not premiere until 1972), Stewart set out on his own in 1965. His first network game show as an independent producer, the memory game "Eye Guess", aired on NBC daytime from January 3 1966 to September 26 1969, and featured close friend Bill Cullen, who emceed "Price", as host.

Stewart's next entry, the CBS primetime celebrity game show "The Face Is Familiar" with host Jack Whitaker, ran from May 7 to September 3 1966. Another Stewart celebrity game, "Personality" (hosted by Larry Blyden), aired on NBC from 1967 to 1969. Completing the decade for the packager was the short-lived "You're Putting Me On", hosted first by Bill Leyden and later by Blyden, which ran from September to December 1969.

Other than "Eye Guess," Stewart's other moderate early success was "Three on a Match", hosted by Cullen, which aired on NBC from August 2 1971 to June 28 1974.

Stewart's biggest success with his own production company, and one of TV's most honored and popular game shows, was "Pyramid," hosted by Dick Clark, which, like "Password", was a word-association game. Its March 26 1973 premiere on CBS marked the first time a quiz show mounted a five-figure or higher possible cash payoff since the short-lived "100 Grand" in the mid-1960s.

"Pyramid"'s network run would span 15 years, off and on, with escalating dollar amounts in the title reflecting raises in the payoff amount over the years. It has proven to be one of the most enduring game shows, airing almost continuously between first-run network/syndicated airings and cable reruns since 1982, when the second CBS version began. Its nine Emmy awards for best game show rank it second to the current Alex Trebek version of "Jeopardy!," which has 11.

The network version of "Pyramid" (hosted by Clark) ran from 1973 to 1980 (moving to ABC for its final six years, after CBS cancelled it during a ratings panic in Spring 1974) and from 1982 to 1988 on CBS (with a three month break in the second run). It was also popular in syndication, running once a week on weeknights in many markets from 1974 to 1979 (with Bill Cullen as emcee), daily from January to September 1981 (the tournament-format $50,000 version, Clark emceed this version), daily from 1985 to 1988 (hosted by Clark and running concurrently with the CBS version), and again from January 1991 to March 1992 (with John Davidson). The latter two sported potential cash payoffs of $100,000, which champion contesants could qualify to play for monthly.

Another version of "Pyramid", not packaged by Stewart but by Sony, which possesses the rights to most of the shows he created, aired in syndication from 2002 to 2004, hosted by Donny Osmond.

"Pyramid" nearly led to Stewart's one significant foray outside the world of TV games. Occasional panelist David Letterman, who appeared on the ABC version from 1978 onward (alternately amusing and annoying Clark) and emceed a game-show pilot "The Riddlers" for Stewart, actually hired him to produce the daytime NBC show Letterman would host in 1980. However, due to creative disagreements, Stewart left the staff four days before the show's premiere.

Bob Stewart Productions was the last major game show production company to relocate from New York to Los Angeles, with its first show there in full-time production "The Love Experts" for syndication. This had occurred by the fall of 1978, but "Pyramid" actually continued first-run production in New York until its last taping of episodes there in the spring of 1981. As an odd incident of programming irony, during the first half of 1980, the company's New York-based "Pyramid" on ABC was competing in the same 12:00noon (Eastern) time slot against its Los Angeles-based "Chain Reaction" on NBC.

By 1982, almost all of the Bob Stewart games were originating exclusively from Hollywood. The exception was that the updated versions of "Jackpot!" and "Chain Reaction" that were produced for the USA Network on cable during the mid-1980's were videotaped in the Canadian cities of Toronto and Montreal, respectively. Stewart, a native New Yorker, had resisted the move because he appreciated the intelligence and energy contestants from the Big Apple brought to "Pyramid", as well to his other shows. Luckily for Stewart, the show's energetic format was familiar enough to potential contestants nationwide that it endured through the 1980s and beyond.

Other game shows from Bob Stewart Productions -- mostly employing a word or puzzle format -- included "Jackpot", "Blankety Blanks", "Shoot For The Stars", "Winning Streak", "Pass The Buck", "Chain Reaction", "Go", and "Double Talk".

"Jackpot" and "Chain Reaction" were moderate successes for Stewart in their 1980s runs on cable TV, after having relatively brief runs on NBC. A revived "Chain Reaction" series currently airs on GSN, hosted by Dylan Lane and produced in New York. Its packager is producer of the American "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", Michael Davies.

Retirement

In the mid 1980s, Bob Stewart began winding down his career and his son Sande gradually took over operations with all shows after 1988 being known as under the Bob Stewart/Sande Stewart Productions banner. Stewart would fully retire in 1992 after the second run of "The $100,000 Pyramid" was cancelled with Sande taking over full operations. Sande later produced some game shows on his own, including "Your Number's Up" (which went up against the elder Stewart's "Pyramid"), "Inquizition", "Hollywood Showdown" and "Powerball Instant Millionaire".

Bob Stewart Productions was sold to Sony Pictures Entertainment in 1994, and many of Bob Stewart's creations air frequently on GSN. Stewart himself has participated in panels and special events related to quiz shows, including the annual Game Show Congress gatherings in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

While Bob Stewart has not been an active producer since 1992, he serves as a Creative Consultant in his son's new production company "Stewart Television" and is listed on the official website as Stewart Television's founder.

Up until 2006, Bob Stewart held a record for most Daytime Emmy awards in game show production. The record was broken by Harry Friedman, who serves as Executive Producer of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!.

Bob Stewart shows

*=Denotes unsold pilot(s)

"Eye Guess" (1966-1969, NBC Daytime)

"The Face is Familiar" (1966, CBS Primetime)

"Celebrity Doubletalk (1967)*

"Personality" (1967-1969, NBC Daytime)

"Second Gussers" (1969)*

"You're Putting me On" (1969, NBC Daytime)

"Monday Night Quarterback" (1971)*

"Three on a Match" (1971-1974, NBC Daytime)

"The $10,000 Sweep (1971)*

"Says Who? (1972?)*

"The $10,000 Pyramid (1973-1974, CBS Daytime, 1974-1976, ABC Daytime)

"Jackpot!" (1974-1975, NBC Daytime)

"Winning Streak" (1974-1975, NBC Daytime)

"The $25,000 Pyramid" (1974-1979, first-run syndication (weekly))

"Caught in the Act" (1975)*

"The Finish Line" (1975)*

"Blankety Blanks" (1975, ABC Daytime)

"The $20,000 Pyramid" (1976-1980, ABC Daytime)

"Get Rich Quick" (1977)*

"Shoot for the Stars" (1977, NBC Daytime)

"The Riddlers" (1977)*

"Pass the Buck" (1978, CBS Daytime)

"The Love Experts (1978-1979, syndication (Daily))

"Caught in the Act (1979)*

"Chain Reaction (1980, NBC Daytime)

"Punch Lines" (1980)*

"Strictly Confidential" (1980)*

"The $50,000 Pyramid (1981, syndication (Daily))

"Twisters" (1982)*

"The New $25,000 Pyramid" (1982-1987, 1988, CBS Daytime)

"Famous Last Words" (1983)*

"Go" (1983-1984, NBC Daytime)

"Jackpot!" (1984)*

"The $100,000 Pyramid (1985-1988, syndication (Daily))

"Jackpot!" (1985-1988, USA Network)

"$50,000 A Minute (1985)*

"Double Talk" (1986, ABC Daytime)

"Chain Reaction" (1986-1991, USA Network)

"Money in the Blank" (1987)*

"Eye Q" (1988)*

"Jackpot!" (1989-1990, syndication (Daily))

"The Finish Line (1990)*

"The New $100,000 Pyramid" (1991, syndication (Daily))

External links

* [http://www.stewarttelevision.com/ Official Stewart Television Website]
* [http://members.lycos.co.uk/gameshowpage/GSP.html The Bob Stewart Fan Page]
*