Pitfall (game show)

"Pitfall" was a Canadian game show, hosted by Alex Trebek and announced by John Barton (who also served as co-producer), that was syndicated for both American and Canadian audiences by Catalena Productions and Rhodes Productions. The show was filmed at Panorama Studios in Vancouver and its original run was for one season, from September 1981 until September 1982.

Gameplay

Main game

Alex Trebek asked the studio audience a question with four possible answer choices. Each member of the audience voted with a keypad for the answers they believed were correct. Trebek asked one of two contestants to choose one of the four responses as the most common response from the audience. The second contestant chose from the remaining three. Choosing the answer that a plurality of the audience members selected won a point. If neither contestant did so, no points were awarded. Contestants also won a "Pit Pass" on the first, third, and fifth points earned. The first contestant to five points (or the contestant with the highest score after five minutes of game play) won the round and advanced to the Pitfall round.

Pitfall round

The object of the "Pitfall" bonus round was for a contestant to cross a bridge in less than 100 seconds.

The bridge consisted of eight sections, three of which were pitfalls. At the beginning of the round the contestant watched a "light show," during which each safe section was lit once and each Pitfall was lit twice. Contestants who correctly remembered the light show could use a Pit Passes to pass over the Pitfalls upon reaching them.

Once the Pit Passes were chosen, Trebek and the contestant rode an elevator to the top of the bridge and the countdown from 100 seconds began. Trebek asked general knowledge questions which had to be answered correctly before passing to the next zone. Each correct answer also earned the player $100.

Players about to cross a Pitfall could hand a Pit Pass to Trebek and continue to the next safe zone. Contestants who stepped onto a Pitfall and didn't have a Pit Pass rode in that section's elevator down to the stage level. To get back up contestants had to answer one question correctly. The clock did not stop while the elevator sunk to the lower level, effectively causing a time penalty. After a correct answer, however, the clock stopped as the elevator rose back to the main level. From there, the contestant needed to answer a second question in order to advance to the next section. Early in the series Trebek would not prompt a contestant if they had a Pit Pass for the appropriate section, causing several contestants to get trapped in a Pitfall because they did not offer a pass they were holding to Trebek. Later in the series, Trebek would ask for the Pit Passes at the appropriate times.

Crossing all 8 bridge zones in under 100 seconds won the contestant a $5,000 prize package. Later in the run, the $100 won for passing each section was eliminated; a small prize was won after passing the fifth zone and a $2,500 prize package was won for crossing all 8 zones.

Notes

Catalena Productions, which also produced the short-lived, early 1980s syndicated revival of "Let's Make a Deal", went bankrupt before the end of "Pitfall's" run. As a result, several contestants did not receive their winnings (a problem that also plagued the original version of "Lingo" in the 1980s and The Reel to Reel Picture Show in the late 1990s), nor was Alex Trebek ever paid for his hosting duties. Because of this, Trebek has called the show "one of the great tragedies of [his] life," and still has the bounced check for his salary framed on a wall in his home office. Trebek has also commented that he finds it ironic that the only time he has ever been stiffed was by fellow Canadians. [cite web |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZB5a5vp_Qc |title=YouTube - Life and Times: Alex Trebek excerpt |accessdate=2007-07-30]

Alex Trebek commuted between Los Angeles and Vancouver to host "Pitfall" and "Battlestars" between October 1981 and mid-1982, the second emcee in recent game show history to helm a game show on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border at the same time, joining Jim Perry (who hosted "Card Sharks" in the US and "Definition" and "Headline Hunters" in Canada simultaneously between 1978 and 1981 as well as hosting "Sale of the Century" and "Definition" simultaneously between 1983 and 1989); the two would later be joined by Geoff Edwards (who did this with "Chain Reaction" and "Jackpot" in 1989) and Howie Mandel (who hosted both the American and Canadian versions of "Deal or No Deal").

About two years after "Pitfall" was cancelled, Trebek went on to host the syndicated revival of "Jeopardy!", a position he holds to this day.

References

External links

* [http://www.gameshow-galaxy.net/pitfall.htm David's Pitfall Page]
* [http://www.illustriousgameshowpage.com/pitfall.html Chuck Donegan's Pitfall page]
* [http://www.illustriousgameshowpage.com/ups&downs.html Interview with former contestant Eileen Mintz]