Now You See It

Infobox_television
show_name = Now You See It


caption = Logos for Now You See It
format = Game Show
picture_format = NTSC
runtime = 30 Minutes
creator =
starring = Jack Narz (1974-75)
Chuck Henry (1989)
country = USA
rating=TV-G
network = CBS (1974-75, 1989)
first_aired =
last_aired =
num_episodes = 308 (1974-1975 version)

"Now You See It" was an American television game show created by Frank Wayne for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, in which contestants compete to find words in a format similar to a word search puzzle. The series ran in two incarnations from 1974-75, and again in 1989, both for the CBS network.

Rules of the game

The main game principle was game based on the word search concept. The game boards in all versions of "Now You See It" had four rows ("lines") with 14 letters of the alphabet ("positions") in each row. The host of the show 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 of the show.

1974-75 version

The original run used two formats during its run.

Format #1

Elimination Round

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. Otherwise, nobody scored for that word. Halfway through the round, the inside and outside players switched roles. The team that was in the lead when time ran out won the Elimination Round.

emi-Finals

In the semi-finals, 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, similar to Scrabble. 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.)

Finals

The winner of the Semi-Finals 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.

Originally, a correct answer allowed a contestant to answer subsequent questions without buzzing in until he or she gave a wrong answer, at which point his opponent was given an opportunity to answer and steal control. If the opponent missed as well, the next question would be a toss-up. This was scrapped after only a couple episodes, and all questions became toss-ups.

The contestant who had more points when time ran out won the game and played the "Solo Game" for a chance at a cash jackpot. If the champion won the jackpot, the person he/she beat in the Finals became the designated champion on the next show; if the challenger won the jackpot, the person he/she beat in the Semi-Finals returned.

Bonus Words

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, and two new players competed in the Semi-Finals, by this time renamed the Qualifying Round and was played the same way as the first version. At this point, five points were needed to win the Qualifying Round. The Finals was renamed the Championship Round and was also played the same way except point values were doubled when somebody reached 50 points (Example: a word on line 4 and in position 5 multiplied by 2 was worth 18 points), and the first player to reach 100 points played the Solo Game. Under this "straddling" format, a game could stop at the end of one episode and resume at the beginning of the next.

Also, if a champion was defeated in the Championship Round, but the other player won the jackpot in the Solo Game, that champion came back to play again in the following Championship Round.

1985 pilot

Two teams of two players competed for the whole show.

Round One

During the first round, one partner was given a word to define (much like "The $25,000 Pyramid") and then hit a button revealing the board to the partner. The partner then had to find that word on the board, they had 15 seconds total to define and find the word. If successful, the team earned as many points as there were seconds left on the clock (e.g., eight points if there were eight seconds left). Each team played four words, with the team in the lead earning 20 bonus points.

Round Two

In the second round, the host read clues to words on a new board, and the first contestant to buzz in and correctly identify that word earned 20 points. The first team to reach 100 points won the game and chose one player to play the solo round (played the same way, but instead of a growing jackpot, teams played for $5,000 in the first Solo Round and a total of $10,000 if they made it to the second). After that, the players on both teams switched positions and played another game. The team with the most money at the end of both games would have returned on the next episode.

1989 version

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.

Championship Round

In this round, the host gave a category, and a new board containing six possible words in 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.

olo round

The bonus round on this show was better known as the "solo round". It was played the same on all versions of the show. The winner of the main game was given 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 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. In the 70s version, a returning champion would immediately retire after winning the jackpot, thus making the player they beat in the championship round the designated champion for the next game. In the 80s version, a returning champion would return a maximum of 5 days (regardless of how many jackpots he/she won).

The jackpot amounts varied in each version:

Broadcast history

The first version of "NYSI" ran from April 1, 1974, to June 13, 1975 at 11 a.m./10 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 when NBC gave Trebek a new show, "High Rollers," at that time slot, "NYSI" began to struggle while the producers altered the format several times. 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," which had begun in 1972 at 11/10, returned to that slot after "NYSI's" departure from the lineup.

Fourteen years later, CBS decided to try the show again, from April 3 to July 14, 1989 at 10:30 a.m./9:30, with Los Angeles news anchor Chuck Henry hosting. On paper, it faced its sister Mark Goodson-packaged game "Classic Concentration" (coincidentally hosted by Trebek also). 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 so popular that they made games like "NYSI" seem tame and quaint by comparison. On top of that, the number of daytime viewers had declined greatly since then. 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" in order to bring "Wheel of Fortune" onto its schedule, after NBC canceled the daytime version.

Jack Clark also hosted a pilot for a possible revival of the show in 1985.

Johnny Olson was the original announcer of the show, with Gene Wood substituting on occasion; Wood also announced the 1985 pilot. Disc jockey Mark Driscoll announced during the first month on the 1989 version before being replaced by Don Morrow.

All versions of the show used the instrumental theme "Chump Change," composed by Quincy Jones and Bill Cosby. The original version also briefly used an alternate theme written by Edd Kalehoff. "Chump Change" was also used as the theme for the pilot episode of an Art James-hosted game, "Blank Check." When "Blank Check" made it to the air on NBC in early 1975, "NYSI" was still running, so "Blank Check" packager Jack Barry ordered a different but similar theme for that show.

Australian children's version

From 1985 to 1993 a children's version of "Now You See It" aired on the Seven Network in Australia. It was hosted by Mike Meade and "co-hosted" by a robot named "Melvin" who was a Tomy Omnibot toy, and pitted individual children against each other. Melvin's uncle Morton (another Omnibot) had his own segment on the show entitled "Morton's Mouldy Movies", in which Morton would narrate stories in a grandfatherly voice accompanied by footage from silent film shorts.

From 1990, 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, Beckers along with Fremantlemedia revived the show. Broadcast on the Nine Network, it was hosted by Scott MacRae. 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 2002,and he was replaced with Emily Jade in 2003.Download lasted for three years until it was canceled in 2003.

Line Games

The Line Game is played the same as the qualifying rounds of the 70s version. The host read a clue, and the answer was revealed one letter at a time. (sometimes using one or more letters of the previous word). Letters were revealed until someone buzzed in and gave the correct answer and score or if only one letter was left in the word. Each subsequent word uses one or more letters of the previous word is The first player to guess four words correctly won the round and a prize package.

Two line games are played and the winners of the line game play the Big Board round.

The Big Board

The Big Board round is the same as the championship and elimination rounds in the 70s version and the qualifying round in the 1989 version. It uses the same scoring format of the 70s version. The host read a question and the first kid player to buzz in guesses the line number. If correct he/she then gives the position number and the word. Players score based on the line number & position of the first letter. The player with the most points when time runs out wins the game.

olo Round

The solo round was played the same as in all the other versions, except that the winning kid player needs to find seven words with the help of the clues read by the host. Since this was a foreign kid's version (in Europe and Australia, children are not allowed to win any money on game shows), solo round winners received a grand prize.

British Version

A British version of "Now You See It" aired in the early 1980s (originally, only in Scotland from 1980, then became national from 1981-1987), which was produced by Scottish Television and was originally hosted by Johnny Beattie, then it was hosted by Jack McLaughlin.

There was also a kids version in the UK hosted by Fred MacAulay, airing during the late 1980s (it aired a few years after Australia's was launched).

Episode status

All episodes are known to exist, as does the unsold 1985 pilot hosted by Jack Clark.

GSN currently reairs the original version early Tuesday through Saturday mornings at 2:30 AM Eastern/11:30 PM Pacific.

References

External links

* [http://www.curtalliaume.com/nysi.html Curt Alliaume's Game Shows '75: "Now You See It"]
* [http://www.xanfan.com/othergrabs/nysi.htm Screengrabs of NYSI '89 at SuperShow 8000]
* [http://www.illustriousgameshowpage.com/nysi.html Chuck Donegan's Now You See It Rule Page]
* [http://thegstemple.bravehost.com/rulesheets/see/nysi74.htm Game Show Temple: "Now You See It"]

The 1985 Pilot

* [http://usgameshows.net/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Pilot_Now_You_See_It_1986 Info on NYSI's 1985 Pilot on Mike Burger's Game Show Pilots Page]