FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1975

[AaronHandy3]

As we prepare to bid Bob Barker farewell as emcee of The Price Is Right on CBS Daytime this Friday after 35 years, we take a look back at another Friday in which 2 popular game shows bit the dust on CBS Daytime: The Joker's Wild (which interestingly debuted alongside TPIR in 1972) and Now You See It.

The climax of the 686th and final CBS Joker episode saw Jack Barry giving a lengthy speech, in which he mentions his partner Dan Enright and mentioned TJW's replacement on CBS the following Monday:

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last Joker's Wild program. On Monday, a new program will appear here; it is called Spin-Off, and it features a very good friend of mine, Jim Lange. I hope that you will watch it, 'cause I'm sure you will enjoy it.

"686 programs ago, I had the distinct pleasure of saying, 'Welcome to The Joker's Wild.’ I could not have been able to say that then, nor could I say goodbye to you now, without acknowledging the contributions made by my friends here at CBS, notably the chief of programs, Mr. Fred Silverman, Mr. Bud Grant, Mr. Oscar Katz, and Mr. Michael Ogiens; their patience has been monumental, their loyalty has been terrific, as it has been to those of you who are watching.

“I'd also like to pay a special tribute, along with my Executive Producer Dan Enright, to 2 individuals who have helped so much to make this the 3-year success that it has enjoyed here on CBS, in particular our Director, Richard Kline, without whom we could not have done the program, and the great contributions made by our Producer, Justin Edgerton. At the end of this program, I cannot---there is not time for me to list everybody; you will see a full list of the names of the people both on the technical staff and on the staff of my own company without whom we could not have brought you 686 programs.

"We hope that you have enjoyed them. It's been a great privilege for me to have been with you these 3 years; they have been the very, very happiest and most productive years of my life. We'll be seeing you again shortly, and so, for the 686th time, this is Jack Barry, for all of us here on The Joker's Wild, thanking you for your loyalty and saying goodbye."

Jack Barry then walked off the original set of The Joker's Wild for the very last time, after which, the studio set in Studio 41 of CBS Television City gradually darkens, save for the lights of The Joker's Wild's 1-armed bandit slot machine, and the long credits crawl commences. The camera then zoomed in on the three windows of the giant 1-armed bandit---the only visible portion of the set---that displayed the show's title; these windows then shut off one by one, leaving the set dark.

Thus perished the original CBS Daytime edition of The Joker's Wild. By this time, it had abandoned its omnipresent Joker's Jackpot and Jokers And Devils bonus round in favor of a new Money And Devil's bonus round. It featured celebrity contestants playing for charity in January of 1974 and by this point had also instituted a new musical theme: Alan Thicke's "The Joker's Jive". NBC routed Celebrity Sweepstakes into the 10 a.m. spot opposite Joker on CBS in January 1975, which devoured into Joker's ratings and thus precipitating its demise. The Joker's Wild was Jack Barry's last network game; his next hosting gig was the 1976-77 weekly syndicated primetime edition Break The Bank (after its 1976 ABC Daytime version [hosted by Tom Kennedy], despite monstrous ratings, fell victim to expanding daytime dramas), which he produced together with Dan Enright.

Barry and Enright sold repeats of the 1974-75 CBS season of The Joker's Wild to several markets, including KTLA in Los Angeles and WOR in New York (where it debuted in February 1977). The immense popularity of these repeats foreshadowed TJW's return to TV in a new first-run syndicated edition in September 1977, which yielded a 9-year hit!

Now You See It's finale ended with Dale Lourdes playing its final solo game and breaking a $5,000 bank. Jack Narz said at the end of this series, "On April 1, 1974, which was April Fool's Day, that's when we started! We've been on the air 13 months and 13 days, and this is Friday the 13th, and I think somebody's tryin' to tell me something!" (This may have provided insight as to why NYSI didn't last longer than it did!) Then he thanked the staff at CBS, the boys and girls on NYSI's staff, and the home audience for its support and letters, and remarked, "We've had a ball, and we'll see you soon!" TattleTales, another CBS Daytime Goodson-Todman staple, replaced NYSI the following Monday.

Now You See It was also Jack Narz's very last daytime network game show (until he briefly subbed for brother Tom Kennedy as host in March 1982 prior to the end of Password Plus' run on NBC); he continued to host G-T's syndicated Concentration until its conclusion in 1978 and finished his career doing announcing work (for Card Sharks and The All-New Beat The Clock) and guest shots on other GS. And, like The Joker's Wild (which was axed along with it), Now You See It would be brought back to CBS in 1989, with a couple of changes: Los Angeles-based KABC-TV newsman Chuck Henry as new host and with minor rule changes from the final edition of the 1975 version. The revived NYSI went head-to-head against NBC’s ratings monster, Classic Concentration (a resurrection of the previous 1973-78 Jack Narz-emceed G-T favorite!), and lasted just 15 miserable weeks. Henry, now an anchor/reporter for the 6:00 and 11:00 newscasts for KNBC-TV Channel 4 (the Burbank NBC affiliate), was apparently embarrassed at his lone game show hosting stint, and, feeling it would taint his reputation as a newscaster, has strictly enforced that his version of NYSI not be rerun by anyone!