Jackpot! (partially found NBC game show; 1974-1975)

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Jackpot74bb.jpg

The show's logo.

Status: Partially Found

Jackpot was an American game show that was created by Bob Stewart and aired on NBC from January 7th, 1974, to September 26th, 1975.[1] The show was hosted by Geoff Edwards (who previously hosted The New Treasure Hunt) and consists of 16 players solving riddles and building up a jackpot. The show was part of NBC's legendary daytime lineup that mainly consisted of now-famous game shows like Wheel Of Fortune, Hollywood Squares, Jeopardy!, and Card Sharks. Although the show was short-lived, it was brought back a couple of times in the 1980s, first with Mike Darrow as host and the last time with Edwards as host. The show produced and aired a total of 450 episodes during its time on NBC and has never been reran after its original run.

Format

The show consists of 16 contestants (1 is the king/queen of the hill and 15 of them were in three-tiered bleachers numbered 1 to 15). The king/queen of the hill will choose a person in the bleachers and each person in the bleachers has a riddle (an amount was attached to the riddle and gets added to a jackpot) and the person asks the king/queen of the hill the riddle. If they solve it correctly, they remain the king/queen of the hill. If they guess incorrectly, the chosen person from the bleachers and the king/queen of the hill swap places. One of the riddles in the bleachers is a jackpot riddle and if they guess the riddle right, the person with the jackpot riddle and the king/queen of the hill split the current jackpot and a new game starts as the jackpot gets reset. A super jackpot is also up for grabs, which has a three-digit target number. In order for the super jackpot to be won, the jackpot has to match the target number attached to the super jackpot, the host asks the person what the super jackpot riddle is, and the king/queen of the hill one more riddle. If both the participant and the king/queen of the hill guess correctly, the super jackpot gets split between the person in the bleachers and the king/queen of the hill. If guessed incorrectly the game continues.[2]

Availability

Out of the show's 450 episodes, only a studio master of an episode of the show's biggest super jackpot winner ($38,750) survives and has made its way online in pristine quality. While many episodes exist via audio recordings, the only recording to make it online is from the show's finale. The show became a victim of NBC's practice of reusing tapes for future shows, which resulted in many shows on NBC's daytime lineup becoming lost to time.[3]

Gallery

Videos

Audio of the January 10, 1974 episode.

Compilation of 1974 news briefs (Clip of Jackpot at 6:18).

January 3, 1975 episode

Audio of the September 26, 1975 finale.

Pictures

References