Sale of the Century (US game show)

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$ale of the Century
Format	Game show
Created by	Jones-Howard Productions
Starring	Jack Kelly (1969-1971, Joe Garagiola (1971-1974), Jim Perry (1983-1989), Sally Julian, Lee Menning, Summer Bartholomew Announcers; Bill Wendell (1969-1974), Jay Stewart (1983-1986), Johnny Gilbert (1986-1988), Don Morrow (1988-1989)
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC; syndicated
Original run	September 29, 1969 – March 24, 1989

Sale of the Century is a television game show format that made its debut in the United States on September 29, 1969, weekday mornings 11:00 a.m./10:00 central on NBC daytime. The series aired until July 13, 1973, after which it aired in a weekly syndicated version for one additional year.

The rights to $ale (as it was spelled on-air) would be purchased in 1980 by Australian TV mogul Reg Grundy, who would turn the show into a huge hit in Australia (See the Australian edition), and would eventually succeed in selling NBC his new vision of the format in 1983. The new $ale ran weekday mornings 10:30 a.m./09:30 central from January 3, 1983 to March 24, 1989, with a concurrent version airing weeknights in syndication from January 1985 to September 1986.

A new version of the series entitled Temptation - like the recent Aussie revival - debuted in syndication on September 10, 2007, following a September 7 preview on MyNetworkTV.

Contents 1 Hosts, Hostesses & Broadcast History 2 Game format 2.1 Instant Bargain 2.1.1 Instant Cash 2.2 Fame Game 2.2.1 Changes 2.2.2 Speed Round 2.2.3 Prizes 3 Bonus Games 3.1 Shopping Era 3.1.1 Big Winners during shopping era 3.2 The Winner's Board 3.3 The Winner's Big Money Game 4 Champions return limit 4.1 Special Weeks 5 Miscellanea 6 Slot Machine 7 Episode Status 8 Studio origination 9 References

[edit] Hosts, Hostesses & Broadcast History

In the United States, the original version was hosted by Jack Kelly (who earlier appeared on the series Maverick with James Garner) until 1971, when he was replaced by Joe Garagiola. Bill Wendell announced. The original version was created and produced by William Jones and Al Howard.

Sale premiered on September 29, 1969 on NBC's daytime schedule at 11 a.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Central, replacing Personality, which was hosted by Larry Blyden.

Garagiola, who at the time was a regular on NBC's Today Show and had recently hosted a game show of his own, Joe Garagiola's Memory Game, took over for Kelly in August 1971.

Sale ran at that time slot for the entirety of its initial three-and-a-half years on the network, and was generally a ratings success against situation comedy reruns on CBS and non-network programming on ABC stations. However, by late 1972, CBS scored a ratings winner with Gambit at that time slot, and the producers of Sale attempted a last-ditch effort at saving the show's audience by changing the three-contestant configuration to that of two married couples, which the competitor used to good effect. It was not enough, and NBC cancelled Sale on July 13, 1973, in favor of The Wizard of Odds.

Nevertheless, Howard continued the game in syndication for another season, from September 10, 1973 until September 13, 1974. This version, with Garagiola hosting again, continued the married-couple configuration of the final NBC weeks. After production of this version ended, the show went dormant for several years, until Howard sold the worldwide rights for Sale to Australian TV producer Reg Grundy. In 1980, building upon the success of his earlier Temptation, Grundy brought the show to prime time in his country, where it became the nation's top-rated show. Eventually its success would prompt him to bring it back in the U.S.

The 1980s version was hosted by Jim Perry. For the first two months of the NBC series, Perry's co-host was actress Sally Julian. Due to dissatisfaction with her performance, Grundy quickly replaced her with Lee Menning. Menning left for family reasons in 1984 and was replaced by Summer Bartholomew; she remained with the show until its end. Jay Stewart announced until his retirement in 1988, when he was replaced by Don Morrow. Stewart also co-hosted with Perry on several occasions when Menning was not available due to maternity leave in 1984.

CBS put up serious competition against Sale, which ran at 10:30/9:30 on its debut. The first show was Child's Play, hosted by game show legend Bill Cullen. In fall 1983, that show was replaced by Press Your Luck, a loud, rambunctious prize-accumulation game that briefly attained notoriety due to a contestant's winning over $100,000 on a single appearance (broadcast over two episodes). However, the thrust from that incident quickly faded, and Sale resumed its ratings lead in 1985.

Thanks to its solid performance on NBC, Genesis Entertainment syndicated the show to local stations in the middle of the 1984-85 season, as a daily, five-a-week strip, seen mainly in the Prime Time Access timeslots. By the show's second (and only full) season, however, the field of syndicated games got overly crowded, and the evening version was discontinued in September 1986.

Meanwhile, on NBC, Sale kept going strong against the CBS revival of Card Sharks (the original of which was coincidentally hosted by Perry on NBC from 1978-81), beginning in January 1986. However, the several end game format changes during the latter half or so of the show's run likely alienated a number of viewers, and NBC decided on January 2, 1987 to try Sale against CBS' The $25,000 Pyramid. Despite Pyramid's brief cancellation in early 1988 in favor of Blackout and its permanent cancellation in July of that year, Sale became plagued with affiliate defections in favor of syndicated talk shows. The die was cast when CBS revived Family Feud to replace Pyramid; Sale would last only nine more months before ending a six-year run on March 24, 1989, replaced by a new soap opera, Generations (in a shuffle with its sister show, Scrabble).

During Sale's head to head competition against Pyramid, the battle became more of a friendly family rivalry, as Jim's daughter Erin Perry worked on Pyramid as its associate producer; and the two would follow which game won its time slot for the week.

[edit] Game format

The game format varied in its details over the years; however, the core format, as presented below, remained unchanged.

All contestants began with $20. General knowledge questions were posed to the contestants by the host at a value of $5 for correct answers. Should the contestant answer incorrectly, $5 is deducted from their score and a new question is asked; unlike most other quiz shows, only one answer is permitted per question.

On the original episodes from 1969 to 1973, the value of each question increased from $5 to $10, and finally $15 as the game progressed.

According to the several editions of "The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows" by David Schwartz, Steve Ryan, and Fred Wostbrock, during the show's last thirteen weeks on the NBC network and the year in U.S. syndication, "Sale" used two married couples instead of three single competing studio contestants. Host Joe Garagiola, after conducting one round apiece of $5 and $10 questions, then asked a concluding series of five $20 questions to determine the winning couple.

[edit] Instant Bargain

On the original 1969-74 "$ale", at certain points during gameplay, all contestants would be offered the opportunity to purchase merchandise at a bargain price. The first player to buzz in after the prize was revealed purchased that prize. (In so doing, a "losing" contestant might not advance to go shopping at the end of the show, but could leave the show with a considerable haul for one day's play.) The prices of all prizes offered were expressed much as one would hear in a department store (ending with "and 95 cents"), and would increase as the show progressed (e.g., $7.95, $11.95, $14.95, $21.95). All prize values were rounded up to the nearest dollar before being subtracted from the winning player's score (that is, the first to buzz in for the prize).

Once per round on the 1980s run, the highest-scored player was offered the chance to purchase an Instant Bargain. The prizes, and the cost, increased in each round. Contestants were allowed to haggle with the host, who, depending on the game situation, could (and often would) reduce the cost and/or offer cash in order to entice the contestant to purchase. In case of a tie for the lead, a Dutch auction was usually conducted for the prize (sometimes the price would remain the same). Beginning in 1984, a Sale Surprise was offered in any of the three instant bargains, which were cash bonuses ranging from $500 to $1,000. Of course, with it being a surprise, the bonus wasn't revealed until after the player had decided to buy or pass on the prize.

On the 1980s version, Perry used his salesmanship skills to haggle with the contestants. This made him one of the top-rated game show hosts of the decade.

[edit] Instant Cash

The Instant Cash replaced the third instant bargain in 1986, about halfway through the show's run. The player in the lead, as always (auction if there was a tie), would be given the opportunity to play for a cash jackpot, which started at $1,000 and went up by that amount every day until it was won. To play, he/she would have to give up his/her lead over the second-place competitor. If the contestant opted to play, he/she selected one of three boxes. One box contained the jackpot while each of the other boxes contained $100. The pot climbed as high as $16,000 several times, and $17,000 once. On the second to final episode of the NBC series, a $16,000 Jackpot was hit.

The contestant usually decided to play only if he/she had a small lead over his opponent and/or was tied. If the lead was quite large, he/she almost always declined, even if the jackpot was quite large.

[edit] Fame Game

Starting with the '80s version, a "Who am I" question was asked once in each of the three rounds. Here, a succession of increasingly larger clues were given to the identity of a famous person, place, or event. In this round, players could buzz-in and answer at any time, without penalty for an incorrect answer. However, each player only had one chance to answer. (On one occasion, a contestant spat out the correct answer after the buzzer, and Perry had to throw out the question and ask a new one to the remaining two contestants.) If one of the players buzzed-in and answered correctly, he/she had an opportunity to choose from a game board with nine squares featuring the faces of celebrities, mostly performers on the network's shows. Once chosen, the face selected would be spun around to reveal either a relatively small prize (typically appliances or furniture valued at around a weekly wage) or a $25 bonus money card, which added $25 to the player's score. However, by early 1984, additional spaces were added to the board, as described below.

[edit] Changes

• One notable addition was "Mystery Money or Pick Again", which required the player to choose between a hidden cash prize (ranging form $1.75 to $1,500), or a second choice from the board. Variants on this theme, such as "$400 or Pick Again" and "Trip or Pick Again" were also used. After the switch to the "random lock-in" format (see below), this was renamed "Mystery Money or Try Again".
• Additional Money Cards were added to the board: a $10 Money Card was available in the first Fame Game, a $15 Money Card in the second, and the $25 Money Card was available only in the third round. On occasion, a $5 money card was also included. The phrase Money Cards was coined by host Jim Perry, carrying that phrase with him from his previous show Card Sharks.
• Bonus cash cards ranging from $200 - $600 were added, as well as a $1,000 cash card.
• The faces were replaced by numbers, 1-9.
• Beginning in 1985, the contestant no longer selected a number. Instead, random lights flashed around each number were stopped by hitting the contestant's buzzer. At that point, the money cards were revealed prior to stopping the lights for an increased dramatic effect.

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A cycle of the question segments and the special games occurred three times on each show, depending on the time used. The format of each program (after 1984) was as follows:

• The first cycle consisted of five $5 questions then an Instant Bargain, followed by three more $5 questions and the first Fame Game (with a $10 Money Card available).
• The second segment consisted of three $5 questions, the second Instant Bargain and five more $5 questions before going to a commercial break (with host Perry reading a fact or a statistic about the last question before going to the break).
• In segment three, the Fame Game was played (with a $15 Money Card added), followed by three more $5 questions and an instant bargain (later Instant Cash).
• The final segment of the game consisted of three more $5 questions, the last Fame Game (with a $25 Money Card added), followed by a 60-second speed round to determine the winner.

[edit] Speed Round

Originally, after the final Fame Game, Perry would ask three $5 questions. The high scorer after these questions would be the day's winner. In 1984, realizing that most games were decided before this set of questions, the producers introduced a rapid-fire question segment called the Speed Round (known in Australia as Fast Money). Perry would ask as many questions as possible within 60 seconds (originally 90), and whoever was ahead at the end of the speed round was the day's winner. All 3 players keep their money, regardless of the outcome.

If there was a tie after the Speed Round, another question was asked of the tied players. Answering this question awarded $5 and the win; missing the question deducted $5 and lost the game. Originally a Fame Game question was asked as a tie-breaker, but was changed to a regular $5 question upon the implementation of the speed round.

[edit] Prizes

Starting in January 1988 (and coinciding with the introduction of a new bonus round), a bonus prize was awarded to the winner, and would vary in value depending on how many games they had won prior to that. Originally the winner would pick a prize off a board (numbered 1-6), but after a few weeks the prize was simply awarded to the player, announced by host Jim Perry at the beginning of each program.

[edit] Bonus Games

During the original series, the winning contestant or couple would be given the opportunity to spend their cash total on one of several grand prizes at the Sale of the Century. Contestants could purchase a prize with their cash winnings and retire, or elect to return the next day and try to win enough to buy a more expensive prize. Champions could buy more than one prize, but unlike the later 1980s run, they could never buy every prize at less than the total of all of the sale prices. On the syndicated run, the winning couple answered a series of questions with each correct answer awarding $100 towards buying either a vacation, a fur coat, or a car.

The 1980s show went through three bonus games during its six year run:

[edit] Shopping Era

This was used for the first two seasons of the '80s version (plus the syndicated version from January 1985 until December 1985). A series of six prizes was offered, culminating in a luxury car. As before, a contestant could buy a prize and retire, or elect to return the next day and try to win enough to buy the next most expensive prize.

On the '80s daytime version, the next steps after the car were:

• First, a cash jackpot, starting at $50,000 and increased by $1,000 each day until won.
• The cash and all the prizes on the stage.

In the first few weeks of the show, the cash jackpot was not used; instead the show added enough cash to make the lot worth an even $95,000 for $500. This original level was reached only once.

Originally, a player can buy every prize on the stage including the cash jackpot with $650 or more. When the speed round was incorporated, it took $760 to win everything ($650 for the cash jackpot only, $540 for the car).

When the syndicated nighttime version aired, the shopping format was changed, because virtually every champion retired with just the cash jackpot. The luxury automobile (available for $530 or more) would be followed next by all of the prizes (at $640 or more), and then at $750 or more every prize on the stage and the cash jackpot. This modification resulted in many big winners.

[edit] Big Winners during shopping era

• Barbara Philips: Won $151,689 in cash and prizes on the NBC daytime version in 1983. She became the first contestant to win over $150,000 on a daytime network show. Phillips won everything in dramatic fashion, needing to answer the final three $5 questions correctly for all of the prizes and the cash jackpot.
• Kathy Riley: In the 1984 NBC daytime version she stopped and took a $78,000 cash jackpot.
• David Rogers: In 1984, he won $122,084 in cash and prizes, including a $109,000 cash jackpot, the highest ever won on the show. Rogers was among the first big winners since the incorporation of the speed round, and later appeared on Jeopardy! in 1987 (under the name David Nagy).
• Bill Baxter: Another 1984 winner, Bill won a $70,000 cash jackpot in somewhat dramatic fashion & left with total winnings of $85,256. Bill had a total of $659 in his Bank Account when he got the Cash Jackpot. If he came back, He would've needed the win with at least $101 to win Everything on the Stage, which totalled $142,855.
• Stephanie Holmquist: Stephanie first appeared on the show in 1984. She purchased a cash jackpot of $74,000 with her bank account on the show, turning down the opportunity to go for the lot. In 1985, she appeared again, this time in the Tournament of Champions, where she won $35,000 in cash along with a Porsche. Her total winnings were $152,897, which was the highest ever in daytime at that time.
• Bill Fogel: In late-1984, Bill purchased a $61,000 cash jackpot, but not before winning the game with $145, which is the Biggest Front Game Record on Sale of the Century. He left with $66,459 in cash and prizes. Bill was the last of the big-money winner of the shopping era. Bill had a total of $721 in his Bank Account when he got the Cash Jackpot. If he came back, Bill would've needed just $39 to win everything on the stage, which totalled $131,761.
• John Goss: Was the first contestant on the syndicated version to win the entire lot & retired undefeated with a grand total of $156,339 in cash and prizes, including a $72,000 cash jackpot and over $8,000 cash accumulated during his reign. In his Final Game, John needed $95 to win everything on the Stage. He Got the $95 he needed in the Speedround.
• Helaine Lowery: Another syndicated contestant, she won $142,974 in cash and prizes in 1985 including a $64,000 jackpot.
• Alice Conkright: She won $141,406 (including a $77,000 jackpot) in 1985. She won all the prizes plus the jackpot in only six programs, the fastest player to ever do so, due to the fact that she never purchased an "Instant Bargain".
• Tim Holleran: The biggest winner in American "Sale" history. He won $166,875 in cash and prizes in 1985 on the syndicated version, including a $90,000 cash jackpot (the 2nd biggest cash jackpot in history, 2nd only to David Rogers; biggest jackpot in the syndicated version). Two years later, Holleran competed in the International Sale Tournament of Champions, and was the United States representative in the finals. He finished second place to Cary Young of Australia, but won additional money during the tournament, for a final total of $183,373.

[edit] The Winner's Board

In late-1984 on NBC and in early 1986 in syndication,the shopping format was discontinued. Instead, the contestant would face a 20-space flip-card board. The Winner's Board contained ten prizes; eight of them had two matching cards (one of which was $3,000), plus two Win cards (if the contestant picked one, the next prize revealed resulted in an automatic match; however, if another Win card is picked after the first one selected, the contestant must still make another choice) and one $10,000 and Car card. The contestant called off numbers and the first prize matched is the first prize won, but in order to win $10,000 or the car, the player must select one of the two Win cards first before selecting a number that has the $10,000 or the Car card. Once the board was cleared by the champion, he/she faced a final decision: either leave with all the prizes earned off the board, or risk them and play one final game. A loss cost the player all his or her prizes from the board, while a win netted him or her an extra $50,000. Other prizes won during the main game from instant bargains, cash bonuses and fame game prizes were not at risk during the process. Despite the exteme odds, amazingly no player who accepted the challenge to play for the $50,000 bonus lost their final game, although the closest to do so was future actor Mark DeCarlo(see below).

Other notable winners during this version included:

• Mark DeCarlo: His final game (in 1985) came down to a climactic tiebreaker. His opponent buzzed in early and answered incorrectly, which by default netted him the $50,000 cash jackpot for a grand total of $115,257 in cash and prizes.
• Jeff Colbern: He won $123,753 in cash and prizes in 1985.
• Linda Credit: In 1987, she won $140,457 in cash and prizes, including a $14,000 Instant Cash jackpot. She then played in the 1988 tournament of champions and won another $5,700, for a total of $146,157. One of the last big winners during the Winner's Board era.
• Tom O'Brien: Towards the end of the winner's board era, Tom O'Brien had won $102,000 in cash and prizes before his eleventh game. When the game was over, Tom had won back all his major prizes plus an extra $50,000. He won a total of $152,847 in his first eleven games. He was brought back for the final Tournament of Champions in 1988 and added another $20,217 to his winnings, giving him the biggest ever daytime total of $173,064 cash and prizes.
• Curtis Warren: One of the last big winners on the syndicated show, in 1986. He would later go on to win $1.41 million on Greed in 2000, which at the time was the all-time winnings record (has since been broken 4 times, most recently by Brad Rutter).
• Lisa Muňoz: Another big syndicated winner, taking home $122,551 in cash and prizes.

[edit] The Winner's Big Money Game

The format for the final round changed once again in late 1987. The winner of the day would receive a bonus prize worth roughly $3,000 (in the first few weeks of the WBMG format, they would pick one of 6 prizes off a board), and then would play this final round. To begin the bonus game, Jim Perry would present three envelopes (red, yellow and blue) and the winner would select the envelope of his/her choice. Perry then would read a series of 6-word puzzles one word at a time. Correctly solving four puzzles in 20 seconds (originally five puzzles in 25 seconds) won the bonus round. One incorrect guess was allowed; two misses ended the game and the player won nothing. Passing and returning to a puzzle was allowed. The clock began when the first word of each puzzle was revealed, and the player stopped the clock by hitting a red plunger in front of them. The player had to stop the clock before double-zero with his/her 4th correct answer to win.

An example of a six word puzzle would be Baseball-Team-Tommy-Lasorda-Loudly-Manages, where the correct answer would be The Los Angeles Dodgers.

A new champion played for $5,000 on their first day, $6,000 on their second day, etc., with $10,000 being played for on the sixth trip and the pot going up each day regardless of whether the contestant was successful at the previous trip or not. On the seventh trip to the bonus round, the champion played for an automobile. If the champion was unsuccessful at winning the car, the champion retired undefeated; if he or she was successful in winning the car, then he or she earned the right to play one more game. If they won that game, they played the Winner's Big Money Game for $50,000. However, unlike the previous Winners' Board format, a player did not forfeit anything at all for losing their eighth (and final) main game.

The $50,000 level was reached only twice and won only once. The first attempt came in May 1988. Five months later, contestant Phil Cambry reached the final bonus round but ended up losing.

In total, up to $95,000 in cash could be won as well as the automobile if a player won every single bonus round. This was never accomplished, because Rani White, the only $50,000 winner on this format, failed on one earlier attempt.

The last big winner on Sale was Darrell Garrison, who retired with $79,348 in cash ($42,900) and prizes during the show's final week on the air. He made it to day 7, failing to win a Jeep Cherokee in his last Winner's Big Money Game due to him losing during the bonus round.

[edit] Champions return limit

On the original and for the first year and change of both the '80s NBC and syndicated versions, a champion could remain on the show until they were defeated, had amassed enough to buy every prize on stage, or decided to leave on their own at a certain prize level (more than a few contestants stopped before getting to the last level, with several stopping after their first day). A defeat meant the contestant left with whatever they had won in the front game up until that point. This is because unlike CBS and ABC, both having winning limits in place at the time, NBC had no limit to how much a contestant could win.

When the Winners' Board came around, players could stay on for a maximum of 11 days, depending on whether they decided to play the $50,000 game. Once again, a defeat meant the player left with whatever they had won to that point except in the $50,000 game, in which point all Winners' Board winnings would be forfeited (although that never happened, as previously established).

The Winner's Big Money Game era champions could stay for a max of eight games, depending on whether or not they won the car in their seventh game.

[edit] Special Weeks

Over the years, the NBC Sale had several special weeks, including College Week, Brides Week, Teen Week, Trick Or Treat Week, and others, as well as a few Tournament of Champions. Beginning in 1988, during these special weeks, Instant Cash was worth $2,000, all Winner's Big Money Games were worth $5,000, and on the week-ending program, all five winners of the week would play a special round for the right to win a new automobile. The Fame Game board was brought in, and each player had one turn at the board. The object is to hit a plunger in front of a podium to stop the randomized light on a number (1-9), and the player with the highest number won the car. In the event of a tie, a spinoff would occur.

[edit] Miscellanea

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

• Milton Bradley published two home editions of Sale in 1970. Another edition, released in 1986 by American Publishing Corporation, featured an electronic lock-out device named "Quizzard". (The Quizzard was later incorporated into a stand-alone trivia game, named after the device.)
• The original 1960s "$ale of the Century" set had to be sawed in half at NBC studios in order to fit into the studio elevator.
• $ale of the Century was one of three game shows to premiere on the same day on NBC (Monday, January 3, 1983); Just Men! and Hit Man being the others. (It was also the same day the pricing game "Plinko" was played for the first time on rival CBS' The Price is Right.) $OTC was the only one of the three to survive more than thirteen weeks.
• The original $ale of the Century also was one of 3 game shows to premiere on the same day on NBC (Monday, September 29, 1969), Name Droppers and Letters to Laugh-In being the other two.
• Unlike other game shows, Sale of the Century always was produced during the summer season, as were a handful of other NBC-produced game shows at that time.
• The clock ticking sound during the speed round was the same clock ticking sound used on The $25,000 Pyramid, Go, and Chain Reaction. That sound was discontinued in 1987 when it changed to a more distinctive "doot" sound.
• $ale of the Century ended its 6¼ year run on NBC Friday, March 24, 1989, the same day Super Password was last broadcast. On a different coast, the series finale's end credits were interrupted by an NBC News Special Report concerning an update on the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster, which occurred the previous day. Perry made his last regularly-scheduled television appearance that day, closing the broadcast alongside his wife June and son Sean by saying, I thank you, I bless you; goodbye my friends.
• Part of the show was shown in the 1988 movie Rain Man when the people at the institution watched it on TV.
• A syndicated US version of Temptation, the new Australian version based on the $ale format, has been cleared on ten My Network TV stations owned by Fox for the fall 2007 season.
• On a 1986 syndicated Sale, a contestant had bought a prize with the Sale Surprise attached to it. However, the crew began moving the turntable around before the bells rang to signify such- in fact, they began turning the turntable before the contestant even decided to buy the merchandise- making for a hilarious incident where Jim Perry, who was standing on the turntable when it started moving, had to walk from his podium back to the turntable (now showing the fame game board) and get the bonus money from Summer Bartholomew, who stuck her arm through a space between the wall and turntable to give the cash out. Earlier in the bargain, Jim showed his "gourmet cooking", which was just a jar of jelly beans, then later said, "You may not think it's gourmet, but it sure gets me into the White House.", referring to President Ronald Reagan and his favorite snack of jellybeans.
• Another funny instant bargain featured a robot that didn't move during the bargain, and Perry went on stage to move the robot with his left foot to make it work. Needless to say the bargain was not bought.
• Lee Menning was a co-host/model of SOTC from 1983 to 1984. She was the very first host/model to continue working on a game show while pregnant. She took maternity leave before giving birth, but came back to co-host another game show, Your Number's Up.
• Sale of The Century helped lead Jim Perry to becoming the first person to host 3 simultaneous shows in North America, in addition to Sale , he was also hosting Definition and Headline Hunters in Canada. In contrast to $ale of the Centurys unprecedented prize budget, Definitions budget was infamously small, with many contestants winning less than $100 per game.

[edit] Slot Machine

As with many American game shows of past and present, a slot machine based on and named for $ale of the Century has been manufactured for use in American casinos. The slot was based on the 1983-89 version, but, due to the unavailability of Jim Perry, Joe Garagiola's voice and face was used instead.

[edit] Episode Status

Most episodes of the 1969-1974 version are believed to have been erased by NBC; the fate of the 1973-74 syndicated episodes is unknown. The entire 1985-1986 syndicated version is known to remain fully intact, as well as at least the last 2 seasons (1987-1989) of the 2nd NBC version. The status rest of the 2nd NBC version are not confirmed, but are believed to still exist. However, they have not been in reruns since the show's cancellation. These shows aired on the USA Network from 1992-1994. The tapes were converted from analog to digital tape. GSN doesn't have the rights to $ale of the Century as of now.

[edit] Studio origination

The initial 1970s version of Sale of the Century was produced at the NBC Rockefeller Studios in New York City; while the 1980s version was videotaped at Studio 25 (also known as the Art Fleming Studio) of NBC Studios in Burbank.

[edit] References

• Museum of TV article on the show.
• Twentieth Clears Show Based on 'Sale of the Century'
• Sale of the Century (original 1969-1974 US version) at the Internet Movie Database
• Sale of the Century (1983-1989 US version) at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by You're Putting Me On	11:00 a.m. EST, NBC 9/29/69 – 7/13/73	Succeeded by The Wizard of Odds
Preceded by Wheel of Fortune	10:30 a.m. EST, NBC 1/3/83 – 1/2/87	Succeeded by Blockbusters
Preceded by Family Ties	10:00 a.m. EST, NBC 1/5/87 – 3/24/89	Succeeded by Scrabble