The Wizard of Odds

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The Wizard of Odds (July 16, 1973-June 28, 1974) was an American daytime television game show hosted by Alex Trebek and aired on NBC. It was a game in which people from the studio audience vied in a number of rounds, primarily games revolving around statistical questions.

Relatively short lived, The Wizard of Odds replaced Sale of the Century at 11 a.m. Eastern/10 Central. The show did not perform well against CBS' Gambit and, later, Now You See It, and NBC dropped it after less than a year.

The Wizard of Odds was Trebek's first American game show assignment, after starting his broadcast career in his native Canada. It was also known for its theme song, composed and sung by one of the show's producers — entertainer Alan Thicke, a close friend of Trebek's from their early days on Canadian television. Trebek would go on to host another NBC game-show, High Rollers (which replaced The Wizard of Odds), and since 1984, has hosted the syndicated TV hit game-show Jeopardy!.

[edit] Episode status

It is believed that all of the original episode tapes were destroyed years ago, due to NBC's policy at the time requiring the reuse of videotapes used to record daytime programs. The show from May 20, 1974 with special guest Don DeFore exisits in UCLA Film & Television Archive.