The show in its initial form was dreadful. It was VASTLY improved when they tweaked the format, and I honestly think Joe Farago did a fine job hosting it. Still, this never had a chance of a long run.
This appeared to be recorded off of KSTP-5 (whose parent company Hubbard Broadcasting is mentioned in the end credits as a co-producer of Break the Bank with Blair Entertainment and Storer Communications) as Good Company (a local program on KSTP until 1994) was mentioned in the VO at the end.
Here’s another Break the Bank puzzle: Hint: Far Out 70’s TV Clues: H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville, Land of the Lost, ElectraWoman & DynaGirl, Wonderbug and Bigfoot & Wildboy Solution: Sid and Marty Krofft
@@PIXPromosMore Although, this show was syndicated, most game shows have a "Network of Record" for the purposes of Standard & Practices. Standards & Practices deals with making sure that the game is played fairly (on all sides) and setting a winnings limit. Since this show aired on WCBS-TV, New York (a CBS owned and operated station), Break the Bank was bound by the CBS winnings limit, which had just been increased from $50,000 to $75,000 in the 1985-1986 TV season. I don't know if this couple had to return any overage like Joe Dunn had to when WCBS-TV aired The Joker's Wild a few years earlier. However, by the time of this Break the Bank airing, The Joker's Wild had moved to WOR-TV (now WWOR) Seacaucus, NJ. Type "Joe Dunn Joker's Wild" to find a video on how Jack Barry dealt with the winning limit as a syndicated show on a network owned station. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bAvOpTfOpbE.html
@sugarbear522 Syndie game shows often had a "network of record," either because they taped at a network-owned facility or it aired principally on network O&Os. In this case, Break the Bank's network of record was CBS, therefore it was subject to the by-laws of CBS game shows, including the winnings cap.
So officially they won $75000 and had to donate $13354 to charity. And yes, it was on a CBS owned station in NYC, WCBS channel 2. But yet I think that is the most won by a couple in either of the two forms of Break The Bank.
Anybody notice Doug Barry's name in the credits? He's one of (the late) Jack Barry's sons, and tried to capitalize on the RU-vid craze (years ago) by creating an online trivia game called 'PopJax'.
"In accordance with network policy, no contestant may receive more than $75,000 in cash and prizes. Contestants may donate excess cash and/or prizes to an approved charity of their choice." CBS must have been the network of record.
@Marc Power it was because of the Quiz Show scandal that involved the Twenty One rigging. It was in place for quite some time (why Larson couldn't come back as champ after that run). And I thought they were allowed to keep the winnings that exceeded that limit, and only was considered retired champs.
The Liquid-Plumr commercial also showed up on the last episode of "Tic-Tac-Dough" on 5/23/86 -- which implies that this episode is from around that point. And "network policy"? $75,000 sounds like CBS.
From 4:16 to 4:31... cue in "Match Game/Hollywood Squares" theme car cue. 4:53... cue in the 1976/77 BREAK THE BANK theme. Stop at "ad break." 8:52... Stu Levin's BtB theme again.
To John Fenner, I think the only CBS O&O to carry this was WCBS in New York. KHJ (now KCAL) had it in Los Angeles, and WLS had it in Chicago. (I don't think any station in Philly, not even WCAU, carried it-- though channel 10 did carry Strike it Rich in the fall of '86.) In my market, San Francisco, KTVU (then an independent [now Fox] station) had the show, and in neighboring Sacramento, KOVR (then ABC, now CBS) aired it. (I don't believe any of the Salinas/Monterey stations had this show...)
But Storer Communications (who co-produced BTB '85 with Kline & Friends, Blair Entertainment, and Hubbard Broadcasting) owned WJBK at the time. I meant WCBS was the only CBS affiliate owned by the network (at the time) to carry the show.
Here are 6 words I came up with. American; Tall; Office; Skyscrapers; Twins and Manhattan. The answer is the World Trade Center. If any of the episode shows do not have this, then I already came up with them. However the World Trade Center is destroyed on September 11, 2001.
Here's mine: Hint: Kentuckiana's Childrens' Show Destination. Clues: -DuckTales -The (1977) Mickey Mouse Club -Jem -G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero -The Transformers -ThunderCats Solution: WDRB-TV Channel 41, Louisville: WHERE INDEPENDENCE IS FUN!!!!!!!! (Fireworks)
Blair Entertainment was sold to 20th Century Fox Television and they also own Divorce Court which was produced by Blair Entertainment in the 80's and was brought back in 1999 as a REAL Court Show
Eric Warner was AKA Judge Von Eric on Play the Percentages. I suspect the $75K limit stems from the show being on WCBS NYC, a CBSO&O which it was weekdays at 9:30AM EST.(Joker from 1981-84 and Tic in 1983-84 had to abide by CBS rules because of WCBS's airing them at that time)
Play the Percentages aired every weeknight at 7:00pm on WAVE 3 in Louisville right after NBC Nightly News with John Chancellor, Tic Tac Dough aired every weeknight on WLKY and WTVQ, The Joker’s Wild aired every weeknight on WLKY, WTVQ, WLEX and WAVE 3 and Break the Bank ‘85 aired every weekday on WLKY.
Anyone get the feeling that by switching to the Master Puzzle, money-scoring format, Richard Kline (prima donna director that he was) wanted this to be a sort of rival show to $ale of the Century?
Here’s a Master Puzzle of my own: Clues: WWE United Kingdom Championship, NXT Tag Team Championship, NXT North American Championship, NXT Women’s Championship, Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano and NXT Championship Solution: NXT Takeover New York
Ca. 10:05 on this clip, the V/O announcer says, "You'll find it on 5." Would this have been recorded, by any chance, from KPIX in the SanFran/Oakland market?
Nope. It was KSTP in the Twin Cities. There's a bunch of clips of BTB '85 from that station. In the SanFran/Oakland/SJ market, it wasn't on KPIX-- KTVU had it when it was still an independent. (AFAIK, the only Kline & Friends show to air on KPIX was the nighttime version of Win, Lose, or Draw-- at least when Bert Convy was host.)
I still think that a couple that wins seven times should've automatically broken the bank. On their sixth win, the bonus round question would've been discarded, and the couple would've gone straight to the Prize Vault to find just two bank cards left to choose from; the bankrupt card and the bankbreaker. They would then have selected the one they thought would break the bank, but before they inserted it in the cardreader, the host would then offer a hefty sum of money to buy the card like they did back in the days of earning seconds to play games in the vault to earn bank cards.
I just figured out something -- a promo near the end mentions "the perfect gift for Mother's Day". In 1986, Mother's Day fell on May 11...so this would presumably be from the week of May 5-9.
0:55 &1:05 that's the same sound effect that was used on Play The Percentages when the contestants would pick the wrong answer in the bonus round and lose.
Let me get this straight. They won $88G's, but can only keep $75,000 due to "network policy"? I thought this show was syndicated. At least they donated $13,000 to charity.
This was on WCBS in New York-- which has always been a CBS O&O. That's why they could only keep up to $75K in winnings. Catch Phrase also had a $75K limit-- and it was also on WCBS.
In early 1986, the show was dropped from the schedule in Las Vegas, but we never got to watch the rest of the only one season on Break the Bank with now infomercial host Joe Farago who replaced the Gene Rayburn, as the bank hit a record $53,323 when they hit the right card found to Break the Bank and walk away with $88,354. But due to an accordance with network policy, not any contestant would receive more than $75,000 in cash and prizes, the rest of it totals $13,354 goes to a charity of their choice, the winnings cap was eliminated in 2006. Rights to the series 1985-86 season and all 180 episodes, now belong to Blair Entertainment successor 20th Television.
I don't ever remember seeing this in Philadelphia. WCAU back in '86 was a CBS O&O station (it's now an NBC affiliate) and they didn't air this show. By the way, had they won today they would have earned everything and give nothing to charity since CBS no longer has any winnings limit.
And I used to watch BTB '85 in the Louisville area on WLKY-TV every weekday at 10:30am, right after The Joker's Wild and right before All-Star Blitz and later Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak. BTW, WLKY not only carried Break the Bank '85, but also Make Me Laugh, Concentration, Catch Phrase, Headline Chasers, The $128,000 Question, The Challengers, The (Nighttime) Price is Right, To Tell the Truth (Ward), What's My Line?, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, among others.
Early 1986 CBS Game Show time slots: 9:00am - Tic-Tac-Dough 9:30am - Press Your Luck 10:00am - $25,000 Pyramid 10:30am - Card Sharks 11:00am - The Price is Right
So $13,354 assumedly went to charity, considering Joe mentioned they won 6 trips, that might have actually helped them to donate a couple of those, would have been tough to get all that time off from work, plus it'll ease the tax bill.
Mother's Day in 1986 was on May 11th, as it's mentioned in one of the fee plugs, ergo this is probably from the week of May 5-9, 1986. CHuck Donegan posted the full episode this morning, taped off the CBN rerun, with updated Summer 1986 fee plugs.
Note that they didn't retire couples after breaking the bank in the Rayburn era, but did in the Farago era. One couple breaking the bank in the Farago era broke it on their first show and their winnings were only $29K and they still had to retire. Break the Bank aired on WCBS in 1985-86, so they probably did have to abide by CBS rules.
I can remember Channel 5 in Nashville aired that same show in the late afternoon as did the aforementioned Strike It Rich,something that was Joe Garagiola’s comeback vehicle.
And Channel 32 in Louisville (referring to WLKY) carried the 1985 version of BTB every weekday at 10:30am and the 1986 version of Strike it Rich every weeknight at 1:30am. After all, WLKY is the 👑 of first-run syndicated game shows!
And KHJ channel 9 in los angeles (became KCAL when disney acquired it from RKO communications) air it as well as strike it rich and then win lose or draw, disneys enterance into the game show format.
KSTP TV CHANNEL 5 in ST.PAUL MN used to be an NBC affiliated station until March 5 1979 when they switched to ABC while NBC moved to WTCN TV CHANNEL 11 which was an independent station.KMSP CHANNEL 9 which was with ABC now an independent station years before they became FOX 9!!(during my first 7 years living in St.Paul MN 1974-81 ages 2-to 9)
Sorry, but while Hal Hidey might have been a popular composer for Barry and Enright (and Richard S. Kline), I would've gone with Jerry Hey and his horn section for a peppy sounding theme instead.
So, there's a rumor that this show might be owned by Fremantle these days, given Buzzr uploaded sister show Strike it Rich '86 to Amazon Prime. Take it with a grain of salt, of course.
Another clip I remember, just like the Couch Potatoes ep. I watched last spring. Also, checked an inflation calculator, and found that adjusted for inflation, they won the equivalent of over $200K today. Yikes!!
Had Break the Bank been revived in 1990, three contestants would play a Jeopardy type game with the winner using seconds earned in bonus round to answer questions to earn cards. Music should be family friendly, set family friendly and appealing to small children. The $1MCOAL sirens should've sounded and confetti and balloons were dropped.
Joe Farago wasn.t a bad host & plus I liked the very last format better then before when they used to have to the stunts to earn their bank cards plus I still loved Gene Rayburn for all his work on MATCH GAME but they should have started this last with Joe Farago because to me he was better.
This version should lasted a least a decade or two if pushing it.Also if I had money power & connections--I.d have MY OWN NETWORK & CHANNEL!! & I.D MAKE IT A NO LIMIT TO HOW MUCH THEY CAN WIN OR NOT!!--as long as they kept winning.Finally whatever money cash & prizes they want to donate to charity should be THEIR DECISION!!--NOT THE NETWORK OR GOVERNMENT OR WHOEVER,S IN CHANGE!! But of course that,s me.
This version of Break The Bank aired on WBAL TV CH.11 here in Baltimore Md when our Ch.11 was still.with CBS before switching back to NBC 9 years later in 1995.If my memory is correct Break The Bank aired at either 9.30am or 10.30 am before The Price Is Right with then host Bob Barker.
