21:02 I love how the cube lights are acting how they did in the 80's on the "game board" sides. If only it rotated like it did in this version's pilot. And wish the would've kept the old theme song.
He did. And also, do you know that familiar face? That's Susan Riley who was a contestant on the first episodes of Card Sharks (Perry) in 1978, Password Plus (Ludden) in 1980 and The 3rd pilot of Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak in 1984.
Do you notice that face? That's Susan Riley who was a contestant on the first episodes of Card Sharks (Perry) in 1978, Password Plus (Ludden) in 1980 and the 3rd pilot of Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak in 1984.
3:53 Chuck goofs in confirming Susan's suspicion that "both" R and Y are stoppers, since the Y hasn't been played yet and is going to get passed to John.
18:06 It didn't affect the outcome because the time had hit 00.0, but the Sprint "board" operator puts up the C instead of the L on the last letter call.
This was really the last year daytime game shows we’re relivent, this was gone by June re runs CC we’re still going but would be gone by the end of that year and I believe this version of Scrabble has never been shown in re runs
The money from getting the Crossword words on the pink and blue squares went straight into the bonus jackpot instead of to the contestant directly, which kind of sucked, because in the older formats of Scrabble, even if you were defeated in the Crossword round you could still walk away with some cash. Scrabble in my opinion really went downhill when the format and presentation were changed from the original. It was still Scrabble, but it just seemed kind of off. Sometimes newer just isn't better after all and the old still works just fine. And what was with that new theme music??? I'd take the old Scrabble theme music over the new theme any day of the week, and definitely the money payouts to the contestants for solving on money squares in the Crossword rounds. The new updated set, I wasn't a big fan of that either, especially the big, new Scrabble logo and all sticking out right at the front of the stage like home viewers and the studio audience couldn't figure out the name of the game show without it being there. Scrabble was like The Price Is Right in the way that you knew what game show you were watching pretty much as soon as you saw it. If you didn't know, they kind of tell you at the beginning that it's based on the board game you've played probably your whole life but not quite like this, Scrabble. Lol
I'm sure that the set had been stored at NBC studios in Burbank since the 1990 syndication pilot with the intention of bringing Scrabble back at some point, even if it was for only six months with lower prize values. Plus, Reg Grundy and company surely wanted to see their re-imagined Scrabble actually on the air eventually.
Interesting moment at @12:30 about the "rule" where you must pick a letter after you've chosen two tiles -- I can't say I've ever heard Chuck say this was a rule before...
The entire 1993 run of "Scrabble" IS rare, Joe. The vast majority of game show fans have either never seen or completely forgot about this run. Moreover, the new theme music contributed to its rarity on account of how easily forgettable it was.