He still had it. Actually, he never even lost it. Don't get me wrong. Todd Newton did a fine job hosting Whammy, but there are just some hosts that fit game shows like a hand in glove, and Tomarken fit Press Your Luck in the same way that Allen Ludden fit Password, Dick Clark fit Pyramid, Bob Barker fit The Price Is Right, and yes...even you, Wink, fit Tic Tac Dough.
@@marcpower4167 same thing happened to gene Rayburn when match game was brought back in 1990 with Ross Shaffer gene was passed over due to age even tho bert convy hosted the pilot
@@marcpower4167 If that's true then it's a shame. I can't see him in this video, but I can hear him and he sounds just as good as when he hosted the first version of PYL. He's even kept that wacko sense of humor I love so much.
Peter Tomarken will always be Mr. Press Your Luck! I liked the round one gameplay of this pilot where everyone got three spins over the gameplay of the eventual series where players took turns and spun until they froze and took their money into the final round or hit a Whammy.
This is pretty neat. I know that Brad Francini from ATGS also had a copy of the Tomarken pilot, but was NEVER allowed to show pictures from it on his website per request.
And that the same alternative universe you mentioned would use the new “Whammy” format rather than the old “Press your Luck” format, because as mentioned in a Press Your Luck Documentary, the old board was a dinosaur compared to the new one.
I didn't get to see this during its run but did watch numerous other TV game shows and I must say that Tomarken seems a VERY underrated emcee. Very down to Earth, has a great dry wit about him and not full of himself. It's sad to learn of his passing. He seems like such a likeable guy and a great television personality. He would be good at anything on TV, I'm sure. Another underrated host I'd like to give a shout to is the late Jack Clark, who hosted the shows Dealer's Choice and Cross Wits.
Steve Blaugh You know, Peter was good with NBC's "Hit Man" in early 1983. Due to ratings it got cancelled. Fate did have it's way and "Press Your Luck" debuted in September that year on CBS.
This is quite a cool rarity. Todd Newton is great as a game show host, but I'm with the group here. This was Peter's show. All they needed was Rod Roddy as announcer and it would be 1984 all over again. RIP Peter Tomarken and Rod Roddy.
Thank you Wink for posting and for entertaining us as the host of Tic Tac Dough, Trivial Pursuit, The New High Rollers, Debt, and other great shows. From this pilot, I would've chosen Peter to host the series as this proves he never missed a beat from the original PYL though Todd Newton was also a great choice as host.
I still remember watching Peter on "Hit Man" which debuted January 3, 1983. I felt that show got a bit of an early pulled plug. Unfortunately the ratings didn't pan out but Peter was sensational hosting that and everything else he did too, from "Press" to "Bargain Hunters", "Wipeout" and "Paranoia". It still is hard to fathom that he died the way he did. Peter's spirit most definitely lives on and indeed, he seemed completely at home hosting this. I very much enjoy Todd Newton's work too. I e-mailed him about 8 years ago and he replied in kind which I very much appreciated. I had hoped Todd would have gotten "The Price is Right" hosting gig back in 2007.
Todd does in fact host TPIR - the travelling version that goes to theatre venues across the country. Tickets are about $100 each to go and be a part of it, though - probably how the prize costs and Todd's salary are funded.
Anyone else notice at 6:42 that the Whammy model is different? Instead of a green mask, he’s wearing purple, and he appears to be wearing a yellow shirt(?) Kinda strange how inconsistent the Whammies were from the beginning. Almost as if they were playing around with how he should really look like.
lidsman2221 But the cash amounts were still crappy, but they kept the $2000+LOW (in which would create a much more interesting situation, since it almost looks like it's the top value cash amount on the board)
The Big Bank element was the only thing that redeemed the G and M/GEM and CAR/both halves of the key requirement to win the car. Getting through this without being whammied was exceedingly difficult. And with only 65 episodes max per season (Cheapskates at Game Show Network!), ya know it ain’t happening without the big bank. I actually like the idea of being able to whammy the Whammy. 👹
Awesome pilot, Wink! This was a great GSN revival, and I'm surprised just how similar the pilot is to the show we eventually saw. Tomarken does an excellent job as always (I seem to recall him using that cheetahs in heat line on an original episode of PYL, yes?). That Whammy Guard idea is a bit of a concern, as it gives a perfect question round player a bit of an unfair advantage in the final round, so I'm kinda glad it was dropped. GM cards are the exact same gimmick as the GEM/key cards we saw later; ridiculous how far ahead some of these things are planned!
Benjamin Kellog Which was why the GEM wasn't won during season 1. The Suzuki was only won during the tournament of champions episode (maybe another episode too).
Benjamin Kellog I think the Whammy Guard for having a perfect question round is a good idea, especially if you have 12 spins to deal with yourself and you left round 1 with 3 whammies (which could be possible in this version). Also, didn't Wheel Of Fortune adopted the 1/2 car thing on their wheel in their game?
So many versions of Whammy. There is this one where you get 3 spins in the 1st round and the 2 where you start with $1,000 and keep going till you hit a whammy. There's one with the big bank and one without it.
I grew up with this version (I was 8 when this came out), but I really like the OG version better. Even the 2019 version looks a lot like its 1980s predecessor. This early episode with the OG host is cool but it feels like a weird time warp. I’m surprised he wasn’t wearing his traditional suit and tie... This is really cool, though. Thanks for sharing. 😊
For those asking why Todd was given the nod to host the show over Peter, I had heard it's because GSN believed that in the case the show was a flop, regardless of who hosted it, Todd hosting would keep Peter's legacy intact & not really hurt Todd since up to that point Todd was most known for hosting "Hollywood Showdown".
I remember when GSN showed the commercial for Whammy! and showed the pilot. Peter will always be Mr. Press Your Luck. Todd did good on the show. To me there were a few things I didn't like about the show. One, there were too many prizes on the big board, a few of prizes were crazy (I.E. lobstergram), GEM car wasn't won during the first season and the Suzuki was won only on the tournament of champions (maybe another episode as well). If Press Your Luck make a comeback in the future, they may use the dollars shown on gameshow marathon in 2006.
I must admit I'm pleasantly surprised I just stumbled upon this clip today and had no idea that Peter did the pilot for the show I remember watching it of course on GSN and I love Todd Newton but it's clear that this should have been Peter's show he did the original and you can see watching this that he still was the only one that could host that show
This is so Strange I never knew Peter Hosted the Premier I knew him since I saw the Old Press Your Luck just before the New One Aired on GSN but Man this is Strange to Believe he Hosted the Premier before Todd took over and the Rest just took Shape on it's Own but Sadly now a Few Years after it Aired we lost Peter Tomarken so R.I.P. you Legendary Host if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have a Classic Revival of the Old one with Elizabeth Banks
I wonder if Peter would've expressed interest in hosting the current version of Press Your Luck on ABC if he had survived that plane crash. Or did he retire after this version aired?
ABC probably still would’ve kept a younger face like Elizabeth Banks to host the current revival, but had Peter survived and was still alive, both ABC and Elizabeth would’ve loved to have any and every opportunity to bring Peter on the show
I think that Peter Tomarken was made for Press Your Luck. That's not to say that Todd Newton didn't do a good job, which he did. Or Jim Peck, who hosted the predecessor to Press Your Luck, called Second Chance. He also did good, but was no Peter Tomarken. Personally, Todd Newton would have been my choice to replace Bob Barker as the Price Is Right host instead of Drew Carey.
I would've gone the opposite route: have Peter Tomarken do TPIR; especially recently I've felt that Peter would've just been a natural fit for TPIR and would feel far more comfortable on camera than Drew Carey (assuming an alternate universe where Peter were still alive today).
Why didn't Peter get the gig for this show? Was it his decision, or GSN's? It's not like he hadn't been on there before. If any of you GSN lovers remember back when they first launched, he was the host for Prime Games at night, hosting mini-games and doing an excellent job as always.
Wow! Had no idea they did a Whammy pilot with Peter! I would say that nothing can touch the original CBS version. The Tribune Studios version was disappointing (for me) on a number of fronts. Firstly, I have never been a Todd Newton fan - he might have been good on "Hollywood Showdown" but this was not his vehicle. It's interesting that all three players got three spins off the bat, and in the actual broadcast version, were started at $1,000 each and challenged in a game of "chicken". I'm sure this was done in the name of reducing the actual broadcast time from 28 minutes to the 19 minutes we have here - thank the greed of the TV industry for that and other take-backs. I am also not a fan of the toteboards - the monitors are too tiny to see the spin counts. Give me the old eggcrate displays from CBS days. The oval board is not a visual improvement either - the original CBS "Press Your Luck" and its ABC predecessor, "Second Chance" both had square boards that were more visually appealing to me. The whole Double Whammy thing I've never cared for. For silly stuff like that, there were shows like "The Cheap Show", "The Gong Show", "Beat The Clock", "Almost Anything Goes" and more. I don't know who thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if a contestant lost all their money AND got a physical punishment?" It wasn't. It isn't. I wish that modern game show producers would stop messing with perfection. Lots of game shows in the 1970s - when the USA was the homeland for them - were brilliantly produced. It's distressing to me that the new breed of producers are having to "leave their mark" on classic with stupid gimmicks or wholesale rule changes. I'll stick with the original CBS repeats on RU-vid and Buzzr, thanks very much. Mr. M, thanks for this video!
Surprised she passed that spin with such a small lead. Obviously it worked out but the probability of him hitting anything other then a whammy were higher then hitting the whammy.
As much as i loved Peter Tomarkin as the possible host of Whammy!, i really love Todd Newton, hes such a great host and definitely brought the show to life. RIP Peter
True. But who would remembers Art Fleming vs Alex Trebek in Jeopardy!, Pat Sajak vs Chuck Woolery on Wheel of Fortune and even Hollywood Squares, it's either Peter Marshall, John Davidson, or Tom Bergeron
TBH I like this R1 as opposed to what got put on the air. 3 spins to press or pass as opposed to $1,000 each having a turn at the board and adding whammies to board after all 3 (or less) had a turn at the board.
The only reason I can see Peter not being chosen to host is his age. Stupid reason, but that's how many TV execs think. Lingo came later, and thankfully they let Chuck Woolery host that.
The company that owns the Lingo format went with name recognition rather than youth, and they saw that Chuck could still do it. Fremantle, on the other hand, didn't think with an open mind. They were the ones who made the decision, not GSN.
GSN blew it..Whammy was a flop because Peter did not host it..Todd's lines were so scripted..the 33-minute pilot proves that..Peter was the better host.
I suppose that’s why Peter felt he was doomed once he saw Todd’s taping. I’ve always wondered what he meant by that, and now that we get to see Todd’s pilot as a full cut, I now understand Peter’s comment. They gave Todd so many opportunities for reshoots, and even had him redo his lines a number of times.
Can someone please explain why this version never aired it can't be of peters death cause there was an episode where he came back to do a question round is it because he was to old or gsn did not like him? And BTW can we please as a fandom of this show try to bring the original version back to TV or even have another gameshow marathon I really liked the gameshow marathon when it premiered on CBS and press your luck was part of it and I was so excited for gameshow marathon 2 but it never aired why was it bad or something I mean I think I remember the host riki lake at the end of family feud say to the champion you are this seasons gameshow marathon champion hinting that maybe there was to be a sequel however I could be wrong but I just want to ask those questions and to say thanks to the winker hopefully someday I can host a gameshow like press your luck or something like that thanks for reading
Dallas Curran We'll most likely will never know as to the reason that they never aired the Peter Tomarken pilot. As for Gameshow Marathon 2, I'm going to possibly say its not in their budget to do another or if they were trying to get other classic gameshows (aside from what we have seen) they might have run into some copyrights that is hard to work around/get permission from said copyright holders.
bmhedgehog2 thanks for the reply I just did a video yesterday about the comment i made and maybe cbs does not want to do it but in my video i talked about maybe nickelodeon could buy gameshow marathon so that they can do it i mean would it be cool to see original guts legends of the hidden temple get the picture etc all on one marathon i mean the network not to long ago celebrated its 30th anniversary and what did they do nothing just nothing with the exception of the nick hotel in orlando fl but the network celebrate with a special program no i just think that nick should buy the rights to gameshow marathon and just have the same thing but with nick game shows back to back and i know what you are thinking "but what about the 90s are all that dont they have the game shows?" No it barley to not at all show the game shows it shows rugrats and doug just fine but if you want get the picture or nick arcade well your out of luck cause the block rarely shows the game shows witch makes me angry why would you have 90s nick if you dont have the game shows it just makes me mad anyways thanks for replying and reading means a whole lot
Nick doesn't really care. I'm not sure if you heard, but the Co-Creators of Nick Arcade are in the process of creating a spiritual successor to Nick Arcade called enthlevel.
Dallas Curran It would be nice for Nickelodeon to do a gameshow marathon. Long as Double Dare and Finders Keepers is on the list, it's cool. However, cost is going to be a problem. Who knows it can happen.
Here's an interesting thought. If he was chosen as the host of Whammy, would he have died in 2006 from a plane crash? It is noted that he retired from being a Game Show host in 2003, a year later this pilot. There's something to think of
Ideally, if he were still alive, I'd like to imagine he'd have been chosen as the new Price is Right host instead of Drew Carey. NO joke, I feel like Tomarken would've been a far better fit for that show than Carey (nothing against Carey).
Peter Tomarken was an insane/private person who was also a private pilot. He indeed passed away, nearly a decade ago (along with his wife), while flying a patient to the hospital. May he RIP! 1942 - 2006.
Peter shouldve kept hosting this no hate agianst todd newton but the new whammy game should've never update its changes Rip peter tho the whammies will remember u in heaven :(
This was very well done, but they should have had the $1,000 start off, and play chicken by adding more whammys in Tomarken's game. I also loved the "Big Bank," spot where you get the money lost to the whammy! I never understood why this show didn't last longer than a year. Also the "whammy card," was a cool concept.
I would love to just kept the game like the original (2x Question Rounds, and 2X Board Rounds) but with the addition of Spin Again, and Big Bank (or Personally $High Dollar Amount and Lose 1 Spin Or Whammy + 1 Spin)
Literally the only reason this show didn't last longer than a year was because Game Show Network was preparing to become the reality show-based GSN two years after it premiered, so it got rid of every original game show it had on the schedule at that point (except Lingo). Had the network not changed over, Whammy! might've lasted longer.
I wonder what he'd think of the new PYL currently only ABC? RIP Peter Tomarken. Btw, they tried to revive Tic Tac Dough in the early 1990s with Patrick Wayne(John Wayne's son), but that show didn't last long.
He'd probably would've liked the 2019 revival a lot better than Whammy!. They actually went back to its original formula, in addition to the new bonus round where the stakes are even much higher.
Reminds me, when Tic Tac Dough was revived in 1990, they brought in Patrick Wayne, and a whole news set as well. Didn't feel the same without wink(and the original series wasn't the same after wink left with Jim Caldwell replacing him). Caldwell and Wayne were ok, but Wink made the show