Many new subscribers... months well worth the wait... excitement and suspense... and another chart-jumping classic-a combination guaranteed to make all us subscribers say... WHEW! Wink's done it again, folks!
Thanks, Wink! What a treat. Gosh, I love this show. Tom does incredible work reading the material and holding the show together. Does it strike any other “Whew!” fans that a charger winning without needing the long shot was incredibly rare?
Good morning, I actually remember watching the show on CBS back in the 70's and in my opinion, there are a bunch of RU-vid videos of Whew! when the charger made it to the top without needing a longshot, I know it's your opinion but I have to disagree. What's I think it's rare is using the longshot and selecting the correct blooper, in fact Tom mentions in this episode the blocker (Michael) usually place a block on level 6, he didn't in this case so Tammy had a 2 out of 3 chance of winning provided the charger gives the correct answer.
Happy belated New Year to you Wink. Thanks for all of your great posts over the years....thank you for the many years of enjoyment you brought to so many of us.....
I just viewed this to see the opening, in better quality and with a chance to comment on it. I like the way the woman's rear sticks out when she ducks the pirate's cutlass. "A combination guaranteed to make you say--" At this point I would burp loudly.
"A COMBINATION GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOU SAY..." :burp: .. I like the way the animated woman's backside wiggles when she walks past the cutlass-wielding pirate!
This is a cool show, thanks! I miss the disco music from Pilot 3 but it may have been for the best, the episode feels tighter and somehow feels even more fun. Nice set redesign too!
This came on around 9:30 in the morning on WFSB-TV 3 in Hartford, CT. before the abysmal Beat the Clock. Ironic enough, the station also aired Captain Kangeroo and repeats of The Tom and Jerry Show (mid 1970s) following Whew so it comes as no surprise they use a cartoonish animated opening.
01:56 Notice they did have the background clouds behind the game board and you can see the Gauntlet of Villains barley in the background. This is corrected once the blocking begins.
I always wondered how the crew put the block pictures in so quickly...I'm guessing they had time while the blocker talked it out with Tom. I once tried to ask Jay about it when I was on facebook under my old account, but never heard back.
Simple game that was fun to watch. Too simple for today's sophisticated audiences that like complex legal disputes arbitrated by Judge Judy and emotionally complex family disputes arbitrated by Dr. Phil. It's embarrassing how we were entertained by simple games of strategy, knowledge and fun back in the day.
Judge Judy and Dr. Phil are horrific in general, but you say their complexity is the issue? Neither is made for professors of engineering or the arts. And for that matter, “Whew!” wasn’t known for being easy to explain.
it's said that though the master tapes of the show exist, the master audio tapes for the sound bites and music are considered lost. Only the sound recorded onto the master tapes and whatever video recordings were made at home are the only examples of the original audio that was recorded for this show.
Something that hasn't been explained to me (and I used to watch this too when I had a day off)....Was it a rule that "Longshot!" couldn't be called unless the charger had less than 5 seconds on the clock? Some of these were painfully obvious that they couldn't make it to the top without the Longshot, and IMO they could call it much earlier.
There was no prohibition on how much time you had before calling a Longshot; the only bars to that were if you were already at Level 6 (Longshot was meant to get you up there if you were stuck on one of the first five levels and time was running out), or a block (5-second penalty) was in effect (and one player learned that the hard way, having less than 5 seconds left and being blocked, effectively giving her opponent [champion Alan] the first round).
Great to watch! I love Whew! Thanks for uploading this Wink! Do you also have the theme music to the show by Alan Thicke? I've looked all over the internet and checked the Television Production Museum, but It's not there. I can't find a clean version of the theme anywhere. Does it still exist?
I doubt that this show would ever make a comeback. But if it did, I bet that the board would use monitors instead of rotating trilons, that bloopers would be worth $50, $100, $150, $200 and $250 on the first five levels and $1,000, $1,750 and $2,500 on the sixth, and that they'd use the same villains in the gauntlet in the same line-up, but in the form of animatronics instead of wooden cut-outs.
If they did bring this show back, they could do the board like how the current $100,000 pyramid did with their small and big pyramids, have the rotating trilons with the monitors attached.
Actually back in the 70's winning $25K was a lot of money, in fact a lot of game shows that came on CBS in the morning (for instance Blackout) offered a $10K end game bonus round or less, Child Play that came on only offered $5K and if you remember when Press Your Luck first came on, you can only win $25K, once you go over that amount you're retired.
Or on The (New) $25,000 Pyramid for its 1st 2 years, you retired if you won the $25,000 in the 2nd WC (Winner's Circle) at any point, given the $25K Winnings limit or exceeded a total of $25,000 in 5 shows.
As I recall, it could have been, but it didn't have to be by rule (which is why, when a Longshot was in effect at Level 6, Tom said, "There may also be a previously placed block on that level as well" [meaning that if a block was there, the opponent/blocker could select one of the secret buttons to put another one on and decrease the charger's chances to 1 out of 3, but if no block was there previously, the charger's chances were 2 out of 3, provided the blooper was found and correctly fixed]).
I loved this show when I got to see it frequently in the summer of 1979. I didn't like having celebrities added to it, since I thought the contestants were much better off being on their own while playing the game.
I felt in was better off if the contestants did it on their own. Could you imagine watching celebrities like Betty White or Fannie Flagg play this game? They were better off on Match Game.
@@meyerj75 The only good thing about adding the celebs was, on the Christmas Day 1979 telecast, I finally saw someone get to the end of The Gauntlet of Villains (though I've forgotten which celebrity was on that show).
This show, along with the price is right, and the monty hall hosted beat the clock should have been enough to beat NBC in the daytime ratings, but NBC had wheel and card sharks.
Actually, "Whew!" was initially up against All-Star Secrets and then a fading Hollywood Squares. Also, many stations pre-empted the 10 o'clock hour with syndicated programming, such as "Donahue".
That was back in the days when there were hand dials attached to the consoles so that you can see everything. Remember to two knobs that had 2-13 along with the letter U (VHF) and 14-82 (UHF)? Have we evolved!
Factoid, the overall look of the game was to make it feel like a comic book adventure come to life. When the celebrities were added, the opening animation was soon gone, and it ruined the effect.
The official bible to Longshot doesn't have a rule as to when it can be called in regards to time. When charging, I may call for the Longshot while on any of the first five levels of the board. A Longshot may not be called on the sixth level. The moment I call “Level Six,” I am committed to the sixth level.
