Now You See It

Now You See It was an American television game show where contestants tried to find words that were hidden within a jumble of letters. It is also a film on the Disney Channel that premiered January 14, 2005. This article refers to the show.

Contents

1 Broadcast history 2 Rules of the game 2.1 1974-75 version 2.2 1985 pilot 2.3 1989 version 2.4 Solo round 3 Episode status 4 External link

Broadcast history

Now You See It, a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production, had two different runs on CBS. The first version ran from April 1, 1974, to June 13, 1975, with Jack Narz hosting. The second version ran from April 3 to July 14, 1989, with longtime Los Angeles TV news anchor Chuck Henry hosting. Before that, Jack Clark hosted a pilot for a possible revival of the show in 1985. (Although this version did not make it to air, copies of this pilot have circulated among video tape collectors.)

Johnny Olson was the original announcer of the show, with Gene Wood substituting whenever Olson was unable to attend tapings. Wood also announced the 1985 pilot. The announcers on the 1989 version were disc jockey Mark Driscoll and well known voice over artist and occasional game show emcee Don Morrow .

All versions of the show used the instrumental theme "Chump Change," composed by Quincy Jones.

Rules of the game

The game boards in all versions of Now You See It had four rows ("lines") with 14 letters of the alphabet ("positions") in each row. The host of the show read general-knowledge trivia questions with single-word answers that were concealed within the jumble of letters on the board. It was up to the contestants to find those answers.

Although the premise of the show remained the same, the main game was played differently on each version of the show.

1974-75 version

The first round of Now You See It under its original format was known as the "elimination round." It began with four new players -- two "outside" and two "inside" -- who were randomly placed on two teams. The "outside" players turned their backs to the camera. The host read a question and one of the "inside" players hit a buzzer before guessing the line number. If the correct line was guessed, the "outside" player on that team turned around to give the position number and the word. If correct, the team earned points based on the sum of the line and the position numbers (for instance, a word on line 3 and in position 8 was worth 11 points). Halfway through the round, the players on each team switched positions. The team that was in the lead when time ran out won the elimination round.

In the second round, known as the "qualifying round," the two contestants on the winning team competed against each other. The host read a crossword puzzle-style clue, and the answer was revealed one letter at a time on a single row of 16 letters (sometimes using one or more letters of the previous word). Letters were revealed until someone buzzed in and gave the correct answer or if only one letter was left in the word. (If a contestant gave an incorrect answer, the opponent was given a free guess before any more letters were revealed. If nobody guessed the word after the next-to-last letter was revealed, nobody scored.) The first player to guess four words correctly won a prize package.

The winner of the qualifying round competed against the show's returning champion in the "championship round." This round was played like the elimination round, except that the contestants had to give both the line and position numbers of the correct answer. The contestant who had more points when time ran out won the game and played the "solo round" (described below) for a chance at a cash jackpot. (If the winner won the jackpot in the solo round, the runner-up of the championship round came back on the next show as the "designated champion.")

For a short time in this version, contestants also wrote down "bonus words" on index cards at the beginning of the championship round and of each half of the elimination round. A contestant or team could earn an additional 10 points if a bonus word was given as a correct answer.

The format of the show was changed toward the end of the show's run. The elimination round was dropped, and two new players competed in the qualifying round. The first player to guess five words correctly won a prize package and played the returning champion in the championship round. Point values were doubled in the second half of the championship round, and the first player to reach 100 points played the solo round. Under this "straddling" format, a game could stop at the end of one episode and resume at the beginning of the next.

1985 pilot

Two teams of two players competed. During the first round, one partner was given a word to define (much like The $25,000 Pyramid), and the other partner had to find that word on the board within 15 seconds. If successful, the team earned as many points as there were seconds left on the clock (e.g., eight points if there were eight seconds left). Each team played four words, with the winning team earning 20 bonus points. In the second round, the host read clues to words on a new board, and the first contestant to buzz in and correctly identify that word earned 20 points. The first team to reach 100 points won the game and chose one player to play the solo round. After that, the players on both teams switched positions and played another game. The team with the most money at the end of both games would have returned on the next episode.

1989 version

In the first round, two new contestants competed to find the answers to the host's questions. Scoring was determined by how much time was left on the clock when the contestant buzzed in; the clock started at 100 points and decreased by 15 points as each second passed. If nobody guessed the correct answer when the clock reached 25 points, the host gave the line number that the word was on. Halfway through the round the contestants were given a new board. The point values in the second half of the round were doubled, with the clock counting down from 200 points and decreasing by 30 points per second until the clock reached 50 points. The first player to reach 1,000 points won the round.

The winner of the first round competed against the show's returning champion in the second round. The host gave a category, and a new board containing six possible words in that category was revealed. The first contestant to buzz in and find one of those words was given 20 seconds to find the five remaining words. If unable to do so, the opponent was given an additional five seconds to find one word, taking the money for that board if successful; otherwise, the money went to the contestant. The first board was worth $200 and each board after that was worth $100 more than the previous one. The first player to reach $1,000 won the game and played the solo round.

Solo round

The bonus round, known as the "solo round," was the same on all versions of the show. The winner of the main game was given a new board and 60 seconds to find ten words on that board. Once the host read the question, the contestant used an electronic pencil to circle the word that was being guessed. The contestant had the option to pass at any time and return to that question later. Each correct answer was worth $100, and if all ten words were found before time expired, the contestant won a cash jackpot. The jackpot started at $5,000 and increased by $1,000 each game (1974-75) or $5,000 each game (1989) until it was won -- jackpots in the 1989 version went as high as $50,000.

Episode status

All episodes are known to exist. GSN has rerun the 1974-75 version in the past, but not the 1989 version.

External link

• Game Shows of 1975: Now You See It