Break the Bank (1976 game show)
| Break the Bank | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Game Show |
| Directed by | Richard S. Kline |
| Presented by |
Tom Kennedy (ABC) Jack Barry (Syndicated) |
| Narrated by |
Johnny Jacobs (ABC) Ernie Anderson (ABC & Syndicated) |
| Theme music composer | Stuart Levin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Dan Enright |
| Location(s) |
ABC Television Center Hollywood, California |
| Running time | 22–26 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Barry & Enright Productions |
| Distributor | Colbert TV Sales (1976-77) Sony Pictures Television |
| Release | |
| Original network |
ABC (1976) Syndicated (1976–77) |
| Original release | April 12, 1976 – July 23, 1976 September 18, 1976 – September 11, 1977 |
Break the Bank is an American game show created by Jack Barry and Dan Enright and produced by their production company Barry & Enright Productions. It was the first game show produced by Barry and Enright as a tandem since their fall from grace following the 1950s quiz show scandals.
The show aired in the spring and summer of 1976 as an ABC daytime series hosted by Tom Kennedy, and in weekly syndication during the 1976–1977 season, hosted by creator-producer Barry.
Break The Bank featured nine celebrities, and pitted one male and one female contestant against one another. The contestants took turns calling out numbers on a large board with 20 numbered trilons, laid out in four rows of five. The celebrities sat in positions along the top and left edges of the board, so that every number was in one celebrity's row and another's column.
When either a money box or the Wild Card was uncovered, a question was asked to the two celebrities connected to that number. Both of them gave an answer, but only one was correct. (On rare occasions, both celebrities would give a bluff answer, forcing the question to be discarded for a new one.) If a contestant chose the correct answer, he/she claimed the box (marked with the proper symbol, a mustache or a pair of lips) and kept control; if not, his/her turn ended. Originally, a space would return to a neutral position when the contestant missed a question. The rules were later changed to speed up gameplay by awarding it to the opponent unless it would lead to a win by default.
There were two ways to win a game:
On the ABC version, champions stayed either until defeated or until they surpassed the network's winnings limit of $20,000. However, champions were allowed to keep up to $25,000. In addition, the first contestant (the champion, if there was one) could win the game before the challenger had the chance to select a number. When this happened, the challenger remained on the show for the next game.
On the syndicated version, whoever broke the bank first won the match and advanced to the bonus round. If no one broke the bank before time ran out, the player who had won more games was declared the winner. Both players kept their winnings from individual games.
...
Wikipedia