Card Sharks

If I had to choose a great late 70s game show entry,Card Sharks would be it. When I go to my mom's house,the Bill Rafferty version(1986-87) of this show is on KCOP (My13).It's on Sunday morning at 1:30am here in Los Angeles after Family Feud(Louie Anderson version).Although it was a short-lived version,it's still enjoyable.GSN had this version on for awhile,but it just disappeared into thin air.I wish they could put this marvelous show on DVD for us to enjoy anytime we want.

One night, I had a deck of cards. I shuffled them up. I would create a game in a similar fashion to "It's In The Bag," with a little bit of "Card Game" thrown in there, on "The Price Is Right." I pulled out one card, where I had to guess "Higher or Lower," then pull out five more. Hopefully, I would be correct through all five of them.

Now, I have seen the tail end of this show on the old GSN back in 2000, but haven't seen how the game actually worked until just recently. It's amazing how I could find an actual game similar to one of my own creation: "Card Sharks." This was not only a great thing to watch daily back in the late 70s, but, well, it's a terrific show!!!!! (And you might want to try my game idea out, too!!!!!)

10/10

...and mostly because of the facts that a)there's a four-and-a-half year gap between versions(the original,Jim Perry-hosted show ran from September,1978 thru October,1981;the Eubanks show bowed in January,1986)b)there are distinctly different hostesses and sets and c)it was different networks,with somewhat different producers and probably different staff.(Perry's was NBC,Eubanks' was on CBS,and was paired with a syndicated version hosted by Bill Raferty)

As to the game itself,it was actually so easy to watch and smoothly and effortlessly made that one forgets that Mr.Perry(and to a lesser degree,Mr.Eubanks)does an exceptional job shifting from amiable emcee to near cheerleader-like fan of each contestant's quest for money(which could sometimes top over $30,000;while always a good chunk of change,for the late '70s and even into the '80s would be an impressive haul). Also a catchy theme,very attractive models(one of them would go on to have an decent steady career as an actress:Markie Post)and some nifty little diddy poems to open the game would make this one of the gems of daytime of its era. Every so often,you can catch the re-runs on GSN. DVR or stay up late if you like!

I brought back GSN after seeing them finally scale back on the crap that hurt the network in 2004-05. One of the shows that they have is an old favorite of mine, Card Sharks.

As children of the 80's we'd play the Hi-Lo game part and it was a lot of fun. You could win some big money and the surveys they have were all over the place.

I prefer the Jim Perry version aired at 2:00 P.M. over the Bob Eubanks version at 2:30 P.M. Perry was better suited for this game show, he was a favorite of mine from his days of Definition here in Canada and Sale Of The Century. Eubanks was an excellent host on a raunchy program like The Newlywed Game but he didn't fit in with something like Card Sharks.

While you could win more money and cars in the Eubanks version you only could have three possible cards to use for a card change in the bonus round while you got the whole deck with the Perry version. Both are good but if I had to choose one I'd go with Perry's version. Never saw the Bill Rafferty version, BTW.

Another game show that needs to be brought back, i still watch the reruns. Its fun for those that gamble and those who dont. Everything hanging on the turn of the cards.