The Joker's Wild

This game show follows a good idea, is classically beautiful to look at, simplistic in the best sense and just a nice pastime. The only reason that there is nothing grandiose here is that the show is what it is: something nice, small, that should be there again today, but nowhere to be found.

The original Joker's Wild was a ground breaker for two reasons. One, it was a successful comeback for host Jack Barry after being blacklisted for his involvement in the quiz show scandal. Second, it was the first game show to use synthesizers for its theme, breaking the traditional organ music used on many early game shows.

The game itself was outstanding. Even though most of the questions were easy, I really enjoyed the show and answered most of the questions correctly. Barry always asked contestants if they can come back on the next show if time ran out in the middle of the game since he was used to live TV.

By the 1981-82 season, the show began to jump the shark when audience members got a chance to "Face the Devil." I felt it was out of place and should't belong as part of the show. But the biggest jump was in 1984 when Barry died of a heart attack and Bill Cullen was hired as host instead of regular substitute host Jim Peck. Cullen seemed slow and didn't move the game along well.

This game was extremely popular after its 3 year run on CBS from 1972-75 racking up 686 episodes. Shortly after went into syndication and exploded in popularity. With Game Show Master Jack Barry Emceeing Jack's Partner Dan Enright saw the popularity and immediately went into the works of revamping and in 1977 it returned the devil was moved from prizes in the the 3 yr run to dollar amounts 25 through 200 and a two was placed on a 6ft wheel carousel and ten dollar amounts of the three wheels. In 1981 Detroit made Jokers wild a huge success and was rated number 1 on its 7pm slot for over 4 yrs. After the 1983-84 season days later Jack went to visit his daughter in New York who just returned from a Europe trip. He stated he was going for a jog. And while Jack was jogging he collapsed and went into cardiac arrest. It was a sad day on May 2, 1984. In the fall Bill Cullen took over for two seasons. It was never the same. I enjoyed it from day one. A perfect 10 of all game shows.

Recently, "The Joker's Wild" got some air time on VH1's "I Love the '70s, Volume II." I'm paraphrasing a bit, but one of the celebrities interviewees said it best: "Why is it that we can create a thousand celebrity reality shows, but we can't remake 'The Joker's Wild'?" Sony owns the rights to the show. If done right, and sticking to the classic format that was a winner (unlike the initial try of the 1990 version), TJW could be another long-running winner. The format is solid, the game itself is interesting (though the questions could be tougher), and there's enough drama in each spin to keep you for the full half hour. I think there's more than enough interest to consider a resurrection.

"Thank you. Thank you very much, and a most cordially welcome to a brand-new and, we hope, very exciting show for you. It's called 'The Joker's Wild.' It's a show where Knowledge Is King and Lady Luck Is Queen, and where winning players can win up to $25,000 in cash and prizes!" Those were the first lines ever spoken by Jack Barry on the network daytime premeire of "The Joker's Wild", which occurred @ 10:00 (EST), Monday morning, September 4, 1972 on CBS Television (just before Goodson-Todman's "The [New] Price Is Right" and Heatter-Quigley's "Gambit"!). And, for the first time since their original airing, Game Show Network has managed to unearth more episodes of its pioneering CBS Daytime run (Sept. 4, 1972 - June 13, 1975; 636 episodes) for endless repeats, starting with PREMEIRE WEEK on Monday, December 4! I was so enthused, I taped the CBS series premeire TWICE! It was interesting to see the evolution of "The Joker's Wild" in its initial CBS heyday before it would gain even more fame in its 1977-1986 syndicated run. Until recently, only the final CBS season of TJW (1974-1975) was assumed to exist, with the first 2 years erased by CBS for reuse. But now, the earliest shows has been recently uncovered, much to my amazement. I was always curious and anxious about seeing this version, and had serious doubts about the destruction of all of the first 2 seasons (I'd hoped a surviving CBS "Joker" episode from '72 or '73 might show up on GSN's "Game Of The Week"!), having read about it umpteen times in books and on The 'Net; I've never seen the original network edition of TJW (I was but a wee waif when it started), but, thanks to GSN, my doubts were confirmed, and I finally get my chance! Kudos to The Eye Network for preserving "The Joker's Wild" in its archives! This is a GOOD show, playing every Monday-Friday @ 11 AM EST and 3 PM EST on GSN, and very essential for game show enthusiasts like me who are getting a taste of it for the first time. Please watch!