Split Second (game show)

Split Second is an American television game show which originally aired on ABC from March 20, 1972, to June 27, 1975. The show returned in September 1986 in syndication and ran for one year.

The show was produced by Stefan Hatos-Monty Hall Productions, and was distributed by Viacom Enterprises in its syndicated season. Tom Kennedy was the host for the original ABC version, with Jack Clark serving as announcer. When the show returned in syndication in 1986, production moved to Toronto and Monty Hall became host, with Sandy Hoyt as announcer.

Gameplay

Rounds 1 & 2

On each version three contestants, one a returning champion (or designate), competed.

Each question Kennedy or Hall asked had three possible correct answers. Some questions took a form such as "Name the three films for which Katharine Hepburn won the Oscar for Best Actress". For other questions three words, names, or phrases were displayed on a board which acted as clues, and the question took a form such as "Pick a word from the board and give its plural". Approximately once each day on the ABC version there was also a "Memory Buster", in which Kennedy gave a list of items and ask which three of them were common to each other.

Contestants rang in by pushing a button on their podium. The first person to ring in got to provide the any of the three answers. The second-fastest provided one of the remaining answers, and finally the slowest player got whatever was left, by default. If a person rang in too soon (before the choices were revealed), he or she got locked out of the first two parts and had to take whatever was left.

Bob Synes, producer of the 1970s Split Second, took a very strict stand regarding contestant's answers; he required contestants to guess the answers exactly right, meaning mispronounced answers were ruled incorrect. When Hall took the reins of the 1980s version he acted as judge himself, giving the player credit for the correct answer if he/she mispronounced the answer or was close enough to the right answer.

Each player received money for a correct answer. The value of each answer was determined by the number of people supplying a correct response, and no money was deducted for answering incorrectly.

Round 1 Round 2 For example, if two players gave a correct answer in round one of the ABC version, each player received $10.

During the latter half of the ABC version, the first person to be the only contestant to respond correctly on a question during the first two rounds, a situation which Kennedy referred to as a "Singleton," also won a bonus prize, his or hers to keep regardless of the game's outcome.

Countdown Round

The Countdown Round ended the game. Each contestant now had a set number of correct answers to give, and the first person to meet his or her quota won, regardless of how much money he or she won in the game to that point.

The leader going into the round had the lowest number of correct answers to give to win (three on the ABC version and four on the syndicated version), while the second place contestant had to give one more than the leader, and the third place contestant two more. If two players tied for the lead, their quotas were set to the lowest number. If two players tied for second place, those players each had to fulfill the middle number. If all three players tied, they all had to give the lowest number.

If a contestant rang in and got an answer right, he or she could continue on and answer the other two parts of the question. On the ABC version, a contestant who led at the beginning of the Countdown Round could win by answering just one full set of questions. An incorrect answer gave the other two players a chance to answer, depending again on how fast they rang in. The winner advanced to the bonus round, while the losers took home whatever they earned and consolation prizes.

Bonus Round

The prize for the bonus round on both versions was a car, but the rules were different on each version.

1970s

The champion attempted to start one of five cars (all models from General Motors). All but one of the cars were disabled and would not start. If the contestant started the car, he or she won it and $1,000 plus $500 for each day with no car won. Originally, a champion who won a car also won $200 for each day a car was not won. If he or she was unsuccessful but won the next day, the contestant selected one of four cars. If a contestant won five games in a row without winning the bonus round, upon winning the Countdown Round, he or she automatically won the jackpot and selected his or her choice of the five cars.

On one occasion, due to a mechanical error, a car failed to start but began spewing smoke. In order to make amends to GM for the embarrassing publicity, Hatos and Hall decided to award the car and the jackpot to the contestant anyway.

1980s

The first version had the contestant face five windows, one of which read "CAR" on the back of it. If the contestant picked the window that said "CAR", the car was his or hers and he or she retired. If not, he or she won $1,000 and returned to play on the next show. An additional "CAR" card was added behind a new window for each game the champion won, and a five-time champ automatically won the car.

The later version had the same five windows, but this time three said "CAR" behind them. The object was for the contestant to pick all three of them for a match to win the car (the other two had another prize); If the other prize was found, Hall offered the prize plus $1,000 cash for each day the contestant had appeared to leave the show, or return the next day as champion. On the fourth try at the bonus round, four screens had "CAR" behind them, and one had the other prize. Five wins still won the car automatically.

Broadcast history

ABC, 1972–1975

Split Second occupied only one timeslot during its three-year run, 12:30 PM (11:30 AM, Central), against the traditional CBS favorite Search for Tomorrow and NBC's The Who, What, or Where Game. It displaced Password, which moved ahead a half hour. Although never able to surmount Search, Split Second kept a large number of affiliates on the network at that hour (preemptions, mostly for local newscasts, had plagued ABC for years). Within two years, NBC replaced 3W's with a succession of short-lived games.

Split Second's 1972 entry completed ABC's most successful block of daytime game shows, which included Password, The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, and Let's Make a Deal, a lineup which lasted for nearly two years.

However, the decline of its lead-in, Password, began to adversely affect the Nielsens of Split Second, and ABC included it in a removal of all but two games (Let's Make a Deal and The $10,000 Pyramid) from the daytime schedule between June 27 and July 4, 1975. After a week of 60-minute episodes of the soap opera All My Children, Split Second was succeeded by another soap, Ryan's Hope.

On the final episode on June 27, 1975, a contestant failed to win the car. Hatos and Hall awarded the car to him anyway, since he would have no opportunity to try again on a future show; further, Hatos and Hall split the final cash jackpot ($1,000) between the two runner-up contestants (one of whom was future ABC News and CNN correspondent Judd Rose).

Syndicated, 1986–1987

After an eleven-year hiatus, Hatos and Hall tried a syndicated revival, recorded in Hall's native Canada. Split Second did not clear many affiliates and managed to run in only a few markets in the United States (although at least one of the larger markets was New York, where the series aired weekday mornings on WABC-TV following Jeopardy!).

1990 Pilot

A pilot for an attempted revival was taped in 1990, with former Entertainment Tonight anchor Robb Weller as host. This version was produced by Ralph Edwards-Stu Billett Productions (Billett having co-produced the ABC version) and featured the same main-game payoffs as the syndicated version.

The bonus round was completely different from both earlier versions: Three exotic vacations were offered, with a graphic for each hidden behind three video screens. Selecting the screen which contained the chosen locale's graphic won that trip for the champion.

Episode status

The original ABC version is believed to be wiped due to network practices at the time. Six episodes are known to exist: four consecutive episodes from May 19–24, 1972, featuring Michael Russnow (prior to the adoption of the "Singleton" and "Memory Buster" elements); an episode from May 8, 1975, with Marvin Shinkman becoming a five-time champion (Shinkman was later a champion on Double Dare in 1977 and Jeopardy! in 1986); and the June 27, 1975 finale.

The UCLA Film and Television Archive holds 15 episodes spanning the entire run, beginning at episode #39 (May 11, 1972) and ending with the finale.

The syndicated version is completely intact, and is currently owned by Hatos-Hall Productions and reran on The Family Channel from August 30, 1993, to March 4, 1994, and January 2 to September 29, 1995, as part of its afternoon game show block.

The 1990 pilot circulates among collectors. Two copies are listed among UCLA's holdings, with different recording dates.

References

External links

Original Split Second at Game Show Utopia

Original Split Second at Game Shows '75

Screencaps of Split Second '86

Category:American game shows Category:American Broadcasting Company network shows Category:First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Category:1970s American television series Category:1972 television series debuts Category:1975 television series endings Category:1980s American television series Category:1986 television series debuts Category:1987 television series endings Category:Television series by Stefan Hatos-Monty Hall Productions Category:Television series by CBS Paramount Television