2.28.2018

TFTP Will Return After These Messages: Evolution of Mountain Dew Ads (1960s-1980s)







Posted to YouTube by user 'haikarate4' (top), 'I Love TV Commercials' (middle), 'PeterMacca88' (bottom)
Length - 0:58 (top), 0:30 (middle), 0:30 (bottom)

Every Wednesday, TFTP takes a break from regular programming to bring you a selection of classic commercials. We will return after these messages...

The nature of advertising campaigns for a particular product sometimes shifts drastically over a long period of time, but often there is a discernible evolution that can be traced. Such an evolution is evident across these three ads for Mountain Dew--spanning from the product's national introduction in the mid-1960s into the early-1990s.

The first ad (top), from 1966, heavily emphasizes the beverage's "hillbilly" origins--Mountain Dew originated as a regional soda in Tennessee in the 1940s that was named after a slang term for moonshine. The animated ad exploits hillbilly stereotypes that were prevalent in the 1960s and before, from sources such as the "Lil' Abner" comic strip and "The Beverly Hillbillies" TV show. This hillbilly stereotype has mostly disappeared in today's culture, but Mountain Dew capitalized on it to the hilt in its early advertising--right down to the slogan "It'll tickle yore innards".

The second and third ads show a clear evolution from this hillbilly origin to the extreme sports emphasis that is still a focus of Mountain Dew advertising today. The middle ad, from 1977, has a wilderness setting like that of the hillbilly era, but the focus has shifted to an activity like kayaking within that setting. Other Mountain Dew ads from the 1970s and '80s follow this same trajectory, featuring activities like offroading and cliff jumping in outdoor settings.

The final ad (bottom), from the early-1990s, completes the shift by showing extreme sports such as sailboarding, motocross, and others. Tracing this evolution across these three ads (and others) shows how this carbonated beverage that ended up with a connection in its ads to extreme sports had its origins in hillbilly stereotypes--and how it got from the one to the other.

2.27.2018

TFTP Late Night: "The Jack Paar Tonight Show" from NBC (Sep. 21, 1960)



Posted to YouTube by user 'therealdrfilm'
Length - 18:46

For this second "TFTP Late Night" post, after the inaugural "Late Night" post featuring Steve Allen's "Tonight Show", we have the second "Tonight Show" host, Jack Paar. Paar became "Tonight Show" host in 1957 and remained until mid-1962. Paar had a sometimes rocky tenure as host that included a famous walk-out for a period of several days in 1960 in protest over NBC's censoring of a joke about a water closet.

This clip is from later that same year, Sept. 21, 1960. By this time, the title of the program had shifted from "Tonight Starring Jack Paar" to "The Jack Paar Tonight Show". The clip begins with comic Charley Weaver doing a somewhat indecipherable bit with the show's orchestra. Then Paar converses with stand-up comic Shelly Berman (in an unusual seating arrangement in which Berman sits to Paar's left at the desk, which was also used by Johnny Carson in his earliest "Tonight Show" years). Weaver, actress Hermione Gingold, and Paar sidekick (pre-"Today Show", pre-"20/20") Hugh Downs all join the conversation pell-mell, offering a good example of the more freewheeling format of early late-night talk shows (and especially of Paar's "Tonight Show").

Although this clip is in black and white, Paar supposedly had started just a few days before this episode to tape his program in color. Unfortunately, this means we are deprived of knowing the color of the seemingly random fez hat Paar is wearing.

2.26.2018

TFTP's Monochrome Monday: Promo for Daytime Line-Up from NBC (1956)



Posted to YouTube by user 'MattTheSaiyan'
Length - 1:00

TFTP's Monochrome Monday brings you a classic black & white TV program or clip every Monday morning to kick off the week....

Network program promos don't get much more bare bones than this 1956 NBC daytime promo (unless they're strictly slides with announcer voiceover). The first half of this minute-long promo is a rather crude stationary drawing of two women with a voiceover of two women chatting with each other about TV. One of them is suggesting to the other viewing the morning line-up of shows on NBC. The voiceover conversation between the two continues into the second half of the promo as slides appear of the three shows under discussion, before ending with a slide that lists all three programs.

The three programs promoted are (1) "Home" with Arlene Francis, which had moved to a new timeslot; (2) game show "The Price is Right" with Bill Cullen ("that one with the bidding for prizes and all that" as described by one of the women); and (3) "Truth and Consequences" with Bob Barker.

2.23.2018

TFTP Signs-Off for the Week: Sign-Offs Through the Years - 1977 (WLS/Chicago)



Posted to YouTube by user 'The Museum of Classic Chicago Television'
Length - 7:50

Each Friday afternoon, TFTP signs-off for the week with a classic station sign-off sequence for your enjoyment and to bid farewell until Monday...

And throughout 2018, we are featuring "Sign-Offs Through the Years", as we go year-by-year with each successive week.

As we march into the late-1970s with "Sign-Offs Through the Years", here is a content-packed (and lengthy) sign-off from March 6, 1977, and station WLS in Chicago. It begins with the last few seconds and end credits of the 1961 movie "The Guns of Navarone" starring Gregory Peck. (Watch closely and see at least a couple instances of obvious pan-and-scan of this widescreen film.) This is followed by a couple of promos for upcoming movie broadcasts of "The Gambler" (1974) and "Bless the Beasts and Children" (1971).

A "Note of Interest" slide with voiceover of where to send public service announcements for the station, a long PSA for AARP featuring the late-in-life accomplishments of figures like Frank Lloyd Wright and Grandma Moses, and a station ID with a voiceover PSA for the United Negro College Fund precede a "Reflections" segment with a bible verse reading by Rev. John Ware--who emphasizes the concept of "Keep On Keepin' On" (remember, it was the seventies).

Finally, the national anthem film--with images of portraits of Founding Fathers--is played, preceded by a NAB Seal of Good Practice slide and followed by color bars.


2.22.2018

TFTP On This Day: "Today" from NBC (Feb. 22, 1982)



Posted to YouTube by user 'AmpexQuad'
Length - 3:21

It Was 36 Years Ago Today: This brief clip from the "Today" show--from 36 years ago today, on February 22, 1982--was from very early in Bryant Gumbel's tenure as "Today" host. He'd become Jane Pauley's co-host (replacing Tom Brokaw, who'd been promoted to "NBC Nightly News" anchor) only about a month-and-a-half earlier, on January 4, 1982. (Pauley was in her sixth year hosting, having started in 1976.)

Pauley recounts some information about how men's hair and whiskers grow faster in the spring, following up on a comment about how she'd had a sneak preview of spring on a trip south a few days before. Weatherman and sidekick Willard Scott participates as well, and he seems tickled by the fact that spring might make his toupee'd head grow hair faster. Taken from old Ampex quad video tape, the footage repeats twice, the second time without any sound.

2.21.2018

TFTP Will Return After These Messages: Woodsy the Owl PSAs from the 1970s







Posted to YouTube by user 'Mike's Classic Commercials' (all three)
Length - 0:30 (top), 0:31 (middle), 1:01 (bottom)

Every Wednesday, TFTP takes a break from regular programming to bring you a selection of classic commercials. We will return after these messages...

"Give a Hoot! Don't Pollute!" was one of the battlecries of the anti-pollution movement of the 1970s, and this group of public service announcements (PSAs) featuring Woodsy the Owl was the frontline on which that battle was fought. Most PSAs from the 1970s look painfully cheesy and contrived to us now, but they generally did their job of raising awareness and suggesting courses of action for average people.

The three spots above (created by the Forest Service of the US Dept. of Agriculture) each enlist a group of kids to highlight an environmental problem--littering (in the top PSA), vandalism in wilderness areas (middle), and tree planting (bottom). Interestingly, in the bottom PSA Woodsy's voice is provided by a different actor than the other two (which of the two voices was the earlier one is not clear).

2.20.2018

TFTP Local Weather Round-Up! WHBF/Quad Cities, IA/IL, WLS/Chicago (1973), KING/Seattle (1982)







Posted to YouTube by user 'fromuncle' (top), 'Steve Newman' (middle), 'robatsea2009' (bottom)
Length - 3:46 (top), 3:55 (middle), 3:13 (bottom)

Weatherman Doug Dahlgren in clip #1 (top) of this local weather round-up looks like he bought his suit jacket at the same place that "Mary Tyler Moore Show" weatherman Ted Baxter shopped, what with the light blue color and the patch on the left pocket. This 1966 clip from WHBF in the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois utilizes what looks like back projection of overhead transparencies to present the weather, supplemented by a series of number dials to present the temp, humidity, etc.

Clip #2 features weatherman Steve Newman of WLS in Chicago, who apparently shopped at the same store as Baxter and Dahlgren (these blazers were all over the place in the 1960s and early-1970s). Newman, in a 1973 clip, has a rotating four-sided presentation board on which his various weather charts are displayed (and there must be someone on the back side of it putting in new charts, because Newman turns the thing more than three times with a new chart every time).

The last clip, clip #3, with Don Madsen of KING in Seattle from 1982, apart from being a morning weather report, is done almost entirely using electronic graphics, with Madsen offscreen doing voiceover for virtually the entire weather report. As a wintertime weather report in a mountainous state, Madsen's weather report includes additional information such as snow conditions for skiing and the status of various mountain passes.

As you watch these weather clips from different eras, you realize two things about the evolution of local weather: first, there becomes less and less emphasis on technical aspects of weather such as fronts, barometric pressure, etc. (which are hardly ever mentioned in TV weather reports now); and second, there used to be a lot more reporting on national weather, something that is minimized if it is presented at all in most local weather reports these days.

2.19.2018

TFTP's Monochrome Monday: "The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom" from ABC (Feb. 13, 1958)



Posted to the Internet Archive by user 'HappySwordsman'
Length - 25:45

TFTP's Monochrome Monday brings you a classic black & white TV program or clip every Monday morning to kick off the week....

Pat Boone was a major star and recording artist from the mid-1950s through the early-1960s, and while he has been known more in recent years for his conservative religious and political views, he was a big part of the popular music scene at the time of this episode from his ABC variety show.

"The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom"--which aired on ABC from October of 1957 through June of 1960--was one of a number of half-hour musical variety shows that were found in prime-time in the mid- to late-1950s. This episode, a Valentine's Day episode from February of 1958 (that aired on the same night as the Jack Benny 40th Birthday Celebration TFTP featured last week), features guest stars Gina Lollobrigida and Jimmy Dean. Pat banters with Lollobrigida, offering some pidgin-Italian that she playfully claims sounds like Hungarian, before later singing "That's Amore" with her. Jimmy Dean comes on and he and Pat sing a country song about "tater pie".

The program was sponsored by Chevrolet, of course, and near the opening Pat and his chorus offer a rousing round of the "See the USA in your Chevrolet" jingle. The rest of the Chevy ads from the episode--including one with Roy Rogers that Pat introduces--are unfortunately not in this copy of the program.


2.16.2018

TFTP Signs-Off for the Week: Sign-Offs Through the Years - 1976 (WTVT/Tampa, FL)



Posted to YouTube by user 'eyeh8nbc'
Length - 2:15

Each Friday afternoon, TFTP signs-off for the week with a classic station sign-off sequence for your enjoyment and to bid farewell until Monday...

And throughout 2018, we are featuring "Sign-Offs Through the Years", as we go year-by-year with each successive week.

For the American bicentennial year as we move through "Sign-Offs Through the Years", here is a full sign-off from station WTVT in Tampa, Florida. The sign-off begins with the ownership/technical voiceover, over a slide of the station's "13" logo encircled by stars. The NAB television code is displayed prior to an unknown sign-off song (not the national anthem) which closes out the sign-off sequence.

2.15.2018

TFTP Game Shows: "Play the Percentages" from syndication (1980)



Posted to YouTube by user 'Million Colors of Light'
Length - 22:09

The landscape of television history is littered with the carcasses of failed game shows. "Play the Percentages", a syndicated game show that aired for several months in 1980, is one of those carcasses.

Like a lot of game shows, "Play the Percentages" (which was hosted by journeyman game show host Geoff Edwards) had a main game and a bonus game. The main game consisted of simple quiz questions from one of three categories--one category selected by each of the two contestants, a third called "Potluck" that was a grab bag. (In this episode, Libby selected "Cooking" while Tom chose "Sports".)

The bonus game on "Play the Percentages" had a question with six possible answers. One of those answers was guessed by zero percent of survey participants, and if the contestant kept picking answers other than the zero percent answer, they collected cash, winning when the zero percent answer was the only one remaining.

2.14.2018

TFTP Will Return After These Messages: Commercial Block from CBS (Jan. 14, 1966)



Posted to YouTube by user 'Pannoni 9'
Length - 6:02

Every Wednesday, TFTP takes a break from regular programming to bring you a selection of classic commercials. We will return after these messages...

The commercials in this block (taken from a 1966 episode of the CBS game show "Password") largely fall under two of the major categories of ads: cleaning products and baking products. In the baking products division, there are three different Pillsbury commercials (for butter pecan coffee cake mix, for chilled refrigerated pies, and for flour) and a commercial for D-Zerta gelatin. In the cleaning products division are commercials for the now-obscure laundry detergent additive La France (which seems like it was so-named just so it could have the slogan "Vive La France"), Aerowax floor wax, and Wizard deodorizer.

A couple of other commercials not fitting into the baking or cleaning categories are great examples of types of products that were just becoming common in the mid-1960s. A commercial for Sanka coffee demonstrates what a novelty decaffeinated coffee was at the time--the commercial is one from the well-known series of commercials where pleased restaurant patrons were unknowingly served the caffeine-free Sanka. In addition, a Right Guard deodorant commercial emphasizes the benefits of deodorant in an aerosol can, then a new phenomenon (no messy cream or stick! the whole family can use the same deodorant!).

2.13.2018

TFTP On This Day: "Shower of Stars" w/ Jack Benny's 40th Birthday from CBS (Feb. 13, 1958)



Posted to YouTube by user 'What's My Line?'
Length - 59:20

It Was 60 Years Ago Today: For most of his career, comedian Jack Benny had an ongoing gag in which he was perpetually 39 years old. It was foundational to Benny's entire comic persona--as important as his supposed miserliness. On this day sixty years ago, February 13, 1958, CBS broadcast this all-star episode of the "Shower of Stars" variety show in which Benny finally celebrated his 40th birthday.

The program opens with an extended red carpet sequence in which a parade of guests arrives for the show. The rest of the first half of the program consists of a series of sketches and musical numbers in which various current and former Benny show cast members, including Benny himself, prepare for the evening's festivities. In the process, cast members genuflect at the stations of Benny's comic persona: his cheapness, his poor violin playing, and of course his longevity as a 39-year-old.

"Shower of Stars" was sponsored by the Chrysler Corporation, and a few extended Chrysler ads are presented during breaks in the program. In addition, Chrysler references are worked in at a few other points in the program itself--most memorably with Jack's bathrobe that has Chrysler's "The Forward Look" motto embroidered on its back and tail fins pasted onto its sides.

The second half of the show takes place at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub (actually a set). More musical numbers punctuate testimonials given by selected guests. Benny himself takes over as emcee of the proceedings, which culminate with the entire ensemble, joined by the studio audience, singing "Happy Birthday" to Jack.

For what it's worth, Jack Benny's actual birthday was on February 14, the day after this special aired. He turned 64.


2.12.2018

TFTP's Monochrome Monday: "The Morning Show" w/ Jack Paar from CBS (c. 1956)



Posted to YouTube by user 'tvdays'
Length - 13:05

TFTP's Monochrome Monday brings you a classic black & white TV program or clip every Monday morning to kick off the week....

Before he became the second host of "The Tonight Show" in 1957, Jack Paar was host of the first early morning news program on CBS. After NBC premiered the "Today" show, CBS felt compelled to compete in the new early morning period, and so "The Morning Show" launched in March of 1954. For its first year the program was hosted by newsman (and future CBS anchor) Walter Cronkite, who was succeeded by Paar in 1955.

Paar had begun his career in radio as a substitute host on shows like "The Breakfast Club" and as a humorous disc jockey in local radio, and those influences show in this clip from during Paar's stint as host of "The Morning Show". Sitting at a nondescript desk with clock behind him on the wall, Paar leads a light banter with the camera and with his stable of regulars. These regulars (including musician Jose Melis and singer Rosemary Clooney) engage with Paar in a long spoof ad for selling air, while both Melis and Clooney offer musical performances that help to punctuate Paar's banter. Charles Collingwood reads the news in a curious style in front of a mock-wood-paneled-study backdrop (while discreetly putting out a cigarette).

This easy banter carried over into the rest of the TV shows Paar hosted in his career, including the "Tonight Show" and his 1960s prime-time variety show. To some extent, this type of light back and forth had a lasting influence on the network morning show as well, probably in larger proportion than Paar's relatively short (only about two year) stint as "Morning Show" host would suggest.

2.09.2018

TFTP Signs-Off for the Week: Sign-Offs Through the Years - 1975 (KTBS/Shreveport, LA)



Posted to YouTube by user 'spufferama321'
Length - 5:05

Each Friday afternoon, TFTP signs-off for the week with a classic station sign-off sequence for your enjoyment and to bid farewell until Monday...

And throughout 2018, we are featuring "Sign-Offs Through the Years", as we go year-by-year with each successive week.

TFTP's "Sign-Offs Through the Years" has so far had to feature sign-offs that had original audio but still images as visuals--because only the audio has survived.

This week we have our first actual, full sign-off, from 1975 and Shreveport, Louisiana, station KTBS. TFTP actually featured this sign-off once before, and it is somewhat unique in that it uses not the national anthem but instead a rendition of "Dixie". This song of the south is heard over various images of the Lousiana bayou at sunset (or is it sunrise?), and these images continue to the end of the sign-off sequence as the ownership/technical voiceover is heard.

2.08.2018

TFTP Late Night: "The Tonight Show" w/ Steve Allen, premiere episode from NBC (Sep. 27, 1954)



Posted to YouTube by user 'CatThatHasNoName'
Length - 1:48

"The Tonight Show", now hosted by Jimmy Fallon, has a long and venerable history of over 60 years, less than half of which now was hosted by the "King of Late Night" Johnny Carson. The program's first host, from 1954-1957, was comedian Steve Allen. For the inaugural "TFTP Late Night" post, which will periodically highlight programs from the late-night daypart of TV, we bring you this short clip from Allen's first "Tonight" show on September 27, 1954.

At the very beginning, the program was referred to as "Tonight!" (complete with exclamation point); Allen's tenure later took on the name "Tonight Starring Steve Allen". A late-night network TV program was still a novelty when "Tonight!" went on the air--the only previous attempt was the short-lived "Broadway Open House" in 1950-51. This explains Allen's joking in this clip about the theatre "sleeping" 800; people were not used to watching TV at that hour.

Although not evident in this clip, much of the structure of the late-night TV talk show was established by Allen during his "Tonight" stint, including the desk, the monologue, comedic sketches, interviews with guests, and musical numbers. We do see here Allen's easygoing manner and sharp wit, which helped him to establish the late-night talk show as a durable television genre.

2.07.2018

TFTP Will Return After These Messages: Commercial Block from CBS/ABC (Oct. 2, 1976)



Posted to YouTube by user 'Pannoni 9'
Length - 15:39

Every Wednesday, TFTP takes a break from regular programming to bring you a selection of classic commercials. We will return after these messages...

In addition to a selection of ads for dolls, cereal, and kid-oriented food, this Saturday morning commercial block from October 2, 1976, has specimens from two legends of 1970s children's TV: "In the News" from CBS and "Schoolhouse Rock" from ABC. The "In the News" segment featured is a profile of figure skater Dianne de Leeuw who had competed in that year's Winter Olympics; while the "Schoolhouse Rock" segment is perhaps the greatest and most well-known such segment today, "I'm Just a Bill".

Drawn from both CBS (from "Sylvester and Tweety") and ABC (from "Jabberjaw"), commercials in the block include ones for Kellogg's Raisin Bran and Sugar Pops, Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles cereal, Keebler fudge-covered cookies, two different varieties of baby dolls (Don't Cry Baby and Baby Alive), the somewhat obscure board game Worm Wrestle, the similarly-obscure play figures called Wannabees, and Nerf Classic Fighters airplanes.

The block also has a PSA for change of address postal forms (was this an important issue in the 1970s?), several bumpers for the "Sylvester and Tweety" and "Jabberjaw" programs the commercials were pulled from, and the end credits for both programs, both with voiceovers promoting other shows.

2.06.2018

TFTP Cable: MTV Aircheck with Guest VJ Cyndi Lauper (1984)



Posted to YouTube by user 'CLyoutube'
Length - 10:07

In its early years, MTV often featured celebrities as guest VJs (or, video jockeys). Here is a set of clips from a VJ stint that Cyndi Lauper did in 1984.

Lauper--near the height of her fame from her smash album "She's So Unusual"--is her usual impish self, as she introduces some of her favorite music videos, talks a little about some of the recording artists in the videos, and cracks wise in her thick New York accent. The clips were recorded in aircheck style, so there are no actual full music videos, just very short snippets at the beginning and end of some of the music videos; there is also a commercial fragment or two and the clip begins with the classic rocket launch MTV network ID.

As she re-appears after the end of various videos, Lauper pops out from behind parts of the VJ set, reclines on windowsills, and lounges in front of a large bank of TV screens. At one point she's joined by her compatriot "Captain" Lou Albano (renowned at the time for his appearance in Lauper's own music video for her song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"), and they banter about music videos. At the very end of the set of clips, there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it slide with the MTV logo and the title "Cyndi Lauper - Guest V.J."

2.05.2018

TFTP's Monochrome Monday: "The Pinky Lee Show" from NBC (1954)



Posted to YouTube by user 'MeditationsBySharri'
Length - 27:23

TFTP's Monochrome Monday brings you a classic black & white TV program or clip every Monday morning to kick off the week....

"The Pinky Lee Show" was perhaps the epitome of the manic, unhinged kids show of the 1950s. Pinky Lee began as a vaudeville slapstick comic of the "baggy pants" variety--which was the genesis of his trademark checked suit and hat that he continued to wear in his TV shows. He also carried over from vaudeville the kind of frantic and physical style of comedy that made his early-1950s prime-time variety show and this afternoon kids' show such fonts of nonstop zaniness.

The episode above demonstrates this with the chasing around kissing audience members and jumping into a woman's lap during his opening song. It continues in the Sherlock Holmes parody sketch that follows, where Lee is hunting for clues with a magnifying glass and it turns into a manic dance number. Pinky's regular distribution of "Pinky Pops" turns into yet another crazy song and dance routine, and the zany goes right through the end of the episode, with a number where Pinky brings down several adults from the audience to participate in a sort of dance-line.

Lee's kids' show, which was nominated for an Emmy in 1956, represented the peak of his career. He'd appeared in a few movies in the 1940s and early-1950s, and had both a half-hour variety show and a 15-minute sitcom for about a year each in the early-1950s. But this kids' show, with its audience gallery, its juvenile sketches, and its opportunity for Pinky Lee to demonstrate his strengths as a comic is what he's best known for today.

2.02.2018

TFTP Signs-Off for the Week: Sign-Offs Through the Years - 1974 (WKBS/Philadelphia)



Posted to YouTube by user 'stevations'
Length - 0:55

Each Friday afternoon, TFTP signs-off for the week with a classic station sign-off sequence for your enjoyment and to bid farewell until Monday...

And throughout 2018, we are featuring "Sign-Offs Through the Years", as we go year-by-year with each successive week.

"Sign-Offs Through the Years" moves into the mid-1970s this week with this sign-off from Philadelphia independent station WKBS. As full, intact sign-offs from this period are still rare, this is another one with original audio but with still images in place of the original video. This audio consists of the ownership/technical voiceover--as most do from this period--but also includes the intro to the national anthem film (but not the national anthem itself).

2.01.2018

TFTP On This Day: "The Price is Right" from NBC (Feb. 1, 1961)



Posted to YouTube by user 'What's My Line?'
Length - 24:17

It Was 57 Years Ago Today: "The Price is Right" is one of the longest lasting and most venerable of TV programs--its current daytime version has been on for 46 years! But the program goes back even earlier than that. From 1956 to 1965, the original version of the program, hosted by game-show mainstay Bill Cullen, aired in both daytime and prime-time first on NBC, then (for the last two years of that span) on ABC. (With the current daytime version on CBS, this makes "TPiR" the rare game show that played on all three of the major networks.)

This prime-time episode (recorded from a much later rerun on Game Show Network), which aired 57 years ago today on February 1, 1961, features guest-host Arlene Francis of "What's My Line?" panel fame. The game play in this original version of "TPiR" is vastly different than in the current daytime version. Contestants make repeated, escalating bids on an item, with the one who gets the familiar "closest without going over" price as the winner. There were no pricing games per se, although in this episode there is one short price guessing bonus that follows a bid. The same four contestants compete throughout an episode (no "come on down" moments here), anchored by a returning champ from the previous week.

Contestants in this episode bid on some rather unique and elaborate prizes. The episode kicks off with a bid on a personal submarine (!), before moving on to more mundane (but still big-ticket) items such as a car, a grand piano, and a home swimming pool. The final prize of the night--won by returning champion Mrs. Patrick--was a house in Florida.