The $100,000 Pyramid (Host: John Davidson)
Speaking of John Davidson, the 80s Hollywood Squares host was the emcee of another game show revival in 1991. From January to December of that year, a new syndicated version of The $100,000 Pyramid aired three years after the Dick Clark version was canceled. The set was nearly identical, the game was nearly identical, but the popularity was not even close to being identical since this version only lasted for a year.
To be fair, John Davidson's version of The $100,000 Pyramid was not bad, but after being off the television screen since 1988 and without the legendary Dick Clark standing behind the podium like he did for 15 years on various incarnations of Pyramid, the show wasn't able to create any traction with the audience and the Pyramid phenomenon could not be repeated.
The format of the game worked exactly the same as before. This was probably a reason why the show lasted for nearly a year and not just 13 weeks as there was a familiarity and there were no ridiculous or confusing changes made. It was the classic Pyramid format just with a new host and a couple of main game additions. On each episode, two teams, comprised of a contestant and celebrity guest, competed in a word-association game, trying to get their partner to guess words or phrases that fit a specific category. The team with the most points had the right to enter the "Winner's Circle," where the first visit was worth $10,000 to the contestant if they could climb the six subject summit and a second visit was worth a total of $25,000.
At various intervals, a tournament was held comprised of the three contestants who made it to the top of the Pyramid in the fastest time. Those three contestants all had a shot to play the game again, and the first person to reach the "Winner's Circle" and climb the Pyramid would win an additional $100,000.
The main game additions mentioned above were these. Aside from the "7-11" and "Mystery 7" bonus cards used throughout the run, this version of The $100,000 Pyramid also featured two new main game bonuses. The first was "Gamble for a Grand" or "Gamble for a Trip" where a contestant could win either a $1,000 bonus or a trip if they got all seven answers in 25 seconds as opposed to the normal 30 seconds. Then there was "Double Trouble" in which the teams were given 45 seconds to get 7 two-word answers and successfully doing so would award the contestant with a $500 bonus. They were okay additions to the show, but the "7-11" and "Mystery 7" bonus were more closely associated to the object of the game, which is why they worked better than the two new additions. When you add or subtract time, the game gets a bit dicey, which is why they probably didn't sit well with loyal fans.
John Davidson has always been a great host, as shown by his time on Hollywood Squares. However, while he was able to make Hollywood Squares his own, the same could not be said about The $100,000 Pyramid. He did everything right, but could not get himself out of the Dick Clark shadow. This is a Pyramid version most people forget existed, not because it was a terrible version but rather it's not shown in re-runs often and the Dick Clark version is far more memorable.
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