"The $10,000 Pyramid", a true classic and overall highly successful television game show, which was created by Bob Stewart and hosted by Dick Clark, had its debut on Monday, March 26, 1973 on CBS-TV at 10:30am (Eastern). The basic premise of this program is that it featured a very exciting word communication contest with two teams, each with a guest celebrity and a contestant. The first portion of the game had a player on each team give clues to a common group of words/items, which was a category selected from a mini pyramid-shaped game board, by describing each one of them at a time (seen through a video monitor on their own podium) for their partners to guess correctly within a time limit of thirty seconds.

After three rounds have been usually played, the team with the highest score wins the match, and moves into the other portion of the game (to be played at known as "The Winner's Circle") for a chance to win a large cash prize. In the second part of the game, one player (most likely the celebrity guest) proceeds to make clues by only giving a list of the items or common elements related to the category that his/her partner has to identify quickly. If the team is successfully able to have all six categories answered correctly within a time limit of one minute (60 seconds), which was designed and created in the configuration of a giant pyramid, the contestant then wins for himself or herself that large cash prize (which was offered at $10,000 during its initial run at the time).

The first celebrity guests on the premiere were June Lockhart and Rob Reiner, and the show was videotaped from the Ed Sullivan Theater (CBS-TV Studio 50) located at 1697 Broadway near West 53rd Street in Manhattan. On that first episode, Rob Reiner was the first celebrity with his civilian partner to successfully climb to the top of the big pyramid (his winning clue for "Things With A Hole" was "Doughnuts"). However, it was said later that Rob Reiner told privately to host Dick Clark afterward during a taping break that he personally thought the game was to easy to play, and was doubtful that the show would be successful beyond its first thirteen-week ratings cycle.

"Pyramid" did initially well in its morning time slot on CBS-TV, sandwiched between "The Joker's Wild" and "Gambit" on the daytime schedule. However, the show was sometimes pre-empted and/or had delayed episode broadcasts due to the Watergate scandal hearings coverage on the three broadcast networks at that time. During two weeks in November 1973, "Pyramid" temporarily relocated to CBS Television City's Studio 31 at 7800 Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, but soon returned back to its home base in New York City.

As the new year of 1974 began, "Pyramid" began to slip slightly in the ratings department when NBC-TV placed the original Art Fleming-hosted "Jeopardy!" in the same time slot as competition. Just as "Pyramid" began to recover its ratings, CBS-TV prematurely cancels the show, and its last telecast for the network was on Friday, March 29, 1974 with celebrity guests Carol Channing and Soupy Sales. However, no mention was made of the fact that this was the last show as, according to original "Pyramid" announcer Bob Clayton, there were three weeks' worth of episodes that were subsequently videotaped but never aired.

As quickly as the first CBS "$10,000 Pyramid" version vanished from the airwaves, there were two interesting developments that occur which would bring back the show as soon as possible (and as reality). There were talks that there was to be a planned once-a-week nighttime "$25,000 Pyramid" version for syndication in the prime-access time slot, and it was to be hosted by Bill Cullen (an existing promotion pitch tape in selling the show is currently making the tape trading circles as of now). The updated show was initially sold to various stations (including most notably WCBS-TV the flagship station of the network here in New York City) by syndicator Viacom International.

The other newsworthy development of note was that ABC-TV simply picked up (or "snatched") the rights to bring back "The $10,000 Pyramid" to its daytime schedule (that fact was considered unheard or really quite rare in the broadcasting industry at that time). After a mere absence of just five weeks, the show returned on Monday, May 6, 1974 at 4:00pm (Eastern) with celebrity guests Anne Meara and Soupy Sales (host Dick Clark said on the end of that episode, "Well, after our first day back here on the air..."). Although "Pyramid" was now seen on a different network, the first six weeks of the show were still done from the CBS-owned Ed Sullivan Theater.

Beginning June 1974, production of new episodes of "The $10,000 Pyramid" were now videotaped at its new home ABC Studio TV-15 ("The Elysee Theater"), located at 202 West 58th Street between Broadway and 7th Avenue in Manhattan (situated about six blocks northward from the Ed Sullivan Theater). The show also now had a brand-new set duplicating the original Jim Ryan design created for the first CBS version, but there were some minor differences between the two of them, and it was tailored made to fit within the confining pattern of this new studio's layout. The reason I had once heard from announcer Bob Clayton that the show could not take its original set to the new production facility owned by ABC-TV is because the technical and craft union employees at CBS-TV (who built that former particular set in their own scenery shop previously) had forbidden of its use to be done at a rival and competing network.

The celebrity guests on the first episode of "The $10,000 Pyramid" produced and videotaped from ABC Studio TV-15 which aired on Monday, June 17, 1974 were June Lockhart and William Shatner, and it became Dick Clark's second (but last) game show that he would host from that building (his previous assignment there was for the short-lived "Missing Links" owned by Goodson-Todman in 1964). As the daytime version of "Pyramid" was now doing quite well at its new network and time slot, the new nighttime syndicated "$25,000 Pyramid" with host Bill Cullen made its New York City debut on Thursday, September 12, 1974 on WCBS-TV at 7:30pm (Eastern), with celebrity guests Anne Meara and William Shatner on that first episode aired there. While all trips to the big pyramid offered a cash prize of $10,000 on the daytime version then at that point, the nighttime show offered a cash prize of $25,000 (as a grand total) if a contestant won both of the two main consecutive qualifying games in the same episode.

On Monday, December 23, 1974, "The $10,000 Pyramid" moved to a new weekday time slot at 2:00pm (Eastern). It was on this episode that a new feature was added to the show called "Big 7", which if a team picked a category where a special designated card was hidden beneath somewhere on the mini pyramid game board during the main game, the civilian contestant would be eligible to win a bonus prize if he or she was able to get a perfect score of seven points within a round. Although for years it had usually offered a cash bonus of $500 in a "Big 7" category on the daytime version, the bonus prize that was first offered on that said episode (but not won on that date however) was a vacation trip to the Virgin Islands. It should be noted that on the first CBS daytime version that each category in the main game had eight words/items contained, while all subsequent versions just simply went to seven words/items.

The "Big 7" bonus concept did crossover to Bill Cullen's version beginning in September 1975, but the amount of cash that was available changed season to season. During the 1975-1976 season, it was for a cash prize of $1,000. However, the "Big 7" card on the nighttime show was later modified to become "The Big Money" card where cash prizes were available anywhere between $1,000 and $5,000 (depending on the particular episode in question) during the 1976-77 and 1977-78 seasons. Oddly enough, the "Big 7" card returned during the final 1978-79 syndicated season, but the prize that was usually offered was a Chevy Chevette compact automobile with a bonus garage door opener.

Meanwhile on the daytime version, "Pyramid" was starting to show some very subtle and minor changes in the game format and its set design. Beginning with episodes airing during the third week of December 1975, the host and contestant podiums plus those five octagon-shaped pylons in the background changed colors from a rust or tangerine orange to an aqua blue (although Dick Clark's podium did switch back to its original scheme but just only temporarily). There would be more subsequent design and color changes on the set throughout the remainder of its runs on ABC-TV and in syndication while based in New York City. However, on Monday, January 19, 1976, the ABC daytime show was renamed simply as "The $20,000 Pyramid" with its very slightly revised cash prize and game winning structure. The first celebrity guests on the retitled daytime show were Jo Anne Worley and Bill Cullen.

On the "$20,000" version, if a contestant wins one main game, he or she has a chance to win a grand total of $10,000 in cash at the big pyramid. If that player does not succeed at the "Winner's Circle" in going to the top of the board, then he or she will play in another main game but with a different opponent. If the champion (or "continuing player") wins his/her second game, that person now plays at the big pyramid for a grand total of $15,000 in cash. The rules and applications are used here again, and if that same player wins three or more main games in a row, that contestant will try for a grand total of $20,000 in cash. Under these rules, all contestants stay on the show until they win at the big pyramid at once at whatever cash prize level that had won or are defeated by their opponents in the main game. However, the two contestants on any episode of the syndicated "$25,000" version play against each other only in both main games throughout the entire half hour (and no "returning" champions).

During the 1976-77 season, a new extra bonus winning concept for a perfect score of 21 points in the main game (for a cash prize of $1,000) was introduced first on the daytime version. The nighttime version would soon later adopt it as well, but only during the 1977-78 season, for a cash prize of $2,100. In a very pleasant moment, "The $20,000 Pyramid" had won its first Daytime Emmy Award in May 1976 as "Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Program", with staff producer Anne Marie Schmitt accepting the trophy from ceremonies host Bob Barker (who did announce the winner on the nationally televised show seen on CBS-TV), while its director Mike Garguilo received an award for "Outstanding Direction in A Game/Audience Participation Program".

While 1977 was quite a very solidly stable and great year for both the daytime and nighttime "Pyramid" versions, the next few years would present a real greater challenge to the show's own ultimate fate. On Monday, January 16, 1978, "The $20,000 Pyramid" moved into the 12:00 noon (Eastern) slot on ABC-TV with a special set of seven shows presenting in a somewhat first roundrobin elimination tournament-style format (and only for this version) featuring past champions with their celebrity partners to compete for an additional cash prize of $20,000. At the conclusion of these special episodes, the daytime "Pyramid" resumed its normal format basically throughout 1978 and early 1979.

Many historic game-playing events had occurred on both the "$10,000" and "$20,000" Pyramid versions. The highest scoring main games on record (through some amazing tie-breakers) occurred during the Friday, July 4, 1975 broadcast featuring Lucie Arnaz and Anson Williams with a score 45-44, and on the Monday, June 12, 1978 episode with a score 43-42 featuring Sandy Duncan and Nipsey Russell. The celebrity guest, with his civilian partner, who was able to win at the big pyramid in the quickest time on record was Billy Crystal in November 1977 with an amazing 26 seconds (while a few others have done it in 30 seconds).

Most notable (and quite competitive) celebrity matchups that had occurred during the daytime show's runs on CBS-TV and ABC-TV included Tony Randall vs. Jack Klugman, William Shatner vs. Leonard Nirnoy, Billy Crystal vs. Sal Viscuso and Tony Randall vs. Dick Cavett. Bill Cutlen had been a very frequent guest on the Dick Clark-hosted versions of "Pyramid", and Dick Clark himself was twice a celebrity guest on the syndicated "$25,000" version. The two most surprising celebrity appearances on the daytime show occurred during the 1976-1977 season when Carol Burnett played the game (opposite Vicki Lawrence) for just one episode, and popular singer Connie Francis had been a guest on an entire five-show stint. One of the more infamous events in the show's history occurred on the set when during the Friday, December 19, 1975 episode, celebrity guest Clifton Davis became the first of two known people to rip by accident the leather straps off the clue giver's chair in the Winner's Circle (the second was Sandy Duncan).

On Monday, February 26, 1979, an episode of "The $20,000 Pyramid" was broadcast on ABC-TV with celebrity guests Jo Anne Worley and David Letterman (plus future "Jeopardy!" champion Roy Holliday). This episode is now in the Museum of Television & Radio in New York City for viewing only, and in August 1997, the show and that episode in question was permanently "adopted" into its collection with cataloging support made possible by William A. Padron of New York City in the Museum's sponsored "Adopt-A-Program" project (with a contribution plus a name credit that had been placed alongside the program in its Macintosh Computer Database system). During May 1979, "Pyramid" host Dick Clark wins his first Daytime Emmy Award as "Outstanding Host for A Game/Audience Participation Program", but he was not in attendance to receive his trophy at the nationally televised ceremonies as seen on CBS-TV.

During the third week of July 1979, a special series of episodes with young school-age contestants plus celebrity guests Susan Richardson and Jimmy Biao were featured on "The Junior Pyramid". There were some slight modifications in the game format and prize winnings to accommodate the abilities of the civilian players, but it was considered a modest success. Surprisingly, in its only network primetime appearance, "The All-Star Junior Pyramid" then surfaced as a celebrity half hour special on Sunday, September 2, 1979 at 7:30pm (Eastern) featuring Susan Richardson and Tony Danza playing the game for charity with young future stars from the new ABC shows debuting in the fall of that year (one of them on that particular episode was a youthful looking Rob Lowe). Oddly enough, between Monday, October 1 and Friday, November 9, 1979, the daytime version reverted to a full-time "Junior Partner Pyramid" format featuring civilian adult-children teams (with no celebrities at all). A "Celebrity Junior Pyramid" special week soon followed with celebrity guests Susan Richardson, LeVar Burton and Michael McKean, but beginning with the Monday, November 19, 1979 episode, the daytime show resumed back into its normal "$20,000 Pyramid" format (thankfully). Meanwhile, the nighttime "$25,000 Pyramid" with host Bill Cutlen ended its successful five-season run in syndication.

However, perhaps the most personal and dramatic change within the show's staff occurred on that fateful day of Thursday, November 1, 1979 when original "Pyramid" announcer Bob Clayton passed away due to a cardiac arrest he suffered while at his private home. Beginning in the fall of 1978, however, he had started to miss a certain amount of tapings because of a possible personal illness condition. Bob Clayton himself was a smoker who used to light up during the show's taping breaks, and sometimes ignored the no smoking policy set by the network (and perhaps even complaints from celebrity guest Tony Randall). While I was not in attendance on the day of the studio taping where the announcement was made that he had died, I had heard that there was a moment of silence with some weeping show staff members in grief. Many substitute announcers that filled-in during Bob Clayton's absence included Fred Foy (of "The Lone Ranger" fame) and Alan Kalter (formerly with "The Money Maze" and now on "The Late Show With David Letterman"). In 1980, weekend WABC Musicradio 77 disc jockey Steve O'Brien (who is now doing fill-in duty on Oldies WCBS-FM in New York City) was hired as the new voice-over and warm-up announcer of the show.

The year 1980 would probably be the most troubling in the history of "The $20,000 Pyramid". After so many scheduling changes from all three networks (among ABC, CBS and NBC), it would now be the last surviving network daytime television game show to be produced in New York City. Despite some more set changes that included a new Plexiglas host podium, plastic striped kitchen-type floor tiles (removing the carpeting) and a new zigzag rug design on the contestants' platform (which celebrity guest David Letterman once said of it in on the Monday, March 17, 1980 episode that it must have been purchased at "the other Korvettes"), ratings had slipped dangerously towards the bottom (as in twenty-first place) that ABC-TV finally decided to issue a cancellation notice at the show just as the month of March 1980 ended. It was also during the same time that NBC-TV would cancel three of its daytime game shows to be later replaced by the new 90-minute morning show hosted by David Letterman.

After the show had received its second Daytime Emmy Award (in a tie with NBC-TVs "The Hollywood Squares") as "Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Program" in May 1980, with Executive Producer and show creator Bob Stewart accepting the trophy (who was not in a real joyous mood because he told the audience there that the show was canceled), the final telecast of "The $20,000 Pyramid" occurred on Friday, June 27, 1980 with celebrity guests Lois Nettleton and Bill Cullen, who had just finished a stint hosting "Chain Reaction" on NBC-TV the previous week. While host Dick Clark conceded that this was indeed the show's last episode, he did mention on the air that it would be back someday. As an exciting and perhaps appropriate climax of sorts, Bill Cullen succeeds helping his civilian partner to win the last $10,000 prize on the show on these clues on "Things That End" with "this show...the world one day".

For the final segment of this landmark episode, Dick Clark then displays categories that never were used on the big pyramid such as "Hit Shows on NBC-TV", "Things That Kissenger Didn't Foul Up" and "Famous Italian TV Directors" (an inside joke and tribute to Mike Garguilo). After or about when the entire show staff joins everyone on-stage, Dick Clark finally says to end the show, "...and we'll see you again soon!" When I had seen this last episode as first aired on that date above, I personally had a very low funk and depressing feeling towards its end. By the way, this particular broadcast has been making the rounds in the tape trading circles as well.

However, a brand new syndicated version "The $50,000 Pyramid", distributed by Chicago-based CPM, Inc., began to surface as a mid-season show on various local, mostly independent stations (including WPIX-TV here in New York), and it made its debut on Monday, January 26, 1981 throughout the country. While the host of this version was still Dick Clark, the celebrity guests seen on that "premiere" telecast which first aired were Jo Anne Worley and Sal Viscuso. However, production actually began on Sunday, January 11, 1981 with the real debut guests for the first week were Didi Conn and Brian Patrick Clarke, followed by Lois Nettleton and Nipsey Russell during the second week with episodes videotaped on Monday, January 12,1981. In other words, television viewers that tuned-in on the so-called premiere telecast were actually seeing an episode intended to be broadcast during the third week.

In a sense, the "$50,000" version was basically a bare-bones program with no real bonus prizes for perfect scores in any given round(s). The game format and structure resemble much like the previous "$25,000" version hosted by Bill Cullen, but now the cash prizes were really scaled back. If a contestant had won one main game, he/she would try to win a cash prize of $5,000 in cash at the big pyramid. If that same contestant won two consecutive games in a row, he/she would attempt to win at the big board for a grand total of $10,000 in cash. In order to qualify to compete for a top $50,000 prize, the contestant would have to be "the Player of the Week" in getting a perfect score of seven points in the fastest time during the main game. After receiving a bonus of a vacation trip to Europe for the effort, that contestant (regardless if he/she never wins a main game or goes to the big pyramid) then plays in a special (but somewhat tedious) round-robin style tournament for a grand total of $50,000 in cash.

Ratings wise, "The $50,000 Pyramid" basically was a failure in that department, despite being in some high profile time slots. The last first-run telecast ever occurred on Friday, May 29, 1981 with repeats continuing until the first week of September 1981. Meanwhile, the previous ABC daytime "$20,000 Pyramid" version wins its third Daytime Emmy Award as "Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Program" during its eighth annual national ceremonies telecast hosted by Dick Clark on Thursday, May 21, 1981 (I was personally hoping the show would win that trophy as I was watching it on that date). Executive Producer Bob Stewart, accepting the award along with staff producers Anne Marie Schmitt and Jane Rothchild, jokingly remarked to the audience, "This is the second award that we have won since we've been canceled. We have won more awards for being off the air then we are on the air, which does tell you something." Later, director Mike Garguilo wins his fourth Daytime Emmy Award for "Pyramid" in the "Outstanding Direction for a Game/Audience Participation Program", and receives the trophy from presenter Richard Dawson who announced the winner in that category. In his acceptance speech, Mike Garguilo says that although he was sorry that the show was canceled to make room for "Love Boat" repeats, he said that "Pyramid" is still a great show and would someday come back.

The New York era of the "Pyramid" game show (and the entire genre from the city itself along with the syndicated "To Tell The Truth" during its brief 1980-81 season) essentially concluded in 1981 after a great eight-year run. On Monday, September 20, 1982 at 10:00am (Eastern), the show returned to CBS-TV as "The [New] $25,000 Pyramid", featuring Constance McCashin and Robert Mandan as the premiere guests, and with episodes now videotaped at CBS Television City's Studio 33 located at 7800 Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. A subsequent daily nighttime "$100,000" version, which was syndicated originally by 20th Century-Fox Television, premiered on Monday, September 9, 1985 on various stations (such as WWOR-TV in New York) with debut guests Vicki Lawrence and Brian Mitchell. Both of these versions (still with host Dick Clark) would continue well into 1988. A new "$100,000" version, which was syndicated by Orbis Communications-Carloco Pictures (then later distributed by Multimedia Entertainment), featured John Davidson as the new host. This latest edition was videotaped at CBS Television City's adjacent Studio 31, and had aired between Monday, January 7, 1991 and Friday, March 6, 1992.

As a concluding footnote to the "Pyramid" era in New York City, episodes of "The $20,000 Pyramid" that first aired in 1978 and 1979 were being regularly broadcast on Game Show Network, a cable channel (owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment) that is currently available in at least fifteen million homes, between Monday, October 13, 1997 and Sunday, April 12, 1998. While these encore telecasts did indeed relive the legacy of this great classic game show once again (which is also my all-time favorite that was quite an influence in my personal life), there is a very important part of its history that has been lost forever. White the first home of "Pyramid" at The Ed Sullivan Theater (CBS-TV Studio 50) is currently the principal base of operations and production of "The Late Show With David Letterman", ABC Studio TV-15 (its second full-time sound stage facility) no longer exists. In 1985, ABC-TV sold the former "Elysee Theater" to a non-broadcast developer. Upon after completion of this real estate transaction, the building was quickly demolished and was replaced in 1987 with a very tall private school building now situated on its site. There is no evidence at all now on that block there was ever a television studio in existence...and that's a real pity!!!

If you have any questions or comments about this article,
please contact William A. Padron at the above email address.