The Joker's Wild/Trivia


 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: For years, it was believed that only the 1974-75 season existed due to being repackaged for syndication (whose high ratings led to the 1977 return). In 2000, the master tapes for the first two seasons and the entire run of Spin-Off (CBS' replacement for Joker) were found in a storage room at New York's WCBS.
 * Only the first seven months of the CBS run was aired by GSN (September 4, 1972 to mid-April 1973), and of the following two years only the Grand Finale circulates.
 * Outlived Its Creator: The show outlasted Jack Barry by two years.
 * What Could Have Been:
 * CBS, wary of the quiz show scandals, had three hosts in mind for the 1970s network run rather than series creator Jack Barry: Allen Ludden (who did the 1960s pilots), Wink Martindale (who later did Tic-Tac-Dough for Barry-Enright), and Tom Kennedy. Due to each having other game show commitments (Password, Gambit, and Name That Tune respectively), and despite Bob Barker begging to be given something other than Price, Barry was allowed to host...for 13 weeks. By January 1973, with no complaints from the viewers or network, Jack signed a regular contract.
 * The 1983-84 season (the seventh in syndication) would've been Barry's last in any case. He was to pass the torch to Jim Peck, a frequent substitute host, on the Season 8 premiere. His death shortly after finishing Season 7 led many at Barry-Enright to question Jack's choice (they weren't sure Jim could carry the show). Dan Enright hired Bill Cullen (from another B&E show, Hot Potato, which was canned shortly before this) based on his game show hosting reputation. With Bill, the show lasted another two years in syndication (and would sadly be his last game show: Bill died in July 1990).
 * Enright later ended up regretting his decision not to let Peck host, as it led to the resignations of three key staffers on the show who were angry at him for defying Barry's wishes: executive producer Ron Greenberg, producer Gary Cox, and director Richard S. Kline. Greenberg and Kline formed their own production companies, while Cox went to work for Reg Grundy Productions, the company responsible for NBC games Sale Of The Century and Scrabble.