Concentration: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

[[File:concentration69.jpg|frame]]

 

 

Jack Barry was the original producer of ''Concentration'', as well as ''[[21 (game show)|21]]'' and ''[[Tic-Tac-Dough]]''. Shortly into the run, NBC took over production of ''Concentration'' and canned ''Twenty-One''. Hugh Downs, most notable to news fans as a ''Today Show'' anchor, hosted from 1958-69. Barry himself helmed a four-episode nighttime version, which replaced the aforementioned ''Twenty-One''. A second nighttime edition, this time in color, aired for six months in 1961.

** Softie and GameTek made electronic versions of ''Classic'' for MS-DOS (recycling contestant sprites from ''[[Card Sharks]]'') and the NES.

** Pressman and Endless Games each made a ''Classic'' home game, a decade apart, with full-color rebuses.

** The most recent was a PC game based on ''Classic'', which on the box is stated as having been licensed by NBC. Yes, the network will license the rights to a home game but won't ''actually'' let the show see the light of day.

** During the plugs for the home game, Trebek would often mention that it was a good tool to use for contestants to get familiar with some of the ''Classic'' symbols used such as the awl, the aisle and the ewe/mare with the lipstick. (Awl, aisle and the omnipresent oar were all staples of puzzles on the original show.)

** Blumenthal said that early shows went through some three games because the puzzles were too easy. He started making the puzzles more challenging to make the show hold better interest.

* [[One-Book Author]]: Paola Diva had no film or TV credits other than ''Concentration''.

* [[Our Tropes Are Different|Our Puzzles Are Different]]: Traditional rebus puzzles use both plus and minus linking symbols. All versions of ''Concentration'' use plus only.

** Oddly, the puzzles in the second edition of the home game had no plus signs at all.

* [[Rearrange the Song]]: The [http://www.gameshowthemesongs.net/sounds/Concentration/CONCEND.mp3 1985-91 theme tune] was a rearrangement of the ticket-plug cue used on ''[[Body Language (TV series)|Body Language]]''.

** From 1969-73, the mid-show camera pan of the audience had Milton Kaye playing the standard "Puppet on a String". When Bob Clayton described the Chevrolet Nova awarded to the player calling two Wild Cards on the same turn, "See The U.S.A. In Your Chevrolet" was played.

* [[Shout-Out]]: One ''Classic'' puzzle. First line: an awl + a dozen eggs; second line: a tree + a caricature of [[Gregory Peck]].

* [[Took a Level in Jerkass]]: A number of ''Classic'' contestants, after having had taken a prize using the "Take!" matches or had a prize taken, would snipe at each other. What hath [[Jerry Springer]] wrought?

[[Category:Game Show]]

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]