Pyramid/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Channel Hop: Started on CBS in 1973, moved to ABC a year later (six weeks after CBS canceled it), returned to CBS in 1982 for a six year run. Also had syndicated nighttime editions (as well as the daily 1991 and 2002 editions).
  • Development Hell: No fewer than ten pilots have been made since 1996.
  • Fan Nickname: The John Davidson version is commonly referred to as "The New $100,000 Pyramid" to distinguish it from the 1980s run. In a Portmanteau, Donny Osmond's version is nicknamed "Donnymid". This Very Wiki refers to each version by its dollar figure, as can be seen right below.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Dick Clark was already well known as host of American Bandstand. Bill Cullen was well known for The Price Is Right and several other shows, while John Davidson hosted the 1986-89 version of Hollywood Squares.
  • Hey, It's That Sound: The "cuckoo" sound for an illegal clue later appeared as an "illegal clue" sound on two other Stewart games — Chain Reaction and Go, the latter of which also borrowed the "plonk" timer.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!:
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes:
    • Almost all CBS/ABC episodes from 1973 to about March 1978 are thought to be Lost Forever, minus:
      • $10,000 (CBS): Episode #3 is held by UCLA (first segment here), #5 was uploaded by a contestant's relative in January 2011, June 13 (with Kaye Ballard and Richard Deacon) circulated for years before getting on YouTube, and the three weeks recorded at Television City (aired November 1973) all exist, with GSN showing 14 of the TVC shows. Given that CBS ceased wiping in September 1972, the status is uncertain.
      • $10,000 (ABC): Almost completely gone. A 1974 promo exists, along with William Shatner's solo Winner's Circle outing (June 27, 1975). An uncensored clip from the week of December 30, 1974 surfaced in April 2012.
      • $20,000: Several 1976 shows, the week of September 12, 1977 ("Kirk vs. Spock", with Shatner's chair throw), and a few episodes from 1978 prior to the earliest one GSN aired; the last 19 minutes from February 9, 1977 surfaced in December 2011. GSN aired about five straight months from 1978 and some scattered episodes from 1979 (including the Junior Pyramid week on July 9); about 15 episodes from 1979-80 (after the latest one GSN aired) also circulate, including the All-Star Junior Pyramid special, an episode of Junior Partner Pyramid, and the finale week.
    • The Cullen $25,000, the 1981 $50,000, and the 1991 $100,000 (plus certain episodes of $20,000 from 1978-80) have never been rerun although they exist. GSN has aired three or four brief clips of a first-season Cullen episode with Shatner and Anne Meara.
    • All fifteen shows of $10,000 taped at Television City feature a big-winner clip montage from episodes believed to be gone. Same goes for Cullen's $25,000 pitchfilm, which showed ten wins (some from the aforementioned montages, others from subsequent tapings), all believed to be the only surviving footage from their respective episodes.
  • Uncanceled: The 1980s $25,000 was canned at the end of 1987 and replaced by Blackout, a word-description game from Jay Wolpert. After thirteen weeks, Blackout tanked in the resulting outcry, and Pyramid returned for 13 weeks before it was replaced by Ray Combs' Family Feud.
  • What Could Have Been: Bob Stewart developed the show under the working title Cash on the Line and taped a pilot on February 2, 1973; CBS hated everything about it except for the end game, which became Pyramid's main game. Originally, the Pyramid had 10 subjects (which is what TV Guide showed in its synopsis of the debut in the March 24-30, 1973 issue) but, two nights before taping the premiere, Stewart called CBS and said there was no way anyone could get 10 subjects in a minute. He had a two-by-four plank nailed over the bottom four boxes (awarding $25 each), which remained during the initial CBS run (taped at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York) and shortly into the ABC run.
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