Second Chance

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Game Show hosted by Jim Peck which ran briefly on ABC from March 7-July 15, 1977 (19 weeks/95 episodes). In the first half of each round, Peck read three general-knowledge questions to three contestants. The contestants had five seconds to write their answers on cards, which they placed in front of them; Peck then gave a hint as to how many were right/wrong (i.e., "At least two of you are right."), then revealed three possible answers (one of which was correct). Players got three spins if their original answer was correct, and one spin for choosing the correct answer on the "second chance".

The second half of each round consisted of the players using their spins on the Bonus Board, which had 18 squares containing either cash, a prize (hidden under wrapped-but-generic gift boxes), or a Devil. Stopping the light on a Devil took away all of that player's accumulated money and prizes, with four Devils eliminating a player from the game. The contestant with the highest score after Round 2 won the game.

In the end, Second Chance was replaced by Goodson-Todman's The Better Sex and subsequently victimized by the era's wiping practices. Six years later, series creator Bill Carruthers tried again and CBS bought the result — Press Your Luck.

The following Game Show tropes appear in Second Chance:
Tropes used in Second Chance include:
  • Catch Phrase: "Stop!"
  • Department of Redundancy Department: The logo on both the inside and outside of the Bonus Board read "SECOND CHANCE SECOND CHANCE".
  • Foreshadowing: The show's biggest winner caused the network to add more patterns so nobody else could take them to the cleaners in a similar single-appearance feat. Seven years later...
  • Four Is Death: Getting four Devils knocked you out of the game. Unlike its successors, there was no opportunity to lose a Devil.
  • Luck-Based Mission: The pilots used a single 64-square pattern that went very fast, and while the series began with nine patterns they got more after the aforementioned huge winner.
  • No Budget: Compared to Pilot #3 and earlier in the run, by June 27 the Bonus Board became rather...cheap.
    • Round 1: $250, $275, $300, $450, $475, $500, $650, $750, and $1,000.
    • Round 2: $500, $575, $725, $800, $900, $950, $1,000, $1,200, and $1,500. As for top dollar, well...
      • Top dollar for Round 2, formerly FREE 5000 SPIN, had the printed dollar value changed to an eggcrate display shuffling between $1,000 and $5,000. According to one fan, the sequence was "1-2-1-4-3-2-1-5-3-2-1"; the June 27 show proved him mostly correct, and further showed that said pattern continued to "2-5-1-3-4". The net result of the change was that Square #4 was generally worth far less than it had been.
  • Obvious Beta: In hindsight.
  • Old Shame: The Gameshow Marathon episode dedicated to Press never mentioned this version, despite it being the original. Said episode also never mentioned Whammy!, and claimed that Press debuted in 1981.
  • Opening Narration:
    • Pilot #3: "Today Maggie Brown, Jack Campion, and Lynn Kline will be risking everything they've won every time they play Second Chance! And now here's the man who gives everyone a second chance: Jim Peck!"
    • Series: "It's Second Chance, Hollywood's most exciting new game! And here are today's players: [players' names, occupations, and hometowns]. And each of them will be risking everything every time they play...Second Chance! And now, here's the man who gives everyone a second chance: Jim Peck!" [1]
  • Recycled Soundtrack: The Theme Tune was recycled from the 1976 revival of I've Got a Secret, and later remixed for the Australian version of Family Feud.
  • Trans-Atlantic Equivalent: An Australian version done by Reg Grundy aired for a time in 1977, hosted by Earle Bailey and Christine Broadway.
  1. ↑ (The only known change over the show's run was that, by June 27, "each" became "all three".)
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