Card Sharks
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{{Infobox_television
| show_name = Card Sharks | image = Image:Card Sharks.jpg | caption = Screen capture from GSN | format = Game Show | runtime = 30 Minutes | creator = Mark Goodson and Bill Todman | starring = Jim Perry, Bob Eubanks, Bill Rafferty, Pat Bullard | country = USA | rating=Template:TV-G | network = NBC (1978-1981), CBS (1986-1989), Syndication (1986-1987, 2001-2002) | first_aired = April 24, 1978 | last_aired = 2002 | num_episodes = 1000+
|}} Card Sharks was an American television game show in which contestants guessed whether a playing card was higher or lower than the card that preceded it.
Contents |
Broadcast history
Card Sharks; a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production, debuted on NBC on April 24, 1978. Jim Perry hosted this version, which lasted until October 23, 1981. The show returned to CBS on January 6, 1986 at 10:30 AM, replacing Press Your Luck, which was bumped to the 4:00 PM slot replacing Tom Kennedy's Body Language. This run of the show ran until March 31, 1989. Bob Eubanks was the host. A syndicated version began in September 1986 and was hosted by Bill Rafferty and lasted one season. A syndicated revival, with different rules than the previous versions, was hosted by Pat Bullard and aired during the fall of 2001, but was cancelled by year's end after only airing 13 weeks of episodes.
Reruns of the Jim Perry version aired in syndication between 1982 and 1984 (some pairing it with Perry's Sale of the Century), and later began airing on the CBN network (which is now known as ABC Family) from 1984 to 1985. Reruns of all versions except the 2001 revival currently air on GSN.
In 2006 the series will be among one of the seven game shows being used in the upcoming CBS series "Gameshow Marathon." Ricki Lake will serve as host for this seven-episode series.
Other on-air personalities
Gene Wood was the principal announcer of all three 70s-80s versions, with Johnny Olson, Jack Narz, Bob Hilton, Charlie O'Donnell, Johnny Gilbert and Jay Stewart taking turns filling in for Wood on occasion. Gary Kroeger announced the 2001 version.
The dealers on Card Sharks were Janice Baker, Lois Areno, Ann Pennington (sister of former TPIR model Janice Pennington) and Markie Post (who later appeared on NBC's Night Court) on the NBC version. Lacey Pemberton and Susannah Williams were the dealers on the CBS and syndicated versions. Tami Roman (aka Tami Anderson) dealt the cards on the 2001 syndicated version.
Lois Areno, who later became Lois Hamilton, commited suicide in 1999.
Misc. Show Information
For the 1978-81 version with Perry, Wood's voice was heard over the opening visuals reading a poem:
- Ace is high, deuce is low
- Call them right and win the dough
- Onnnnn... Card Sharks!
That custom was soon changed to having Wood intone a poem that changed daily, one submitted by the viewers. For example:
- Shuffle, deal, cut and play
- Someone's going to WIN today
- Onnnnn... Card Sharks!
The original open on the Eubanks version incorporated the typical CBS open at the time: "From Television City in Hollywood, it's Card Sharks!", after which Eubanks was introduced.
On the Rafferty version (and after the car game was introduced on the CBS version), the opening spiel read as such: You can win $32,000 on the turn of a (single) card, on...CARD SHARKS! And if you play your cards right, you can win this (insert car name here)!, at which point Rafferty/Eubanks would be introuced. (On one or two shows during the syndicated run, Rafferty was introduced as host and quizmaster by Wood, who picked up on the self-nickname Rafferty gave to himself.)
During the final season, when the Joker car game was replaced by the Audience Poll card game, the spiel changed to "You can win this beautiful car/truck with one answer on...Card Sharks! And if you play your cards right, you can win $32,000!"
A board game based on Card Sharks was made by Endless Games in 2004. Although it used the logo of the 2001 revival, the rules were the same as those of the 1980s version.
The music to the 1978 version was composed by Score Productions; it had originally been used for the 1976-1977 version of Double Dare. The 1986 theme was composed by Edd Kalehoff.
The main game
Two contestants competed, each with a row of cards, one for each contestant.Each contestant had a standard 52-card deck (no jokers); the ace ranked highest and the deuce (two) ranked lowest. While the syndicated version began with the same format, eventually special "prize" cards were shuffled into the deck, such as varying cash amounts ($500, $5000), televisions, vacations, and other prizes.
Toss-up questions
Control of the board was determined by playing a toss-up question. Questions were posed to 100 people of the same occupation, marital status, or demographic. (example: "We asked 100 teachers, 'Has a student ever given you an apple?' How many said yes?") The contestant who received the question (with the champion going first to begin the game) tried to guess how many people gave the answer that the host gave. After hearing the guess, the opponent had to guess whether the correct number was higher or lower than that guess. Whoever was right earned control of the board. (Starting in the fall of 1980 an exact guess won a $500 bonus for the contestant, theirs to keep whether they won or not.) Four Toss-up questions were played (Three on the syndicated versions).
In addition to the regular 100-person survey questions, some questions on the CBS and first syndicated versions used one of the following formats, as opposed to the straight 100-person survey.
- 10 studio audience members: Questions were asked about a panel of 10 audience members, each sharing a common profession or characteristic (e.g., 10 mothers-to-be, 10 nurses, 10 students, etc.). An exact guess by the contestant won $100, and the panel members each received $10. The panel stayed on the show for an entire week, and could earn several bonuses.
- Educated guess questions: General-knowledge questions with numerical answers (e.g., "In m.p.h., how fast is the world's fastest snake?). An exact guess by the contestant was worth $500. Introduced in the fall of 1986.
Playing the cards
After the first card in the row of five, the "base card", was revealed, the winner of the question had the option of either playing that card or changing it with the top card from the deck. The contestant then had to guess whether the next card was higher or lower; if correct, he or she had to guess the card after that, and so on. An incorrect guess brought the contestant back to the base card, and it gave the opponent (who was not allowed to change his/her base card) a chance to play. Contestants also had the option to "freeze", thus making the last card that was played the new base card; if the winner of the toss-up question opted to "freeze," the opponent was not given the chance to play the cards. If neither contestant guessed all the cards on his or her row correctly, another toss-up question was asked and the same procedures were followed until someone cleared the row or the fourth question in the round was asked. (In the final months of the NBC run, a $500 bonus was awarded for anyone who guessed correctly on all the cards without freezing.)
The 1986-87 syndicated version included prize cards (such as trips [up to $6000+], furniture, electronics, and cash [$250, $500, $1000, and $5000]) that were shuffled into the main decks (and replaced with another card from the deck if one came up, with no penalty to the player who originally guessed higher or lower on the prize card). The contestant only won the prizes if he or she won the match (2 out of 3 games). Three questions were originally played in each round (with 2 in sudden death); this was later expanded to 4 and 3 questions, respectively.
Sudden death
The fourth question in each round was always a "sudden death" question, in which someone had to win the game on the next turn of the cards. Whoever won control of the board had the opportunity to play the cards (and could change the base card if desired) or pass them to the opponent (who had to play the cards that were given). An incorrect guess at any time caused the contestant to lose the game. The winner of each game won $100 (except for most of the 80s syndicated version, in which case s/he wins any prizes accumulated from the prize cards that s/he accumulated upon winning the match).
Tiebreakers
The first player to win two games won the match and a chance to play the Money Cards bonus round. If the match was tied after two games, a tiebreaker game was played to determine the winner. Contestants played rows of three cards in the tiebreaker instead of five, and three questions were asked instead of four (two during one pint in the 80's syndicated version), with the third being sudden death (by 1988 the tiebreaker was changed to only one sudden death question, this also determined the winner of the match on the finale of the Rafferty version).
The Money Cards
The winner of the main game played the Money Cards for a chance to win additional money. The Money Cards board consisted of seven cards on three rows; three cards were dealt on the bottom two rows, and one card was dealt on the top row. On the NBC version, the winner's first base card to begin the bonus game is dealt from the deck after the seven cards are put in place. On the CBS version, however, the first four cards are dealt on the bottom row, with the first card as the base card, followed by three on the middle row, and one on the top row.
In addition to guessing whether a card was higher or lower, the contestant had to wager money on that prediction. The contestant was given $200 to bet with and had to wager at least $50 (and in multiples of $50) on each card on the first two rows. The contestant won money for each correct guess and lost money on each incorrect guess.
After completing the first row, or if the contestant "busted," i.e., lost everything on that wager, the last card was moved onto the second row and the contestant was given an additional $200 (changed to $400 in 1986). The contestant had to play three more cards before reaching the last card on the top row, known as the "Big Bet." (If a contestant "busted" after this point, the game ended.) The contestant was required to wager at least half of his/her earnings on the Big Bet, and in multiples of $25.
The most a contestant could win on the NBC version was $28,800 (adjusted to today's dollars, an amount over $87,000); that was done once in the entire show's run by contestant Norma Brown (it was also done on the 1978 version's pilot). Contestants could win up to $32,000 on the CBS and first syndicated versions, but the top prize was never won. The highest Money Cards win on this version was $29,000 won by a contestant who, like Norma Brown, had lots of face cards, aces and twos, but was somewhat conservative and risked all but $1000 on the final two cards.
Rule changes
Originally, a contestant couldn't change any cards at all. Later, only the first card on the bottom row could be changed. In mid-1978 the rule was changed so that the first card on every row could be changed. In the CBS and first syndicated versions, one card on each row could be changed by choosing one of three pre-dealt cards. Originally, on this version, the contestant was given three opportunities to change a card (thus, a player could change one card more than once). The second syndicated run used the NBC change rules.
Duplicate cards {A Pair or Push} (e.g., two eights in a row) originally counted as losses against the contestant. In the fall of 1980, this rule was changed so that the contestant neither won nor lost money if a duplicate was revealed (which were called a "push"). From that point on, hosts encouraged the contestant to wager everything on an ace or deuce since there was no chance that the contestant could lose on either card. Originally in the 2001 run, the "push" rule was in effect; this later changed back to a loss of wager.
Car games
Starting on the Rafferty version in the fall of 1986, a secondary bonus round following the Money Cards was added, giving players a chance to win a new car. Two different car games were played. The first was played using jokers; the contestant earned one for winning the main game and could win more if any of the three jokers that were placed in the deck for the Money Cards came up. The contestant then placed the jokers in a rack of seven numbered cards; if any of the chosen cards revealed the word "CAR" after it was turned over, the contestant won the car. On the finale of the Rafferty version, all four jokers were given to the player, giving him a 4 out of 7 chance at winning the car (which he did). This game moved to the Eubanks version at the start of that version's second season.
In mid-1988 that game was replaced with a survey question based on the current week's ten-member studio audience panel. The contestant moved a pointer on a board with a scale of 0 to 10 to what he or she thought was the right answer, winning the car if the guess was exactly right or $500 if the guess was one number away from the correct answer. The show's final car attempt had a chance for a player to win the car, even if they were off by one. This was similar to the "Judge the Jury" round from NBC's Mindreaders (as was the 10-person poll).
On the young players specials, the kids didn't play for a car, instead, they play for a special prize, frequently a Hawaiian holiday or a sailboat. The contestant earned two jokers for winning the main game and an opportunity to add more if either of the two jokers came up in the deck during the Money Cards. The contestant then used the jokers to try and cover up the "WIN" (or "HAWAII") card on the rack.
2001-2002 version
Card Sharks was revived for 13 weeks in the fall of 2001, but was not well received by critics due to its gameplay, which was changed from the 1978 and 1986 versions.
Four players competed, two at a time. The opponents play in a best-of-three match, each playing a common row of seven high-low cards. A correct guess kept that player in control, but an incorrect guess gave the opponent the right to make the next call. Calling the seventh card correctly won the game, missing that call meant the opponent won the game.
At any time, a player could ask to change the card (by use of one of two special "clip chip" tokens in their possession). The player was shown a video depicting one of the following:
- A situation (like Candid Camera or Street Smarts), which was stopped before its resolution. The player had to correctly guess the outcome in order to change the card.
- Someone introduces himself/herself and then asks which of two others he/she is associated with.
- Someone trying to list answers related to a topic within 10 seconds, or sing the correct lyrics to an obscure song.
The third match, if necessary, was a three-card showdown; "clip chips" could not be used.
The first player to win two games moved on to a final one-game showdown with the winner of the second game. The winner of that match moved on to the Money Cards.
The Money Cards was essentially similar as the earlier runs, except just six cards – three on the first row, two on the middle row and the one card Big Bet row – were used and the player was spotted $700 for each row (including the Big Bet row). The maximum amount possible of $51,800 was never achieved, and if a player busted out, they won $700 as a consolation prize. The highest win on this version was $27,450.
This new version of Card Sharks had a special week of shows (which were taped after the September 11, 2001 attacks) where firefighters and police officers played for charities aimed at helping victims and their families recover from the attacks.
Unlike the earlier versions, the games were self-contained, each show started with the semi-finals and ended with the Money Cards. In addition, there were no returning champions.
Other comments
Card Sharks held many special tournament weeks over the years, including a "Game Show Hosts" week in 1980, a three-week tournament which pitted eight game show hosts against each other. In week 1, the first four competitors were Allen Ludden (Password Plus), Gene Rayburn (Match Game), Bill Cullen (Blockbusters) and Wink Martindale (Las Vegas Gambit and Tic Tac Dough). In week 2, Tom Kennedy (Whew! and later Password Plus), Alex Trebek (High Rollers), Jack Clark (The Cross-Wits), and Jim Lange (The Dating Game and Bullseye) participated. In the third and final week, the top four winners would face each other with the winner donating $25,000 to the charity of his choice. Alex Trebek beat Bill Cullen in the finals of the tournament and won the $25,000 for his charity, the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect.
Other tournaments held included "Kids Week", "College Week" and "Celebrity Card Sharks" specials, in which celebrities would play against each other for their favorite charities.
Card Sharks was the only Goodson-Todman game show announced by famed Let's Make A Deal announcer Jay Stewart, who had left Barry & Enright Productions in 1981. Stewart, who was filling in for Gene Wood (who was recovering from injuries in an accident), announced approximately eight weeks worth of episodes during the summer of 1981 (mixed in with repeats of past episodes during that time, including the game show hosts tournament), and he eventually joined host Jim Perry in his next game show project, Sale of the Century, for a five-year stint as announcer and, for a brief time, co-host.
In 1979, future Card Sharks host Bob Eubanks made a special on-stage appearance to promote his new game show project All-Star Secrets. Eubanks and Perry would later appear together as teammates in the "Game Show Hosts" tournament on the Dawson version of Family Feud in 1983.
Following the cancellation of Card Sharks, Jim was tapped to host a pilot from Heatter-Quigley Productions, titled Casino, which was a game show in which contestants played slots, poker, blackjack and roulette games. According to sources, nine episodes were produced, but never made it on the air. It was rumored that Casino was to replace Card Sharks on the daytime schedule. Another attempt to bring Casino to television occurred in 1983, this time with Peter Tomarken hosting. Again, the series never got off the ground.
A number of stations aired reruns of the Perry version during the 1982-83 season, among them WABC in New York, WSVN in Miami and WCPO in Cincinnati; despite supered disclaimers over the "polling group" and contestant plugs reminding viewers the show was no longer in production and not to call or write, it is believed that a number of them did so anyway, thus leading Goodson-Todman to believe there was sufficient interest for a revival (there had actually been plans to continue the Perry version as a syndicated entry during the aforementioned 1982-83 season, but it didn't come to fruition, although a number of sources errenously list the reruns as a separate version).
Jim Perry was at one time rumored to be considered as host for the 1986 revival of Card Sharks, and in fact was given permission by NBC to host it (which would have had Perry host three different game shows including Canada's Definition and both the daytime and nighttime versions of Sale of the Century), but Perry elected not to host. However, there is no source behind this, and such information may imply to the nighttime version, which premiered following the cancellation of the nighttime Sale.
The original plan for the 1986 revival was to have married couples competing, much like the UK's version, Play Your Cards Right, and with British host Bruce Forsyth as emcee. However, this idea was scrapped before production began, and the producers instead opted to continue using single contestants, using the same rules as the NBC version.
Jim Perry's children Sean and Erin Perry have also made appearances alongside Jim on occasion. Both eventually went on to careers of their own in the entertainment industry.
A pilot was produced for a possible revival in 1996, but never made it to air; hosted by sportscaster Tom Green (not to be confused with the late 90s MTV comedy show host of the same name), it completely scrapped both the traditional maingame and Money Cards formats. Instead, the maingame had both players answer a 10-person poll question fo the right to try and make it to the end of a single 10-card pyramid (similar to the 2001 revival). Doing so won $250 (doubled to $500 for guessing all ten cards in a single turn) and a chance for $5000 in a bonus round similar to the Shell Game from The Price is Right. The player was shown four cards (three number cards & an ace). A video was run, featuring a celebrity answering a question (similar to the "dilemmas" used in the 2001 version). A correct prediction as to whether the celebrity correctly answered the question earned the right to pick one card out of the four. After three questions were asked, the player won $100 times each number card, but if they kept the ace, they won $5000.
Taped Shows
From 1978-1981 in Perry's stage, it was taped at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. From 1986-1989 in Eubanks' version on CBS and the 1986-1987 Rafferty's version on syndication, it was taped at CBS Television City. From 2001-2002 in Bullard syndicated version, it was taped at Tribune Studios.
Versions outside the USA
The British version of the show was known as Play Your Cards Right, the German version was known as Bube Dame Hörig and the Swedish version was known as Lagt kort ligger. These versions, like many International versions of American-based game shows, were produced by Reg Grundy.