Caesars Challenge
Caesars Challenge is an American game show that aired on NBC from June 14, 1993 to January 14, 1994 and emanated from the Circus Maximus Theatre inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ahmad Rashād hosted the series and, in keeping with the theme of the show's location, he was assisted by a man dressed as a Roman gladiator. Dan Doherty played the role for most of the show's run, with Chad Brown and Zach Ruby handling the earliest episodes before Doherty joined the show.
| Caesars Challenge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | Michael Dubelko Rick Rosner |
| Directed by | Steve Grant[1] |
| Presented by | Ahmad Rashād |
| Starring | Dan Doherty Chad Brown Zach Ruby |
| Narrated by | Steve Day[1] |
| Theme music composer | Stormy Sacks[1] |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 155 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Rick Rosner |
| Producer(s) | Harry Friedman |
| Production location(s) | Caesars Palace, Las Vegas |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Rosner Television Stephen J. Cannell Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | June 14, 1993 – January 14, 1994 |
The show was a co-production of Rosner Television and Stephen J. Cannell Productions, and was the only game show that was produced by the latter company.
Gameplay
Three contestants competed in three rounds, attempting to solve scrambled words that were displayed on an onstage slot machine. At the start of each word, a category was shown for the home audience's benefit and Rashād began to ask a series of questions, each with three answer choices. Questions and words were related to the category at all times. The first contestant to buzz in and answer correctly won money, chose one letter to place in its proper position, and then attempted to solve the word. A correct solution awarded money for every letter that had not yet been placed. Words were seven letters long in the first round, eight in the second, and nine in the third. Rashād revealed the category for the questions only after the word had been solved.
Correct answers and unplaced letters were worth $100 each in the first round, $200 in the second, and $300 in the third. In addition, one slot in every word was marked as a "Lucky Slot." If a contestant's chosen letter came up in that slot and he/she immediately solved the word, he/she won a bonus that started at $500 each day, increased by that amount for every word it went unclaimed, and reset to $500 after it was won. The bonus was added to the score of the contestant who won it, as well as the money for any unplaced letters in that word.
Two words were played in each of the first two rounds, while the third round continued until time was called. If a word was in play at the end of the third round, the Lucky Slot was removed from play and the remaining letters were put in place one at a time until someone buzzed in and guessed the word, scoring $300 per unplaced letter. An incorrect guess locked the contestant out of the word. If time was called after a word was completed, one final word was played under these same rules.
Originally, a champion bought prizes with his or her accumulated money, but this was later changed to the high scorer being awarded a prize package of equivalent value as their cash total. The other two contestants received parting gifts, including dinner at Caesars and tickets for one of its headlining acts at the time. In the event of a tie, one last speed-up word was played between the tied contestants to determine the winner.
Bonus round
The champion played for a new car in the bonus round, which was referred to by Rashād as a "tournament."[2] Two different formats were used during the series run.
Format #1
A giant rotating cage containing 200 lettered balls was lowered from the ceiling, and one ball at a time was dispensed into a chute to roll down a ramp. An offstage computer kept track of each letter as it was announced, searching the sequence for at least one valid nine-letter word that could be formed from them.[3] Once any such word had been found, a gong sounded and a booming voice announced, "Caesar says STOP!"[4] The drawing stopped, and the letters in the word were displayed in the order they had been drawn. If more than one valid nine-letter word could be formed, the show's producers would select the word to be presented before the letters were displayed.
A new champion was allowed to put one letter in its proper place and then had 10 seconds to unscramble the word; successfully doing so awarded the car and retired the champion from the game. If the champion failed to solve the word, he/she returned on the next show to face two new challengers. Returning champions were allowed to place one more letter for each subsequent trip to the bonus round.
Partway through the show's run, the drawing began in the moments leading into the final commercial break before the bonus round, in order to save time. The letters were announced and shown to the audience as they were drawn.[5]
Format #2
The second bonus format was introduced on November 22, 1993, and continued for the remainder of the run.
Five scrambled words (one each of five, six, seven, eight, and nine letters) were displayed on a screen placed in front of the slot machine. The champion had 30 seconds to solve the words in ascending order of length, with one letter being placed at a time, and could not move off a word until he/she had solved it. Correctly solving all five words awarded the car.
Champions retired from the show after either winning the car or losing the bonus round three times, whichever came first.
Rather bizarrely, the bingo cage remained on display in the show even after it was no longer being used.
Audience game
During the closing credits of every show, Rashād and his assistant moved through the audience, carrying a bowl filled with silver dollars, Caesars Palace casino chips, and chocolate medallions wrapped in gold foil. They chose one audience member at a time to unscramble a five-letter word; each person who did so was allowed to take one handful from the bowl.
Broadcast history
Caesars Challenge replaced Scattergories on NBC's daytime schedule when it premiered on June 14, 1993 and inherited its timeslot of 12:30 pm Eastern. Some affiliates did not air Caesars Challenge at its scheduled time due to the affiliates' longstanding practice of preempting programs that the networks aired in the noon hour in favor of news or syndicated programming; this resulted in some stations airing Caesars Challenge in another spot on their schedule while others did not air it at all.[6] In the markets that did air the show at its normal time, Caesars Challenge faced off against CBS' The Young and the Restless, and did not perform well enough against either that series or ABC's Loving, its other competition. NBC cancelled Caesars Challenge after 31 weeks of episodes, and returned the 12:00 pm hour to its affiliates on January 17, 1994. However, NBC would take back the noon hour from its affiliates when Sunset Beach premiered in January 1997. Caesars Challenge was NBC's last daytime game show.
Reruns aired on the USA Network from June 27 to November 4, 1994.[7][8]
International versions
References
- Schwartz, David; Ryan, Steve; Wostbrock, Fred (1999). The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows (3 ed.). Facts on File, Inc. p. 31. ISBN 0-8160-3846-5.
- Caesars Challenge premiere, June 14, 1993
- Ahmad Rashād: "they are going to continue to come out one at a time, however many it takes, until our computers tell us we have at least one nine letter dictionary certified word." Explanation from each bonus round in this format.
- Caesars Challenge premiere, June 14, 1993.
- Neil Bines' appearance on Caesars Challenge, aired July 30, 1993.
- "Program Listings". TV Guide. September 4–10, 1993.
- "Program Listings". TV Guide. 25 June – 1 July 1994.
- "Program Listings". TV Guide. 29 October – 4 November 1994.