From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section contains information about a scheduled upcoming television program.

Password Plus
Password Plus opening title.
Genre	Game show
Created by	Bob Stewart
Developed by	Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions
Starring	Allen Ludden (1979-1980) Bill Cullen (1980) Tom Kennedy (1980-1982)
Narrated by	Gene Wood
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	800
Production
Camera setup	Six cameras, later five
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	NTSC
Original run	January 8, 1979 – March 26, 1982
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Super Password
Title card for Super Password
Genre	Game show
Created by	Bob Stewart
Developed by	Mark Goodson Productions
Starring	Bert Convy
Narrated by	Rich Jeffries (1984) Gene Wood (1984-1989)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	1175
Production
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	NTSC
Original run	September 24, 1984 – March 24, 1989
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Million Dollar Password
Genre	Game show
Starring	Regis Philbin
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	60 minutes (with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	2008 –

Password Plus and Super Password are American game shows that were revivals of the original CBS and ABC game show Password (1961-67; 1971-1975). The shows aired on the NBC television network, and were taped on Stage 3 at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. The CBS revival, Million Dollar Password, will be taped in New York for airing on CBS in 2008. As with the previous editions, Password Plus was a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production, and Super Password was a Mark Goodson Production, and Million Dollar Password will be a FremantleMedia production.

The original title of Password Plus was supposed to be Password '79, a la Match Game's annual title change upon the new year. However, during a run through, Carol Burnett was reported to say, "This is more than Password, it's Password Plus," which led to the name and the opening spiel.^{[citation needed]}

Password Plus ran from January 8, 1979 until March 26, 1982 for 800 shows. Super Password's run lasted for 1,175 installments, from September 24, 1984, to March 24, 1989.

Password Plus won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show in 1982, the same year its run ended.

"Million Dollar Password" Hosted by Regis Philbin is set to start in 2008. Applications are currently being downloaded on CBS's website.

Contents 1 Crew 1.1 Hosts 1.2 Announcers 2 Game play 2.1 CA$HWORD 2.2 Alphabetics/Super Password 2.3 Payoffs 3 Million Dollar Password 4 Tournaments 5 Merchandise 6 Episode status 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Password Plus was hosted by original Password host Allen Ludden from January 1979 to April 1980, when he had to take a leave of absence from the show due to stomach cancer. Bill Cullen, who was hosting Chain Reaction at the time, took over as substitute host for a month while Ludden recovered. Ludden returned in May, but by October, had suffered a stroke as well as having his cancer recur, and was forced to retire; he would never appear on television again before his 1981 death (though he did do a phone-in on The Mike Douglas Show and voice-overs for some Los Angeles bank commercials shortly before passing). Because Cullen had recently begun hosting the Goodson-packaged Blockbusters, Tom Kennedy took over the podium and remained host until Plus ended. Kennedy's brother Jack Narz was a guest on Password Plus for a week in February of 1982, and even hosted part of one episode while Kennedy played the game as a panelist.

Super Password host Bert Convy was an occasional panelist on Password Plus, as was future host Tom Kennedy, who, in turn, was also a panelist on Super Password.

Tom Kennedy was considered to host Super Password, but was already busy emceeing Body Language on CBS, therefore, Bert Convy was tapped as the new host.^{[citation needed]}

Super Password was hosted by Bert Convy throughout its four-and-a-half year run. Convy loved to play along with the contestants and in so doing frequently gave away the solutions (and passwords) to many Super Password puzzles, adding hilarity to the show. When this happened, an interesting assortment of sound effects would be heard (in one episode, the illegal clue horns, Ca$hword, Form-Of-Word, and Word-Reveal chirps, the buzzer, the G-Note bell, and the NBC Claxon all sounded simultaneously; in another, a simple comedian's "drum sound" was heard), and/or Convy would place a piece of tape (sometimes with "BERT" written on it) over his mouth. (This also occasionally happened during Tom Kennedy's tenure on Password Plus.)

Million Dollar Password will be hosted by Regis Philbin and air on CBS, which aired the original Password and will stay loyal to the Eye network's New York show, as it will be taped in New York, where the original show was taped.

Gene Wood was the regular announcer on both Password Plus and Super Password. Johnny Olson, Bob Hilton, John Harlan, and Rich Jeffries substituted for him on some episodes of Password Plus, including a stretch in 1981 when Wood was recovering from an accident. Rich Jeffries filled in on occasion in 1981 and 1982 on Password Plus then announced on the first fifty episodes of Super Password in 1984 and, along with Hilton, would substitute occasionally afterwards. Also, John Harlan filled in on occasion in 1985 on Super Password, and Bob Hilton filled in on occasion in 1984, 1987 and 1988.

No announcers have been named for the 2008 revival.

Password Plus and Super Password had almost identical rules.

Two celebrity-contestant teams competed against each other. The object, as always was the case on Password, was to try to get your partner to guess the password through the use of one word clues. A clue limit of three per side (later two) existed on Password Plus, while a strict limit of two was used on Super Password. Illegal clues (two word clues, overexpressive hand gestures, form of the word, made-up word, etc.) lost control.

Once the password was guessed, a new wrinkle came into play that hadn't been present before in Password (Allen Ludden referred to it as "the Plus" on the first episode of Password Plus). The password would then be revealed as part of the "Password Puzzle": a five word puzzle that would lead to a person, place, or thing. After the player correctly guessed the word, they would then get a chance to guess the puzzle (if neither player is able to guess the password within the allotted clue limit, the word would go in the puzzle, but nobody would get to guess). A correct guess netted the contestant money; if not, play continued until either one player guessed the puzzle, nobody guessed the final word of the puzzle, or if the puzzle still went unsolved after everyone eligible had a chance to guess the puzzle. If one of the last two scenarios occurred, the puzzle was thrown out and nobody scored for that round.

On Password Plus, if the puzzle guesser for that round failed to solve the puzzle, only his/her partner got the next chance to guess the puzzle before the puzzle was thrown out (whenever this happened during the Kennedy era, he would have the audience shout out the correct solution in unison after he says "1, 2, 3!"). On "Super Password", should the team who got the final word correct fail to solve the puzzle, the other team, one person at a time, would get a chance to solve and thus steal the puzzle. If the host accidentally said the password or gave away the solution, or if a significant mechanical or technical difficulty occurred, the puzzle was also thrown out.

A player could also guess the puzzle if the opposing team's cluegiver gave away the password by either saying it or a form of the word.

The ABC Password play-pass option rule was in effect throughout Password Plus's run. Originally, the team that didn't get the correct password was given the option, but this changed a few months into the run. Also, after a few months, direct opposites were disallowed as clues, and if the clue giver of a team failed to give a clue in a certain amount of time, they would be buzzed and the opposing clue giver was allowed to give two clues for the word. Super Password did not use any of those rules.

Super Password instituted a bonus password to be played for an accumulating cash jackpot every game after the $200 puzzle. A more difficult password would be displayed on a prop (that host Bert Convy affectionately called the "Magic Toaster"), and the celebrity had three clues to use to try and get the contestant to guess it. If the contestant guessed the password correctly, they'd win the pot, which started at $1000 and went up by that amount each day until claimed. There was no limit as to how high the pot could go. The highest it ever reached was $12,000. If at any time an illegal clue was given, it automatically ended the CA$HWORD.

Betty White (who was married to Allen Ludden) appeared on the last episode of Super Password. This appearance was marked by her destruction of the "Magic Toaster" after she failed to win the CA$HWORD bonus for her contestant. This was the second time the prop was destroyed as Bert Convy accidentally threw the first "Toaster" in a 1986 episode after Edie McClurg gave an illegal clue by saying part of the answer.

The winning team would go on to play for a cash prize in the bonus round, called "Alphabetics" on Password Plus and, initially, "Super Password" (later simply referred to as "the End Game") on Super Password.

The object of the round was the same on both shows: guess 10 passwords, each beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet (A-J, B-K, etc.). Doing so in 60 seconds won the jackpot. If they didn't get all 10, $100 was awarded for every correct password.

On Password Plus, the pot was originally a flat $5000, with illegal clues reducing its potential value by 1/5 ($1000 for each illegal clue). Saying the word by accident forefeited the jackpot automatically. Towards the end of the show's run, the bonus round was played for an accumulating jackpot, which would be augmented by $5000 each time unclaimed until it would reach a theoretical $50,000 cap ($35,000 was the highest amount it ever reached before being won). Illegal clues again reduced the pot by 1/5 its original value (a $35,000 pot would have $7000 deducted from it for each illegal clue), but this was later changed to a $2500 reduction. This had changed again by the final episode to the original 1/5 reduction.

Super Password's bonus game was played for the same accumulating pot, but illegal clues of any sort took the letter out of play and forfeited the jackpot, a la Pyramid. Also, NBC imposed no limit as to how high the pot could go, and it reached $55,000 on two occasions. The second $55,000 winner, Kerry Ketchum (aka Patrick Quinn), appeared in 1988 while fleeing insurance fraud charges; he was subsequently arrested after his episodes aired after he went to pick up his winnings.

On Password Plus, the goal was originally to get to $300. The first two puzzles were worth $100 each, with each subsequent puzzle worth $200 until a winner was crowned.

Towards the end of Password Plus's run, the goal became $500, with the first three puzzles being worth $100 and the remainder being worth $200 (with a minimum of four puzzles needed to determine a winner, previously a game could be decided in three puzzles). The contestants also switched celebrity partners after the third puzzle (before the change, the champion would switch partners after playing Alphabetics).

Super Password had a set goal of $500 throughout its run, with puzzles that started at $100 and increased in value by $100 until the fourth and final puzzle, worth $400. The contestants would switch partners after the second puzzle, worth $200.

CBS announced a revival of Password, to be known as Million Dollar Password. The show, which will debut in 2008 and be helmed by Regis Philbin, is set for a six-episode midseason run. It will be produced in New York City, the first time the Password format has been based there since the daytime finale in 1967. However, the format structure at this time is vague. What is known is that it will incorporate elements from Password, Password Plus and Super Password and the fact that the bonus round will be played for $1 million (US). ^[1] Applications are being accepted and can be downloaded from the CBS website.^[2]

Super Password held its one and only tournament of champions in 1985. In it, eight of the top winners competed. Front-game rules were identical to the regular season with no Ca$hword played throughout the tournament. First-round matches consisted of only one game, with the winners playing Super Password for $2500. The semi-final and final matches were best-of-three game matches. In the semi-finals, the first win by a player gave the contestant a chance at $2500 in Super Password, and winning the match sent that player to the finals and gave the player a chance at $5000 in Super Password. The winner of the tournament won $25,000 and a chance to double it in Super Password. The overall champion, Natalie Steele, became Password's all-time big winner (only due to this tournament), earning $106,000.

Both shows also held an all-star week with various stars playing for charity. The endgame was played for $5000 to be split between the partners' respective charities. Super Password's Ca$hword was worth $1000. When played on P+, a $5000 bonus was awarded to the one (or more) player(s) with the highest single total.

Every year, Super Password also held a "Tournament of Losers." In it, players who had won nothing on their previous appearances returned to play in a week-long tournament. The Ca$hword was worth $1,000, and the end game was worth $5000 all week; the overall winner of the tournament won an additional $10,000. (These episodes have aired on GSN)

A Password Plus board game was made by Milton Bradley in the early 1980s, but it only had cards for the board, and not for the leatherettes, or readers, as the normal Password games had featured. A Super Password video game was released for DOS and the Commodore 64 in the 1980s. A version for the NES was planned but never surfaced. Also, in the late 1990s, a Super Password hand-held game was released. In the 1991 movie Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, a character makes a reference to a Super Password home game, possibly implying a board game, which was never released.

All episodes of Password Plus and Super Password are intact, and both currently air on Game Show Network.

Million Dollar Password is currently accepting applications for tapings.

• Password

• password-plus.com
• Password Plus at the Internet Movie Database
• Super Password at the Internet Movie Database
• Official CBS Million Dollar Password site. Has link for application

Preceded by The $20,000 Pyramid

Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Password Plus, 1982

Succeeded by The $25,000 Pyramid