Pass the Buck (U.S. game show)
| Pass the Buck | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | Bob Stewart |
| Directed by | Mike Gargiulo |
| Presented by | Bill Cullen |
| Narrated by | Bob Clayton |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 65 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Bob Stewart |
| Producer(s) | Sande Stewart |
| Location(s) | Ed Sullivan Theater, New York City |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Distributor | Sony Pictures Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | April 3 – June 30, 1978 |
Pass the Buck is a game show that aired on CBS television's daytime lineup from April 3 to June 30, 1978. The series was hosted by Bill Cullen and was created by Bob Stewart. Bob Clayton was the announcer.
Gameplay
Four contestants competed to give a list of items that fit into a specific category announced at the beginning of each round. The bank for each game started at $100. Each contestant gave one answer at a time, proceeding left to right, and $25 was added to the bank for each valid answer.
If a contestant repeated a previous response, failed to respond within the allotted time, or gave a response that the judges deemed invalid, the next contestant in line could eliminate him/her by giving an acceptable answer. If consecutive contestants missed, an acceptable response by the next contestant in line eliminated all of them. However, if all the contestants gave invalid responses, the category was thrown out and a new one was announced to begin the next round. A new category was also given whenever one or more contestants were eliminated.
The game ended once three of the contestants were eliminated. The last one standing won the bank and played the Fast Bucks round.
Fast Bucks
In Fast Bucks, the surviving contestant faced a game board with four rows, with one box on the top row and each row below it containing one more box. Starting on the bottom and working up, a specific category was given (e.g., people from Happy Days, U.S. States) and the contestant was given 15 seconds to give as many answers as possible that fit the category. The object was to match the answers hidden behind the boxes on any single row. The three eliminated contestants stayed onstage to observe the round, as the winner's performance dictated whether or not they could continue playing.
As long as the winning contestant matched at least one answer on a row, he/she continued playing. The round ended if the contestant could not give a matching answer, with $100 given for each match made to that point. If this happened, the other three contestants would return to play the next game.
To win the round, the contestant had to either match all of the answers on any one row or match at least one answer on each of the four rows. Doing this won the contestant $5,000 and his/her three opponents were removed from the game with any money won being theirs to keep.
Broadcast history
Pass The Buck aired on CBS at 10:00 AM (9:00 Central). Following its last episode which aired June 30, 1978, the program was replaced by Tic-Tac-Dough.
Taping location
The show videotaped during its brief run at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, now the home of the The Late Show.