Always thought it was a weird factoid that Geoff Edwards made his network TV debut on NBC in 1963 ... as a Dallas radio reporter being interviewed after having just witnessed Jack Ruby's gunning down of Lee Harvey Oswald.
I remember seeing something like this before. There was some guy who I know in the game show business now who ripped this idea off but forget the name of it only because of how awful it was. This one was pretty good. The game sort of like Match Game but original enough to be something of its own and the bonus round was well executed. Surprised this didn't make it past the pilot stage. Thanks for the upload Wink.
Before I viewed this, I was thinking "Safecrackers" may have been a Goodson-Todman Production, considering the name being used for one of The Price is Right games, and Edwards DID have an open relationship with those producers since he was considered to host Family Feud (while Dawson obviously got the nod) but at the end of the credits, it said "1975" and the pricing ga,e with the same name debuted very soon after that (maybe 1976). That Fisman-Freer didnt do much, at least during the 80's & beyond. This is why I only call myself an AMATEUR game show historian, a profesional game show historian would know all about them. I wonder off the top of my head if they produced "Dealer's Choice"?
Correct… they also packaged the Diamond Head Game. Ed Fishman had previously worked for Heatter-Quigley on Hollywood Squares and Baffle. And I seem to recall one of them was married to Jane Nelson, model/hostess in many of their productions.
Geoff is a great host. He made this game work and pushed it through. The front game is choppy and slow with a little bit of polish this could’ve been a very good game.
Thank you so much for sharing this rare pilot, Wink. A lot of takeaways from this one: The set is cool, albeit a little cheap in some spots. The front game can get a little tedious and slow at times, but it’s interesting. Geoff was the master host he usually was. I’m thinking for the bonus game, “Could there be some sort of buyout offer if the contestant doesn’t feel confident in their answers?” Again, really nice to see this rarity. 😁
I would have pegged this as a Bob Stewart show (more celebrities than civilians, Geoff Edwards hosting, blue and yellow set), but it was Fishman-Freer. I can see why it didn’t sell, the main game was kinda slow and had nothing to do with the bonus game or the overall safecracker theme. Plus there were just a glut of game shows in 1975.
Great game format with the legendary host Geoff Edwards. The credits mention the copyright year 1975 which is the same year that McClean Stevenson left the series MASH.
I can see why this didn't work. Too many Hollywood Squares like bluffs coming from McClane Stevenson while answering questions in the form of classic Goodson-Toddman panelist shows like I've Got A Secret, What's My Line, or To Tell The Truth. This was ideal for Geoff Edwards despite working on 30 episodes of The New Treasure Hunt that year (1975), he was about to be discharged from Jackpot and did two pilots in case he lands on a replacement. Other than Safecrakers, the other was Shoot The Works (later Shoot For The Stars). Also, he turned down the offer to host Family Feud for ABC because he thought their other game show The Neighbors sucked. Family Feud would have lasted within a year with him on board anyways. Thank God for Richard Dawson. Edwards did settle for Shoot For The Stars even if it lasted a mere 9 months.
If there was any reason this game wasn't picked up, it was that front game. I could see it running long and over time frequently - it wanted to be Pyramid, but I could see frequent cases where the joking around would mean a full episode would be ONLY front game - and possibly not even a full match's front game. That said I woudn't have minded. Gameplay was engaging and none too difficult to follow along with.
" I could see it running long and over time frequently - it wanted to be Pyramid, but I could see frequent cases where the joking around would mean a full episode would be ONLY front game - and possibly not even a full match's front game." That was the main trouble w/Celebrity Bullseye w/the late Jim Lange in 1981 and '82-- the main game was a best-of-three match, and the celebrities being who they were slowed down the game immensely, to where on many shows, we wouldn't even see Bonus Island (then again, it probably wouldn't have been fair to the celebrities to have had only one chance in each game like the civilians did, so that's why it was best-of-three).
This being a Fishman-Freer/CPT production, it would have, in my estimation, very likely had CPT's Pretzel logo on the end titles (being that the Pretzel was the first logo of CPT).
You KNOW it's a true pilot when the theme music sounds like it was grabbed from a stock music reel/record at the last minute before taping. The music featured here is _THE ULTIMATE ANTITHESIS_ to game show ambiance.
21:25 - Wheel of Fortune! The front game seemed slanted toward one side, but it went back and forth with each round. With other words, it might have worked. I actually missed the audience reveal of the word in third round to play along with the contestants, and I got it at the same time as the winner of the round. 23:33 could have used a sound effect of the vault closing (like TPIR).
@@richardhernandez4490 He had already been pink slipped from The Newlywed Game and needed something to back himself on until the next offer comes in which was Rhyme and Reason and , you guessed it, The Newlywed Game. Can't get Bob Eubanks to stay away from The Newlywed Game.
The maingame should have really had something involving numerical answers in order to keep with the general theme of the show. It basically felt like it didn't belong there, given the show's name. End game was good, though.
I was expecting the balloons to fall! That said. Drawbacks...the front game that could almost be like Top Secret only having to rely on Match Game 7X raunchy humor. The celebrities seem almost an afterthought. Major pluses...that set is gorgeous beyond anything (ed Flesh was a GENIUS) and the bonus game kind of has a Dream House element to it.
Theme music sounds extremely familiar-anyone know the title or composer? (It was used form many years by KPHO-TV Phoenix as the theme from "Movietime".)
Geoff’s wardrobe was a dead giveaway this was for NBC. Then NBC exec Lin Bolen wanted all her hosts to wear open collars during this era. Even Bill Cullen had to do it on Winning Streak.
The word game is interesting but McLean Stevenson, who seems to be there unwillingly, brings the game to a dead stop. Geoff Edwards is witty and engaging. He can host and give clues! The actual safecracking has nothing at all in common with the competition game is not compelling.
The upfront game is kind of slow as molasses. There are a lot of double entendres. If this show were to play today, it would get a TV-PG rating. The end game was suspenseful, though.
If this show did make it to series, depending on when they did this pilot, I'm sure that they would have run into some legal issues, because one of the pricing games that The Price is Right has is called Safecrackers. So I'm sure that the production company that came up with the name of the show would have to change the name of the show or face a lawsuit from CBS and or The Price is Right.
A word game with celebrities by someone other than Bob Stewart? Game itself is slow and obviously going for humor, hence the third celebrity. It’s almost like a spin on the old panel shows. Bonus could use a bailout or at least a consolation prize for getting so many right. I’m guessing this was shot at NBC Burbank, but possibly for syndication. Geoff does a good job with his John Daly like role in the front game.
It's a bit of a "meh" show. Not a bad concept and might be good for a home party, but I can see why it didn't make it. McLean seemed like he had no purpose there, and the comedy was there without him. And if you had two safe tries in a day, less camera time for the celebrities receiving those appearance fees; why not try to involve them somehow?
$25,000 a day seems overbudget for a daytime show back in 1975. Could have worked for a weekly syndicated series like The New Treasure Hunt or Bill Cullen's $25,000 Pyramid.
Always thought it was a weird factoid that Geoff Edwards made his network TV debut on NBC in 1963 ... as a Dallas radio reporter being interviewed after having just witnessed Jack Ruby's gunning down of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Thanks for this one! Always good to see Geoff Edwards - such an affable guy!
I remember seeing something like this before. There was some guy who I know in the game show business now who ripped this idea off but forget the name of it only because of how awful it was. This one was pretty good. The game sort of like Match Game but original enough to be something of its own and the bonus round was well executed. Surprised this didn't make it past the pilot stage. Thanks for the upload Wink.
Before I viewed this, I was thinking "Safecrackers" may have been a Goodson-Todman Production, considering the name being used for one of The Price is Right games, and Edwards DID have an open relationship with those producers since he was considered to host Family Feud (while Dawson obviously got the nod) but at the end of the credits, it said "1975" and the pricing ga,e with the same name debuted very soon after that (maybe 1976). That Fisman-Freer didnt do much, at least during the 80's & beyond. This is why I only call myself an AMATEUR game show historian, a profesional game show historian would know all about them. I wonder off the top of my head if they produced "Dealer's Choice"?
Correct… they also packaged the Diamond Head Game. Ed Fishman had previously worked for Heatter-Quigley on Hollywood Squares and Baffle. And I seem to recall one of them was married to Jane Nelson, model/hostess in many of their productions.
@@2005dave Ed's still married to Jane, IIRC.
This was pretty good.Geoff Edwards is great such an comfortable man.
Geoff is a great host. He made this game work and pushed it through. The front game is choppy and slow with a little bit of polish this could’ve been a very good game.
Speaking of marks...
I contend there are at least two _punctuation_ marks missing from that last sentence.
(Just an observation.)
Thank you so much for sharing this rare pilot, Wink. A lot of takeaways from this one:
The set is cool, albeit a little cheap in some spots.
The front game can get a little tedious and slow at times, but it’s interesting.
Geoff was the master host he usually was.
I’m thinking for the bonus game, “Could there be some sort of buyout offer if the contestant doesn’t feel confident in their answers?”
Again, really nice to see this rarity. 😁
The regular play is slowish. But the bonus round is really exciting. $25,000 was a whole lot in 1976!!
Why didn't this sell? This would have been a great show, and honestly I think it's worth another try even today.
Game was a little slow. Also, was McClean deaf? He couldn't hear the questions being asked to him?
This is a super awesome 1976 game show classic, R.I.P. Geoff Edwards, a great game show host!
I would have pegged this as a Bob Stewart show (more celebrities than civilians, Geoff Edwards hosting, blue and yellow set), but it was Fishman-Freer. I can see why it didn’t sell, the main game was kinda slow and had nothing to do with the bonus game or the overall safecracker theme. Plus there were just a glut of game shows in 1975.
They should bring this show back; with at least $1 million; played at night; seen weekly!
That would make an excellent cliffhanger; giggle!🤭
Great game format with the legendary host Geoff Edwards. The credits mention the copyright year 1975 which is the same year that McClean Stevenson left the series MASH.
And I suspect he regretted that decision for the rest of his life.
Hey I heard the YAHOOOOOOOOOO guy on the end credits. The same guy that was always heard during NBC game shows in the 80's!
This was a great show. I didn't know that the olden days they had such great ideas. Bring in more of these to today.
I can see why this didn't work. Too many Hollywood Squares like bluffs coming from McClane Stevenson while answering questions in the form of classic Goodson-Toddman panelist shows like I've Got A Secret, What's My Line, or To Tell The Truth. This was ideal for Geoff Edwards despite working on 30 episodes of The New Treasure Hunt that year (1975), he was about to be discharged from Jackpot and did two pilots in case he lands on a replacement. Other than Safecrakers, the other was Shoot The Works (later Shoot For The Stars). Also, he turned down the offer to host Family Feud for ABC because he thought their other game show The Neighbors sucked. Family Feud would have lasted within a year with him on board anyways. Thank God for Richard Dawson. Edwards did settle for Shoot For The Stars even if it lasted a mere 9 months.
R.I.P. Geoff Edwards!!!!?
If there was any reason this game wasn't picked up, it was that front game. I could see it running long and over time frequently - it wanted to be Pyramid, but I could see frequent cases where the joking around would mean a full episode would be ONLY front game - and possibly not even a full match's front game.
That said I woudn't have minded. Gameplay was engaging and none too difficult to follow along with.
" I could see it running long and over time frequently - it wanted to be Pyramid, but I could see frequent cases where the joking around would mean a full episode would be ONLY front game - and possibly not even a full match's front game."
That was the main trouble w/Celebrity Bullseye w/the late Jim Lange in 1981 and '82-- the main game was a best-of-three match, and the celebrities being who they were slowed down the game immensely, to where on many shows, we wouldn't even see Bonus Island (then again, it probably wouldn't have been fair to the celebrities to have had only one chance in each game like the civilians did, so that's why it was best-of-three).
Thanks for sharing Winker! Great show, wish it would’ve lasted. Geoff was a great hand-universal game show host like Tom Kennedy
This being a Fishman-Freer/CPT production, it would have, in my estimation, very likely had CPT's Pretzel logo on the end titles (being that the Pretzel was the first logo of CPT).
The CPT “Pretzel” lasted from 1975 through 1976 when it was replaced by the CPT “Sunburst” logo.
@@Musicradio77Network True-- had guessed as much based on the end title copyright.
Ha. "Crunchy Granola Suite" by Neil Diamond as the theme piece, with a slight re-arrangement. Nice choice.
You KNOW it's a true pilot when the theme music sounds like it was grabbed from a stock music reel/record
at the last minute before taping. The music featured here is _THE ULTIMATE ANTITHESIS_ to game show ambiance.
I thought it sounded like something by Cat Stevens. A long instrumental introduction or something.
The music sounds like a bad knock off of the intro to Neil Diamond's Crunchy Granola Suite.
@@TheCyberadam26 It's not even a knock-off. It IS "Crunchy Granola Suite", slightly re-arranged with some extra horn parts added in post-production.
You Won $25,000!!!!!
21:25 - Wheel of Fortune! The front game seemed slanted toward one side, but it went back and forth with each round. With other words, it might have worked. I actually missed the audience reveal of the word in third round to play along with the contestants, and I got it at the same time as the winner of the round. 23:33 could have used a sound effect of the vault closing (like TPIR).
I don't think they showed the audience's reveal of the third round word.
Took awhile to start the show with that introduction. I was like, "Where's the announcer?"
Wait, there’s a vault inside a vault?!
Poor McLean. Following his ill fated choice to leave MASH he would become just a game show lizard
It was criminal how mash treated the character that way.
ＧＲＥＡＴ
what year was this?
Copyright showed 1976
@@indievert 1975.
what year was this pilot taped and where was it taped at?
Wow!!!!!!
19:31 he said six before the contestant was anywhere near it.
Thank you as always for the upload!
NOT at all difficult to see how this pilot did not sell. Awful.
Didn't Fishman Freer produce "The Diamond Head Game"?
Yep, and _Dealer's Choice_ as well.
Yes and according to Bob Eubanks it was the biggest piece of "BOOP BOOP" he has ever hosted.
@@richardhernandez4490 He had already been pink slipped from The Newlywed Game and needed something to back himself on until the next offer comes in which was Rhyme and Reason and , you guessed it, The Newlywed Game. Can't get Bob Eubanks to stay away from The Newlywed Game.
An idea if the cash in the safe was not won: It would increase by $5,000 each day as a jackpot until someone wins it.
Best us game show in the world
Should've had Emile Autori guarding the safe with the money in it.
The maingame should have really had something involving numerical answers in order to keep with the general theme of the show. It basically felt like it didn't belong there, given the show's name. End game was good, though.
The bonus round is nothing like the front game
I found this game very funny. First time I have seen this one. It can be dirty also. Look at the words and think about it. 😮💨😂
Obviously taped at NBC Burbank Studios as evidenced by the tell-tale recorded whistling track used in so many shows taped there in that era.
Very interesting game show.
is this like 20 Questions?
Yes, in a way. It's also like Person Place or Thing, with the bonus round being like Winsanity
It's like "What's My Line?" on LSD.
I was expecting the balloons to fall! That said. Drawbacks...the front game that could almost be like Top Secret only having to rely on Match Game 7X raunchy humor. The celebrities seem almost an afterthought. Major pluses...that set is gorgeous beyond anything (ed Flesh was a GENIUS) and the bonus game kind of has a Dream House element to it.
Why wasn't celebrity with him in the bonus round
I guess not needed. Wordplay a decade later did the same thing.
I like it
Funny how the contestant always wins the big prizes in the pilot episodes.
I think this game would work with Tom Bergeron or Todd Newton hosting.
Heck, even Wink could do it.
This show had me cracking up. It was hilarious
Theme music sounds extremely familiar-anyone know the title or composer?
(It was used form many years by KPHO-TV Phoenix as the theme from "Movietime".)
It sounds like a bad knock off to the intro of Neil Diamond's Crunchy Granola Suite.
@@TheCyberadam26 That's exactly what it is-but a remix.
From a Neil Diamond song, starts about 3 minutes in.
ua-cam.com/video/Y0Mj_RISjoY/v-deo.html
Liked it that the bonus round did not include the celebs. Like in Wordplay a decade later.
I’ve been a game show junkie my entire life. I love all these rare pilots. This one though was just horrible.
It's easy to see why this pilot did not sell. Geoff was great. But where is Jane Nelson???
The contestants' word display is very similar to the "Three For The Money" game with Dick Enberg but overall this was a fun game
just by seeing the light fixtures, I was thinking this was a Chuck Barris Production. Is it?
No, watch the end credits.
What year this came out?
Most likely 1975.
And what year did safecrackers premiered on the price is right?
The following year 1976
Awesome!!!!!
This is like a hybrid of To Tell the Truth, Match Game and Password but really zany.
This pilot was taped at NBC in Burbank.
Geoff’s wardrobe was a dead giveaway this was for NBC. Then NBC exec Lin Bolen wanted all her hosts to wear open collars during this era. Even Bill Cullen had to do it on Winning Streak.
This could be a good concept for a show produced in this era.
The word game is interesting but McLean Stevenson, who seems to be there unwillingly, brings the game to a dead stop. Geoff Edwards is witty and engaging. He can host and give clues! The actual safecracking has nothing at all in common with the competition game is not compelling.
Who is the announcer
Jim Thompson-- Fishman-Freer's go-to announcer on its shows. (Dealer's Choice, The Diamond Head Game, The Fun Factory...)
Neil Diamond's Music, Cruncy Granola Suite!
21:18 alarm sounds
Jimmy Dar-rock!😍😂😂😂
Very nice reference to the flint stones.
@1:05, the same microphone he used on Treasure Hunt.
Was McClean deaf? He had to keep asking what was said.
I thought this was done by Goodson-Todman the way it looked. Guess not.
The bonus round was a precursor to Winsanity.
I don't think we saw McClean's word in the third round.
Can anyone tell me if this ever got on TV???
Somebody tried to take password up a notch.
The upfront game is kind of slow as molasses. There are a lot of double entendres. If this show were to play today, it would get a TV-PG rating. The end game was suspenseful, though.
The vane displays are so 1980s, very rare in a game show from 1975.
The show itself is very slow paced but having said that it's still 5,000 times better than Bunco 🤣
Not too bad of a show but this particular bonus round was too easy. I'm sure others would have been much more difficult.
Pilots are often "juiced" to make the show look as exciting as possible. The bonus round will almost always be won by the player/team for example.
Not bad
In the words of Pat Sajak whenever the wheel hits a relatively high amount during the final spin like $900.
If this show did make it to series, depending on when they did this pilot, I'm sure that they would have run into some legal issues, because one of the pricing games that The Price is Right has is called Safecrackers. So I'm sure that the production company that came up with the name of the show would have to change the name of the show or face a lawsuit from CBS and or The Price is Right.
Titles are not copyrighted and since it is a different game than the one on Price is Right, it would be okay.
@pannoni4 Goodson-Todman didn't create this game. Oh, I see what you said now.
Is this set givin' y'all '80s *"Wheel of Fortune"* vibes??
Ed Flesh, of course
The $25,000 cash font is reminiscent of that.
This is ridiculous
A word game with celebrities by someone other than Bob Stewart? Game itself is slow and obviously going for humor, hence the third celebrity. It’s almost like a spin on the old panel shows.
Bonus could use a bailout or at least a consolation prize for getting so many right.
I’m guessing this was shot at NBC Burbank, but possibly for syndication. Geoff does a good job with his John Daly like role in the front game.
It's a bit of a "meh" show. Not a bad concept and might be good for a home party, but I can see why it didn't make it. McLean seemed like he had no purpose there, and the comedy was there without him. And if you had two safe tries in a day, less camera time for the celebrities receiving those appearance fees; why not try to involve them somehow?
$25,000 a day seems overbudget for a daytime show back in 1975. Could have worked for a weekly syndicated series like The New Treasure Hunt or Bill Cullen's $25,000 Pyramid.
Pretty embarrassing for all parties involved. That said, interesting as a period piece.