Big Bucks - The Press Your Luck Scandal

[TMC]

More than once, it's been suggested that I write a book about a certain incident from 1984, and I've never been interested in writing that book because the definitive version of the story was already told. The documentary will tell you everything you need to know about the incident. Here's the background story about the documentary...

In September 2001, Bob Boden, who had helped launch Game Show Network in 1994, returned to the channel as Senior Vice President in Charge of Programming.

On his first day on the job, he learned that the channel had been putting together a deal for the rights to the "Press Your Luck" rerun library, and now that he was in charge of programming, his first task on day 1 was to review the contract.

One line of the contract for the rerun library stated "Game Show Network will receive the full library of episodes from 1983-86, excluding episodes 188A and 188B."

Boden had been an executive at CBS during the 1980s and immediately recognized the episode numbers. "Press Your Luck episodes were always just numbers, and back in 1984, the fact that these two episode numbers were different on the programming schedule caught my eye. So I saw this contract and I knew exactly what 188A and 188B were."

Because of the egg-on-our-face embarrassment that 188A and 188B had caused for CBS and for the production company, the tapes of those episodes, though not erased, were singled out and marked not to be rerun, ever. Boden instructed a GSN lawyer to cross out the words "excluding episodes 188A and 188B" and sign the contract before sending it back, to see if anyone would notice. When the tapes were delivered to GSN, the FULL series was there, including 188A and 188B. Crossing out the one line of the contract actually worked.

Boden, recognizing the special nature of the episodes, concocted the idea of doing a documentary special. Problem was, GSN didn't do documentaries, and he had just arrived at the channel. It wasn't exactly an idea you could pitch on your first day.

Boden intentionally held back on airing the two episodes, skipping them on GSN's first go-round of the reruns. Meanwhile, he developed programming blocks like "Breakfast with the Stars" and original programming for GSN like "Lingo," and after having built up enough of a track record, he went to his bosses and explained that there were these two episodes of "Press Your Luck" where something really unusual happened and it was a story suited for documentary form, if the channel was willing to roll the dice on a documentary.

"Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal" delivered an audience nine times the channel's average. It was their highest rated broadcast for the next decade. Even the RERUNS of this documentary did significantly higher ratings than GSN's average broadcasts. Boden's gamble paid off, and one of the most extraordinary stories in game show history got its due.