For this Fourth of July, now that "Sale of the Century" has aired all of its acquired episodes and is re-airing them, I've decided to point out problems that I have with the special weeks that the show aired over its 6 1/4 year run. Now, please bear in mind that I will only be including specials that I have seen. If I skipped a special, that means I haven't seen it yet.
1983 Tournament of Champions
Running for four weeks in late October and early November 1983, this special series of episodes had the nine highest winners from the first nine months of the show, including Barbara Philips, Fran Wolfe, Richard Heft, and Mort Camens. For the first three weeks, three champions competed for an entire week, starting off with $20 on Monday, and starting each subsequent game with an additional $20 added to their scores. After every game, the player with the highest score would win a special prize and be given the opportunity to spend part of their bankroll in the "Shopping" endgame, which was played the same as normal, except that they could buy more than one item. At the end of the week, the highest scoring player advanced to the finals and spent their bankroll on whatever prizes they could afford. The finals were the same as before, with the winner at the end of the week, in this case, Mort Camens, winning The Lot (all six major prizes including a Corvette and the $50,000 Cash Jackpot).
My problem with this version is that it's too long. For starters, it's twice as long as the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions that would begin two years later (in fact, that has more players--15, with single matches being played in the quarterfinals and semifinals, and a two-day final). What I would do is cut the tournament in half to two weeks, with the first six shows each being part a two-game semifinals, and the player with the highest score after the second game moving on to the finals. In the finals, which would begin on Tuesday, the first player to win two games would win the Lot ($50,000 + the six major prizes). In the event the Tournament ended on Wednesday, or Thursday, regular shows would resume the following day.
1985 Tournament of Champions
In this tournament, there were 18 champions, with the first six shows being preliminary games, followed by two semi-final games with the six winners, and a best-of-three finals with the two champions.
Now I don't have a problem with a one-on-one game for "Sale of the Century". Hell, the Australian version has often done two-player games for their specials. The problem I have here is that rather than make a special two-player podium for this tournament, they simply covered up the leftmost podium with plywood, making it look cheap.
My other problem with this particular tournament is the cheapness of the grand prize. Now, don't get me wrong--$25,000 cash and a new Porsche (valued at about $25,000) isn't that bad of a grand prize, but compared to what's regularly offered on "Sale", it's definitely a step down. I would have had the cash be $50,000 (the same amount as the cash bonus on regular episodes), with the Porsche and other prizes included so that the Grand Prize would total over $100,000. I think this is when the network started to be cheap with the show as a few months earlier, they changed the endgame from Shopping to the Winner's Board (and the flat $50,000 cash bonus).
International Invitational Tournament (1987)
I haven't seen too much of this, but from what I have seen, the first three weeks would be preliminaries involving Canada, Australia, and the United States. In the preliminaries, nine contestants would compete in the first three days, with a two-day semifinal between the three winners. Unlike the '83 Tournament of Champions, $20 would not be added at the start of the second game. In the finals, the first country to win three games would win a new Corvette. This tournament would be won by Australia's Cary Young, arguably considered to be the greatest "Sale of the Century" player EVER.
One thing I'd change about this tournament was instead of having Canadian contestants (which I believe was done as a reference to Jim Perry hosting shows North of the Border), I would have contestants from the United Kingdom, as that country was one of the first to produce its own version of "Sale of the Century".
Special Weeks during the Winner's Big Money Game Era
Special Weeks such as College Week, the End of Summer Bash, and Brides Week had five regular shows with special contestants, with each episode having a $2,000 Instant Cash and a $5,000 Winner's Big Money Game. If you read my previous entry, you'll know exactly how I feel about them. Also, to determine who won the car, all five champions from throughout the week went to the Randomized Fame Game board where the highest number won the Car.
Like I mentioned in my previous entry, I hate the randomized Fame Game board. How would I have done these special weeks, you ask? Well, first, I would have every show have four contestants as opposed to the regular three. The first four shows would be played normally, and the four winners would then play the Friday show for the Car (with no Winner's Big Money Game played).
True Romance (November 1988)
My first problem with the format is that they decided to air it in November. Now, I don't have a significant other, and I'm not really too much of an expert on romance, but I think the month of February would be more appropriate to do a "True Romance" week. Well, in this case, "True Romance" actually lasted two weeks.
For the first nine shows, single contestants would play a single game of "Sale of the Century". For the final show, the three players that had the highest scores in the preliminary heats (with a playoff draw being held backstage to determine the third player due to a tie) competed in one final game where the winner won a Ford Probe (one of my least favorite cars of all time).
Besides the bizarre airdate, I don't really have too much of a problem with True Romance week as opposed to some of the other weeks. If I did have to make a change, I'd have it last three weeks as opposed to two, with a semifinal series played after the first nine shows, followed by a three-day final with $20 being added at the start of each episode, and the winner of the tournament would get the Car (hopefully, a more romantic car than a Ford Probe).
And those are my thoughts for now. Hope to come up with more soon. See you guys later. Happy Fourth for any Americans reading this.
