Winning Streak

"You can double your money with every word, and you may win over $100,000, or you may go broke. The decision is yours. This is..."

HOST: Bill Cullen
ANNOUNCER: Don Pardo
CREATED BY: Bob Stewart
CHANNEL: NBC
AIRDATES: July 1st, 1974 - January 3rd, 1975
TAPED AT: NBC Studios, New York Rockefeller Plaza

THE MAIN GAME

Two contestants

competed, one a returning champion. They faced a board of 16

letters, with an objective on top of the board. The idea was to make a word or form of the word that is part of the objective. On a player's given turn, they announce a letter and Cullen gives a

question that starts with that letter, and a contestant can ring

in with their answer. If they are correct, they can either discard the letter and go for another one, or put that letter in one of 7 spots on their podiums to try and form the word using the letters on the board, giving them a "winning streak." Words had to be at least 4 letters long, up to 7 letters in length. Whichever contestant completed a word

or a form of an acceptable word in the objective, they win the game and move on to the bonus round.

THE BONUS ROUND

The winner of the game now faces the board that has 18

numbers on it. The contestant gives a number from 1 to 6 to determine a dollar amount, ranging

anywhere from $100 to $200. Then, using the rest of the numbers ranging from 7 to 18, the contestant calls

them out one by one to reveal a letter, and they must give an acceptable word with the letter(s) showing. Every time the contestant decides to keep going, they double the money. However, if they can't give an acceptable word in time, or it fails, they go broke and the game is over for them.

THE FINAL SHOWDOWN

After the first endgame, another main game takes place with two new competitors, and whoever wins that plays the bonus round to add on to the money, or play for themselves if the first player failed. If both players stopped and banked money, the two totals between the two contestants would be accumulated and be played for in the Final Showdown. Whoever banked the most money has the decision of going first or second. The play this game just like the bonus round, except it's for the money this time and they cannot stop. Whenever an acceptable

word is made, control goes to the opponent, who must choose another letter to uncover. The player that fails to give an acceptable word or runs out of time is out of the game, and the other player wins the

money in the pot and becomes the champion

FACTS:
-Bill Cullen is probably the most recognizable host in game shows, though he changed his hairstyle and suits he wore...we can thank Lin Bolen for that. This is probably one of Bill's lesser-known game shows
-Don Pardo is one of the most legendary announcers of all-time, announcing a lot of game shows, including Three on a Match and Art Fleming's version of Jeopardy!. He also did the announcing for Saturday Night Live before retiring in the early 2000s, and in his 90s, he's STILL alive!
-Winning Streak replaced Bill Cullen's Three on a Match, and when Winning Streak was cancelled, our very own Wheel of Fortune replaced it
-NBC has destroyed most of the run due to compliances and practices, all but one episode remains in tact. This nearly went unnoticed as one of the episodes was on a surviving reel
-Rules are said to have changed several times during the run of this show. However, we won't know what they were like since NBC destroyed the run

MY RATINGS:
Holy toledo, $100,000...really? *shakes head* I don't think so...you'd have to be good with words if you were going to win that much. But seeing the fact that that happens to be tough, winning $100,000 here on Winning Streak is absolutely impossible! Let's see...there's 12 numbers on the board, and if the money keeps doubling with the highest amount, that's more than $100,000 yes, but forming words with more and more letters, that really gets tough. Games rarely got over $25,000...in fact, they also got tough to reach even $10,000! This game is extremely difficult...might be easy to understand here and there, but it had an exceptionally weak and tough format. Bill Cullen...well, he did good with what he was handed to him, though different than what he usually looked like, and like I said, thank Lin Bolen, not the decision of Bill Cullen. Winning Streak...well I'm sorry Bob Stewart, but if it were truly going to be over $100,000, things needed some serious tweaking. So quite obviously, Three on a Match should've remained!

2.5 stars

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