Split Second (game show)

This article is about the game show. For other uses, see Split second (disambiguation).

Split Second
Logo for the 70's version of Split Second.
Created by	Monty Hall Stefan Hatos
Presented by	Tom Kennedy (ABC) Monty Hall (Syndicated)
Narrated by	Jack Clark (ABC) Sandy Hoyt (Syndicated)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	1,025
Production
Production locations	ABC Hollywood Studios, Los Angeles (1972-1975) Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1986-1987)
Running time	30 Minutes
Original release
Network	ABC (1972-1975) Syndicated (1986-1987)
Release	March 20, 1972 – September, 1987

Split Second was an American television game show. Split Second had two runs, the first of which was on ABC from March 20, 1972 to June 27, 1975. The show returned in September 1986 in syndication and ran for one year.

The show was produced by Stefan Hatos-Monty Hall Productions, and was distributed by Viacom Enterprises in its syndicated season. The 1987 syndicated Split Second was the final show produced by Stefan Hatos-Monty Hall Productions.

Hosts and announcers

Tom Kennedy was the host for the original ABC version of the series, with Jack Clark serving as his announcer. The series was taped in Los Angeles at the now-defunct ABC Hollywood Studios.

When the show returned in syndication in 1986, production moved to Toronto. Monty Hall took on the role of host, with veteran Toronto-area DJ Sandy Hoyt in the announce position.

Rounds one & two

On each version, three contestants, one a returning champion (or designate), competed.

Each question Kennedy or Hall asked required three correct answers. Some questions took a form such as "Name the three films for which Katharine Hepburn won the Oscar for Best Actress". For other questions, three words, names, or phrases would be displayed on a board which acted as clues, and the question took a form such as "Pick a word from the board and give its plural". Approximately once each day on the ABC version, there would also be a "Memory Buster," in which Kennedy would give a list of items and ask which three of them were common to each other.

Contestants would ring in by pushing a button on their podium. The first person to ring in got to provide the any of the three answers. The second fastest provided one of the remaining answers, and finally the slowest player got whatever was left, by default. If a person rang in too soon (before the choices were revealed), he or she got locked out of the first two parts and had to take whatever was left.

Bob Synes, producer of the 1970s version of Split Second, took a very strict stand regarding contestant's answers; he required contestants to guess the answers exactly right, meaning a mispronounced answer would be called wrong. When Hall took the reins of the 1980s version, he acted as judge himself, giving the player credit for the correct answer if he/she mispronounced the answer or was close enough to the right answer.

Each player received money for a correct answer. The value of each answer was determined by the number of people supplying a correct response, and no money was deducted for answering incorrectly.

Round one

Players Correct	ABC	Syndicated
3	$5	$10
2	$10	$25
1	$25	$50

Round two

Players Correct	ABC	Syndicated
3	$10	$20
2	$25	$50
1	$50	$100

For example, if two players gave a correct answer in round one of the ABC version, each player received $10.

On the ABC version, during the first two rounds, the first person to be the only contestant to respond correctly on a question, which Kennedy referred to as a "Singleton", also won a bonus prize, theirs to keep regardless of the game's outcome.

Countdown round

The Countdown Round ended the game. Each contestant now had a set number of correct answers to give, and the first person to meet his/her quota would win, regardless of how much money they won in the game to that point.

The leader going into the round had the least amount of correct answers to give to win, while the second place contestant had to give one more than the champion and the third place contestant two more.

This table shows how many answers the contestants had to give.

Countdown Round

Score Level	ABC	Syndicated
Highest Score	3	4
Middle Score	4	5
Lowest Score	5	6

The contestants again rang in by pushing the button, but if a contestant got an answer right, he/she could continue on and answer the other two parts of the question (meaning, on the Kennedy version, a contestant could win just by answering one set of questions in the Countdown Round). An incorrect answer gave the other two players a chance to answer, depending again on how fast they rang in.

The winner advanced to the bonus round, while the losers took home whatever they earned and consolation prizes.

Bonus round

The prize for the bonus round on both versions was a car, but the rules were different on each version.

1970s

The champion would attempt to start one of five cars on stage (always from General Motors, mainly Pontiacs but alternating between Chevrolets and Buicks), revealed behind the "breakaway" set. All but one of the cars were disabled and wouldn't start. If the contestant started the car, he/she won it and a cash jackpot (originally, it began at $200 and went up that much for each day until won; later, it started at $1,000 and grew by $500 every day until won) and retired. If he/she was unsuccessful, one car was eliminated from the next show, if the contestant won the regular game again. If a contestant won five games in a row without winning the bonus round, upon winning the Countdown Round, he or she automatically won the jackpot and selected his/her choice of the five cars.

The bonus round of this version was described (but not named) in the Betsy Byars novel The TV Kid.

On the ABC series' final episode on June 27, 1975, a contestant failed to win the car; however, Kennedy awarded the car to him anyway since he would have no opportunity to try again on a future show; further, Kennedy split the final cash jackpot ($1,000) between the two runner-up contestants (one of whom was future CNN reporter Judd Rose).

On one occasion, due to a mechanical error, a car failed to start but began spewing smoke. The contestant was awarded the car and the jackpot.

1980s

The syndicated version's car game had two incarnations.

One version had the contestant face five windows, one of which read "CAR" on the back of it. If the contestant picked the window that said "CAR", the car was his/hers and he/she retired. If not, he/she won $1,000 and returned to play on the next show. Like the ABC version, one window was eliminated each day, and a five-time champ automatically took the car home.

The other version had the same 5 windows, but this time three said "CAR" behind them. The object was for the contestant to pick all three of them for a match (the other two had another prize, either a fur coat or vacation); doing so won the car. If not, Hall offered the other prize and $1,000 cash for each day he/she had appeared to stop and leave the show or return the next day as champion. On a person's fourth try at the bonus round, four screens had "CAR" behind them, and one had the other prize. Five wins still won the car automatically.

All of the cars offered on this version were Pontiacs.

Broadcast history

ABC, 1972-1975

Split Second occupied only one timeslot during its three-year run, 12:30 p.m./11:30 a.m. Central, against the traditional CBS favorite Search for Tomorrow and NBC's The Who, What, or Where Game. It displaced Password, which moved ahead a half hour. Although never able to surmount Search, Split Second did keep a large number of affiliates on the network at that hour, as preemptions, mostly for local newscasts, had plagued ABC for years. Within two years, NBC replaced 3W's with a succession of short-lived games.

Split Second's 1972 entry completed ABC's most successful block of daytime game shows, which included Password, The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game and Let's Make a Deal; a lineup which lasted for nearly two years.

However, the decline of its lead-in, Password, began to adversely affect the Nielsens of Split Second, and ABC included it in a removal of all but two games (Let's Make a Deal and The $10,000 Pyramid) from the daytime schedule between June 27 and July 4, 1975. After a week of 60-minute episodes of the soap opera All My Children, Split Second was succeeded by another soap, Ryan's Hope.

Syndicated, 1986-1987

After an eleven-year hiatus, Hatos and Hall tried a syndicated revival of Split Second, recorded in Hall's native Canada. Despite (or perhaps because of) the abundance of syndicated games airing during this time, Split Second did not clear many affiliates and the show managed to run in only a few markets in the United States (although at least one of the larger markets was the New York media market, where the show aired weekday mornings on WABC following Jeopardy!). The show aired on some stations in Canada including on CFPL-TV in London.

Pilots

1965

A pilot for a different game with the same name was hosted by Jack Clark in 1965; a clip from this pilot can be found on the popular video-sharing web site YouTube.

1990

A pilot for an attempted revival was taped in 1990, with former Entertainment Tonight anchor Robb Weller as host. This version was produced by Ralph Edwards-Stu Billett Productions (Billett having co-produced the ABC version) and featured the same main game payoffs as the 80s version, with a bonus round completely different from both earlier versions: three exotic vacations were offered with a graphic for each hidden behind three video screens, and selecting the screen which contained the chosen locale's graphic won that trip for the champion.

Episode status

The original ABC version is believed to be wiped (per network videotape recycling practices) except for at least six episodes: four consecutive episodes featuring Michael Russnow from May 1972 (prior to the adoption of the "Singleton" and "Memory Buster" elements), the May 8, 1975 episode with Marvin Shinkman becoming a five-time champion, and the June 27, 1975 Finale. The UCLA Film and Television Archive holds 15 episodes spanning the entire run, beginning at Episode #39 and ending with the Finale.

The syndicated version still exists in its entirety, being currently owned by Hatos-Hall Productions and having aired on The Family Channel from August 30, 1993 to March 4, 1994 and January 2 to September 29, 1995 as part of its afternoon game show block.

Neither version has been rerun on any network since then.

External links

• Original Split Second at Game Show Utopia
• Original Split Second at Game Shows '75
• Screencaps of Split Second '86