TVSquad

(S01E05) Before we begin I have a correction to make. At the end of last week's post about the Press Your Luck episode of Game Show Marathon I mentioned that the version of Card Sharks they were playing this week was the Bob Eubanks hosted version that ran on CBS from 1986 until 1989 (Ironically, replacing Press Your Luck in the timeslot). However, I was wrong. After watching the introduction to tonight's show it was clearly the Jim Perry version which ran on NBC from 1978 until 1981. So, apologies all around.

Come to think of it, the original version of the show was much better than the Eubanks version. Eubanks, who hosted The Newlywed Game for several decades, made the show more personality based. And, that wasn't his fault, since he spent years trying to get newlyweds to open up about their most intimate secrets to millions of television viewers. But, adding that element to the show made the game move a bit slower. The original that was hosted by Jim Perry (who went on to host the popular $ale of the Century shortly after Card Sharks ended) was a much faster paced game. In the end, the producers over at Marathon made the right choice by going with the original.

And, while not as exciting as last week's episode of Press Your Luck, this episode was just as good. What helped out was that the semi-finalists, Paige Davis and Brande Roderick, really wanted to play the game. This was a far cry from when they played the first few games like The Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal when the emotion just wasn't there (However, Paige does get credit because she has been so peppy throughout the entire series). At first, you thought they'd play around and make cute comments about the questions Ricki Lake was giving them. But, as the show progressed you could see the look on their faces change and they became a lot more serious about getting the right answers and making it through the cards without missing.

This was smart of both contestants because Card Sharks is not an easy game. Yes, the concept is pretty simple but, in reality, it's one big crap shoot. Sure, if the contestant gets a low-value number card like a two or three, or a high-value card like an ace, they can pretty much guess higher or lower with fair accuracy that it will be higher or lower. But, when they get those middle number cards, and even the lower-value face cards like Jacks and Queens, it's really a fifty-fifty split on how it goes. You could see that Davis and Roderick realized that as they continued to play.

The other thing that helped out was the hosting of Ricki Lake. It may be just me, but I think that she's gotten better as the games have progressed, and she has really come of age with both this episode and Press Your Luck. She really helped move the game along by stopping the cute comments the contestants made and getting them to answer the questions. She also did a good job with flipping the cards and even threw in a couple of Jim Perry 'YESSS's' when contestant predictions of the next card came up correctly.

Of the game itself, the first two rounds were played very well by both contestants. Brande won the first round, and Paige won the second. The third round was won handily by Roderick as Paige blew the guess for two questions. Brande only won six thousand dollars for a home player during the Money Cards game when she bet nearly her entire bank on a lower card that turned out to be higher. However, she redeemed herself by winning a sports car for the home player during the final round of play. Please note that the car giveaway was not part of the original Card Sharks; that game was added during the syndicated version of the series that aired in the 1980's.

All in all, this episode of Game Show Marathon was very satisfying and made me realize that Card Sharks should be another game show that should be revitalized in its original format. Next week, oh next week, we come to a game that brother Joel and I used to watch religiously right before Tattletales  . . . Match Game! Let's see if they do it well or crash and burn. Joel and I will be doing a joint review next week. Until then, have a good weekend.