4.6 /10 1 Votes4.6
No. of episodes ~20 Original network ABC Final episode date 19 October 1955 Language English | 4.5/10 TV Country of origin United States Running time 25 minutes First episode date 4 May 1955 Genre Game show | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Original release May 4 – October 19, 1955 Similar Game show, The Big Surprise, The Face Is Familiar, The Big Payoff, Play Your Hunch | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Penny to a million opening credits abc game show
Penny to a Million was a primetime American television game show (at the time more commonly called a "quiz show") that aired on ABC from May 4 to October 19, 1955 on Wednesday nights, for alternate sponsors Brown & Williamson's Raleigh cigarettes, and W.A. Sheaffer Pen Company. The pilot was hosted by Bud Collyer, but he was replaced by Bill Goodwin when it became a series.
Contents
Format
The unique feature of this quiz was that a correct answer to the first question was worth one cent (a penny, or $0.01) but a correct answer to each question that followed doubled in value; Thus, a contestant could win as much as one million pennies ($10,000). Contestants were drawn from the studio audience. In each game, four contestants took turns answering questions with each correct answer doubling the jackpot and a wrong answer eliminating that player. The winner of the first game competed in the Playoff Round against the winner of the second game. The two players took turns answering questions until at least one of them missed a question. If they both missed a question in turn, they both split the pot evenly. If one player correctly answered a question and the other missed, the winner won 3/4 of the pot and the runner-up received the remaining quarter of the pot.
Episode Status
At least five episodes are known to exist, including the pilot.