It boggles my mind, they had a bonus game that looked silly, they say in the pitch film that Gene brings in the same energy from match game.....but they insisted he play it serious. 🤨
Thought about it since, Gene went through this before too. Mark Goodson wanted The match game to be a serious show and used to get really angry when Gene got laughs. It wasn't until a writer convinced to try going the comedic route that Goodson saw how it worked better, so at least he saw the error of his ways. But Kline just didn't get it. I think the show ran better as a comedic game than a serious one.
I remember seeing a rerun of another version of Break the Bank with the 4x4 grid and eight celebrities answering questions with the contestants guessing which was right to earn the block on the grid, connecting three to win the prize.
Gene was by far the best game show host of his time. He was the warmest and most welcoming of all the game show hosts. This show demonstrates how versatile he was. He knew when to be funny and when to play it straight and serious.I enjoyed this episode from start to finish. Super job Gene!!!
Thanks for posting...incidentally, Alan Chapman is a professional pianist, and by less than an amazing coincidence, turned up a few times on the actual series when a Prize Vault stunt involved playing songs for the contestant to identify.
I originally thought it was over for Mr. Rayburn after MG/HS was canceled. He made no game show appearances, not even on Super Password before he hosted BTB.
Thank you for sharing this Wink! This would explain why I always thought the spacing between the 40, 80 and 100 seconds always looked so off balanced compared to the 5, 10 and 20 on the actual series.
Gene tried to be compassionate as a quiz master, but Match Game was a better fit. He usually sided with Match Game contestants if he or she couldn't come up with good responses.
This version of BtB -- pilot and beyond -- is interesting. It was later having some kind of identity crisis and switched the fun stunts into a more "serious" atmosphere; hence Rayburn getting axed. Same turn-of events-for-better-ratings happened to "Play the Percentages"; also ran by Kline. Although, I prefer the original 70's hide-and-seek kind of BtB, iirc Kline was also managing that.
And I think that show's theme song, Stu Levin's "Hustle The Bank" could've been used...especially when the bank is broken. And also...NO BALLOON DROP!!!!!
To those who think that this was Gene Rayburn's very last show, it's not. The real final show was AMC's Movie Masters. While not designed to be a hit, at least that was the true last hurrah for Gene.
And a better way for him to go out, a step slower (understandable given his age) but still very capable and he looked happy, there were some break the bank shows he just looked miserable.
If they had stayed true to the spirit of Bank Vault round by showing the countdown time and not make the stunts needlessly complicated this would have worked. Gene was into the zany spirit of it, reminded me of Beat the Clock of the Fifties. The energy was at the right level and great sizzle at the end ;-)
And as long as they gave Gene a little heads up on the stunts. A lot of times he looked lost. But that was because he was figuring things out on the fly.
Is it true that after Break the Bank Strike it Rich was aired (and for those don't know in the pilot 3 teams are played instead of 2, just like in the UK version)?
'Fraid So. Sad, but true. Make (some of) us glad that this didn't carryover into the series. But I wish the $500/puzzle was carried over into the series.
The actors playing the contestants are REALLY over-the-top. Maybe more in line with what game show contestants are like today as that kind of personality projection and mugging is encouraged, but not typical of contestants in the 80's.
Another thing: Each stunt has only one card available instead of a rack of five like the series. This was also done in the French version of the show, La Porte Magique (The Magic Door). That said, that version didn't have returning champs, AFAIK.
I can't wait to see this pilot! I'd seen clips of it in TV station promos prior to this, though. And yes, my heart weeps for Gene considering how Richard S. Kline treated him badly.
It can't decide if it wants to be a quiz show or Truth or Consequences or Let's Make a Deal. A strange combination of segments. Gene looks and sounds lost some of the time. The best game shows have some connection between all segments of the game: Pyramid, Jeopardy, Wheel, TPIR, Whew! (which not enough people loved to keep it on for very long), Concentration and many others. Not saying it is easy to construct a new game show. Not at all. This, however, struck me as a game with a goal that wasn't quite sure how it wanted to get there. Thanks for posting it, though. Where else would we ever see this?
I feel like this game doesn't allow Gene to play to his strengths. He's competent, but he can't really flex his funny bone here. It's too straightforward of a game and no wacky celebrities.
I see Michael Hanks was their first choice as announcer for this show. They couldnt get a John Harlan, Bob Hilton or someone more noticed (at least from the game show circuit, Hanks has been known to do voiceovers)
Although it's just a demonstration, the Break the Bank '85 pilot does seem a little rushed without the music package or sound effects. I heard almost all the key staff from Barry & Enright were quick to leave with Richard Kline once Jack Barry passed away, including composer Hal Hidey. Gene's hosting on this series was okay... but the game just wasn't that strong to begin with. The low ratings couldn't have been all his fault.
24:39 is the Blair Entertainment logo, and it’s in much better quality. Blair Entertainment also produced “Divorce Court” and a few others, but sadly, Blair Entertainment folded in the early 1990’s and it was acquired by 20th Television which is now Disney Media Distribution.
I certainly hope Wink will make the Richard Hatch (Survivor Season 1 winner) US pilot of The Weakest Link or Weakest Link shot for NBC back in January 2001 in London in the UK with American contestants available to the public in the near future on his TH-cam channel.
Break The Bank wasn't that bad a show! We received it here in Scotland in the late 1980s on a long defunct cable channel. I always thought it was ironic that Joe Farago appeared on some editions then got the job after Gene Rayburn was fired!
I am glad the actual show was better than the pilot. I love the Eggcrate readout for the Seconds but I did not like the Second scoring System. 256 seconds is over 4 minutes in the prize vault.
...Now I REALLY feel sorry for this show! If they could get John Moschitta and Lou Ferrigno for the Vault Events, they could've gotten more special guests if they did 'em long enough, which woulda made for awesome pre-prime-time entertainment! But alas, Gene Rayburn was so dissatisfied with his run that he contractionally banned his eps from rerunning and took the events with him. x.x
Yes, this is definitely NOT a Rayburn vehicle, although I was kinda into the mayhem of the bonus round. I DO think that this would have worked as a children’s game show-the bonus round, anyway.
Hard to believe this show was green lit. Even the regular series was not very good or enjoyable and this pilot without it's sound effects and Gene trying to have fun awkwardly is silly at best. They used Gene to put some star power behind it and it seemed to work as it helped sell the show. But Gene was used and abused very badly behind the scenes leading to his wanting to depart the show as soon as possible. Lots of sad stories behind the scenes with this show. And it isn't even that good a series for all the trouble he was put through. The ending moment with the break the bank events is just not as much fun as they probably thought it would be. Sad this was the show Gene went out on for the most part (he had a few others but this was the last big game show he did).
I think I know who that announcer is. That's Mark Elliott! The original announcer for Walt Disney Home Video! That's the second video from Wink Martindale's vault that features something I'm familiar with from Disney.
So many rules, taking far too long to explain, as the game tried to limp along. Gene seemed out of his element. Plus, he wasn't really in love with the Match Game / Hollywood Squares Hour, which just ended weeks before. History seems to indicate, from it's 70s run, that the game was pretty much a non-starter. As far as I know, nobody's rebooted this since.
The numbers were soft and as the show was finishing 26 weeks, being picked up for the final 13 weeks didn't look promising. So testing/research showed people did NOT care for the "Beat the Clock" like end game and the "Q" rating test showed Rayburn was only a 16, (100 being best) despite his past history. They got the 13 week extension by fixing the game itself and changing hosts...all done in 7-14 days before taping again. The production staff really liked the changes and Joe was good, eager to work with. Contestants really liked the changes, (could win more) and audiences did as well....hardly any spectators at home or in studio said, "before it was better..." (Some contestants from the earlier version complained, wishing they had been on the show with the new changes.) Numbers got better, but not enough for a 2nd season. Perhaps if the show started with the new format and host, it may have done better. (who knows?)
That's nice... but once Rayburn was fired AND Catch Phrase was cancelled ... I saved video tape by not recording this awful show or Perfect Match (it's new lead in replacing Catch Phrase). Wish they simply revived the far superior 70s version.
It's a shame Gene got two back-to-back shows late in his career that could have been so much better... first Match Game/Hollywood Squares, which I will continue to maintain was a good idea totally derailed by poor execution, and this show. If the Bank Vault games were better planned out and Gene was allowed to embrace the comedy in it, Break the Bank would be a much better show. Maybe just make it a linear sequence of stunts the team plays one at a time, Beat the Clock style, until they either finish all the available stunts or run out of banked time. The messy layout of the games and leaving Gene to figure them out on the fly while not being able to use his natural talent for comedy did the format in.
This format is too complicated for the average viewer to understand, and it doesn't give Gene Rayburn room to be his usual funny self. Based on this pilot, I have to conclude that BTB-85 is middling at best. I can see why this only lasted one season, especially after Gene was replaced by Joe Farrargo thirteen weeks into the run.
This was an awful show...absolutely terrible. The front game is so slow and the end game is really meant to be played by teenagers and kids in the early 20s...not by middle age couples. I don't know if this could be fixed. Klein & Friends as hard as they tried they didn't have one good concept.
I thought this could work as a family game like Family Double Dare (minus the gak), but the front "gather-the-seconds" game would need to be altered to handle +3-person teams.
![[Sub Thai] APT. - ROSÉ & Bruno Mars](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bYjhzP8x_uc/mqdefault.jpg)
Fabulous Break the Bank episode and the late, great Gene Rayburn hosted it!!
I’m saddened that Rayburn was replaced months later, and the prize vault events were removed.
Why? I liked it the way it was.
I agree. Rayburn's version of BtB was more fun to watch.
It boggles my mind, they had a bonus game that looked silly, they say in the pitch film that Gene brings in the same energy from match game.....but they insisted he play it serious. 🤨
Thought about it since, Gene went through this before too. Mark Goodson wanted The match game to be a serious show and used to get really angry when Gene got laughs. It wasn't until a writer convinced to try going the comedic route that Goodson saw how it worked better, so at least he saw the error of his ways. But Kline just didn't get it. I think the show ran better as a comedic game than a serious one.
I hated that too. This looked more fun.
I remember seeing a rerun of another version of Break the Bank with the 4x4 grid and eight celebrities answering questions with the contestants guessing which was right to earn the block on the grid, connecting three to win the prize.
Nope, 4x5 with 9 celebrities
I don't know why they retooled this midseason with a new host. I loved seeing Gene again.
Gene was by far the best game show host of his time. He was the warmest and most welcoming of all the game show hosts. This show demonstrates how versatile he was. He knew when to be funny and when to play it straight and serious.I enjoyed this episode from start to finish. Super job Gene!!!
Weird seeing Gene Rayburn hosting a game show that’s not Match Game
Theme music in this is Courtship by Bob James off the Music of The Official Music Of The XXIIIrd Olympiad Los Angeles 1984
The Basketball 🏀 theme
Thanks for posting...incidentally, Alan Chapman is a professional pianist, and by less than an amazing coincidence, turned up a few times on the actual series when a Prize Vault stunt involved playing songs for the contestant to identify.
He also was in the 1989 Jokers Wild pilot with Pat Finn (also on this channel)
Gene was so chivalrous in the way that he neglected to help that woman up after she lost the hot tub.
Shell Game is one of the present pricing games of The Price is Right.
Nice song!
I originally thought it was over for Mr. Rayburn after MG/HS was canceled. He made no game show appearances, not even on Super Password before he hosted BTB.
I'm not so sure how happy he was with Mark Goodson after MGHS. I don't think he wanted to host MGHS, and I can't blame him.
Thank you for sharing this Wink! This would explain why I always thought the spacing between the 40, 80 and 100 seconds always looked so off balanced compared to the 5, 10 and 20 on the actual series.
Gene tried to be compassionate as a quiz master, but Match Game was a better fit. He usually sided with Match Game contestants if he or she couldn't come up with good responses.
This version of BtB -- pilot and beyond -- is interesting. It was later having some kind of identity crisis and switched the fun stunts into a more "serious" atmosphere; hence Rayburn getting axed. Same turn-of events-for-better-ratings happened to "Play the Percentages"; also ran by Kline. Although, I prefer the original 70's hide-and-seek kind of BtB, iirc Kline was also managing that.
I would've loved to have seen Gene do the 70s styled BREAK THE BANK, especially when you lose your turn, he would say BLANK.
Considering how he was treated when he hosted Hollywood's Talking for them I'm shocked Geoff Edwards bothered to do PTP for Barry/Enright
And I think that show's theme song, Stu Levin's "Hustle The Bank" could've been used...especially when the bank is broken. And also...NO BALLOON DROP!!!!!
From what I understand, according to Geoff, he didn't get along with Jack Barry (Jack found his voice annoying), but he DID get along with Dan Enright
@@Cullenfields to which Edwards replied DON'T COME IN MY DRESSING ROOM AGAIN and gave them his "two weeks notice"
LOL This pilot was filmed the same day I was born.
It was my 15th birthday :)
Such chaos
To those who think that this was Gene Rayburn's very last show, it's not. The real final show was AMC's Movie Masters. While not designed to be a hit, at least that was the true last hurrah for Gene.
And a better way for him to go out, a step slower (understandable given his age) but still very capable and he looked happy, there were some break the bank shows he just looked miserable.
If they had stayed true to the spirit of Bank Vault round by showing the countdown time and not make the stunts needlessly complicated this would have worked. Gene was into the zany spirit of it, reminded me of Beat the Clock of the Fifties. The energy was at the right level and great sizzle at the end ;-)
And as long as they gave Gene a little heads up on the stunts. A lot of times he looked lost. But that was because he was figuring things out on the fly.
Is it true that after Break the Bank Strike it Rich was aired (and for those don't know in the pilot 3 teams are played instead of 2, just like in the UK version)?
This is pretty hokey. I can see why it didn't last...
So wait, in each round, each team's clock is credited only for the last question they answered and not totaled up?!
'Fraid So. Sad, but true. Make (some of) us glad that this didn't carryover into the series. But I wish the $500/puzzle was carried over into the series.
@@viddykiddy18 That would have been good. One thing I'm glad didn't carry over was the sixty-second penalty for the big prize.
The actors playing the contestants are REALLY over-the-top. Maybe more in line with what game show contestants are like today as that kind of personality projection and mugging is encouraged, but not typical of contestants in the 80's.
Gene Rayburn certainly was a great host. Wink Martindale also would've made a great Match Game host.
Another thing: Each stunt has only one card available instead of a rack of five like the series. This was also done in the French version of the show, La Porte Magique (The Magic Door).
That said, that version didn't have returning champs, AFAIK.
OH! I might also add, that either format was okay with me.
Wow! Bob James' "Courtship" as the opening theme. It was used as the Portland Trailblazers' pre-game show theme in the 90s. Love that tune.
I can't wait to see this pilot! I'd seen clips of it in TV station promos prior to this, though.
And yes, my heart weeps for Gene considering how Richard S. Kline treated him badly.
This game is EXHAUSTING!!!
.... I ust realized, this is literally "Raid The Cage" with a different front game!?
It can't decide if it wants to be a quiz show or Truth or Consequences or Let's Make a Deal. A strange combination of segments. Gene looks and sounds lost some of the time. The best game shows have some connection between all segments of the game: Pyramid, Jeopardy, Wheel, TPIR, Whew! (which not enough people loved to keep it on for very long), Concentration and many others. Not saying it is easy to construct a new game show. Not at all. This, however, struck me as a game with a goal that wasn't quite sure how it wanted to get there.
Thanks for posting it, though. Where else would we ever see this?
That's a fun surprise for sure.
I feel like this game doesn't allow Gene to play to his strengths. He's competent, but he can't really flex his funny bone here. It's too straightforward of a game and no wacky celebrities.
Richard Kline didn't like his hosts being funny; he coached Pat Finn not to be funny on The Joker's Wild in 1990 as well.
Gene Rayburn was such a hit host in gameshow history
I see Michael Hanks was their first choice as announcer for this show. They couldnt get a John Harlan, Bob Hilton or someone more noticed (at least from the game show circuit, Hanks has been known to do voiceovers)
Although it's just a demonstration, the Break the Bank '85 pilot does seem a little rushed without the music package or sound effects. I heard almost all the key staff from Barry & Enright were quick to leave with Richard Kline once Jack Barry passed away, including composer Hal Hidey. Gene's hosting on this series was okay... but the game just wasn't that strong to begin with. The low ratings couldn't have been all his fault.
Never thought I'd see John Moschitta on a game show doing his usual fast talking schtick.
I think he did make a couple of appearances on pyramid and he announced Hollywood squares in its last season.
@@marcpower4167 He also appeared on Win, Lose, or Draw. Love him talking fast.
It's interesting that the video screen text and animations for the game have a general likeness to those on Tic-Tac-Dough.
Hot Potato
Plus Bumper Stumpers
And Strike it Rich '86 too.
Because they were all done by the same person/company that worked for all those shows.
24:39 is the Blair Entertainment logo, and it’s in much better quality. Blair Entertainment also produced “Divorce Court” and a few others, but sadly, Blair Entertainment folded in the early 1990’s and it was acquired by 20th Television which is now Disney Media Distribution.
Gene Rayburn seems out of place in the role of serious game show host. He and Match Game (the 1973-1982 version) were made for each other.
Goodness...it certainly looks like Gene didn't enjoy this gig.
I certainly hope Wink will make the Richard Hatch (Survivor Season 1 winner) US pilot of The Weakest Link or Weakest Link shot for NBC back in January 2001 in London in the UK with American contestants available to the public in the near future on his TH-cam channel.
Break The Bank wasn't that bad a show! We received it here in Scotland in the late 1980s on a long defunct cable channel. I always thought it was ironic that Joe Farago appeared on some editions then got the job after Gene Rayburn was fired!
I am glad the actual show was better than the pilot. I love the Eggcrate readout for the Seconds but I did not like the Second scoring System. 256 seconds is over 4 minutes in the prize vault.
Imagine perfecting each round, you'd end up with 448 seconds, that's 7 minutes and 28 seconds!
@@jprogmanRight
...Now I REALLY feel sorry for this show!
If they could get John Moschitta and Lou Ferrigno for the Vault Events, they could've gotten more special guests if they did 'em long enough, which woulda made for awesome pre-prime-time entertainment!
But alas, Gene Rayburn was so dissatisfied with his run that he contractionally banned his eps from rerunning and took the events with him. x.x
The events were still there for a short while with Joe Farago before the switch.
Gene is much better as a reaction host than a quizmaster. This just doesn't seem to fit him. Bit too frantic. Prefer the Joe Farrago version.
Yes, this is definitely NOT a Rayburn vehicle, although I was kinda into the mayhem of the bonus round. I DO think that this would have worked as a children’s game show-the bonus round, anyway.
The Theme Music to the Pilot of Break The Bank '85 is composed by Bob James, However Hal Hidey took over when it made it to the air.
Hard to believe this show was green lit. Even the regular series was not very good or enjoyable and this pilot without it's sound effects and Gene trying to have fun awkwardly is silly at best. They used Gene to put some star power behind it and it seemed to work as it helped sell the show. But Gene was used and abused very badly behind the scenes leading to his wanting to depart the show as soon as possible. Lots of sad stories behind the scenes with this show. And it isn't even that good a series for all the trouble he was put through.
The ending moment with the break the bank events is just not as much fun as they probably thought it would be. Sad this was the show Gene went out on for the most part (he had a few others but this was the last big game show he did).
I think I know who that announcer is. That's Mark Elliott! The original announcer for Walt Disney Home Video! That's the second video from Wink Martindale's vault that features something I'm familiar with from Disney.
That's Michael Hanks announcing, not Mark Elliott. Granted, their voices do sound pretty similar...
This version never caught on after one season.
Oh I’m looking forward to this one Wink, Gene is my second favorite host ;)
So many rules, taking far too long to explain, as the game tried to limp along. Gene seemed out of his element. Plus, he wasn't really in love with the Match Game / Hollywood Squares Hour, which just ended weeks before. History seems to indicate, from it's 70s run, that the game was pretty much a non-starter. As far as I know, nobody's rebooted this since.
Yes, too many rules = a game show’s kiss of death. Goodson-Todman always seemed to apply the “K.I.S.S.” principle, and it worked often.
$25,000!!!!!
I rather liked the element of risk involved. Added another layer of strategy.
I'm sorry Gene's only show and will ever be is MATCH GAME
What was the bonus? The "incredible" guest celebrity in the bonus round?!
this was a nice pilot; I thought Gene was ok as host...
i hear a bit of Indiana Jones theme at 26:50
Was this the time when Gene Rayburn's age was revealed?
I think that happened when he wanted to host the Match Game revival in 1990.
Oil City. Nowhere close to Jersey. - Signed an Oil City, PA native. LOL
Can anyone upload the pilot to Arch Rivals, aka Strike it Rich? The one with 3 couples?
8:26 "Niagara" is misspelled....
The numbers were soft and as the show was finishing 26 weeks, being picked up for the final 13 weeks didn't look promising. So testing/research showed people did NOT care for the "Beat the Clock" like end game and the "Q" rating test showed Rayburn was only a 16, (100 being best) despite his past history.
They got the 13 week extension by fixing the game itself and changing hosts...all done in 7-14 days before taping again.
The production staff really liked the changes and Joe was good, eager to work with. Contestants really liked the changes, (could win more) and audiences did as well....hardly any spectators at home or in studio said, "before it was better..."
(Some contestants from the earlier version complained, wishing they had been on the show with the new changes.)
Numbers got better, but not enough for a 2nd season. Perhaps if the show started with the new format and host, it may have done better. (who knows?)
That's nice... but once Rayburn was fired AND Catch Phrase was cancelled ... I saved video tape by not recording this awful show or Perfect Match (it's new lead in replacing Catch Phrase). Wish they simply revived the far superior 70s version.
Those "contestants" are really bad actors.
The HULK was in this
I think it takes an engineer to appreciate the logical, binary progression of the point scoring scheme. Everything in powers of two!
It's a shame Gene got two back-to-back shows late in his career that could have been so much better... first Match Game/Hollywood Squares, which I will continue to maintain was a good idea totally derailed by poor execution, and this show. If the Bank Vault games were better planned out and Gene was allowed to embrace the comedy in it, Break the Bank would be a much better show. Maybe just make it a linear sequence of stunts the team plays one at a time, Beat the Clock style, until they either finish all the available stunts or run out of banked time. The messy layout of the games and leaving Gene to figure them out on the fly while not being able to use his natural talent for comedy did the format in.
This format is too complicated for the average viewer to understand, and it doesn't give Gene Rayburn room to be his usual funny self. Based on this pilot, I have to conclude that BTB-85 is middling at best. I can see why this only lasted one season, especially after Gene was replaced by Joe Farrargo thirteen weeks into the run.
I’m shocked this sold. It’s horrible just like the actual series. Poor Gene.
Terrible game idea.
Not bad But i Prefered Gean on Match Game
This was an awful show...absolutely terrible. The front game is so slow and the end game is really meant to be played by teenagers and kids in the early 20s...not by middle age couples. I don't know if this could be fixed. Klein & Friends as hard as they tried they didn't have one good concept.
Other than Win, Lose, or Draw
I thought this could work as a family game like Family Double Dare (minus the gak), but the front "gather-the-seconds" game would need to be altered to handle +3-person teams.
@@Cullenfields And Masters of the Maze. Plus, to an extent, Strike it Rich '86.
@@Cullenfields they had burt reynolds, bert convy, and disney helping them on that