Anyways, I’ve thought how about have the puzzles like they did on P+ and SP, with the puzzles being worth $500/$1000/$1500/$2000, with $2500 being the goal. The Ca$hword idea I’m kinda take-it-or-leave-it on, although that might work as part of the endgame as a prize multiplier, kinda like they did with Body Language.

On the endgame, I’d definitely have a win be worth no less than $25,000 if done just like they did on P+ and SP (that is, ten words in 60 seconds and that’s it). But your 2-part endgame idea is a neat idea, too.

Also, as an alternate idea, I’ve been thinking it would be cool for a network to pick this up and make a million-dollar gameshow out of it by doubling my previously-mentioned puzzle dollar amounts ($5000 goal, with puzzles being worth $1000-$4000) having champions play for $50,000 on the first endgame with 10 words in 60 seconds, $100,000 on the 2nd endgame with 12 words in 60 seconds, and $1,000,000 on the 3rd endgame with 15 words in 60 seconds in order to make ‘em REALLY work for that million bucks. If they win the first two, have the champion decide if he/she wants to take the money they just won and leave the game or pass up the money to take on another opponent and another bonus game if they win, and losing the endgame results in the champ going home only with his/her frontgame winnings. In this form, the only fair way to deal with illegal clues in the bonus rounds would be to pop in a replacement word on the fly. After all, million-dollar gameshows have been quite popular on prime-time network TV in the last few years, with Deal or No Deal, 1 vs. 100, and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader…just an idea.

1) Play-in game: Like the qualifying round of the ‘75 Password, three or four players (returning champ among them) would have to ring in to guess passwords from clues given by the stars. First two players to score two words make the main game, while the other(s) have to go bye-bye. First to get to two chooses star of their choice as partner.

2) Password Puzzle: best two out of three match, each puzzle worth $500. No
changes from Password Plus or SP, and NO CHANGING PARTNERS!

3) Endgame: Alphabetics (called Super Password) with each word $200 and the grand prize at $20,000. Could be followed by a Cashword segment to multiply the winnings by 5 (one clue), 3 (two), or 2 (all three); a possible $100K payday would result.

4) Host/Announcer: Is Marc Summers interested (could he bring Harvey from Nick’s Double Dare)? Other than that, I don’t see who else would fit.

5) Betty White: HAVE to have her on one week at least, or get her approval on format (this show was as much her pride as it was Allen Ludden’s).

But, she hosted Pageant School last year on CMT.

However, do you think she’ll be interested to host PASSWORD?

For many years, a guy named Ted Cooper designed the sets for many Goodson-Todman (and some others’) game shows. Someone should be commissioned to look at old tapes/kine’s for ideas, and go from there. And you are so right!! Computer-powered flat panel video screens are “de rigeur” scoring devices these days; if I had it my way, the iconic “eggcrate” readouts would still be used. However, I’d be open to a compromise on the video-screen readouts; the digital graphics would at the least have to have the “spacing” of the old style readouts (in other words, each number would have to be placed like we learned in grade-school arithmetic; “ones/units, “tens,” and (if applicable) “hundreds.” They’d also have to “flash” during a game win.

However, the $75,000 jackpot may be a bit big and expensive. You’ve got to consider production costs.

1) Whoever said get Edd Kalehoff to write the theme music, gold star for you! Kalehoff is a frickin’ musical genius.

2) Dump the five clues/one puzzle format. Bring back the original game as it was ran on ABC during the 70’s.

3) Scoring for each password could go as follows: (a) one clue, $1000; two clues, $900; three clues, $800; down to a maximum of six clues for a minimum of $500 with $2,500 being game, or (b) play the 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 and 5 point clues to reach 25 points with the winner receiving $2,000.

4) Use “Alphabetics” for the bonus round; it’s a classic. Start with a jackpot of $75,000 and increase it $5,000 each day it isn’t won. In one week, you’d be talking about a six-figure jackpot if it grew enough! Award $200 or $250 for each word if all ten words weren’t completed.

5) For the revival, use a modernized orange & yellow “honeycomb” set, since the ABC tapes of the 70’s version of the show were destroyed. This time we can ALL record it for good! Oh, and let someone other than Jimmy Cuomo design the set.

6) Every six months, have a tournament of champions for $1 million top prize.

7) Toteboards, dammit. Bring back toteboards to display the scores! No monitors to display the scores a-la “Wheel of Fortune”; get a huge frickin’ display from Daktronics or something!

Keep your fingers crossed that “Password” returns!

Cheers,
Charles
Houston TX

The Password format used in 1975 came immediately after Password All Stars, not at least a year later, as you assume, Mr. Gregory.