Shark Bytes

The Joker's Wild, as the flagship series for Barry-Enright Productions, had the same JTS fate as the demise of Fat Albert did for Filmation Studios. When both shows left the air, their respective companies disappeared soon thereafter. Barry-Enright was second fiddle to Mark Goodson Productions in the world of game shows, just as Filmation assumed the same role to Hanna-Barbera in the animation world. Is it coincidence that both companies became defunct at the same time, or did the same personnel work at both firms? Supposedly no holding company owned B-E and Filmation together, but the truth may never be fully revealed in this lifetime.

Everything by Barry and Enright jumped when they launched this Family Feud like show on NBC and hired Bill Cullen to host. To boot, they had him toss a potato at the contestants? While that would be funny, it would also be enough to ruin a game show empire!

did anyone ever catch the one show where after Jack Barry counted out the $1,000 in cash to the winning contestant, and just as the show was going to commercial break the contestant asked Jack if he wanted the cash back now? It was very much a fake and pre-aranged show. I remember one man won quite a bit of money on TJW then went on and was a contestant on another show (I cant remember the name) that Jack Barry was mc-ing. He must have been a friend.

I too also enjoyed this show when it originally aired and the MC at that time did a great job. That all being said, the whole statement of: "Joker, joker, joker.", really did begin to annoy me. It happened every show when their was three jokers.

I also do miss all of the old game shows. IMO, it is a shame that the yv stations daytime lineup has all turned into what I would call talk shows and court shows. Which IMO, is nothing more than pure crap.
I really do think the daytime court shows has really made the legal system look bad.

This show too was rigged in my eyes. You can watch on youtube "The Jokers Wild - Hal's Suit" and see how Jack Barry looks to the staff and rolls his eyes when the guy is about to answer the question to win $28,000. Everything looks too set up. Too sad Barry had to hype things up.

I saw re-runs of "Joker" via GSN when they were airing, Jack was truly the host of this program, although Bill Cullen did just as good even though you could tell he wanted to call it a career as he seemed to be out of place for this kind of format.

This was another Game Show I used to enjoy, it got canceled on CBS in 1975 thanks to the Game Show hater Fred Silverman! it returned in 1977 in Syndication and then later after Jack Barry died in 1984 it was sad, Bill Cullen did good but too bad he finished up the last two seasons probably because the audience was going to Cable, Jim Peck wasn't bad either but in 1990 there was a revival and it Jumped The Shark! Pat Finn's version was terrible! they completely changed the game and threw out The Face The Devil round and replaced it with stupid junk of a bonus round like first definition, next definition, ridiculous! I enjoyed The 1972-75 and 1977-86 version, This will always be Jack Barry's Game Show!

"Fifty...Fifty...AND THE DEVIL!! Ohh sorry about that Bob!!" File this under shows that never, EVER, jumped. I don't consider this show as having jumped for a couple of reasons. First of all, yes, Jack Barry was and always will be the man, but let's give poor old Bill Cullen a break...he did his best, and wasn't all THAT bad. Secondly, the 1990's revival does NOT count as The Joker's Wild. The Joker's Wild only ran until 1986 in my humble opinion. In 1990, the show was totally different. The 1990 version should have been called "The Pat Finn Idiotic Rip-Off of The Joker's Wild". Finally, folks...was the audience game really THAT bad? I thought some of the wierdos that made it to the podium were kind of funny to watch actually! And it was a riot to see them get the devil. Bearing in mind that Pat Finn's 1990 verion should NOT be counted (since the format was totally different), I would have to say that this show NEVER jumped.

Joker, JOKER, Jim Peck! The third worst game show host in history, and he was only a temporary replacement. Sad to say THE worst game show host in history (Pat Finn) is tied to this show as well.

Joker...Joker...Shows that Jumped The Shark.I'll take Shows that JTS for $200. Question: Which show JTS when one of its producers and host died? Answer: The Joker's Wild. Ok, TJW was good, I have seen it on GSN. Jack Barry was the man. I like Bill Cullen, but he was horribly out of place, and his age was showing by 1984. Then in 1990, OMG. Pat Finn should've just stuck with Shop 'Til You Drop. I mean the bonus round..."First definition...last definiton...". Dan Enright just bombed that 1990 revival of that and Tic Tac Dough. TJW and TTD just bombed in 1990...I can imagine Barry rolling over in his grave. This show JTS in 2 parts: 1) Jack Barry dies, 2) 1990 when Pat Finn takes over. Where were the categories? Where was the devil? Whew, I'm done.

I was on TJW in 1986. This was the final taping of The Joker's Wild with Bill Cullen as the host. I won against three contestants but the show was rigged. Here is how they got contestants off the show who they think have won enough worthless bullshit Catalina sportswear clothes and minimal money. This is how they axed me. I lost to a sportswriter from the LA Times ...the question he won on included a picture of Goldie Hawn in a soldier uniform...he was asked the question..."Who was this star in this 1980 film titled Private (BLANK)?" What a horsef**k that show was!!!

This show jumped the shark when they seemingly increased the number of jokers on the wheels. It used to be a big deal when a joker came up. By the end this show's run was noteworthy if a spin didn't produce a joker. Typical example of dumbing down a game show.

Only jumped during the Pat Finn 1990 version. He's no Barry or Cullen to say the least. Jack Barry was The Joker's Wild bar none and one of the few to even host, produce, and create a game show at the same time (another was Monty Hall and Chuck Barris) and despite returning to tremendous obscurity after the quiz show scandals of the 1950s, he never gave up, that one more chance on TV would prove the critics wrong that his next creation would not be fixed. They were wrong. TJW was on since I was born and the show was easy to learn mathematics as well ($100..$200..etc.), watch cartoon or comic strip-esque characters on the 3 screens. But like every other, I get freaked out every time the devil appears in the bonus round, always hiding my face from the screen without seeing the dollar figures spin around. I mean, who drew the devil's face? Jack Barry himself. After his death (longtime smoking and drinking habit finally caught up with him) while jogging in Central Park in 1984, Cullen took the reigns over, probably not in Barry's favor, and TJW still survived, although a little slow paced than usual which explains (Thank Goodness!) removing the interrupting audience face the devil game at the end. Cullen kept the show going for the final two years before taking after Barry's health habits of drinking and smoking. And then, Pat Finn. You know the story. Don't make me mention it, please!

When Jack Barry had a heart attack in 1984. Jack wanted Jim Peck to take over in 1984, but Dan Enright chose Bill Cullen and the Joker died. Wink Martindale, who went on to produce his own game shows, and was a millionaire at that point and did not need TTD, so TTD died, and because of the passing of Jack Barry, "Hot Potato", one of B&E's best game shows of that time died, not just because of the dead end time slot on NBC, but just as Jack was starting to get along with NBC, Dan became CEO of B&E and NBC could not stand Dan Enright.

Well, I watched in very early 80's. Jack Barry quite often looked unfocused and quite frankly intoxicated. Or very hung over. More than once, he read the answer before everyone had a shot or said someone was right when they were wrong. Questions were ridiculously easy too. I was watching the day of the "3rd planet from the Sun" question.