History Series / Pyramid

A revival of the ''$100,000'' format premiered on ABC on June 26, 2016, hosted by Michael Strahan, offering top prizes of $50,000 and $100,000 in the Winner's Circle. Due to his commitments to ''Good Morning America'', the show returned not only to ABC, but also to New York, having taped there from 1973 until 1982[[note]](with the exception of a brief stint in the 70s at Television City)[[/note]] and for the 2009 CBS pilots. The revival is part of ABC's "Sunday Fun and Games" block alongside the returning ''[[Series/FamilyFeud Celebrity Family Feud]]'' and an also-NY-based reboot of ''Series/MatchGame'' hosted by Creator/AlecBaldwin; all three shows, plus the revival of ''Series/ToTellTheTruth'', have been renewed by ABC for summer 2017 (also joined by a revival of ''Series/TheGongShow'').

* GameShowWinningsCap: It depended on the dollar amount in the title. No, seriously.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

Not to be confused with [[WesternAnimation/{{Pyramid}} the 1988 documentary]] of the same name.

* LaughTrack: ''Donnymid'' used a common {{stock sound effect}} of a cheering crowd for sweetening.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Dick Clark was a celebrity partner on the Cullen and Osmond versions. He had a perfect record on the Cullen version; he won every main game and Winner's Circle.[[note]][[WordOfSaintPaul According to director Mike Gargiulo]], this is why he only appeared twice on the Cullen version. Being partnered with the daytime host was considered an unfair advantage.[[/note]] Several other people have played as both a civilian and a celebrity.

** It took a while to figure out how to signal a Winner's Circle win. On the earliest ''$10,000'' episodes, the camera pulled back from the Circle to show the flashing $10,000 sign. During early episodes of the ABC run (and early Cullen ''$25,000'' episodes), there were brief cuts to a close-up of the flashing sign. After the grand prize was increased to $20,000, they began to use a flashing on-screen graphic of the amount won, which remained the standard for the rest of the classic era.

A revival of the ''$100,000'' format premiered on ABC on June 26, 2016, hosted by Michael Strahan, offering top prizes of $50,000 and $100,000 in the Winner's Circle. Due to his commitments to ''Good Morning America'', the show returned not only to ABC, but also to New York, having taped there from 1973 until 1982 [[note]](with the exception of a brief stint in the 70s at Television City)[[/note]] and for the 2009 CBS pilots. The revival is part of ABC's "Sunday Fun and Games" block alongside the returning ''[[Series/FamilyFeud Celebrity Family Feud]]'' and an also-NY-based reboot of ''Series/MatchGame'' hosted by Creator/AlecBaldwin; all three shows, plus the revival of ''Series/ToTellTheTruth'', have been renewed by ABC for summer 2017 (also joined by a revival of ''Series/TheGongShow'').

** In one Winner's Circle, Adrienne Barbeau tried to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eZcLbGwOF0 flicker her eyelashes]] while giving a clue for "Things That Flicker", causing Dick to chuckle and say, "You dirty dog." This caused an awkward situation when both Dick and Adrienne swore they heard the contestant say "flicker"; when they came back from commercial, it was revealed that he said "flutter", and that even if he ''had'' said "flicker" they wouldn't have accepted it because physical clues aren't allowed [[note]](with the exception of nodding to indicate that the receiver is close to the right answer)[[/note]].

** Subverted on ''$100,000'' with the really tough box "Things That Are Enshrined"; given the clue "hall of fame books", Nathan Cook (the celebrity; they swapped positions) ended up getting it right for $100,000 with less than 10 seconds to spare. It helps that Keefe Ferrandini (the clue-giver) quickly corrected herself, as "Hall of Fame" would have been deemed illegal. [[note]](A "Hall of Fame" is itself a shrine, not something that ''is'' enshrined. On another show, the clue giver gave "Law Library" for "Reference Books," which was not buzzed immediately. Dick explained that the judge gave that clue giver one chance to append the clue with "materials" or something similar before zapping it.)[[/note]] The funny thing is that Nathan Cook gave that exact same clue on an earlier episode.

** '''1973-80 (daytime, following a montage of previous winners):''' "This is ''The $10,000/$20,000 Pyramid''! Today's special guests are [female guest] and [male guest]! And here is your host, Dick Clark!" [[note]](The 1973 episodes from Television City, with Jack Clark announcing, use "Your host is Dick Clark!" Beginning in 1977 the word "now" was added to the last sentence, but reverted to the Television City version by late 1979 or early 1980.)[[/note]]

** '''1981:''' "This is ''The $50,000 Pyramid''! Today's special guests are [female guest] and [male guest]! Your host is Dick Clark!" [[note]](A different intro was used for Tournaments.)[[/note]]
** '''1982-88 (from 1983 onward, following the montage):''' "From Television City in Hollywood, this is ''The (New) $25,000 Pyramid''! Today's special guests are [female guest] and [male guest]! Your host is Dick Clark!" [[note]](Johnny Gilbert used "And (now) here is your host...", while Dean Goss used "Your host — Dick Clark!" ''$100,000'' episodes used a slightly different narration and no clip montage.)[[/note]]
** '''1991:''' "This is the Winner's Circle. This is where someone is guaranteed to win $100,000! From Television City in Hollywood, this is ''The $100,000 Pyramid''! Today's special guests are [female guest] and [male guest]! And now here is your host, John Davidson!" [[note]](Much like ''$50,000'', there were three intros: this one, one when there were three people in the Tournament queue, and one used for the Tournaments themselves.)[[/note]]

** The 1980 GrandFinale featured an "impossible" Winner's Circle with such categories as "Used Car Dealers You Can Trust", "Hit Shows on NBC-TV" [[note]](a jab at Fred Silverman, who had cancelled ''$10,000 Pyramid'' when he worked at CBS, and was now infamously driving NBC into the ground)[[/note]], "Things Kissinger Did Not Foul Up", "Famous Japanese Rabbis", "Oil Companies in Bankruptcy", and "Famous Italian TV Directors".

* SuddenDeath:
** Ties are broken by playing a round of words, with the team who created the tie getting a choice between two letters, which would be found at the beginning of each word in the tiebreaker round. As mentioned above, this got an ObviousRulePatch.
** The 2012 version made it more straightforward: each team got 30 seconds, and kept going until the time was up. Whichever team got the higher score in the 30 seconds won.
** The 2016 version eliminated this, mostly. If there was a tie, the winner was determined by the total time the team got to the tying score. The first time it came around, the winning team won by ''0.5 seconds''.

Two ''$1,000,000'' pilots were taped in New York in 2009 (one with Tim Vincent as host, the other with Creator/DeanCain) for Creator/{{CBS}}; they passed it up for a revival of ''Series/LetsMakeADeal''. They tried to pitch it again in 2010, but lost out again, this time in favor of ''The Talk'', a mother-oriented talk show fronted by (among others) ''Series/BigBrother'' host Julie Chen[[note]]Chen is ''also'' the wife of CBS executive Les Moonves, leading to suggestions that {{nepotism}} was the cause[[/note]]. Three more pilots, now back to ''$25,000'' (with a $500,000 tournament planned) and with Andy Richter as host, were taped for Creator/{{TBS}} on June 22 and 23, 2010.

Two ''$1,000,000'' pilots were taped in New York in 2009 (one with Tim Vincent as host, the other with Creator/DeanCain) for Creator/{{CBS}}; they passed it up for a revival of ''Series/LetsMakeADeal''. They tried to pitch it again in 2010, but lost out again, this time in favor of ''The Talk'', a mother-oriented talk show fronted by (among others) ''Series/BigBrother'' host Julie Chen [[note]]Chen is ''also'' the wife of CBS executive Les Moonves, leading to suggestions that {{nepotism}} was the cause[[/note]]. Three more pilots, now back to ''$25,000'' (with a $500,000 tournament planned) and with Andy Richter as host, were taped for Creator/{{TBS}} on June 22 and 23, 2010.

** It took a while to figure out how to signal a Winner's Circle win. On the earliest ''$10,000'' episodes, the camera pulled back from the Circle to show the flashing $10,000 sign. During early episodes of the ABC run (and early Cullen ''$25,000'' episodes), there were brief cuts to a close-up shot of the flashing sign. After the grand prize was increased to $20,000, they began to flash the amount won on the screen, which remained the standard for the rest of the classic era.

** During the first year or so, the lights dimmed during the Winner's Circle round, something that wouldn't return until the Television City era. In addition, upon a Winner's Circle victory, the camera pulled back from the Circle to show the flashing $10,000 sign.

** Subverted on ''$100,000'' with the really tough box "Things That Are Enshrined"; given the clue "hall of fame books", Nathan Cook (the celebrity; they swapped positions) ended up getting it right for $100,000 with less than 10 seconds to spare. It helps that Keefe Ferrandini (the clue-giver) quickly corrected herself, as "Hall of Fame" would have been deemed illegal. [[note]](A "Hall of Fame" is itself a shrine, not something that ''is'' enshrined.)[[/note]] The funny thing is that Nathan Cook gave that exact same clue earlier on the tournament for that category.

** Subverted on ''$100,000'' with the really tough box "Things That Are Enshrined"; given the clue "hall of fame books", Nathan Cook (the celebrity; they swapped positions) ended up getting it right for $100,000 with less than 10 seconds to spare. It helps that Keefe Ferrandini (the clue-giver) quickly corrected herself, as "Hall of Fame" would have been deemed illegal. [[note]](A "Hall of Fame" is itself a shrine, not something that ''is'' enshrined.)[[/note]]

* ShoutOut: "Shows hosted by Dick Clark" was a Winner's Circle subject at least twice (once on ''$25,000'', and again on [[https://youtu.be/DXF7GaMEGGA ''Donnymid'']]).

* ShoutOut: "Shows hosted by Dick Clark" was a Winner's Circle subject at least twice (once on ''$25,000'', and again on ''Donnymid'').

[[NamesTheSame Not to be confused with]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Pyramid}} the 1988 documentary]] [[NamesTheSame of the same name.]]

* EpicFail:
** On many occasions, a team lagged far enough behind that the game ended after the fifth category (unless the sixth was a bonus). At least four times (October 19, 1982; May 25, 1985; May 1, 1986; and July 29, 2018 on the Strahan version), the game ended after '''four'''.
** On one early episode of ''$10,000'', Barbara Feldon [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7n1PFjqf1M was faced]] with the box "[[Creator/ElizabethTaylor Liz's]] Husbands". She spent nearly half the timer listing off all of them several times, but the contestant still never got it.
** 1978: Jamie Lee Curtis and her contestant partner nailed the first five subjects in 24 seconds, but spent the remainder of their time stuck on "Things That Are Produced".
** On ''$20,000'', Creator/DavidLetterman [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl5gNqZp_-A breezed through the first five boxes]], but despite having more than 30 seconds, was still unable to convey "Flexible Things" in time.
** July 22, 1983: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbEMtlmlc5I Abby Dalton]] manages to score only $50 in the Winner's Circle, and doesn't even get past the fourth box.
** 1988 (''$100,000''): David Graf and his contestant partner breezed through the first five boxes, looking like they might match or beat Billy Crystal's record. They then managed to spend nearly 40 seconds failing to get the top box, "Things You Plan".
** More than once, the second half of a tiebreaker round ended because the contestants cuckooed on the first word.
** On at least three occasions (one on ''New $25,000'', one on Davidson's ''$100,000'', and one on ''Donnymid''), a team got $0 in the Winner's Circle. The one on ''New $25,000'' was also one of the only times the contestant gave clues (though this was Tom Poston's fault, and he had played with her before and cleared the Winner's Circle!)
** Connie Francis's week on ''$20,000'' was made of this; she failed to win any games period (a first) due to Nipsey Russell also playing, and that quickly became obvious to the contestants and essentially forced them to win the Winner's Circle on their first try. This meant winning the $15,000 or $20,000 was out of the question except for the winner of the very last game. This earned a spot on ''Literature/WhatWereTheyThinkingThe100DumbestEventsInTelevisionHistory''.
** On [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8YhUVAu24Y one episode]] of ''$100,000'', Jackée Harry managed to get three buzzers in the Winner's Circle ("Contacts" for "Things with a lens", then accidentally saying "Stuffed animals" on "Things that are stuffed", and then "A wave's top" for "Things with a crest"[[note]]since "a wave's top" ''is'' a crest[[/note]]).

** '''2016-:''' "From the ABC Studios in New York, this is ''The $100,000 Pyramid''! Tonight's celebrity guests are [guest] and [other guest]! And now, here's your host, Michael Strahan!"

** During the first year or so, the lights dimmed during the Winner's Circle round, something that wouldn't return until the Television City era. In addition, the camera zoomed out from the pyramid upon a Winner's Circle victory.