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1Jay Wolpert (January 29, 1942 – January 3, 2022) was an American GameShow producer born in New York City, New York. He started off as a ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' Tournament of Champions winner in 1969, but then entered the game show trade himself. At first he worked with the other major production companies of the era, but his most prominent work came at [[Creator/MarkGoodson Goodson-Todman]], where he helped produce ''[[Series/ThePriceIsRight The (New) Price is Right]]'' from 1972-78 and created the short-lived quiz show ''[[Series/DoubleDare1976 Double Dare]]'' (the one with Alex Trebek).
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3Wolpert's time at ''Price'' was notable for establishing the [[BonusRound Showcase]] skits that debuted in 1974, where his fertile mind went to work on creating fairy tale and film parodies, Captain Klutz and the April Fool's Day Showcases. After leaving ''Price'', Wolpert started his own production company, and began producing his own game shows such as ''Series/{{Blackout}}'' and ''Series/{{Whew}}'' for CBS, and ''Series/HitMan'' for NBC. He also worked on two Goodson revivals for first-run syndication: ''The New Price Is Right'' with Doug Davidson (1994-95), and a revival of ''Series/MatchGame'' hosted by Michael Burger (1998-99). His longest-running show was ''Series/ShoppingSpree'', which he created for [[Creator/{{Freeform}} The Family Channel]]; it was renewed for a second season, but the series (as well as its partner, ''[[Series/ShopTilYouDrop The New Shop Til You Drop]]'') met its fate in 1998 after the acquisition of the channel by Creator/{{Fox}}.
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5After ''Spree'' ended, Wolpert's company stopped producing new shows, but Wolpert continued working with others and dabbled in screenwriting a bit too. He was credited for the script of ''Film/{{The Count of Monte Cristo|2002}}'', story in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'', and as a consultant for the "Super Mix" (2010-15) changes to ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''. He also has a cameo as a doctor in ''[[Film/FatherOfTheBride1991 Father of the Bride Part II]]'' (produced by his one-time production assistant Creator/NancyMeyers, who [[https://web.archive.org/web/20071021012234/http://storylink.com/article/171 later gave him the idea to start screenwriting]]).
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7Wolpert died on January 2, 2022 at the age of 79, from complications of Alzheimer's disease.
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10Several tropes are recurring in many of Wolpert's game shows:
11* An AnimatedCreditsOpening showing the basic premise of the game (''Whew, Trivial Pursuit, Blackout, Shopping Spree'');
12* The rules approaching {{Calvinball}} levels of complexity and/or a generally bizarre theme (pretty much all of them)
13* Suspenseful ThinkMusic during the bonus round that featured alternating notes on each second, as well as repetitive {{Truck Drivers Gear Change}}s (''Blackout, Rodeo Drive, Wait Til You Have Kids'');
14* Rod Roddy as announcer in the 70s and 80s, with Burton Richardson taking his place in the 90s.
15* Bonus losses being punctuated by a unique SignatureSoundEffect (''Whew, Hit Man'') or particularly bizarre LosingHorns (''[[Series/DoubleDare1976 Double Dare]]'', ''Blackout, Rodeo Drive, Shopping Spree, Wait Til You Have Kids'')
16** ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' may also qualify since Wolpert had his hand in the first few years of the current version (the TropeCodifier for LosingHorns) as well as the 1994 syndicated version (which gave us one of the most extreme examples of the trope in the entire genre).
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18!!Shows originally produced by Jay Wolpert Productions include:
19* ''Series/{{Whew}}'' (1979-80; at least three pilots were taped December 4, 1978)
20* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkJJrmt7ano Pandemonium]]'' (November 2-3, 1979; unsold pilots hosted by Steve Edwards)
21* ''Duel In The Daytime'' (August 22-23, 1981; at least three pilots, hosted by Peter Tomarken)
22* ''Series/HitMan'' (1983; later adapted in 1989 by [[Creator/{{ITV}} TVS]] for a brief time)
23* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq0k55aIHm8 Fortune Hunters]]'' (August 19, 1983; unsold pilot hosted by Robert "Bob" Hadley)
24* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G3Lj-NOtuo Pie In The Sky]]'' (July 22, 1984; unsold pilot hosted by Bob Goen)
25* ''[[http://www.usgameshows.net/x.php?show=FastFriends Fast Friends]]'' (November 28, 1984; at least two pilots, hosted by Bob Goen; later adapted in 1990 on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC 1]] with [[Series/BlanketyBlank Les Dawson]])
26* ''TabletopGame/TrivialPursuit'' (1986-87; at least four pilots, hosted by Steve Morris and Linda Marr {although the latter was removed for the '87 attempt}; Wink Martindale would later create his own series based off the game in 1993 for The Family Channel, and 2008 saw the Hasbro-backed ''Trivial Pursuit: America Plays'')
27* ''Series/{{Blackout}}'' (1988; pilot taped November 8, 1986 with Robb Weller hosting)
28* ''Series/{{Skedaddle}}'' (1988; part of ''The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera'')
29* ''Rodeo Drive'' (1990; began as a 1980 CBS pilot hosted by Peter Tomarken)
30* ''Series/WaitTilYouHaveKids'' (1996-97)
31* ''Series/ShoppingSpree'' (1996-98)

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