Saturday, December 17, 2011

Press Your Luck | No Whammies



Press Your Luck! No Whammy!

Television in the 1980s ruled. With so many entertaining dramas and silly sitcoms, from Love Boat  and CHiPs to Family Ties and The Greatest American Hero, I truly loved TV back then!

I wasn't super into game shows, however Press Your Luck stands out in my mind as being loads of fun. The CBS game show ran from 1983 to 1986 and kept viewers on the edge of their seats. Folks would exclaim, "No Whammy!' and "Big bucks" or "Big Money!" as contestants prayed they wouldn't hit upon those ugly whammies and lose all of their winnings. 

When contestants would hit upon a Whammy, there would be this "Wah Wah" musical sound and an animated ugly Whammy would creep onto the screen and make an insulting joke and giggle in a voice similar to a gremlin. 

Check out this YouTube video of Press Your Luck contestants who hit upon some creepy Whammies.



7 comments:

My Mercurial Nature said...

Haha! I remember the no whammies! Too funny.

b-chica said...

Loved that show. I was also a big fan of "Price is Right" and "Card Sharks". Watching game shows was the best part of staying home sick.

Well, that and Lite Brite.

Lawfrog said...

Check out this link for information on Michael Larson, a guy who memorized the board and beat the Press Your Luck game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Larson

Pretty sad what happened to him in the aftermath, but amazing that he had the patience to do this.

Sabrina Steyling said...

"Press Your Luck" was FANTASTIC! Loved it! I was over the moon a few years ago when Cablevision started carrying Game Show Network because I could see the show again, but then Cablevision dropped it from their family package and put it in with sports networks...so we lost it. :( ( and what game shows have to do with sports I have NO idea)

Martin Maenza said...

This show was very original - using the videos and the humorous ways for the Whammies to wipe out your bank. Very fun indeed.

Steve Bailey said...

Press your luck..awesome
Card Sharks.... awesome
Predict the card or we cut off your finger........ not as awesome!!

J.M. said...

I loved this show, and laughed at the Whammies. This one guy won a ton of money, as he beat the game by memorizing the board's light patterns and only got one whammy.
It took two shows to continue the game and the guy still got the money. However a news report on tv showed that someone had broken into the guy's home and stole all his winnings. The security camera managed to capture a few photos of the would be burglar. Nobody knew whom it was, as the hat and coat covered the identity of the person. Maybe it was a bunch of Whammies getting revenge on the guy.
We'll never forget Peter Tomarkin as he hosted the show and dealt with those wicked whammies. It was funny at the end of the show, as he read poems sent in by views about the whammies. I got the hand held game Press your luck, and now I got the game for the Wii.

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