It was thirty years ago today on Wednesday, December 13, 1978, ABC-TV aired an episode of The $20,000 Pyramid at 12:00noon Eastern, and with host Dick Clark plus celebrity guests Anita Gillette and David Letterman (his first week on the show).  It was ABC Pyramid production #1181 [VTR = Friday, November 17, 1978), and produced at the network's Studio TV-15 on West 58th Street in Manhattan.
 
This episode was originally personally seen by me in my home on its initial broadcast via WABC-TV Channel 7 in New York, but would later be repeated on the GSN cable network about six times between 1997 and 2002.  It was the first time I had seen David Letterman ever on a game show, and the celebrity guest who appeared in the opening montage was actress Debralee Scott.
 
Some of the highlights that had happened on this particular episode of The $20,000 Pyramid include the following:
 

• A $1,000 bonus for a perfect 21 score in the first main game.
• A $15,000 win at the giant board with six seconds leftover after the category "Things That Have A Switch" was answered.
• During one round in the second main game, guest David Letterman finally answers a word as "Time...table" using up 12 or so seconds.
• A tie-breaker round runs a bit over due to a minor, premature judging goof, thus no second Winner's Circle round until the next day's episode.
  

Going a bit off-tangent, this $20,000 Pyramid episode aired one day after a major New York City subway derailment occurred at the 59th Street-Columbus Circle station in Manhattan, just a few blocks away from ABC Studio TV-15.  Whenever I see my VHS tape copy of the GSN repeat from this same episode broadcast in my private collection, I automatically think of the accident that happened along the 8th Avenue subway route.

Sincerely,
William A. Padron
wapadron@...
wapadron@...

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