The Joker's Wild (1986): Cullen's last show

The final game and goodbye from Bill Cullen. Bill definitely went out on a high note closing a respectable long-running series.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Joker's
• Wild
• Bill
• Cullen

[WREYNetwork]

I notice that there is a jump in the theme after the fee plugs... Perhaps in post-production they edited out the new prize that was going to be added to Natural Triple Jackpot for the new season knowing that the show was not going to continue in the same format...

[chrisivision07]

Great catch, but I actually made that edit to fit as much game action and to still keep it under the 11 minute YouTube limit. There were originally a few taped fee plugs (brief 10 sec. commercial spots) in the middle there before it cut back to the credits and music, so that's why the music jumped.

[MarkNF82]

Barbra Eden was in Bewitched? hmmm. Guess Elizabeth Montgomery cast a spell on him.

[chrisivision07]

LOL, yeah that VO was totally screwed up, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was done live and on top of that the whole thing was mumbled.

[TheKid965]

Yeah, Uncle Bill had definitely lost some of the zing off his fastball by this point in his career. But if you want to know the truth, I'll take a waning Bill Cullen over just about any other host at the top of their game. He was THAT good.

[TVLubber]

Best Barry-Enright show ever! I wish it would come back.

[oldertvshowswerebetr]

Best game show theme of all time - the TJW closing theme. Another clip on here has the full closing flawless and I've downloaded it and played it endlessly.

[BARNEYFATSWALT]

Bill Cullen might still be alive today!If If was not for one thing!--CIGARETTES! Michael Davies said that if Bill Cullen was still alive in 1999! Bill Cullen would have been his First choice to host Who wants to be a Millionaire!

[JeterSwisherFan88]

@tnawcwvictoria GSN should definitely create a 'Classics' sub-channel like Cartoon Network and Boomerang, because the older game shows, which that network used to telecast (excluding 'Match Game,' 'Jeopardy,' and 'Wheel of Fortune'), are slowly fading away from television as we used to know it.

[usa02]

Not only "The Jokers Wild" was canceled, also "Tic Tac Dough" and Tom Kennedy's version of "The Price is Right" were canceled too.

BTW, Syndicated powerhouse "Wheel of Fortune" was sweeping the Syndicated game show ratings at the time.

[tnawcwvictoria]

Well I think that if GSN won't show B&E Game Shows, @ least let some other network do so, I mean CBN and USA did it, I would rather see WGN America do so or another GSN Spin-off just like Cartoon Network did w/Boomerang letting them keep Classics alive.

[9409312]

BTW Richard's final total on the last episode of The Joker's Wild in 1986 is $4,925.00 in cash and prizes.

[megamanj2004X]

however, at least the '90s version partially paid homage to the original CBS version by naming it "Jack Barry Productions."

Also on that version's board, they even had a plaque containing Jack Barry's name on it.

[9409312]

Not necessarily Bill Cullen very last TV appearance is in 1987 when he was a guest on the game show the $25,000 Pyramid with Dick Clark

[143AC]

Although,he didn't show any emotions hosting "The Joker's Wild!"..his last tv game show..prior to his death? I can only imagine poor Mr.Cullen going backstage and crying and saying"My God! I'll never be able to do this again!" and..(Crying)I'd be crying with him backstage too!

[johnissoevil]

You mean IF they come back to GSN. It doesn't look too likely, the B&E shows weren't GSN's highest rated shows over the years. TTD bombed when they brought it back last year.