Sale of The Century (Johnsonverse)

Sale of The Century (stylized as $ale of The Century, also formerly known as Sale of the New Century and Temptation: The New Sale of The Century) is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being the short-lived game shows Letters to Laugh-In and Name Droppers. The series aired until July 13, 1973, and a weekly syndicated series began that fall and ran for one season.
The rights to the show were purchased in 1980 by Australian TV mogul Reg Grundy, who produced a similar show called Great Temptation in the 1970s. Grundy subsequently launched an Australian version of Sale of The Century in 1980. Grundy's modified format was then used in a revived American Sale of The Century that aired on NBC daytime from January 3, 1983 to March 24, 1989. It was one of three NBC game shows premiering on the same date, along with Hit Man and Just Men! (both of which aired for only 13 weeks), and (like its predecessor) led to a syndicated edition that ran from January 7, 1985 to May 28, 2004. Grundy's format has also been adopted in other countries.
The game consists of contestants answering general knowledge questions. At certain points during the game, the player currently in the lead is offered an "Instant Bargain", a prize to keep regardless of the game's outcome, in exchange for a certain amount deducted from that contestant's score.
Actor Jack Kelly hosted the original series from 1969 to 1971, then decided to return to acting full-time. He was replaced by Joe Garagiola, who hosted the remainder of the daytime series plus the one season in syndication. Jim Perry then hosted both its NBC version during its entire run and its syndicated counterpart from 1985 until leaving in 1994, when he was replaced by Steve Edwards; Perry would return to host the NBC primetime run. Edwards hosted the syndicated version until its end in 2004. Former Sale contestant Mark DeCarlo has hosted the current edition since its 2007 debut. Al Howard was the executive producer of the initial 1969–1974 version, and for a short time was co-executive producer of the 1980s version with Robert Noah.
On March 3, 2000, NBC commissioned a primetime revival of the series. This version was titled Sale of The New Century, which carried over to the syndicated version, but was then changed back to Sale of The Century in July of 2001. The primetime series continued until June 28, 2002.
A revival of the series named Temptation, like the 2005 Australian revival, debuted in syndication on September 10, 2007, following a September 7 preview on MyNetworkTV. This series was renamed back to Sale of The Century in September 2009, and has aired ever since.
Reruns of Sale have aired on various channels over the years. The show was first rerun on the USA Network from 1992 to 1994, consisting of episodes from the 1980s NBC daytime run. Game Show Network picked up the rights to rerun Sale in 1996, originally rerunning NBC daytime episodes, but added episodes from the Perry-era syndicated run in 2000, and then added Edwards-era episodes and NBC primetime episodes in 2002.
Category:Johnsonverse
Category:Game shows