Classic TV: Press Your Luck (1983)

In 1977, producer Bill Carruthers sold a nice little game show entitled Second Chance to ABC. It lasted just shy of four months. Why? ABC stuck it at noon (ET), where affiliates, including here in the home market, were trying out a lunch hour newscast.

Six years later, Carruthers tried again, retooling his concept. He'd used a visual iteration of the devil, borrowing from Jack Barry's Joker's Wild, and maybe that, too, had something to do with the failure of Second Chance. He subbed out the devil for some gremlins that were christened Whammies. Their cartoonish appearance could appeal to the kiddos who were home from school during vacations.

The end result? Press Your Luck ran for three years on CBS (1983-6) as a lead-in to The Price is Right. Host Peter Tomarken had just come off a failure of his own, Jay Wolpert's Hit Man over on NBC, when he & announcer Rod Roddy were signed for Luck.

This time around, the show developed a devoted fan following, turning those gremlins into cult favorites. In 2002, Game Show Network revived the series as Whammy!: The All-New Press Your Luck, which ran for a couple of years by itself.

We're bringing this up because Fremantle Media, the current rights holder, has brokered a deal with ABC to revive Luck, bringing the concept full circle, this summer. No host has been announced as yet, but ABC is adding to its Summer of Games line of revivals with Luck and the former Goodson-Todman game, Card Sharks.

It's been 13 years since both were part of CBS' Game Show Marathon with Ricki Lake. Can a short-season revival work? We'll soon see. For right now, let's take a time trip to the 80's.....

Rating: A.