Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal (2003 TV Movie)
Almost twenty years later, Tomarken, producer Bill Carruthers, and those associated with Press Your Luck and Larson revisited this infamous moment in television history, on the Game Show Network special Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal. How did Larson do it? For months he studied the game at home and caught a pattern that would allow him to rack up the big bucks without hitting a whammy. To say this is the biggest scandal in game show history might be an understatement. Have you ever wondered what the biggest game show scandals in history were? At one point, even Congress got involved in order to prevent cheating and scandals in the TV industry! Whether it’s beating the system to win money or the game shows just trying to get viewers, these are 25 Biggest Game Show Scandals In TV History! James Holzhauer’s recent 33-game run on “Jeopardy!” has turned a focus back onto game shows, so the timing is fortuitous for “Press Your Luck,” hosted by Elizabeth Banks and airing in. Congress passed amendments to the Communications Act of 1934, the game show genre lay dormant for decades and Robert Redford made a little film documenting the whole sordid affair. “Twenty One” may.
Review this title Highly InterestingMichaelMovieLoft17 March 2003
Michael Larsen is the stuff game show legends are made of. He cracked the code of Press Your Luck and smoked CBS out of over $110,000. The key was he memorized the board and knew where to land. All he had to know was two spots to land on. Of course, he had a lot of time to memorize it since he was unemployed.
The bonus of this documentary was they showed both episodes documenting Michael's run at big bucks and no Whammies. These episodes had not been seen since the original broadcast in 1984. The incident obviously gave CBS a black eye. In between episodes, they analyze the episodes. You could see Michael was in his zone while he spun the big board.
The documentary also reunited Michael's opponents and got their point of view. Peter Tomarken is also on hand to provide narration. But it also showed the dark side of a game show contestant. Michael Larsen was a gambler from day one. He wanted that quick buck, and when Press Your Luck came by, he seized the opportunity. For years, we all thought he sunk all of his money into a housing deal gone bad, and lost everything. But as the documentary reveals, much of the money was stolen. He kept much of his money in his house, which made it easy for someone to take it. Larsen continued trying to make the quick buck by getting involved in 'get rich quick' schemes (which of course, never work). He died under a huge cloud of mystery while being investigated by the IRS and SEC.
Kudos to the Game Show Network for giving this moment in game show history the attention it deserves.
The bonus of this documentary was they showed both episodes documenting Michael's run at big bucks and no Whammies. These episodes had not been seen since the original broadcast in 1984. The incident obviously gave CBS a black eye. In between episodes, they analyze the episodes. You could see Michael was in his zone while he spun the big board.
The documentary also reunited Michael's opponents and got their point of view. Peter Tomarken is also on hand to provide narration. But it also showed the dark side of a game show contestant. Michael Larsen was a gambler from day one. He wanted that quick buck, and when Press Your Luck came by, he seized the opportunity. For years, we all thought he sunk all of his money into a housing deal gone bad, and lost everything. But as the documentary reveals, much of the money was stolen. He kept much of his money in his house, which made it easy for someone to take it. Larsen continued trying to make the quick buck by getting involved in 'get rich quick' schemes (which of course, never work). He died under a huge cloud of mystery while being investigated by the IRS and SEC.
Kudos to the Game Show Network for giving this moment in game show history the attention it deserves.
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One very quick 2 hours!Permalink
Carmen-517 March 2003
I tuned into this documentary with a vague knowledge of the story. I remembered hearing about the guy who figured out the board when I was a kid. Then when I heard that Game Show Network decided to make a documentary about him, I figured I'd tune in.
The story gives some insight as to who Michael Larson was and then shifts its attention to an analyzed replay of the two episodes Michael was in. (Larson did so well, his turn could not fit into one 30 minute airing!) It was amazing to see just how this guy did it and got so much money from the board! I think that was the greatest part of this special.
Still, even knowing the pattern, Larson sure had to be quick.
Nice to see Peter hosting as well. He narrated the piece decently. Besides- he was a good choice to host this special since of course he hosted the original 'Press Your Luck.'
The story gives some insight as to who Michael Larson was and then shifts its attention to an analyzed replay of the two episodes Michael was in. (Larson did so well, his turn could not fit into one 30 minute airing!) It was amazing to see just how this guy did it and got so much money from the board! I think that was the greatest part of this special.
Still, even knowing the pattern, Larson sure had to be quick.
Nice to see Peter hosting as well. He narrated the piece decently. Besides- he was a good choice to host this special since of course he hosted the original 'Press Your Luck.'
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An interesting findPermalink
One day I saw an article about Michael Larson, and wondered if he really had done this. Searching for it turned up little if anything. About a month later, I saw this on TV and taped it. I don't know where the tape is, but it is an interesting documentary.
It tells how Michael Larson, a self-employed ice-cream truck driver, changed from having almost nothing, ending up with a fortune, and then losing it all in the end.
It also provides a look back at how Press Your Luck producers did not realize that the game was fallible. Looking at this documentary, I realized it was very insightful. I do wish Game Show Network (now GSN) would release this as a video/DVD.
It tells how Michael Larson, a self-employed ice-cream truck driver, changed from having almost nothing, ending up with a fortune, and then losing it all in the end.
It also provides a look back at how Press Your Luck producers did not realize that the game was fallible. Looking at this documentary, I realized it was very insightful. I do wish Game Show Network (now GSN) would release this as a video/DVD.
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Greed and game shows.Permalink
Press Your Luck was one of my favorite game shows as a kid. I loved the enthusiasm of the contestants (although a lot of it was forced) and the big money you could win at the time. Peter Tomarken was the perfect host for the show with his zaniness. However, I didn't know until a couple of years ago about the Michael Larson incident that nearly brought the show down.
Mr. Larson was a gambler with a Ralph Kramden zen for quick rich schemes. He stumbled upon PYL and studied the patterns until he cracked the code that would allow him to win unlimited money if he could hit the buzzer correctly. He managed to get himself on the show and walked away with a sailboat, two vacations, and over 100,000 in CBS's money.
This documentary on the once great GSN talks about the incident with PYL execs, Tomarken, relatives and friends of Larson, and the two contestants that were playing against Larson that day. They show the very patterns that Larson was able to exploit, the stress that was coming onto Larson as his pot grew bigger, and his facial expressions via a split-second camera that CBS happened to have on them during the tapings. It's very well done and very engrossing.
Sadly, you can see this documentary only when GSN airs it and you'll have to wade through the worst commercials ever made. Still, it's worth watching to learn about how greed can eventually do you in.
One funny thing. An exec who met with Michael Larson, who claimed he drove an ice cream truck, was leery about putting him on the show. He felt that there was something not quite right with him. Today, if Mr. Larson were alive and wanted to appear on GSN's 'Whammy:The All New Press Your Luck' in an attempt to break their bank he'd be brought in with open arms. There have been some very colourful looking people appearing on that game.
Mr. Larson was a gambler with a Ralph Kramden zen for quick rich schemes. He stumbled upon PYL and studied the patterns until he cracked the code that would allow him to win unlimited money if he could hit the buzzer correctly. He managed to get himself on the show and walked away with a sailboat, two vacations, and over 100,000 in CBS's money.
This documentary on the once great GSN talks about the incident with PYL execs, Tomarken, relatives and friends of Larson, and the two contestants that were playing against Larson that day. They show the very patterns that Larson was able to exploit, the stress that was coming onto Larson as his pot grew bigger, and his facial expressions via a split-second camera that CBS happened to have on them during the tapings. It's very well done and very engrossing.
Sadly, you can see this documentary only when GSN airs it and you'll have to wade through the worst commercials ever made. Still, it's worth watching to learn about how greed can eventually do you in.
One funny thing. An exec who met with Michael Larson, who claimed he drove an ice cream truck, was leery about putting him on the show. He felt that there was something not quite right with him. Today, if Mr. Larson were alive and wanted to appear on GSN's 'Whammy:The All New Press Your Luck' in an attempt to break their bank he'd be brought in with open arms. There have been some very colourful looking people appearing on that game.
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Genius or Cheat?Permalink
Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal (2003)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Highly entertaining documentary taking a look at Michael Larson, an out of work ice cream truck driver who made his way from Ohio to Los Angeles where he got on the Press Your Luck game show and ended up walking away with over $110,000. How did Larson do it? For months he studied the game at home and caught a pattern that would allow him to rack up the big bucks without hitting a whammy. To say this is the biggest scandal in game show history might be an understatement. There's certainly something interesting about what Larson did as some are going to call him a genius while others are going to call him a cheat. Personally speaking I can't help but call him a genius and I would never use the word cheat since there was a way to break the board and he found out how to do it. I think most of the blame has to go to the network for not having a plan in case something like this ever happened. The documentary does a very good job at telling the story of how a man from Ohio won a ton of cash from CBS who were pretty much dumbfounded by what was going on. The documentary features host Peter Tomarken talking about what was going on during the taping of the show but we also get interviews with the director, creator and others involved in the show including the two other contestants that Larson was going up against. The film also features the entire episode that was originally aired over two days but was never seen again until this documentary. Fans of the show or just scandals in general will certainly want to check this out as the entire thing is just bizarre to say the least.
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Highly entertaining documentary taking a look at Michael Larson, an out of work ice cream truck driver who made his way from Ohio to Los Angeles where he got on the Press Your Luck game show and ended up walking away with over $110,000. How did Larson do it? For months he studied the game at home and caught a pattern that would allow him to rack up the big bucks without hitting a whammy. To say this is the biggest scandal in game show history might be an understatement. There's certainly something interesting about what Larson did as some are going to call him a genius while others are going to call him a cheat. Personally speaking I can't help but call him a genius and I would never use the word cheat since there was a way to break the board and he found out how to do it. I think most of the blame has to go to the network for not having a plan in case something like this ever happened. The documentary does a very good job at telling the story of how a man from Ohio won a ton of cash from CBS who were pretty much dumbfounded by what was going on. The documentary features host Peter Tomarken talking about what was going on during the taping of the show but we also get interviews with the director, creator and others involved in the show including the two other contestants that Larson was going up against. The film also features the entire episode that was originally aired over two days but was never seen again until this documentary. Fans of the show or just scandals in general will certainly want to check this out as the entire thing is just bizarre to say the least.
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Good Story gets Buried by all the Filler.Permalink
juliankennedy2324 January 2019
![Whammy Whammy](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gameshows/images/d/db/Big_bucks.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150101111928)
Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal: 5 out of 10: Michael Larson is an out of work Ice Cream truck driver who got on the game show Press Your Luck and ran the board for over a hundred thousand dollars. This is his story.
I just reviewed a documentary about a game show scandal (Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much) and here I am on some sort of theme week or something. Though I gave both documentaries the same score they couldn't be more different.
Perfect Bid is about someone who broke the code in the Price is Right in the banalest way possible. He memorized all the prices of the items. In Big Bucks Michael Larson figured out that the game board had certain patterns and with the right amount of hand-eye coordination you could make a run for 'Big Bucks' and not lose.
If you are unfamiliar with Press Your Luck it is a very simple trivia contest followed by a combination video game/ slot machine with not just prizes but little cartoon whammies that if you landed on them would cost you all your winnings. The chance of landing on a whammy was one in six. It was an actually good game that was entertaining even without the most dynamic contestants or host. What Larson figured out is that there were spaces which never got a whammy and by learning the seemingly random patterns he could hit the button just so where he always landed on those spaces. In other words, he figured how to break the house.
I got the sense that director James P. Taylor Jr. was not looking forward to doing a documentary on a game show contestant cause he paints Michael Larson like he was the prime suspect on Unsolved Mysteries. Not for the game show stuff. Everyone agrees that was slick but otherwise on the up and up. His life is examined as if we will find out about the dead hookers in his basement after the next commercial break. Unfortunately for the director Michael made poor choices but was otherwise an unremarkable person.
So when your subject matter is more a loser than a serial killer how do you fill the rest of the hour and twenty odd minutes. Hope you like Press Your Luck cause we are showing the entire episode Michael was on and even slowing it down to appear scientific in places. They also recreate the episode on a cheap soundstage with the two other contestants fifteen years later and original host Peter Tomarken who also 'hosts' this documentary.
Is there enough material here for a full-length documentary? Not even close. The how he did it is fascinating but this is at best a half hour episode.
Do I feel bad for director James P. Taylor Jr.? A little bit. Your next job is directing a feature-length film for The Game Show Channel is not the news anyone wants to receive sober. When he found out his contestant was a former unemployed Ice Cream Truck driver who disappeared soon after his money was stolen he has to have had high hopes for a juicy Errol Morris expose. Unfortunately for both himself and the audience, it was not to be.
Any other takeaways? Host Peter Tomarken's outfit from the early eighties was actually pretty sharp with nice pastels and a tie sweater vest combo.
With way too much filler and reality TV tropes (this is the director of When Animals Attack 3 after all) the kernel of a good story gets buried by all the filler.
I just reviewed a documentary about a game show scandal (Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much) and here I am on some sort of theme week or something. Though I gave both documentaries the same score they couldn't be more different.
Perfect Bid is about someone who broke the code in the Price is Right in the banalest way possible. He memorized all the prices of the items. In Big Bucks Michael Larson figured out that the game board had certain patterns and with the right amount of hand-eye coordination you could make a run for 'Big Bucks' and not lose.
If you are unfamiliar with Press Your Luck it is a very simple trivia contest followed by a combination video game/ slot machine with not just prizes but little cartoon whammies that if you landed on them would cost you all your winnings. The chance of landing on a whammy was one in six. It was an actually good game that was entertaining even without the most dynamic contestants or host. What Larson figured out is that there were spaces which never got a whammy and by learning the seemingly random patterns he could hit the button just so where he always landed on those spaces. In other words, he figured how to break the house.
I got the sense that director James P. Taylor Jr. was not looking forward to doing a documentary on a game show contestant cause he paints Michael Larson like he was the prime suspect on Unsolved Mysteries. Not for the game show stuff. Everyone agrees that was slick but otherwise on the up and up. His life is examined as if we will find out about the dead hookers in his basement after the next commercial break. Unfortunately for the director Michael made poor choices but was otherwise an unremarkable person.
So when your subject matter is more a loser than a serial killer how do you fill the rest of the hour and twenty odd minutes. Hope you like Press Your Luck cause we are showing the entire episode Michael was on and even slowing it down to appear scientific in places. They also recreate the episode on a cheap soundstage with the two other contestants fifteen years later and original host Peter Tomarken who also 'hosts' this documentary.
Is there enough material here for a full-length documentary? Not even close. The how he did it is fascinating but this is at best a half hour episode.
Do I feel bad for director James P. Taylor Jr.? A little bit. Your next job is directing a feature-length film for The Game Show Channel is not the news anyone wants to receive sober. When he found out his contestant was a former unemployed Ice Cream Truck driver who disappeared soon after his money was stolen he has to have had high hopes for a juicy Errol Morris expose. Unfortunately for both himself and the audience, it was not to be.
Any other takeaways? Host Peter Tomarken's outfit from the early eighties was actually pretty sharp with nice pastels and a tie sweater vest combo.
With way too much filler and reality TV tropes (this is the director of When Animals Attack 3 after all) the kernel of a good story gets buried by all the filler.
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Such A Sore LooserPermalink
minerals27 January 2008
When this aired on Game show network and some others gathered with me to see this I could not believe how Peter Tomarkin had become such a sore looser. He was at times insulting Larson. He in some of my friends views was also giving Bob Barker, Regis Philben, Pat Sajak, Vanna White and Alex Trebek bad names because of how he was fussing over a mere 100 thousand dollars being won by one man where at the time this aired in 2003 Bob Barker and the others were giving away prize combinations that would be higher value than what Larson won. Some people that were with me were wanting to see Alex, Pat and Regis come in and slap Peter with a white glove then have Vanna hit him with her purse and have Bob give him a Chuck Norris Karate Kick because of how those who were with me felt that Peter was insulting all those other hosts by fussing over how a man won a mere 100 thousand dollars where all these others were giving away money amounts and prizes that valued over the amount that was won by Larson.
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Larson during his appearance on Press Your Luck in 1984 | |
Born | May 10, 1949 Lebanon, Ohio, U.S.[1] |
---|---|
Died | February 16, 1999 (aged 49) |
Occupation | Assistant manager Ice cream truck driver Air conditioning mechanic |
Known for | Game show champion (Press Your Luck) |
Partner(s) | Teresa McGlynn Dinwitty (1983–1994)[2] 2 previous marriages and divorces[3] |
Children | 3 |
Paul Michael Larson[3] (May 10, 1949 – February 16, 1999) was an American contestant on the television game showPress Your Luck in 1984. Larson is notable for winning $110,237 (equivalent to $266,000 in 2018)[4] in cash and prizes, at the time the largest one-day total ever won on a game show. He was able to win by memorizing the patterns used on the Press Your Luck game board.
Originally from southwestern Ohio, Larson used his cash winnings for taxes and real estate investments. However, he also had problems with the law and was involved in illegal schemes.[3] As a result, Larson lost all of his winnings within two years of the show's taping and moved to Florida, where he later died of throat cancer at the age of 49. Since his death in 1999, Larson's game has re-aired on TV at various times and inspired two Game Show Network documentaries: Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal in 2003 and Cover Story: The Press Your Luck Scandal in 2018.
- 2The game
Preparations[edit]
Game Show Whammy Scandal Youtube
Part of one game board pattern that Larson memorized to win over $110,000. Squares four and eight never featured a Whammy; they always contained cash (and in Round 2, an extra spin)
The board configuration from Round 2 used during the episodes on which Larson appeared. The '+S' denotes spaces that awarded an additional spin, a feature critical to allowing Larson to go on his run.
Michael Larson began recording episodes of Press Your Luck shortly after its premiere on CBS in September 1983. While watching, he noticed that the randomizer that moved the light indicator around the 18-square 'Big Board' had only five patterns. Larson began memorizing these patterns, increasingly confident he could predict when and where the randomizer would land. As he locked in the patterns, Larson began playing along with the 'Big Board' rounds to test his hypothesis, pausing his VHS tape at various intervals with the remote control.[3]
Moreover, Larson discovered that the fourth and eighth squares (from #1 in the top left corner then clockwise around the board) always contained cash and never a 'Whammy,' a bandit-like cartoon character that, when landed on, would result in the resetting of the player's score to zero, accompanied by an on-screen animation that showed the Whammy taking the player's earnings. Larson also learned that square #4 always contained the top dollar values and that, in the second round, contestants were awarded an additional spin if landing on those spots ($3,000, $4,000, or $5,000 in square #4, and $500, $750, or $1,000 in square #8). This proved crucial to Larson's theory, as he could retain control of the board in the second round as long as he wished if he kept following the patterns.[3]
In May 1984, Larson used most of his savings to fly to Los Angeles to audition for Press Your Luck. Contestant supervisor Bobby Edwards was suspicious of Larson's motives when he interviewed Larson on May 19, and was unwilling to allow him on the show, but executive producer Bill Carruthers overruled him, a move he said he later regretted.[3] Larson was added as a contestant on the fourth episode of the taping session, intended to air Friday, June 8, 1984.[3]
While waiting in the green room, Larson met Ed Long, a Baptist minister from California booked for the third episode of the session. They struck up a conversation. Long recalled that Larson asked how many times he had seen the show. When Long replied he had seen it only once, Larson responded by looking at him as though he 'were from another planet.'[3] Larson told Long, 'I really hope we don't have to play each other,' before leaving the green room, but they would in fact face off as Long won his match and a total of $11,516 in cash and prizes.[3] The two men competed against Janie Litras, a dental assistant, in the next episode of the session.
The game[edit]
First round[edit]
Press Your Luck Game Show 2019
As customary, the game began with the first of two rounds in which contestants answered questions to earn spins for the 'Big Board'; a correct buzz-in answer earned three spins, while a correct multiple-choice answer earned one spin. Larson's memorization of the patterns could not help him here, and he struggled early. On the second question, host Peter Tomarken asked, 'You've probably got President Franklin D. Roosevelt in your pocket or purse right now, because his likeness is on the head side...'[3] Larson buzzed in at this point and answered, '$50 bill' (which has a portrait of President Ulysses S. Grant), after which Tomarken finished the question '...of what American coin?' with the answer being 'a dime', the other choice being 'a nickel'.[3] He did not buzz in again, answering the last two questions multiple choice and finishing with three spins, behind Long's four and Litras's ten.[3] With the fewest spins, Larson went first. On his first spin, he hit a Whammy; however, on his next two, he hit square #4 twice for $1,250 and finished the round with $2,500. Long and Litras finished the round without a Whammy and won $4,080 and $4,608, respectively, putting Larson in last place.[3]
Second round[edit]
Larson earned a total of seven spins in the second question round.[3] Since he was in third place, he got to play first at the 'Big Board' and went to his pattern play, aiming for squares #4 and #8.[3] Larson quickly bumped his total to over $10,000. Early on, his pattern play was irregular, as he stopped four times on squares that did not follow his pattern: a trip to Kauai worth $1,636 in square #7, $700 and one spin in square #17, 'Pick a Corner' in square #6 (where he was given the choice of $2,250 in square #1, $2,000 in square #10, or $1,500 and one spin in square #15, and he chose $2,250), and a sailboat worth $1,015 in square #7.[3]
After the sailboat, Larson's pattern play became more accurate, as he hit his target squares each time he spun. Tomarken was increasingly astounded that Larson was still spinning despite not having seen a Whammy for so long.[3] Larson continued to press on, passing more and more milestone markers without losing any of his four remaining spins. As he passed the $40,000, $50,000, and $60,000 marks, Tomarken virtually begged Larson to stop more than once, fearing he would hit a Whammy.[3] Larson finally decided to stop once he reached $102,851. He had by this time made 40 spins on the board without hitting a Whammy, in which 37 were for cash. Of those 37 cash spins he hit square #4 twenty times, including six in a row. He also managed to land on square #8 fifteen times, hitting it consecutively three in a row twice. After he announced he was passing his remaining four spins, Larson raised his arms in triumph and received a standing ovation from the audience.
By rule, Larson's spins went to Litras as she had the next highest money total. However, since she was the leader after the first round, she had to wait to play until Long, who earned two spins in the second round of questions, completed his turn. On the first of his two spins, a bewildered Long hit a Whammy and lost the money he earned in the first round, leading Tomarken to wonder aloud if Larson 'knew that the Whammy was coming.'[3] Long hit $5,000 and a spin on his next spin and did it again on the spin after that, but hit a second Whammy with his final spin.[3]
Litras then took her turn, starting with the first of the four spins Larson had passed that she was required to take by rule. On that spin, she hit a Whammy and lost her first round total. However, since she had Whammied, the remaining passed spins were moved into the earned column and added to the three spins Litras earned in the second question round, giving her a total of six spins. Litras picked up $9,385 in cash and prizes in five total spins, but because she managed to hit spaces with extra spins, she used only three.[3] Litras then passed those spins to Larson, who was visibly upset and said, 'I didn't want 'em,' as he received the three spins.[3]
Nonetheless, Larson picked up where he had left off, following his patterns, and hit his marks with his first two spins. He hit square #17 on his last spin, which was a space that had a Whammy in it, but he stopped the board before the Whammy could shuffle into the square and won a trip to The Bahamas valued at $2,636, causing Tomarken to joke, 'With that money, you could buy The Bahamas, Michael!'[3] This brought Larson's total to $110,237, and he had two earned spins to work with. Larson passed them to Litras, who failed to earn any additional spins with them, ending the game. Larson's final total included $104,950 in cash.[3]
At the end of the episode, Tomarken asked Larson why he decided not to pass his remaining spins before he did, considering the lead he rapidly gained over Litras and Long. Side-stepping revealing how he had won the game, Larson responded with, 'Two things: one, it felt right, and second, I still had seven spins and if I passed them, somebody could've done what I did.'[3]
Episode length[edit]
Each episode of Press Your Luck was thirty minutes in length, and prior to Larson's appearance, the series had never needed to straddle games or stop during play as a match would always be completed within the allotted time frame.[3] However, Larson's streak of hitting his marks every time stretched the length of the episode well past the usual thirty minutes and the producers were unsure how to proceed. While the entire episode was recorded in one shot, the production staff decided that it would need to be split up for airing.[3]
Once Larson passed $36,000, the producers cut to a freeze frame of the contestant area and Tomarken (in a chroma key shot) then tossed to a commercial. Once back from the commercial, Tomarken informed the viewers that because of the extraordinary circumstances, the match could not be completed on the June 8 episode and would instead be finished on the next scheduled airing on Monday, June 11. He then signed off with the words 'To be continued...' superimposed on the screen.[3]
When Press Your Luck returned after the weekend break, the episode started with the same freeze frame image. Tomarken (again chroma keyed over the image) then brought the viewers up to speed on what Friday's episode entailed, first by introducing Larson's opponents and then introducing Larson and explaining what he had done so far, before the game resumed. Freeze frames were also used to lead into and out of the first two commercial breaks when Larson eclipsed the $50,000 and $100,000 marks, with voiceovers by Tomarken leading into and out of them.[3]
Accusations of cheating[edit]
While Larson was running up the score, the show's producers contacted Michael Brockman, then head of CBS's daytime programming department.[3] In a 1994 TV Guide interview commemorating the Larson sweep, conducted at the time the movie Quiz Show was released, he recalled, 'Something was very wrong. Here was this guy from nowhere, and he was hitting the bonus box every time. It was bedlam, I can tell you, and we couldn't stop this guy. He kept going around the board and hitting that box.'[5]
The program's producers and Brockman met to review the videotape. They noticed that Larson would immediately celebrate after many of his spins instead of waiting the fraction of a second it would take for a contestant to see and respond to the space he or she had stopped on, effectively showing he knew he was going to get something good. It was also noticed that Larson had an unusual reaction to his early prize of a Kauai trip, which was out of his pattern – he initially looked puzzled and upset, but then recovered and celebrated after a pause.[3]
At first, CBS refused to pay Larson, considering him a cheater. However, Brockman and the producers could not find a clause in the game's rules with which to disqualify him (largely because the board had been constructed with these patterns from the beginning of the series), and the network complied.[3] Because he had surpassed the CBS winnings cap (at the time) of $25,000, Larson was not allowed to return for the next show.[1]
The five original light patterns on the 'Big Board' were replaced with five new ones for about a month, and those were replaced with a different set of five new patterns for another month. A further reprogramming of the board with 32 patterns was completed in August 1984, effectively ensuring that no one could duplicate Larson's trick; all subsequent versions employ this method.[3] The show ended its run in September 1986.
Episode broadcasts[edit]
After the broadcast of Larson's two episodes, CBS suppressed the episodes for nineteen years,[6] as both the network and Press Your Luck producer/creator Bill Carruthers at that time considered the incident to be one of their biggest embarrassments.[6] When USA Network (and later, Game Show Network) bought the rights to rerun Press Your Luck, CBS and Carruthers insisted that the Larson episodes must not be aired.
On March 16, 2003, GSN was allowed to air the episodes as part of a two-hour documentary called Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal, hosted and narrated by Tomarken. The documentary was produced by and aired on GSN (in association with Lionsgate and RTL Group, the latter of which now owns the Press Your Luck franchise), and broke all previous viewership records for the network.[7] The Big Bucks documentary included additional footage, directly from the original master tapes, that had been edited out of the episodes for their initial broadcast.[3] The original telecast was dedicated to the memory of Carruthers, who had died two weeks before the airing.[3]
As part of the commemoration, Larson's opponents from 1984 were invited back to be contestants on Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck, playing against Larson's brother, James, with Tomarken returning to host the question round. Despite the fact that the board was now fully random (host Todd Newton called it 'Larson-proof'),[8] and there was no way the same trick could have been performed, Long and Litras (who had remarried and taken the surname Litras-Dakan) still lost. When James hit the 'Big Bank' space on his first spin of the first round, Long proceeded to joke with Newton that he had 'seen this before'.[8] At one point, Litras-Dakan advanced to first place before hitting a Double Whammy shortly afterward, effectively giving James the win. James won a digital grand piano worth $6,695, while Newton closed the game by announcing, 'The legacy continues.'[8]
On January 14, 2018, GSN aired a second documentary on the Larson story entitled Cover Story: The Press Your Luck Scandal.[9] The debut airing earned 583,000 viewers.[10] The Larson episodes themselves aired after the Cover Story documentary.
Both of Larson's episodes were edited together into one video and uploaded onto the Buzzr YouTube channel on July 17, 2019. [11]
Later life, death, and legacy[edit]
After Press Your Luck, Larson became an assistant manager at local Walmart stores in Dayton, Lebanon, Xenia and Bellbrook, Ohio. He also ran a promotions and marketing company, Group Dynamics Downline, out of his Lebanon home.[2]
In November 1984, Larson learned about a local radio show promotion promising a $30,000 prize for matching a $1 bill's serial number with a random number read out on the air. Over several days, he withdrew his remaining winnings in $1 bills, examined each dollar, and (upon discovering that he did not have the winning number) re-deposited roughly half of the money. Larson left about $50,000 in his house, which was stolen in a burglary while he was attending a Christmas party.[3] Larson told TV Guide in 1994 that after the burglary he called on the producers of Press Your Luck to stage a 'tournament of champions' for a chance to score big again. The producers declined.[5]
In 1994, the release of the film Quiz Show renewed discussion about game show scandals, and Larson was interviewed on Good Morning America. By this time, he had been diagnosed with throat cancer, and his voice was noticeably weakened.[3] Larson soon fled Ohio after he got caught up in an illicit scheme to sell part of a foreign lottery. His family was contacted by the SEC, the IRS, and the FBI, but his whereabouts were unknown until his death on February 16, 1999, in Apopka, Florida.[3]
A biographical feature film was planned in 2000 in which Bill Murray would portray Larson,[12] but was never produced.[13] Larson's performance on Press Your Luck was featured in a July 2010 broadcast of This American Life.[14]
Larson's daytime network game show winnings record stood until 2006, when Vickyann Chrobak-Sadowski won $147,517 in cash and prizes on the Season 35 premiere of The Price Is Right. However, it was not enough to surpass Larson's inflation-adjusted record ($110,237 was equivalent to $210,000 in 2006).[15]
Adaptations[edit]
Game Show Whammy Scandal
In 2017, Spanish author Javi de Castro published a graphic novel about the scandal, titled Larson: el hombre con más suerte del mundo (Larson: The Luckiest Man in the World).[16]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ abBellows, Alan (September 12, 2011). 'Who Wants To Be a Thousandaire?'. Damn Interesting. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ abHopkins, Tom (November 26, 1994). 'Lebanon Man Pressed His Luck to Limit'. Dayton Daily News. Cox Enterprises.
- ^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafagahaiajakalBig Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal (television film). Game Show Network. March 16, 2003.
- ^Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. 'Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–'. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^ ab'The Day the Game Show Got Whammied'. TV Guide. November 1994. Archived from the original on January 10, 2002.
- ^ abRuch, John (March 15, 2003). 'Television review; Game-show flick uncovers Press mess'. Boston Herald. Herald Media. p. 28. Archived from the original on September 14, 2014.
- ^'Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal Delivers Record Ratings for Game Show Network' (Press release). PR Newswire. March 18, 2003. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ abcWhammy! The All-New Press Your Luck. Season 2. Episode 2. March 17, 2003. Game Show Network.
- ^'GSN Premieres Another Press Your Luck Documentary on January 14'. buzzerblog. January 3, 2018. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
- ^Metcalf, Mitch (January 17, 2018). 'ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals and Network Finals: 1.14.2018'. ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
- ^https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY4qPIFqqIY
- ^'Bill Murray Presses His Luck'. ABC News. August 18, 2000. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
- ^Evans, Bradford (February 16, 2012). 'The Lost Roles of Bill Murray, Part Two'. Splitsider. The Awl. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^'Million Dollar Idea'. This American Life. Chicago Public Media. July 16, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^'CPI Inflation Calculator'. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
- ^'¡Regalamos adelanto exclusivo de 'Larson – El hombre con más suerte del mundo' de Javi de Castro! – Canino'. Canino (in Spanish). 10 November 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
Further reading[edit]
- Crockett, Zachary (September 14, 2015). 'The Man Who Got No Whammies'. Priceonomics.
External links[edit]
- Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal on IMDb
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