Bullseye (U.S. game show)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"This is the television game in which daring determines the fate of the player! This is the game of strategy, knowledge and daring! This is Bullseye!"

Game Show created by Jack Barry's production company, starring Jim Lange, which ran in syndication from 1980 to 1982. Contestants answered questions in contracts by stopping a trio of windows; the first two were categories and dollar amounts, while the third determined the number of questions (one to five) in the contract.

The first player to bank $1,000 (later $2,000) became champion and played the Bonus Round, spinning the windows to accumulate cash. The object was to spin three Bullseyes before seeing Lightning.

The show plowed along for its first year-plus at a respectable pace, but partway through Season 2 the contestants were ditched in favor of celebrities playing for charity. The show ended not long afterward.

The following Game Show tropes appear in this show:
  • All or Nothing: You didn't win anything you accumulated in the pot unless you decided to "cash it in" upon the successful completion of a contract, which also forfeited your turn.
  • Bonus Round: Bonus Island, where a contestant could win quite a bit of money and prizes. In the Pilot, this could have paid off $1,000,000.
  • Bonus Space: If a Bullseye appeared instead of a number in the Contract Window during the main game, the contestant could continue to answer questions for as long as he wished until he either voluntarily stopped or failed to answer correctly
  • Consolation Prize
  • Let's Just See What Would Have Happened: Usually done if a contestant stopped during Bonus Island.
  • Personnel:
  • Product Placement
  • Promotional Consideration
  • Whammy: Lightning, used only at Bonus Island. Could be averted if the window containing the Lightning was frozen as a Bullseye, although the contestant didn't know whether this had happened until after the game ended.
    • If the contestant won or stopped the Bonus Round, "information" was spun, as the windows were revealed until the Lightning was actually found in one of them.
Other tropes include:
  • Luck-Based Mission: Somewhat seen in the main game, depending on your expertise and that of your opponent. As for Bonus Island, luck is the whole point.
  • Real Song Theme Tune: The 1979 Pilot used portions of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Santa Esmeralda. The actual show used a Hal Hidey composition that was pretty much a Suspiciously Similar Song version.
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