''Lottery!'' is an American anthologic

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

that premiered on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on September 9, 1983. The series aired for one season of 17 episodes and starred Ben Murphy as Patrick Sean Flaherty, and

Marshall Colt Marshall Colt (born October 26, 1948) is an American management consultant and combat-decorated, former captain in the United States Navy in San Diego, who was an actor in film and television from 1976 to 1995. He co-starred in the films '' Nor ...

as Eric Rush. ''Lottery!'' centered on ordinary people who have won the

lottery A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of ...

—all of a sudden becoming millionaires—and how it changes their lives.

Synopsis

Each week, several guest stars become instant millionaires (in two or three different stories) when their lottery tickets bring them fame, fortune, and usually trouble. Flaherty worked for the "Intersweep Lottery." His job was to find the winner(s), inform them of their winnings, and give him or her an envelope containing $5,000 in cash, and a check worth millions. In the event of ownership disputes with the winning ticket, Flaherty would also act as an arbitrator responsible for determining the true recipient in what method used to settle the matter. Rush was Flaherty's partner, an

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

agent who oversaw the accounting of the payouts and the arrangement of the winner's tax obligations. Each episode also took place in a different city around the country. The opening titles for the show featured large banks of computers and tape drives. Above what appeared to be a trading floor (similar to what one would see at a stock exchange) were large electronic toteboards showing the latest prizes, the winners's names, and the countries in which they lived. At the end of every episode, the show displayed the following disclaimer:

''"The Intersweep Lottery is purely fictitious. Except for states where they are legally authorized, lotteries in this country are illegal."''

The Intersweep Lottery itself was actually more akin to the

Publishers Clearing House Publishers Clearing House (PCH) is a direct marketing company that markets merchandise and magazine subscriptions with sweepstakes and prize-based games. It was founded in 1953 by Harold Mertz to replace door-to-door magazine subscription sal ...

than any of the popular

games in the U.S. and around the world, such as the

Irish Sweepstakes The Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake was a lottery established in the Irish Free State in 1930 as the Irish Free State Hospitals' Sweepstake to finance hospitals. It is generally referred to as the Irish Sweepstake or Irish Sweepstakes, frequently ab ...

, which was believed to have given Rosner the idea for the series. Participants in this lottery purchased numbered tickets. Each ticket carried a unique serial number consisting of two letters followed by six numbers. The drawing of winning numbers was also never featured in any of the episodes in this series. ''Lottery!'' is not the first series to deal with the elation and challenges of sudden wealth. The basic premise is loosely similar to an earlier series, '' The Millionaire'' with

Marvin Miller Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American baseball executive who served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players ...

, except that the money was given out by a mysterious benefactor, John Beresford Tipton, to specific named individuals without the organization of a lottery, and that any taxes on the money had already been paid in advance. In 1979,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

produced ''

Sweepstakes A sweepstake is a type of contest where a prize or prizes may be awarded to a winner or winners. Sweepstakes began as a form of lottery that were tied to products sold. In response, the FCC and FTC refined U.S. broadcasting laws (creating the ...

,'' an equally short-lived series with a similar premise; it, too, lasted only a single season. In 2006, NBC tried again with '' Windfall,'' a series about a group of twenty friends winning a multimillion-dollar lottery prize; that series lasted only three months before cancellation.

US television ratings

Episodes

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* *{{epguides, id=Lottery_1983 1983 American television series debuts 1984 American television series endings 1980s American drama television series American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows Television series by MGM Television Television shows set in the United States Works about lotteries Television shows set in Seattle