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''You're on Your Own'' was an American
game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
that aired on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
from December 22, 1956, to March 16, 1957. Actor Steve Dunne was the emcee, with Hal Simms as the announcer and Joann Jordan was the commercial spokesperson for sponsor
Hazel Bishop Hazel Gladys Bishop (August 17, 1906 – December 5, 1998) was an American chemist, inventor, and entrepreneur, and the founder of the cosmetics company Hazel Bishop, Inc. She was the inventor of the first long-lasting lipstick. Early life Bish ...
. ''You're on Your Own'' was broadcast from CBS Studio 59, also known as the Mansfield Theatre, in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
.


Game play


Pilot

The
pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
episode was recorded between December, 1955 and April 22, 1956 in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Jack Barry was the emcee with Bern Bennett as the announcer. Three contestants compete, one at a time, to win cash for what they know and how fast they can find the answer. The stage contained all kinds of reference materials including
encyclopedias An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...
,
dictionaries A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...
,
phonograph records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...
with
record player A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...
, a
telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...
with phone books, etc. Players can use any of the reference material to find the necessary information. The emcee assigns either a question or task to a player along with an amount of time, between 60 and 120 seconds depending upon difficulty, to complete their assignment. The player must find the correct answer or complete their task as fast as possible and before time ran out. Three assignments were given to each player. If the player was successful on the first assignment, they earned $100 minus $10 for each time segment used to complete the assignment. Time segments represent 10% of the total number of seconds given for the assignment (Example: 60 seconds = 10 six-second time segments). The two remaining assignments were each worth 10 times the amount earned for the previous assignment minus one multiple for each time segment used (Each player can earn a possible $10,000 in a game). However, if the player was unsuccessful at any time, they lost the game and any money earned up to that point.


Daily double

The player who earned the most money on the broadcast was given a choice: * To walk away and keep their winnings. * To go for double-or-nothing and completing one last assignment called the "daily double". If the player decided to try for the "daily double", they must complete their assignment and return on the next show with proof that the assignment was completed. If the player was successful, they walked away with double their winnings from the previous program. However, if the player was unsuccessful, they lost all money earned on the previous program.


Series version 1

''You're on Your Own'' followed a similar format to the pilot described above with a possible top prize of $25,000 to be won by a contestant.


Series version 2

Toward the end of the series run, ''You're on Your Own'' had changed its format into one where three contestants competed against each other to answer toss-up questions. If a player buzzed in with a correct answer, they earned one point. However, giving an incorrect answer resulted in the player having to perform a humiliating stunt. The player with the most points won a special prize.


Episode status

The pilot episode of ''You're on Your Own'' is known to exist and can be found at
The Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City with a branch office in Los Angeles. It is de ...
in New York City. All series episodes are believed to have been
destroyed Destroyed may refer to: * ''Destroyed'' (Sloppy Seconds album), a 1989 album by Sloppy Seconds * ''Destroyed'' (Moby album), a 2011 album by Moby See also * Destruction (disambiguation) * Ruined (disambiguation) Ruins are the remains of man-m ...
due to network policies of the era. No other episodes are known to exist.


References


External links

* {{IMDb title, 0048915, You're on Your Own 1950s American game shows CBS game shows 1956 American television series debuts 1957 American television series endings Television series by Barry & Enright Productions American English-language television shows Lost television shows