Say When!!

Say When!!
Company type	Television game show
Industry	Television
Founded	January 2, 1961; 65 years ago
Defunct	March 26, 1965
Fate	Ended
Headquarters	New York City, United States
Key people	Art James (host), Mark Goodson and Bill Todman (producers), Wayne Howell (announcer)
Products	Game show

Say When!! was a game show from the United States, hosted by Art James, which aired on NBC between January 2, 1961, and March 26, 1965. The program was produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman and represented James' only collaboration with this production team. The main announcer was Wayne Howell, with occasional substitutions by Roger Tuttle, Mel Brandt, and Fred Collins. The show's rotating lineup of models featured Ruth Halsey, Emily Banks, Gunilla Knutson, Carolyn White, Kristan Johnson, and Elizabeth Ames. Music direction was handled by Carmen Mastren.

Initially broadcast live in black and white from NBC Studio 6A at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, the series transitioned to color broadcasts in mid-1964.

Game play

The competition involved two participants—one being a returning champion—who aimed to reach a predetermined cash target displayed openly by selecting from four prizes shown on the board. Each prize chosen contributed its monetary value to the contestant’s cumulative total and was immediately replaced by another.

The objective was to get as close as possible to the dollar goal without exceeding it. When a player came within $250 of the target, they had the option to "say when" and freeze their score, forcing their opponent to continue playing until either surpassing that frozen amount or going over the limit and losing.

A frequently featured prize was the "Blank Check," usually a grocery product; contestants could choose up to a certain quantity of this item, with the total cost added to their score. (It should be noted that James’ later game show titled Blank Check bore no relation to this prize.)

Matches were conducted in a best-of-three format, with winners keeping all prizes accumulated during play.

"Peter Pan" incident

Following the introduction of color broadcasts, during a live commercial spot for Peter Pan peanut butter, host James accidentally broke the bottom of the jar when dropping a table knife into it. Despite this unexpected event, he carried on with the advertisement, jokingly commenting, "It's great peanut butter. The jar is something else." This impromptu moment gained attention for its humor and audience reaction.

Episode status

Because of routine wiping practices at the time, only two episodes are known to exist: a December 1960 pilot and one from 1961, both preserved as kinescope recordings. The 1961 episode resurfaced in 2014 and was subsequently uploaded to YouTube; additionally, an episode dated January 6, 1961, was discovered and made available online in July 2023. The "Peter Pan" blooper survives as a brief clip featured in compilations such as NBC's Most Outrageous Game Show Moments and VH1's Game Show Moments Gone Bananas, with the complete footage accessible on YouTube.

Buzzr network aired an early episode during its fifth annual "Lostnfun" marathon on September 27, 2020.

Australian version

In Australia, the program was broadcast on Nine Network from 1962 through 1964, hosted by Jimmy Hannan with production by Reg Grundy. It later returned under the title Spending Spree from 1971 until 1976 with the same host and producer involved. The preservation status of these Australian broadcasts is currently unknown.

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