The password is Buzzr

Finally got around to checking the refreshed B&W schedule on Buzzr. I watched an episode of the ancient 1960s Password, the source of endless rehashes and spinoffs that endure to the present-day. This particular ep was the second prime time run of the show on January 9, 1962. It's available on YouTube in glorious grayscale.

The first thing that struck me was the leisurely pace. Subsequent versions - and, of course, Bob Stewart's later spinoff Pyramid - picked up the tempo to please audiences whose attention spans kept getting shorter. But the original Password could dawdle through long strings of clues and still keep folks from tuning out. Back then, of course, there weren't a zillion sources of video entertainment vying for your notice.

One funny note is how both celeb players - Betsy Palmer and Dick Van Dyke - goofed and started to blurt out a password itself. Jack Paar got to be famous for this blunder on the 1960s show, and it's been a common occurrence on all the subsequent versions as well. There's something about having a word right in front of you that makes you want to blab it out, even if the rules say NO.

I do wish that Buzzr would stop stretching the B&W shows to a forty-minute length. Yeah, it's fun to see a few of the old commercials, but the extra padding gets old fast.

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