The $128,000 Question

The $128,000 Question is an American game show which aired from 1976 to 1978 in weekly syndication. This revival of The $64,000 Question was produced by Cinelar Associates and distributed by Viacom Enterprises.

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The $128,000 Question
Directed by	Dick Schneider George Choderker
Presented by	Mike Darow (1976–1977) Alex Trebek (1977–1978)
Narrated by	Alan Kalter (1976–1977) Sandy Hoyt (1977–1978)
Country of origin	United States, Canada
Production
Executive producers	Steve Carlin Jerry Appleton
Producers	Willie Stein Greg Harper Candy Cazau
Production locations	Ed Sullivan Theater New York, New York (1976–77) Global Television Toronto, Ontario (1977–1978)
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Cinelar Associates
Release
Original network	Syndicated (weekly)
Original release	September 18, 1976 (1976-09-18) – September 1978 (1978-09)

Originally, Viacom had intended to revive the series with the same title (and top payoff), but when it was announced that rival series Name That Tune would be adding a "$100,000 Mystery Tune" for the 1976–77 season, Viacom did not wish for their series to only have the second-biggest payoff and added an end-of-season $64,000 tournament to the format.[1]

Further hindering the show was that a planned deal with CBS owned-and-operated stations to carry it in major markets had to be scrapped because of the network-imposed $25,000 winnings limit for game shows (which, at the time, was also extended to syndicated games airing on the O&Os). While the producers were able to get the Metromedia-owned stations to fill these gaps and the series did well enough to be renewed for a second season, The $128,000 Question proved not to be as popular as its predecessor and it came to an end in 1978.[1]