The $128,000 Question

The $128,000 Question is an American game show which aired from 1976–1978 in weekly syndication. This revival of The $64,000 Question was produced by Cinelar Associates and distributed by Viacom Enterprises. Originally, Viacom had intended to revive the series with the same title, 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. 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. 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 ratings were never high, and The $128,000 Question was not renewed beyond its second season.