The Big Showdown is an American game show that aired on the ABC television network from December 23, 1974 to July 4, 1975. Jim Peck (in his national television debut) hosted the program and Dan Daniel (then a disc jockey on New York City's WHN) served as announcer.

The series was recorded at ABC's New York studio TV15 on West 58 Street, and packaged by Don Lipp’s Daphne Productions and Ron Greenberg, with assistance by MCA Television.

The show's quiz format involves three players trying to score points for correct answers to the questions the host asks, with the catch that they cannot go over the "payoff point," a predetermined goal. If a player would go over that score, they're locked out of the question, depending on how many points the question is worth (always from 1 to 6), depending on what category is selected. (Likewise, a contestant cannot select a category that would take them over the payoff point.) The first to hit it exactly wins a dollar amount chosen at random from a dial in the host's podium (anywhere from $25 to $500), and a new payoff point is determined.

After two points are hit, six new categories are introduced, and play continues until time is called. A 90-second speed round officially concludes this round. Lowest score is eliminated; in case of a tie, the tied players answer a question from the category worth just one point.

The Final Showdown has the two remaining players attempting to hit exactly seven points first, by answering questions worth just 1, 2, or 3 points. The first to do wins another $250 and plays for $10,000 with the bonus dice.

The champ is given one free roll of two oversized dice, which replaces the number six on each die with the words "Show" and "Down." Rolling "Show-Down" on this one free roll wins $10,000 for the contestant. Otherwise, the roll determines the payoff point for the rest of the bonus round (in this regard, "Show" and "Down" have no value). The player then has 30 seconds to get in as many rolls of the dice as possible, and during this time, rolling the payoff point wins another $250 for the contestant and another 5 seconds of playing time just in case it is needed. Rolling "Show-Down" at any time wins an extra $5,000 and ends the game at that point. All money is kept, however, so if the player, for example, establishes the number 5 as his/her payoff point, rolls it 4 times, and then rolls "Show-Down," that's a total of $6,000.

If the player doesn't roll "Show-Down" during the initial 30 seconds, then they have whatever bonus time they accumulated to try again, but this time all other values of the dice are worthless.

Champions remain on the show until defeated, until they roll "Show-Down" in the bonus game, or amass at least $20,000.

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While just two episodes of the show exist (one being the pilot), one of them has survived thanks to the fact it has been used in blooper specials everywhere, leading host Jim Peck to reveal that he has received residual fees each time a special plays it. This is due to the fact that he fell down the stairs as he was making his entrance to start the show, without injury, but he got a good laugh out of it, though. Afterwards, he infamously said, "Sure! You people would applaud a lynching!"

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This was my attempt to do the theme song from that show, done for sax section (alto, tenor, baritone), vibraphone, and piano.

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Original music (C) Score Productions
This arrangement (C) me and me alone
The Big Showdown (C) Don Lipp Productions, Ron Greenberg Productions, MCA TV Ltd., and everyone else who owns the rights, and aired originally on ABC from 1974 to 1975.

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The Big Showdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUFTgzRC5m0 (original theme)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWtbbnKcI-M (episode where Jim falls down the stairs)