Television has been going green for decades, recycling old shows into new ones. So the news today that a revamped version of the game show "Pyramid" — which first hit the airwaves in 1973 — would be replacing the canceled soap "Guiding Light" on CBS was no surprise.

In one of those ironies of the TV biz, the Dick Clark-produced game show was canceled by CBS after the first season, only to be resurrected by ABC and flourish against, among other shows, "Guiding Light" on CBS. The "$10,000 Pyramid," as it was called back then, ruled as the top-rated game show on the air for three consecutive seasons. During its second season on ABC, the show doubled the jackpot and the renamed "$20,000 Pyramid" won a Daytime Emmy as best game show. This incarnation would win the top Emmy twice more, tying with "The Hollywood Squares" in 1980 and winning for its final season on ABC in 1981.

After one season in syndication as the more generous "$50,000 Pyramid," the show returned to CBS in 1982 as the "$25,000 Pyramid" and ran till 1988, winning the Emmy five years in a row (1983-1987) and then again in 1989 for its final season on CBS. The following year, "Jeopardy" began a six-year winning streak and to date has earned a record 11 Emmys as best game show.

Dick Clark won three Emmys for hosting over those 15 years of variously titled versions of the show, including the even-richer "$100,000 Pyramid" in syndication. The short-lived "$100,000 Pyramid" of 1991 emceed by John Davidson, as well as the Donny Osmond version of "Pyramid" which ran from 2002 to 2004, failed to impress Emmy voters.

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Photo: ABC

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