100 Grand was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 game show

Game show

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 hosted by Jack Clark, with Bill Wendell

Bill Wendell

Bill Wendell was an NBC television staff announcer for almost his entire professional career.-Biography:...

 announcing. The series ran for three episodes, weekly on Sunday nights from September 15 to 29, 1963 on the highly-touted "New ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

" as the network's attempt to bring back high-stakes game shows after the quiz show scandals

Quiz show scandals

The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition....

 of 1958.

When 100 Grand made its debut, it had been two years since any large jackpots comparable to the quiz shows had aired on any broadcast network (the last was Jackpot Bowling

Jackpot Bowling

Jackpot Bowling is a professional bowling show on NBC from January 9, 1959 to June 24, 1960 and again from September 19, 1960 to March 13, 1961....

, which aired on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 from 1959-1961 and gave away jackpots of $30,000+), and it would be over a decade more before six-figure jackpots returned to television.

Gameplay

One contestant, having possessed a knowledge or lead in a specific subject or field, asked questions of a professional on that same subject for cash. The player who stumped the professional for five weeks had the privilege to answer five questions submitted by home viewers, and ended up with a grand total of $100,000 if successful.

Only two contestants appeared on the series – one questioning a Civil War expert, the other questioning an opera expert. On the third show, both professionals stumped the amateurs, both of whom were awarded $1,000 savings bonds while the professionals each won $10,000.

Episode status

The series is believed to be destroyed

Destroyed

Destroyed is the first full length studio album by punk band Sloppy Seconds. It was released in 1989 on Toxic Shock records. The album cover is a parody of the Kiss album Destroyer from 1976.-Track listing:#"I Don't Wanna Be A Homosexual"...

 through wiping

Wiping

Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...

, a procedure very common with many game shows and other programs from the 1940s through the early 1980s, although less so with CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

. A promotional video featuring the set and a contestant exists, traded among private collectors.