LOTTERY

Show Type: Dramatic Anthology

First Telecast: September 9, 1983

Last Telecast: July 12, 1984

Broadcast History:

September 1983 – December 1983, Friday 9:00-10:00 on ABC

March 1984, Thursday 9:00-10:00 on ABC

June 1984 – July 1984, Thursday 9:00-10:00 on ABC

Cast

Patrick Sean Flaherty..... Ben Murphy

Eric Rush..... Marshall Colt

SYNOPSIS

Television is a medium of fantasy, and this program offered the favorite fantasy of all: "What if I had a million dollars...?" Lottery told two or three stories each week about ordinary people, often struggling to make ends meet, each of whom suddenly won two to four million dollars. The bearer of the good news was Patrick Flaherty, representative of Ireland's Intersweep Lottery, who first had to find the winner, then hand them an envelope containing $5,000 in cash and a check worth millions. With Flaherty was his smiling partner, handsome Eric Rush of the Internal Revenue Service

No one seemed to mind the presence of the IRS at the joyous moment. Instead, stories centered around the little guy who now could give the big guys their comeuppance, life’s losers who were winners at last, various moral dilemmas, and those frantic folks who had lost their all-important Sweepstakes ticket – without which they wouldn't get the money. In all, more than $133 million make-believe winnings were given away during the short run of this series

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