CBS Brings Back “Password” in Million Dollar Form

10 Oct

Posted by Alex Davis as CBS, New Show, Password

I’m not a big classics fan. I really enjoy the more modern shows to the old rusty ones. However, there are three shows which I really adore from the old days: Pyramid (Not Donny Osmond’s version), Match Game, and Password. A long time ago we first reported that a remake of Password was in the works, which excited us. However, we just got three words about the new Password revival which is making us really afraid: Primetime, Fremantle, and $1,000,000.

Yes, the production company that brought you amazing US formats like Temptation somehow think that they can mask the fact that people are guessing words at a relatively slow speed by throwing Password in primetime on CBS for $1,000,000. Hosted by Regis Philbin, the show, now called Million Dollar Password, has been picked up and will probably air in midseason. This new edition will combine all three editions, meaning the classic version and the puzzles. It’s still the two teams of contestant/celebrity, but the winner can risk their money in the bonus for $1,000,000.

Sorry for judging a show before it airs, but this just downright scares me. I really enjoy Password and think it would work fine as a syndicated daytime show, for like $10,000 to $20,000, paired with Family Feud. However, a $1,000,000 version? I do enjoy big money some times, don’t get me wrong, but this is a simple guess the word game. Some word game shows can easily pull off a $1,000,000 version, like Pyramid. However, Password? What this means is that they are going to make a simple, fun word game extremely hard to win and drawn out. I’ll hold out some hope and who knows, this may work out. However, I just have a horrible feeling. Is it just me?

40 Responses

Erskine Thompson
1
October 11th, 2007 at 12:18 am

Alex, you know more than most of my love for “Password” and “Pyramid” and games of that ilk. I honestly want to hold out hope for this. I mean, it’s PASSWORD. How could even Fremantle screw this up?

Seriously, at its core, Password is an insanely simple game, and is slow-paced. The only way it works as a million-dollar show is to have returning champions, and award the million (or a try at a Million Dollar Alphabetics) after a set number of wins. I mapped out a version of Pyramid long ago that featured progressive dollar amounts in the Winners’ Circle, going up after each win. If they did that here, say $10k on the first win, $20k on the next, and so on so that maybe 7 consecutive wins gets a shot at the million, it could build suspense, interest in the players, and frankly, if you can win seven straight games of Password against decent competition, then win Alphabetics with that much money on the line…well, to me that’s pretty compelling television, as game shows go.
Alex Davis
2
October 11th, 2007 at 12:21 am

But see, it’s not multiple wins, and that bugs me. If it was, I’d be fine. You have to risk your money to play for the $1M. We have the Deal or No Deal situation rising up in a word game, and with one such as this, that does not sit well with me
Joe Capitano
3
October 11th, 2007 at 12:42 am

I don’t know how she truly feels about this, but if I were a certain Mrs. Elizabeth White Ludden, here’s what I might be thinking (cue Lee Vines):

“The Password is…sacrilege.”

DING!
lobster
4
October 11th, 2007 at 1:14 am

hahahaa $1m…it’s the new $100,000. Soon enough $1m just won’t be shocking enough… but still, for $1m, the alphabetics passwords better be the likes of “conflaguration” and “obdiplostemonous” ;D

LObs
Duane P. Eklof
5
October 11th, 2007 at 3:41 am

Why can’t FremantleMedia (and their predecessors) leave the Mark Goodson classics alone? Look at the disaster that was “Match Game ‘98″ (Judy Tenuta, anyone!) “Feud” has never been as good as the original Richard Dawson version, and “TPIR” was run into the ground by a power-hungry host/executive producer who made the lives of people behind the scenes a living hell for the last seven years the show was on! Granted, the clones of the original “Password” (”Password Plus”, and for me “Super Password”) were great remakes, but another new version? Haven’t we learned from the past mistakes yet?
ucb2912
6
October 11th, 2007 at 4:32 am

Fremantle, I seriously hope you know what you are doing. Regis Philbin as host is the only thing that sounds good about this- at least we have someone with experience.

If anyone from fremantle is reading this, here is my suggestion for the game…

* Play with the old school rules. Play or pass option is in, “No opposites” rule is out.

* First puzzle is $1000, each following one is $1000 more than the last. Include cashword for a bonus that starts at $10000. $5000 wins the game.

* bonus round: Keep the old alphabetics style round. How much it is played for depends on how many times you played before: First time is $50,000, second time is $100,000, third time is $150,000, fourth time is $200,000. If you fail, it’s $2,500 a word regardless. After each bonus round, the winnings are deposited into a bank. They can take the amount won, or come back next week. A loss means you leave only with main game winnings. If they win 4 games in a row, they can come back for one final game; if they win their 5th game, their bank is doubled. Therefore, if they play Alphabetics perfectly each of the 4 times, then win their 5th game, they’ll get a million dollars.

I just hope they keep to the original. If this becomes another Temptation, the Game Show World will never forgive Fremantle for ruining a game show Classic.
David Howell
7
October 11th, 2007 at 5:33 am

Are Fremantle trying to create a warped perversion of what the game show fandom wants or something?

If you must do big-money Password, do it with the Super Password format and have an escalating jackpot: start at $250,000 and go up $25,000 each time it’s not won? THAT would be fun, because you could get a multi-million win but it wouldn’t break the network because the only way to get it is a long sequence of losses! (A similar rolling jackpot was used on the Spanish show ‘Pasapalabra’, which also had an endgame with answers of different letters of the alphabet, except it was general knowledge. And it was such a hard endgame that it went over 350 shows (!) without being won, and when it did eventually get won it stood at €2,190,000 - unless I’m severely mistaken, the biggest win ever outside the United States.)
DB
8
October 11th, 2007 at 7:05 am

“How could even Fremantle screw this up?”

You’re kidding me, right?
Marc Power
9
October 11th, 2007 at 8:32 am

at least, they grabbed a good host in Regis. I’ll be glad to see him back on a game show after millionaire and America’s got talent (which I really think wa sout of his element btw).

I agree with ucb about the increasing bonus rounds, that would work. why can’t they modify the twenty-one ladder and have it something like this:

1 win: $25,000
2 wins: $50,000
3 wins: $100,000
4 wins: $250,000
5 wins: $500,000
6 wins: $1,000,000

This works since not that many people won 6 games of password in a row let alone 6 bonus gamesand the money is enough to still be exciting. The main game could be played for points, the bonus is the same as super password/password plus and you need to win the bonus round to up your total, a bonus loss means you win nothing extra you stay at that level for the next game, a main game loss means you go home with nothing but you can stop after each bonus game win and take the money. I’d even settle for cbs throwing in some sort of safety net like the $100,000 is safe after the 3rd win or offering a contestant who lost the first bonus round $10,000 to quit.
Scott
10
October 11th, 2007 at 9:30 am

I don’t know how you do this unless you really make the show intelligent and make the words very tough for Alphabetics. Since you are playing with celebrities, you will have to get some bright ones for this to work.

Regis is a good choice, but the game mechanics will be crucial here. If Embassy Row were doing this, I’d feel better, but Fremantle’s track record is very bad as of late. Fingers crossed…
myke25
11
October 11th, 2007 at 10:07 am

Marc Power-
Get out of my head! That’s the ladder I think would work with a Pyramid revival. :)

What worries me about the prospect for any $1M Celebrity game show is that the celebrity HAS to be as good at the game as the civilian for it to work. Betty White can’t be on every week! How many times did Password and Pyramid players lose a shot at the jackpot because the celebrity screwed up? What happens when a player loses $1M because a D-List cable show celebrity gives an illegal clue? (I’m looking at YOU, Kathy Griffin!) That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen…no matter how many waivers a civilian signs. I say, lose the celebrities…make it all civilians, whether it’s a team of friends or family members. At least that way, the teams have a better chance at being good at the game. They can practice at home until they are really polished. That’ll make for better games, too.
Neville
12
October 11th, 2007 at 10:12 am

If there were any two shows I could bring back with them being well done, they’d probably be “Password” and “Pyramid.” But we all know how Donny Osmond’s “Pyramid” turned out (bless his heart,) so I’m awfully worried about this. I trust Regis, but I don’t trust Fremantle at this point. I think “Password” truly belongs in daytime (even if that means I won’t se it as much). The saving grace for me in this announcement was reading “CBS.” While they’re on my bad side now with “KidNation,” I know that they can do a good big money game show with “Power of 10.” My wish would be that they take “Million Dollar” out of the name, so that the show isn’t always automatically about the “top prize.” With “Millionaire” back in the day (2000?) t was fine, but now, nearly everything primetime is worth a million or more - I don’t think we need to be reminded!
Nikolai
13
October 11th, 2007 at 10:59 am

It’s great to hear that it’s coming back. I know that back on the final episode of “Super Password” in 1989 Betty White said something like “The phoenix will rise again”. I agree that it’s high time that this show was brought back, but playing for a million? Give me a break. They made a good choice picking Regis to host it, but a million is high for a game show with celebrities and civilians in the same show. $100,000 I could see, but I don’t know about this. They should just launch it into syndication. Airing million dollar episodes of “Password” will make Allen Ludden turn over in his grave.
Luke
14
October 11th, 2007 at 11:52 am

I was hoping they would call it Super Password Plus. :(
JD Nole
15
October 11th, 2007 at 12:39 pm

I guess I’m the lone dissenting voice for their choice of host. I bet it took the executives all of a minute (after settling on the prize) to say “who has hosted a successful game show for a million?” and pick Regis. WWTBAM and Password couldn’t be more different, and this just seems sloppy.

ITA that this revival is long overdue, and it should be in daytime syndication. Better yet, have it in reserve for CBS daytime if Drew’s TPiR bombs or they want a (gasp) second game show on network daytime.
Intelligentfan777
16
October 11th, 2007 at 12:41 pm

Password returns to CBS for the time in, what…..40 YEARS?!

YES! I knew PASSWORD would come back eventually. Look, I realize we don’t look to kindly on Freemantle right now, but it is still exciting news to see one of the greatest games ever created come back after so many years. It’s been loooooooooooooooong overdue for a revival, and I hope it’s a good one.

The money chain bonus is a good idea, but we’ll see how they do it. Regis is a great choice for host. As for the Celebs, well, just get anyone who played Celebrity Jeopardy who didn’t suck.

And, for the record……….

“Conflaguration” (NOUN)
1. A large and destructive fire; a general burning.
2. Something like a conflagration; conflict; war.

“Obdiplostemonous” (Adj.)
Having twice as many stamens as petals, those of the outer set being opposite the petals; said of flowers.
insaneben
17
October 11th, 2007 at 1:09 pm

And in a curious bit of serendipity, this clip pretty much shares my reactions:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y1rBBAFeO80
Watch at the :20, 1:11 and 2:13 marks.
wheelloon
18
October 11th, 2007 at 1:14 pm

As I’ve said elsewhere, if nothing else, it makes me happy that Password is coming back in some form, it’s long overdue.

I’m hopeful for Regis, because I like him as a GS host, and he knows how to build tension and keep a game running smoothly (provided his synapses are still connecting). This is the one assured thing that is keeping me optimistic about it all.

Fremantle scares me to death, If we had the people at Po10 (Embassy Row) or 1vs100 handling $1 million PW, I’d be very optimistic, but with how much Temptation has been a major disappointment, I’m suspicious…

I suspected that if PW ever came around again, whoever was would try to do some sort of combo of the past formats, but I have no clue how they could do so and make it worth $1 million, and have it not jump the shark.

A possibility would be to have contestants play regular PW to 50 points, winning them 1k, for a semi-final. Due this for two rounds, then have the semi-winners face each other in a final match, 1st to 10k (or 5k). Then, play a classic lightning round, get as many words as you can in 60 secs, 10 max (or 20 with 5k target), to multiply by your in-game winnings (for 100k max) that you could keep or risk. Take the risk, you play the FINAL Bonus round, a 60 second Alphabetics, for a chance at ten times what you risked.

I think with the trend of GS’s lately, that even if this is a just moderate success, that it could just truly be meant to be a springboard for a lower stakes, more classically styled version to be put into syndication. We have 3 potential candidates for 2008-2009 already. I see no reason if PW takes off, why there couldn’t be 4 (and we could make Pyramid 5, minus Donny)… :)
Tom Jetland
19
October 11th, 2007 at 4:56 pm

I’m cautiously optimistic. Yes, it could be terrible, but they might do it right and it could be great. I’m willing to give them a shot. And while Regis ain’t Allen Ludden, I think he’s right for this show.
Whammy
20
October 11th, 2007 at 8:19 pm

I wonder how much raunchiness they’ll allow. For example, if (cue John Harlan) the PASSWORD is “vitamin”, will they allow Viagra? I hope to God that Fremantle doesn’t FUDGE IT UP!
The Great Butler
21
October 11th, 2007 at 8:52 pm

I want to correct the earlier statement about Fremantle screwing up Match Game in 1998—Fremantle had NOTHING to do with MG98, it was PEARSON. Fremantle didn’t come in until 2001, and even then they were only saddled with Card Sharks 2001 because Pearson had already sold it before being bought out. If anything, Fremantle’s last known attempt at a serious MG revival—”What the Blank!” back in 2004—was MUCH better… I would trust Randy West, who’s as big a game show fan as any of us, to be a good indicator on that.

Million Dollar Password could be either really, really good, or terrible. They made a good choice in Regis to host it.

Since they say the winning team will have to risk money to go for the million, and the game will be a blend of CBS/ABC Password and Password Plus/Super Password, I predict that the front game will be standard 1962-1975 style Password, then the endgame will be a series of progressively more-difficult puzzles of rising value.
Scott Meckley
22
October 11th, 2007 at 9:30 pm

I do like a few things about this

1) Regis is the host- that makes me feel a bit better about this

2) Password Puzzles- I enjoy Password Plus and Super Password and the fact they are using the puzzles makes me think this could be enjoyable although am not sure about $1,000,000 unless you have this kind of win

1st win- $50,000
2nd win- $100,000
3rd win- $250,000
4th win- $500,000
5th win- $1,000,000
after each win starts back at the beginning meaning 6th win is worth $50,000 7th win worth $100,00 ( if a player doesn’t get all ten each word worth $2,500

3) CBS is running this show- Not that i don’t have faith in the other networks but i look at The Power of 10 and how well that show is doing a top 20 show.

there are some things that worry me about this though

1) Celebrities- I personally think it should be two civilians whether it be best friends, married couples, or once in a while not all the time a celebrity special.

2) Million dollar- that bugs me a bit but if it is does like i listed before where you have to win 5 games to win $1,000,000 if you do well in alphabetics

Overall i think this will turn out average but i hope i’m wrong and it turns out super. While were on it I would love to see a password plus or super password dvd or pc game to play.
insaneben
23
October 11th, 2007 at 9:36 pm

The Great Butler:
You forgot about Fremantle’s take on “Game Show Marathon” back in June 2006. They killed so many game show classics with the one stone known as Ricky Lake. And then, of course, there’s “Temptation” (rot in hell, Ginger Simpson), but looking at how they’ve put a ton of care into “TPIR” with Drew, I have a feeling it may not turn out so bad… provided they get celebs with at least some degree of intelligence.
l.e.
24
October 11th, 2007 at 11:45 pm

I’d like to see a major-network daytime game show other than TPiR, and that doesn’t give away ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!!111
Jesse
25
October 12th, 2007 at 12:06 am

If Fremantle, once Pearson, can screw up new versions of Card Sharks, and Match Game, To Tell the Truth, and Temptation, believe me they can screw up Password.
James
26
October 12th, 2007 at 7:07 am

Oh I don’t know…they might be afraid to invite Kathy Griffin. Remembering the last time she won something, every time her team wins a game, she might offend another religion or two.

Remember when revivals and remakes were GOOD news? Now that we’ve had so many awful ones since the late 90s (when pop culture in general jumped the shark, IMO), both on TV and in the movies (which sadly makes up about 95% of what comes out every year now), that is not so true.

Anyway, choice comments from my GSN posting:

First I don’t know why having a $1M prize is so bad. Unless

1) It’s simply a case of Mo’ Money Syndrome Haters/”yawn…another $1M game show” syndrome, (EDIT: I now wonder if Password having a $1M prize is being seen as the show’s “Poochie”; i.e. just an add-on to make it gratuitously modern and edgy. I still don’t think it’s that bad). Orrrrrrrrr….

2) They actually meant one million *TEMPTATION* dollars. I bet they’ll have a lot of those left over by then. They can keep them by the Clip Chips in Fremantle’s pit in hell :-)

Personally my thoughts (T)/worries (W) are:

1) T: At least they got someone who is a good host, and not A) just a comedian or B) a random pretty boy. I actually liked Regis on WWTBAM and hope he can bring quality as a PW host.

2) W: Remakes or reimaginings from the late ’90s on usually suck. I’m not one of those “raped my childhood” Cry Wolf types, but mostly no one in the movies and on TV seem to “get” it. And of course that goes double for our good friends at Fremantle. With Temptation (Dollars, oops, reflex), I am wondering if Feud being on the rebound these last 2 seasons was the nut the blind squirrel finally found. They came close to said nut when they did Gameshow Marathon though, but it fell in the (Ricki) lake, unfortunately. :-)

3) W: Mainstream celebrities nowadays aren’t known for their brains. Definitely not their class. Two things PW needs. They need to be careful when they pick guests, but not be too obscure or too beyond the C-list, if that makes sense. (the latter was one of GSMarathon’s weaknesses)

4) T: Being on networks does sometimes cause Fremantle to step up their game. They at least TRY when it comes to That Show on Fox, and despite my complaints, GSMarathon on CBS was mostly everything the respective revivals of each show should have been (OK, so the host could’ve been better AND not have been the icon of why game shows got replaced in daytime TV in the ’90s. And the all-”celeb” format wasn’t the bee’s knees).

5) T/W: The Gameplay. If it’s the same we all know and love, I couldn’t care if this was a…TEN MILLION DOLLAR (insert Dr. Evil pose here) show. But remember who we’re talking about here. And there’s the fear we’ve all had…bringing the show to the lowest common denominator. Not just how easy or hard the words are, but what words they’ll use. You know, a Perfesser-type LMAD/IGAS revival kvetch.

6) W: Contestants. Aiming for a certain look rather than talent is a big problem not just in game shows (it’s killing Chain Reaction, and you can say the same for WOF if it just being WOF didn’t keep it popular) but in entertainment in general.

7) T: If done right, having a big top prize could make for a pretty good dramatic bonus game, if anything.

Hope it’ll work out somehow…they REALLY need to make up for the anemic Temptation. (and we still have TPIDrew to pass judgment on, worst case scenario….Fremantle will soon really be in deep you know what)

And in another post…

But yeah I hope there will be something worth seeing, first and foremost. I can’t believe there used to be a time I would be excited to hear that so-and-so show would be coming back. But as I said, since the late-90s (when pop culture jumped the shark in general), remakes are more-and-more something to dread. Look at all the bad ones in the movies (can you name, um, 5 good ones?) and now they’re 95% of their output. TV is slightly better, but has given us many stinkers. Especially in game shows. And it’s not so easy to say, “They need to leave the old shows alone and come up with their own ideas.” As I actually fear sometimes what the powers that be will consider the next “evolution” in television gaming (there’s a few who thought the R-word was the next step up from GS’s…nuff said!) Probably me overreacting, but it does get me down often.

I try to be positive, but sometimes I do wonder why I keep hoping, and why I just don’t accept that the golden age of game shows (and TV, really) is dead and buried. The article I [read] doesn’t sound like this one will stray away from the original format. But TTD90 was basically the same game. So is GSN Chain Reaction when you think of it. But other elements sunk the presentation of both. Sometimes the gift is enhanced by the wrapping, or vice versa.
J.
27
October 12th, 2007 at 7:10 am

http://www.fremantlemedia.com/our-companies

Look for the North America link, that would be their address. If you want this new PW to succeed, I suggest writing to them and sending some of these opinions.
Eric
28
October 12th, 2007 at 9:24 am

I think because of Regis the show will do well its first week. As far as the format goes I’d have to understand how both formats would fit together.The only other thing that worries me that it is FreeMantle. Their track record with the shows of Mark Goodson is not that great.
Greg
29
October 12th, 2007 at 10:03 am

How about this?

Ultra Password
Created by Greg Palmer
Based on “Password” created by Bob Stewart

Host: Roger Lodge
Announcer: Charlie Tuna

Summary: 2 teams, each consisting of a celebrity and a civilian contestant, play against each other for thousands of dollars in cash.

Gameplay:

Same as the Super Password format, but with these changes:
* option to play or pass for first clue
* opposites can be used
* 1st 2 puzzles worth $1,000 each
* each incorrect guess decreases value of puzzle by $100
* If an illegal clue is given during the main game, the password is automatically placed on the board and the opposing team gets a free guess. The value of the puzzle doesn’t drop, though.
* 3rd puzzle worth $2,000 (with the value dropping by $200 for each incorrect guess)
* 4th puzzle worth $3,000 (with the value dropping by $300 for each incorrect guess)
* winner of 2nd puzzle plays Cashword for $10,000 plus $2,500 for each time it isn’t won
* first to $3,000 wins and goes on to play Super Alphabetics

Super Alphabetics: Same as Super Password/Alphabetics round, except each word is worth $2,500. The contestant will have to pay a $1,000 fine for each illegal clue.

Betting Word: At the end of Super Alphabetics, the celebrity is shown a word. He writes down how much he wants to bet on a Magna-Doodle. Then, the celebrity has 15 seconds to get the contestant to say the secret word. After 15 seconds, the bet is revealed. If the contestant guesses correctly, the bet is won. If not, the bet is lost. (So, if the celebrity plays a perfect “Super Alphabetics” round and bets it all, the contestant could stand to win $50,000.)

After the Bonus Game: After the Bonus Game, the contestant has a choice. He can either take the money he’s won and go home, or risk it all for more. If he risks it and loses, he only takes home the main game (and Cashword, if applicable) winnings. If a contestant wins 5 games in a row, he plays “Super Alphabetics” for $25,000 a word (or up to $250,000, for a possible $500,000). After winning 5 games, the contestant automatically retires as an undefeated champion.

Tournament of Champions: At the end of the season, the 2 highest winning contestants come back for a match.

* each Cashword is worth a flat $10,000
* the first contestant to win 2 games wins the match and $500,000
* Super Alphabetics is played at end of the match for $25,000 a word (total cut in half for each illegal clue)
* Possible winnings for perfect bonus round and $250,000 win on betting word: $500,000
* Total possible tournament prize: $1 Million

What do you think?
myke25
30
October 12th, 2007 at 10:30 am

I’m almost expecting Fox to rush a Pyramid revival on the air to beat CBS to the punch.
Greg
31
October 12th, 2007 at 11:26 am

Regis hosting Password? I understand strange choices for hosting game shows (John McEnroe with The Chair, Chuck Woolery with The New Dating Game), but Regis? He doesn’t have any experience with word games at all. Better to go with an old reliable, like Chuck Woolery. He hasn’t been on primetime TV since Greed. Or Dick Clark. He hasn’t been on a primetime game show since Winning Lines, and he hasn’t worked with Mark Goodson since Missing Links in ‘65.
Intelligentfan777
32
October 12th, 2007 at 1:35 pm

Well James….let me just say this, I read your post, and this time instead of going nuclear on you, I will just say……..

YOU ARE OVERREACTING! I DO NOT AGREE WITH YOU, ONE IOATA! YOU’RE WRONG!

Thank you.
Patrick
33
October 12th, 2007 at 2:27 pm

Someone find me an application link, stat!

I am IN on Password…’specially for a million bucks.
myke25
34
October 12th, 2007 at 4:12 pm

Greg Palmer- “What do you think?”

I think you’re high! Roger Freakin’ Lodge?! Really?

And the game layout you suggested breaks the game show credo: “Keep it simple!” You’ve got WAY too many rules and too confusing a pay-off. The Power of 10 and Millionaire are perfect examples of how to do a big money game show right…easy to play, hard to win.
mrquiz
35
October 12th, 2007 at 4:30 pm

Greg, aren’t you forgetting something? Dick Clark suffered a stroke about three years ago. When he made an appearance on his New Year’s Eve show after that, he was an exceptionally courageous man, and was cited as being nothing short of “an inspirtaion” by many of the critics who saw him. On the other hand, he’ll be 79 next month. Even if he were in better shape than, say, Barker, he’d still likely be disqualified by that sneaky form of discrimination…age.

Having said that, I’m impressed with everyone’s comments, ideas, suggestions, and hopes. FOr the most part, they look to be very well thought out, indeed. And while I’ll be the first to say I’m a fan; not an expert, unlike many of you, I grew up with PASSWORD. I actually played it in school DURING CLASS in Third Grade (it was being used as a teaching tool). As much as I loved the CBS original, when ABC brought it back, I thought the few improvements (least of which being, the “defending champion”) made this game as close to perfect as could be. Then came PASSWORD ALL-STARS, and it was like the whole floor, rug amd all, was pulled out from under it. I know you fans of PASSWORD PLUS/SUPER PASSWORD will call me blasphemous, but sorry; those two versions represented the dumbing down of a certified classic.

If I were FreMantle, I’d look into recruiting Bob Stewart as a consultant. If any one person knows this game show almost bnetter than their own name, it’s him.
The Great Butler
36
October 12th, 2007 at 8:04 pm

Sigh….I guess people still don’t understand that Pearson was bought out by Fremantle and nobody from Fremantle ever had anything to do with MG98, CS01 or TTTT2000 (which arguably was not that bad, compare it to the dismal period TTTT90 had with Swann at the helm, or Ward’s, which most consider the worst TTTT of them all. Oddly enough, I actually LIKE Ward TTTT so bleah)

I concede Gameshow Marathon was deeply flawed. Ricki was not a good choice overall, and a couple of the games—TPIR and Let’s Make a Deal in particular—were botched. But you’re forgetting the good points—GSM Beat the Clock blew Kroger’s version out of the water, the PYL recreation was amazing, and we haven’t seen such a decent pure MG ‘revival’ arguably since Gene laid down the mic for the last time on the Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour in 1984. (I’m not counting Shafer MG, which was good, for the simple fact of the bizarre Match-Up rounds, but had it followed the format of the Bert Convy pilots, things may be different) And by the end of the series, particularly on PYL and MG, Ricki hit a sort of stride and pulled off pretty decent work.

I am amused by the fact people are saying Million Dollar Password will suck because Temptation sucks. Is Fremantle the only company to ever have a bad show? I don’t think so. Bob Stewart practically invented the unsold pilot with his plethora of bizarre formats (I’m looking at you, The Riddlers. And Caught in the Act ‘82. And Jackpot ‘84 too) Barry/Enright gave us such gems as “The Hollywood Connection.” Merv Griffin, who created the two biggest syndicated games in history, was involved with a game so bad—”Joe Garagiola’s Memory Game”—that he ultimately demanded the show air without any on-air acknowledgement of his involvement. Even the king of game shows, Mark Goodson, sometimes put out stinkers like, say, “Choose Up Sides” and “What’s Going On?” and tried to reinvent the proverbial wheel by turning Hollywood Squares inside out once he got it for the MG/HS Hour.
mrquiz
37
October 13th, 2007 at 3:34 pm

Oh, Mr. Butler…
As for Merv Griffin’s failures, you overlooked 1965’s LET’S PLAY POST OFFICE; 1967’s REACH FOR THE STARS, or ONE IN A MILLION; 1990’s MONOPOLY? an unquestionably, one that couldn’t have been only a failure, but an outright embarrassment…RUCKUS. As for WHEEL, it became a monster only AFTER it went into syndication; the NBC/CBS versions never were anything to write home about, ratings-wise; I heard somewhere (can’t remember the specifics, so please bear with me) that during the “Chuck Woollery” era, the show had come close to cancellation more than once.

As for Goodson-Todman miscues, you’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg: How ’bout GET THE MESSAGE (1964); MY BLUFF (1965); DOUBLE DARE (1976); THE BETTER SEX (1977); the Monty Hall-hosted version of BEAT THE CLOCK, and MINDREADERS (1979). PLAY YOUR HUNCH (1958-63) had been bounced around by CBS, and ABC, before NBC took a chance, and the show finally hit its stride.

May I also refresh your memory with a few more of Bob Stewart’s “boners” (yeah, they STIFFED, too-LOL!!) BLANKETY BLANKS (the thing tha slays me most about this horrible show, was the fact that ABC brought it in to replace reruns of “The Brady Bunch.” 13 weeks later, what replaced “BB?” RIGHT YOU ARE! Reruns of “The Brady Bunch!!!” There were also WINNING STREAK; PASS THE BUCK; and YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON. After having seen GSN’s version of CHAIN REACTION, I wonder if Bill Cullen isn’t shitting in his grave?

You also forgot to mention such forgettable Barry & Enright shows as BLANK CHECK; HOT POTATO; and HOLLYWOOD’S TALKING
The Great Butler
38
October 13th, 2007 at 8:35 pm

Yes, I do know of such shows, there are reasons I left them out.

Many of Merv’s shows I have not seen. Wheel and Jeopardy are the only two that have really been around in my lifetime. Monopoly was, yes, but I never saw it (twelve weeks ain’t much..) and I hate to say it, I had a strange affinity for Ruckus. Sue me. :P

I agree Get the Message was bad; I’ve seen it and it’s nothing more than a dreadfully boring Password wannabe. However, Double Dare ‘76 I consider quite a good show despite its short run… a few fixed flaws would’ve made it a quizzer for the ages. Ditto for Monty’s BTC, which I actually consider the BEST (yes, I said best) version of the show….I have always found Collyer’s version dreadfully dull, and Narz’s very disorganized and poorly structured.

As for Bob Stewart, I bow to you in that regard—I was only mentioning his unsold pilots. The rest you named I haven’t seen, though the clips of Pass the Buck I’ve seen have seemed rather intriguing to me.

What I’m trying to get at is that a short run does not necessarily make a bad show. True, many bad shows have short runs (naturally) but there are plenty of circumstances where good games have had short runs, too.
mrquiz
39
October 14th, 2007 at 1:07 am

Mr. Butler…I have to respectfully disagree with you on BEAT THE CLOCK, which is one of my personal all-time fave’s. While I was too young to remember the primetime version (the Bud Collyer episodes aired on GSN), it eventually went daytime in 1957. I remember that version almost as if were five minutes ago (in a manner of speaking). You’re entitled to feel the original version was boring. But, keep in mind, these episodes cover 1952-57. And boring as they may be to you, keep things in perspective; back in the day, THESE shows represent what made BTC the durable classic it became; the original ran for nearly 11 years between primetime and daytime. I didn’t think much of the Monty Hall version, myself. While it didn’t exactly suck, like it or not, there was definately something wrong when the show switched from civilian contestants to celebrities playing for the studio audience a la TATTLETALES. In short, 13 weeks and this version was history. (the “Bonus Shuffle” segment was the real killer of this version.)
Part of the reason for the Jack Narz/Gene Wood era’s problems (despite a five-year run; not bad at all by game show standards)was those versions had a very prohibitive budget after it relocated from NYC to Montreal. Jack Narz left the show because he was actually losing money, as he had to pay his own way from his home base in L.A. (even though he would buy his plane tickets in Canada, where their dollar was cheaper than the U.S. dollar) that along with a relatively paltry salary…well, do the math. Also, I understand that in Canada, the government imposes some kind of tax on TV shows. It had reached a point where the taxes were getting just high enough for someone in the Goodson-Todman organization to say, “enough!” and pulled the plug.
Clay
40
December 5th, 2007 at 10:51 am

I gotta tell you, it works. They haven’t worked out every single kink yet, but they’re close. I played the game in runthroughs yesterday–and even with only play-money on the line, it was as stressful as it would be with real cash. It’s classic Password, and there is a million dollars on the line. They’re doing it right, so far as I can see.

I’m very pleasantly surprised.