14Oct2007
“Crosswords” Changes from Chicago Auditions
Thanks to reader Tom Jetland who informed us of a few changes coming in some newer episodes of Crosswords taken from the Chicago auditions. First off, the cheap Crosswords Getaways are gone. So I’m sorry to depress you, but no more trips to the Holiday Inn, you know, the one down the street. Second, there are five Crosswords Extras involved, so a lot more money is available in the main game. And finally, the show is finally up to par with a GSN budget. The bonus prize is $5,000 plus a trip. We’ve also heard mumblings that some rules involving the Spoilers changed, but we’ll see.
FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS AND A… oh not a spin… A TRIP! :D
Seriously, at least it’s not quite as cheap anymore. Hope the spoiler rule changes, if any, are well-executed, the concept of the spoilers is neat but it doesn’t work as it stands.
Hallelujah, H-A-L-L-E-L-U-J-A-H!
I’m glad to hear they’ve upped the prize budget, but there are still a few imperfections:
1. The theme music. I’m certain that in his lifetime, Merv composed some much more listenable tunes.
2. To paraphrase Eamonn Holmes, “An unfinished puzzle is unfinished business,” so for the benefit of the viewers, Ty should go over any unsolved bonus round clues. Now that Edd Hall doesn’t have to describe the Crossword Getaways anymore, there should be another minute or so to fill, and it shouldn’t take more than a minute to fill in the rest of the grid.
3. How many times have we seen this happen? Two or more players ring in on a clue. Player #1 gives a wrong answer and loses some cash. Then player #2 says, “That would have been my guess,” and gets penalized too. My suggestion: Clear the buzzers after a wrong guess and give the other players another 3 seconds to ring in.
4. Ty says basically the same things repeatedly throughout the show. He should mix up his script.
Marc:
You are quite correct about the repetitive script. How about something akin to what Chuck Woolery used to say on Scrabble: “Building on the first R in “rumor” and the a in “paddle,” for $X, [clue]. . . .” What I have is a bit long, but it’s better than just throwing a clue and dollar value out there.
This Is Great. No More Stupid Trips And More Money In The Main Game, I Am Definatly Going To Audition For This Show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe The Raitings Will Go Up With The New Changes. Anyone Else Agree With This?
I think that despite these tweaks, Crosswords will still be a goner. Not that I have no hope for the show, but I’m surprised to see WMAQ NBC 5 from Chi-Town have hope. I’m sure though that if the changes improve the show’s ratings, Crosswords would still be cancelled. I have one more idea for a change to the show. A different theme song:
A Weakest Link sounding theme at the speed of 615 Music’s news theme, Interceptor. It would sound like this:
C-C-C Bflat-Eflat-C
I only wish they’d give me an extra $3000 since they’re upping the bonus round ante :P
But in all seriousness, I think the prize changes are good ones, and I hope whatever they have in mind for the spoilers works out as well.
Marc, RE: #3, I think why they don’t clear and require all rings ins to be within the first 2 seconds is so that the contestants must come up with the answer quickly. I totally see where you’re coming from though – that’s SOP for Jeopardy!, WOF toss-ups, and pretty much every other buzz in and nswer game that’s ever existed. It does, however, keep the show from being a Jeopardy! clone (We all know that the “Crossword Extra” is merely an unglorified “Daily Double!”)
Neville – Episode 1 Champ :)
I have only seen a couple of episodes, and I agree they need to increase the prize amounts a little bit. More of those getaways will have winning contestants leaving with more. This show is heading in the right direction. I think it will last for a second season.
At the auditions, they also mentioned that during all of the test runs of the game, they found it to be just about 50/50 that the eventual game winner was an original contestant vs. a spoiler. So they told contestants to “not be too disappointed” if they are picked to be a spoiler. No mention of changing the rules, at least as of this point.
Not to be a pessimist, even if the ratings DO increase, which I doubt will happen, but even if there’s an improvement, I don’t see a second season.
I have to agree with Adam. Whats the ratings, .7-.8? Even doubling that rating, it is still doing poorly. I’m sure they were hoping for at minimum a 2.0 given that it was a Merv Griffin game.
I’m definetly glad. If they’re going to give away prizes in addition to cash, they can’t just give away trips all the time. Whatever happened to cars, television sets, and furniture?
The staff were all very optimistic about next season, but of course they would be. Kimberly, the head contestant producer, suggested that winnings have been/will be substantially higher with the rules change to allow five Daily Doubles.
Have the 80′s WOF shopping cue as it’s theme song. That would be good.
I just hope that it’s not too little too late, In New York, we lost the 2nd airing to “Access Hollywood” leaving only the 4PM show. Never a good sign.
At this point, getting above a 1.0 would be considered an improvement. I don’t know what to make of that.
The show suffers from a broken format and little-to-know promotion. It didn’t really generate good buzz until Merv passed away. Unfortunately, I think his death affects the show, in terms of the execution. I’d like to know what changes he would’ve suggested, and I honestly would’ve liked to see the format from that Flash pitch film (three contestants work as a team, then play independently).
I was hoping at least ONE of the syndie rookies would make it to season two. Not looking good for either one. Both shows have so much potential, except, in the case of X-words, it’s bad execution. “Temptation” simply suffers from lazy producing.
I happened to get on the show that was taped last Friday October 18. They did have a few changes to the show. Seeing that the last taping is in mid-november, I doubt that any more changes will take place. Here they are below.
The Crossword Getaways are gone. The number that shows what order you buzzed in has been moved to the center taking over the space where the trips used to go.
There are now 4 crossword extras as opposed to 3. There is one in the first round, two in the second, and one in the third. For the one in the third round, you can risk up to $2000 if you don’t have that much.
The Crossword Extras are now called “The XBOX 360 Crossword Extra.” The XBOX 360 logo is shown in the top corner.
The spoilers are introduced when they reach their podiums. The names and professions are mentioned.
The bonus round has a prize package of $5000, a Carribean trip, and an XBOX 360 package worth $509. What level of system or game(s) or accessories that it includes is unknown.
As for any rule changes involving the spoilers, there were none present on my taping. The rules as they give now give the show a little twist that makes it unique. It may be considered unfair that a person could technically win with only one question answered, but it should be known that it will be a question that neither person in the front knew. The people on the show mention that you should feel proud that you managed to get a question that at least 2 other people did not know. That explains why the person in the lead is always jittery.