England does not know what dark force they have brought upon themselves. Challenge, the UK version of GSN, is bringing back “Pyramid” with Donny Osmond as host. The show is being called “Donny’s Pyramid Game”, and not much is known beyond Sony is apparently doing it. With that in mind, I’d expect a clone of “Pyramid”. If this is true, my UK friends, you truly have my sympathy. The first words out of my mouth when I read this were “What the fuck?” Osmond was part of my problem with “Pyramid”: he just did not fit the show for me for some reason. I really think someone else like Mark Walberg could have handled it. Not to count the crappy set, crappy music, and insanely easy Winners Circle, plus the screwed up tournament. It just seemed pathetic compared to the classic versions, and again, I’m comparing the feel and game play. But hey, if you’re from England and want some money, why not sign up?
15 Responses
KP
1January 4th, 2007 at 7:55 am
Oh holy hell no.
Are Challenge really going to waste what’s left of their now-respectable budget (after the disastrous Take It Or Leave It) on this? They need to come up with a good original badly.
KP
2January 4th, 2007 at 7:56 am
And it’s not the first version of Pyramid in the UK. We had one in the 1980s. Though nobody remembers it.
Marc Power
3January 4th, 2007 at 9:01 am
leaving my opinions aside of the latest version of pyramid. what does this mean for the name that tune revival that Donny was supposed to host.
Wheelloon
4January 4th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
*loads bullet, locks into place, BAM!*
I had 4 problems with Pyramid: 6 clues instead of 7, judging inconsistency, no returning champions, and… DONNY. He was too over the top at times, and others, just awkward in his officiating. Bad move by Challenge.
And you make a good point Marc, this will be an interesting wrinkle in the new NTT story. I really hoped to see that come to the light, and I hope this won’t disrupt it…
AP
5January 4th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
CHALLENGE must be getting desperate
Julia
6January 4th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I might be the only one, but I really enjoyed Pyramid with Donny Osmond. I thought he was a great host of the show. He had a connection to his contestants like Dick Clark had. The problems with the show were in the sped-up gameplay. 6 answers instead of 7? 20 seconds instead of 30? That tournament? The level of celebs? Pyramid, no matter what form, is a venerable format. It’s a show that will keep my attention no matter how crappy it’s packaged. It’s still the same basic format, with the most exciting bonus game on TV.
I think having Donny Osmond as the host is OK. I think the show was prematurely canceled, and I’m very happy that he’s being given a chance to host in the UK.
Scott Meckley
7January 4th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
actually Julia you are not alone i think Donny Osmond wasn’t that bad on Pyramid i do have to agree with you on the 6 answers in 20 seconds that’s insane. 6 answers maybe in 25 seconds i could have dug but in a way maybe trying something a little different on a revival of pyramid wasn’t bad. I actually liked Pyramid revival better than i did a revival of Card Sharks back in early 2000. I think how the tournment was done was awful though.
Scott
8January 5th, 2007 at 8:41 am
This is one of the few times Harry Friedman has mis-fired on an existing show format. Pyramid was a horrible follow-up to the tried and true $$ Pyramids which naturally evolved with bonuses, etc. This show should go back to the basic format, 7 clues in 30 seconds. Other tweaks could be added such as to scale up the value of each clue each round, so to avoid ties and allow folks to catchup in the last round; bonus points, or a prize behind each square for each perfect 7 round; perfect game bonus or jackpot; allow celebs to stay all week. If this ever came back big, how about a “Super Pyramid” with 10 categories in the end game and 90 seconds (i.e., make it really tough to win like the old days). There are plenty of ways to improve on the original format but Harry’s ideas faltered. But I doubt Sony will alter the format, as there may be an after-market there for the U.S. Osmond shows (hard to imagine, but possible).
Steve
9January 5th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Forget all the extra bonuses, for the UK, do it like this
7 words in 30 secs
7-11 in R1 for £1.000
Mystery 7 in R2 for a merchandise prize £1.500-3.000
Bonus Round
|£1.000|
|£400| |£500|
|£100| |£200| |£300|
£10.000 for win in R1, £25.000 for the 2nd trip (whether 10k is won in R1)
And save all the trouble with the tournaments,
3 fastest times come back, 1st to the top wins £100.000
Wheelloon
10January 5th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
I did want to say that, despite all my complaints about D.O’s version, I’m in agreement with the group that I did think Pyramid was prematurely cancelled. Much as Julia said, Sony and whoever can POORLY REPACKAGE the game quite a bit, and in the end, it’s still Pyramid, and still fun.
However, with such a venerable history in the GS world, you would’ve thought the producers would’ve thought out some things a little more. If you wanted to update the 80’s Pyramid, up the dollar values to 20k or 25k in 1st half and 50k in the 2nd half, instead of 10k and 25k. Tournaments could be held every 10 weeks (making it a bit harder), with maybe 250k on the line instead of 100k (you could keep 100k if you really wanted to), eligible tourney players decided the same way as they had been before.
I have other concepts too, but with the success and venerability of the original runs, you don’t wanna change things up too much. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…” :D
Michael
11January 7th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Now I have a reason to feel bad for England in terms of game shows. I didn’t like the current version for those reasons and a tournament that was dumb. I always kept thinking why not give out a flat $100,000 in the tournament? I will never know.
myke25
12January 8th, 2007 at 10:57 am
I’m a big Pyramid guy and I didn’t have too many complaints about Donny’s version other than that lame-ass tournament and F-List Celebrities. I’ve seen UK’s “The Pyramid Game” from the 80s. Donny really couldn’t do worse than that POS.
scotty
13January 9th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Well , Donny will get bombarded with fans that just want to go onto the show to meet him and a whole audiance of fans, oh and try to win the cash !! then they can see him over in the states with the money they have won.
I’m sure the show wil be a great success in England because of his huge fan base over here.Who wants to see the show, its Donny they want to see.
shelly
14January 9th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
The only problems I had with the modern-day version of Pyramid were the inconsistency in the judging and the tournament format. Aside from that, I liked it.
KP
15January 14th, 2007 at 2:12 am
*laughs at scotty* You might be too close to the truth… Enough people will watch for Donny to make it a hit by Challenge standards (bear in mind, for this channel, 150,000 viewers is a big hit).
Someone at Bother’s Bar has received an online application form. Yes, there will be celebrities, but we don’t know their calibre yet - I’d not be at all surprised to see some of our numerous reality show alumni there though. And apparently there’s £15,000 available - that number makes me scratch my head, trying to work out if there’s a tournament or not… AAH. It might be £5k for one win, £10k for another, retire after two, no tournament. And in fairness, no tournament might make scheduling easier for Challenge.
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