Here’s a comment box to discuss the season debut of Duel today at 9:00PM ET on ABC.
Network: ABC
Airings: Fridays at 9:00PM ET
Host(s): Mike Greenberg
Vote for how many stars you think the show deserves to the right, and then leave a comment!
Duel is an intense game show combining Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and World Series of Poker. Two competitors face off against each other in a duel. Each player is armed with ten chips and two “Presses”. A question is read, and the players place a chip on every answer they think it could be; up to four chips can be used per question. After a player locks in his or her answer, that player is eligible to press the red pressure button which forces the opponent to answer in seven seconds. After both players lock in, the answer is read. The players keep the chips on right answers while all chips on wrong answers are lost. The first player to miss a question or run out of chips loses the game.
In season one, a tournament format was attempted but managed to fail in several areas. First, you can’t have a tournament and not have every contestant you select to play participate. Doesn’t seem right. The show also became a bit boring since you were playing for chump change as compared to what you will on the final day. Host Mike Greenberg felt very stiff as well. He kept waving a pen around like a crutch and constantly overused the phrase, “This is Duel on ABC.”
Season two changes the format a bit. The amount of money you win per duel is dependent on how many questions it lasts. For instance, a duel ending on question one gives the champion $1,000 while a duel lasting more than 10 questions awards $50,000. After each duel the champion can double that money earned in the previous duel by answering one more question. The player then has to decide to take his or her money or play the next one against a new opponent. Five duel wins $500,000. Now the show seems extremely cheap and they overcomplicated the money system. They’ve also seemed to dumb down the questions a bit. The question format is fine. They just can’t seem to get anything else very right, and that’s the biggest part of this show. Plus the material was slightly dumbed down. There’s always one (and sometimes two) throw away answers. We’ve already seen that the money is too much for contestants to risk for double or nothing. The only way someone’s going to win it all is if they barely get any money during the duels. It’s going to create a really awkward scenario where if you want to win $500,000, you need to win the least amount of money possible.
Rating: 
Posts
*Sigh*, another money tree/chain/ladder/tower of greed etc.
Unfortunately, I can’t stay to watch the whole episode, but here are my thoughts so far:
They took away Mike’s pen. And somehow, he’s about eighteen thousand percent more enjoyable of a host. And the gameplay seems to move along a lot more nicely, we’re fifteen minutes into the show and we’re about ten questions deep. Definitely a step up from last season.
I can’t say I fully enjoy the money ladder. I still think there should be some sort of valor in how many chips one has left when they win the duel. Perhaps have a reduced money tree (values go up to $5k), but whatever value they win the duel on is multiplied by the number of chips they have left? For example, a win on the $3500 rung with four chips left nets $14k… I dunno, it just doesn’t seem to make sense that a person should win so much less because their opponent flunks out early, I think some sort of system like this would balance that out.
I really eppreciate the fact that the contestants now talk more while placing chips. It seemed like such a rare occurence last season, and the contestants seem to have personalities now, instead of dueling robots. I like that.
The Max Chip concept? Eh… I guess it’s okay. It’s still a blatant plug, but I’m ignoring that for now.
That’s all on my mind for now, we’ll wait and see what else comes up later.
I really liked this show in the first round, even though the tournament format didn’t fit it.
This time around… ugh. Gotta agree on the money tree in this case. Should have stuck with the value on each chip. Maybe have that increase with each correct answer? Have how much you win go down with each chip lost? I don’t know, but this is just back.
This show can be done right, I’m convinced of it. I just wish it would be.
Agreed. Why couldn’t they do a $500,000 jackpot, and add $1,000 for each forfeited chip. Winner of 5 games gets the pot. And I’m OK with the ladder of money, as long as each chip left on the table goes to the winner, worth $1,000 each as well. That would make it better. Yeah, the questions are pretty easy … none for me have required more than 2 chips to guess.
I have no problem with this, a money tree ( I know most shutter on that, but it encourages a longer game)
Well, the game is moving much faster! I don’t mind the money ladder system. Questions still range from the easy to hard, which is fine. The one thing I am annoyed at is that players only have 1 press, instead of 2. I know it’s dumb to complain about, but I like Duel for the presses. Those 7 seconds are very intense. Other than that, the game is good. Not the best, but good none the less!
This is definitely an improvement over the first season, and I think I actually enjoy the format over the UK version. The money tree is fine - I don’t think it’s a difficult concept for the average person to understand. I will agree that a second press would have been nice, but it doesn’t kill it for me.
I am still concerned about the incentive for people to gamble and go for the big win, but from the end credits, it seems like that won’t be a huge issue.
The self-contained episodes should help too. I always feel like those weeklong tournaments discourage the casual viewer who isn’t able to watch all the games. I really don’t hold too much hope for the show doing well ratings-wise, but I like it, so I’ll enjoy it while I can.
I LOVE DUEL! I am happy it’s back and I’m happy that Greeney is able to show more personality, along with the players, too. The pace was quick and it was still very fun.
I saw the money ladder and cringed, but I think it works out. I do agree that the player should get something for having chips at the end. Maybe they should give the player $1,000 for each chip plus the amount of the duel. Here’s the thing, though. If they risk to play another duel, they keep are guaranteed to keep the amount they earned through the chips.
I think that would be an incentive to play on because you aren’t walking away with nothing.
(and did anyone notice on their tivo that it said a 1.5 million dollar prize? what’s up with that?)
TT
The money tree doesn’t bother me a bit. But within the first five seconds, I felt insulted by the contestants. Does EVERY show these days have to have contestants that act bizarre or are “characters”? I just want to see some smart folks play a straight quiz show? Why is that so much to ask for?
I love Duel. In my opinion it’s the best primetime game show since the big-money shows of the 2000 era. However, I do not like the fact that contestants need to gamble to continue on. I mean, unless you get to the fifth consecutive duel, they’re not playing for any additional money. So from ABC’s standpoint, there’s very little risk to let the contestant play on. You’re paying out the same amount of money either way, unless they reach five wins (which, let’s face it, is tough, even without the added pressure of gambling away your winnings). From this point, we’ll probably only see people with $20,000 - $30,000 total winnings agree to play a fifth duel.
This was much better than last time. I hated when presses got overused in the first series, so I like limiting the contestants to one press per duel instead of two.
My only gripe is the money tree; not totally against it, but could be a shorter path to 50k.
I would much rather want chip count to determine how much a player won.
They say the show has a poker element to it, but not anymore if the chips are valueless and players don’t feel like they are risking money when they cover more answer choices.
Well now that the tournament format is banished, let’s get to the review.
I actually liked the season 2 premiere. The set was just incredible…many huge changes that made the new season great. There was however one thing that didn’t sit well with me, but I’ll get to that in a second. What I did like was:
CHOOSING NEW PLAYERS= ( I like the new and improved gallery. Lots of lights.)
THE MONEY TREE= (I think the payouts were very fair. You have to work hard to get big money and God knows ABC was NOT going to make things easy for the players.”
MAX CHIP= This is my favorite new element this year. 1 chip, 1 chance, 7 seconds to answer one question and then you double your money) It’s just brilliant and it was also nice to see it happen last night. Better get your Pepsi MAX ready. You’ll need it.
MIKE GREENBURG= The guy is back and better than ever. Did I actually see a smile or emotion? Yes I did. Awesome! lol
THE CONTESTANTS= Hell yeah the trash talk is back and that’s what makes Duel great. The first duel of the season was done very well. Smart players.
CHIP GIRLS: Hotter than ever.
THE PAYOUT: Remember ladies and gentlemen this isn’t the tournament format so there has to be a set in stone payoff. $500,000 is very good for this type of game. Not every damn game has to be $1,000,000 for Christ sakes.
One thing I didn’t like was:
TO CONTINUE DUELING: I was quite freaked out when I found out that if you decide to continue dueling the money you accumulated during the previous duel is at stake. That’s scary and may not force to many players to play for so long but I’ll count this as a minor thing because you know what they say “No Guts no glory” so it’ll be interesting to see how much guts these players this season have.
My verdict is: 5/5 Thanks ABC. You didn’t fail me.
I am somewhat surprised by some of the criticism here. Far and away a better show this time around. Let me address some of the criticisms and comments:
1. Money Tree — This makes sense, actually, because the idea of the game ought to be to win Duels, not to conserve chips (which is how players would lose games almost immediately last season). This approach actually encourages players to play it safe early on, which enables the pot to grow and make the game more exciting at te end.
2. Max Bonus Round — Shameless promotion aside, this was a brilliant idea — I have long said there needed to be a bonus round of some sort. This one is quick and exciting, is themed to the main game, and not at all easy to win. And nothing is risked, unlike the comparatively silly Perfect 21 round in Twnety-One. One question, one chip, double or you keep what you won. Another favorable aspect is that this impacts the decision to play on or not, as well. Really a nice new element to the game.
3. Risk All to Play “One More Duel” — This is the type of element we have rarely seen since the old Twenty-One. Very high-stakes, very exciting. The irony is that the players who win low-scoring games will be the ones who are incentivized to play on. As the season spoilers appear to have shown us, someone may actually go all the way and play a game for $500K.
4. Chip Girls — Traditional window dressing as with Card Sharks. No problems there. They were tastefully dressed. It would be nice if they interacted with the contestants more — some contestants seemed eager enough to engage with them.
5. Greeny — This is the Mike Greenberg that Wink Martindale told us about. This is the Grenny I have been telling everybody was waiting to come out. No pen, no stoic attitude, almost and Mike & Mike sportsy-type attitude. Very refreshing, very enjoyable to see. Awesome job. And he was only forced to say “You’re watching Duel on ABC” twice by my count, which is within my level of tolerance. He is entusiastic, and wants to see a good game, and he masterfully builds the suspense. Example: “What I think you’re going to do [having won only $5000]…is play on…”
6. The Money — Solves the problem of it being too easy to win too much money. You don’t need huge payoffs each game to make things interesting. This strikes the right balance. If a contestant played 5 long games and doubled with the Max question every time, they would win $500 K, plus the bonus $500 K, for a cool million. So there is money to be won, and I expect we will see some $100K+ winners who take the money and run. This is more like 1 vs. 100 used to be in terms of risk.
7. The Advantage of Choosing The Next Player — A helpful encouragement to play on. Nice interaction and bluffing element. It’s not bad to have some characters as contestants so long as they play the game well. The first game was awesome.
8. The Press — One is just right, as you have to use it wisely. Two or Three would have been too much.
9. The Poker Element — Is still there and better than before. It’s not about chips being worth money. As any good poker player will tell you, the game is now — and rightly so — about chip management to win the entire game. And like Texas Hold’em, when you knock the other player out, you win outright. It doesn’t matter how many chips you had going into that last hand.
In a word…AWESOME recovery from last season. If this does not catch on, then we will be resigned to a lot of DOND easy money, no-brains cashfests. This is the rightful heir to the WWTBAM throne. Long may it live on prime time and also in syndication.
Well, I put up my first thoughts in show, now that I’ve had a night to digest it, I think it’s alright.
I’m glad the tournament is gone, and I do like the max chip element (obvious ad placement or not). The risk it all to advance doesn’t bother me any, and quite frankly is needed, otherwise there is no risk whatsoever to this show.
Still not a big fan of the money tree, but that will probably be ok in time. Would prefer 2 presses too, but if the option is more or less, I’ll take less. I can see the arguement that this is more of a poker element, and it was certainly in action in that last game.
Glad to see the love of Greenberg. I knew he had in him to be the right host, and it’s great ABC is letting him show it this time around. He looks relaxed and in his element.
I’ll say 4 for 5, and that would probably make it the best of the prime time shows right now (at least, until The Mole returns).
To ScottNotSteve:
You and I are about even on the reviews. Perfectly well said. :)
I’m from the UK and was sent the episode via email from a friend from the states.
I have to say that this is much better than the UK version. Plus our host is trash compared to Mike Greenberg
What were the official ratings .I heard 2.8 but i hope I am wrong.
According to Zap 2 It, the rating was either at or below a 2.8. It was the last place show of the 5 on the networks at the 9PM hour.
Actually, it was beated out by something on Univision too. Sad, really, but not all that surprising since Price was on at the same time.
I just watched the first episode on ABC.com and I was impressed a bit. The one thing that surprised me was the pacing of the show. It seemed much faster that the first run, and thusly, was more enjoyable. I thought while Mike Greenberg was much more relaxed and personable this time around, that it was just a bit too relaxed, IMO. I was actually annoyed by his personality a bit. I don’t know exactly what annoyed me, but I just had this weird feeling about him that I didn’t like. It was a marked improvement from the pen wielding ABC shilling robot we had the first go-round. The money tree was OK. It’s a fact that ever since Millionaire and Greed, almost every trivia based show on a broadcast network will have some sort of money tree or ladder. So, I expected something like this to creep into the reworked format. I did not like the fact that the chips were only strategy, and not worth anything at the end. Making each chip the winner has left left worth something would make up for the early wins. That $5000 could have been more. I liked the Max Question. It fits with the main game, and is just a quick little bonus, and back to the show. The option to come back and risk what you earn makes sense, but on the other hand, as we saw in this episode, I think we’ll see quite a few people leave with around $40,000 or so. The chance that someone will actually go for the 5 game streak is slim, IMO. If I had just won $40,000, I would duck and run if I had to risk it.
Esthetically, I really liked the old set better than this one. It didn’t have the same dramatic feel that the old one did. I thought they actually cheapened the set a bit this time around.
Did anyone else think that this show would work better as a primetime show in the old format, and better as a syndicated strip in this format? There was more money on the line on the first go-round and a reasonable syndicated show’s budget this season. Frankly, I am not so impressed with this being an ABC show, but if it were in syndication, I would definitely watch. I just expect more from a primetime show, I suppose
I think one way to make the decision of “one more duel” more interesting is to let the winner carry over the chips that he had remaining from the match. This would be a better incentive for the champion to keep on playing. This would also make the challenger work that much harder to win. But this can be alleviated by having the rule that if the challenger wins, he wins everything that the champion has won. Anyway, just some random thoughts.
I love the changes made to Duel.
1) Mike Greenburg- much better this time as a host and was more enjoyable to watch. I had a feeling that deep down some where he was better as a host than what he did the first time around. I personally think that ABC read this possibly. He looked a bit more relaxed too which I thought was cool.
2) Gameplay- I enjoyed it more this time around with the exception that there needs to be more of a reason to go on say all the chips you have remaining in all the game could be worth maybe $500- 1,000 a piece. I also felt that it was easier to understand this time around. I know there was a money tree but so what to win more you had to stay in the game longer too which made this more interesting. I also liked the fact that after you won a duel you got a chance to try and double your money and it wasn’t a double or nothing thing. Very nice touch to add to this show.
3) Not Enough Nights- What Do I Mean By This Even though the ratings weren’t hot I would like to see how this show would do if it were on say after Dancing With The Stars on Tuesday and then still have the friday night show. I personally would love to see this show on twice a week and no more than that to prevent from burnout
4) One Other Thing- My Friend came over and watched this with me and he’s never seen it before and he said that this is a game that would be fun as a plug in play game or a dvd game. maybe you could have a glasses thing like password or something and you could only see your side of the screen.
All In All Though I would give this a 4 out of 5 stars.
I’m a Greeney and a game show fan, so I enjoyed the first “season”. However, I must say this time around was even better. I hope ABC has patience with this and gives it a chance to find its audience. Have to agree with Scott Meckley that moving it to pair with ABC’s big hit DWTS would be agreat idea and it would also move it away from primetime TPiR (which was the name brand game show many fans chose to watch instead).
I know TPiR was more of a sure bet for fun (and a million), but it’s also on EVERY DAY. Wish more people would have taken a chance on the show that needs their help to survive. Maybe they had a bad taste in their mouths from “season” one.
Check out a couple of funny behind the scenes clips with Greeney and the chip girls at the show’s site on abc.com! Really gives you a sense of the relaxed, fun atmosphere of the show this time around…and you get to hear from the chip girls.
To Devon: Thanks for the shout-out. Glad someone agrees with me…
Also glad to see several positive comments lately. It did not strike me that TPIR was slotted at the same time (unfortunate impact there). I like Scott Meckley’s idea (and JD’s agreement) that Duel could be used as a lead-in or lead-out on a higher-viewer night such as DWTS. Got to avoid Idol, though…
Happened to catch Wink Martindale on Mike and Mike in the Morning (Duel host Mike Greenberg’s day job) on ESPN Radio, where he rooted on his Memphis (then Memphis State) Tigers in tonight’s NCAA championship game and talked to Greeney about Duel. He called last week’s show a 1000% improvement and agreed with me (although he didn’t know it :)) that last season’s scoring system was confusing, but the (omnipresent) money tree made it easier to understand.
Greeney then said that his dream is for a Celebrity Duel matchup between Wink and his radio partner Mike Golic! :)
Decent…Unfortunatly, the better format came with less money and that normally doesn’t bode well (See: Syndie Link, Povich’s 21 with the round ladder) Agree Greenie really improved and the DC format and setup helped him be more personal with the contestants and well I’m glad they didnt totally drop the choose your opponent angle (Although I miss the randomizer…couldnt they do it with like a LMAD Trading Floor setup of about 50-60 people?)
Rewarding longer duels makes some more sense and I think we all missed a MAJOR hole that was filled…not having chips go into a pot that can be won later dramatically reduced 4 square plays…which really got out of hand in the tourney format…sometimes the player in the lead would just go into a defense mode of playing 4 answers at all times until the lead was lost JUST to drive up the value of the pot.
The bonus round is retarded and is more out of place than Perfect 21 was…Instead I would have had the money set up this way:
Win your stake…take it or give it back to play a money tree that would be doubled if they won duel 2…wash rinse repeat until they play a 5x money tree for the possible (but not gaurenteed) 500k top prize.
Going to one press was a gift from god…the 2nd press was often just used to taunt opponents and didnt further the game…the press is a good weapon…but only having 1 makes more sense…it really is more of an element of surprise and strategy this way.
Now the 3 bad things.
1. MORON CONTESTANTS: My god syndie millionaire has better brains…this isnt the joker’s wild folks…in the immortal words of Anne Robinson “BOUNCE THE BIMBOS! FLUSH THE FLUZEES! HEAVE THE HOTTIES!!!”
2. Mid Question Commercials: They work in Deal or No Deal because there actually is real tension there and really “ices” the contestant when making a critical move (Hence why its done in Basketball in real life all the time)…here it just makes you look desperate for ad cash.
3. SET: Is it just me or did they really trim it down and the transporter room setup for the new contestants was just out of place to me. The old set seemed alot better to me.
I love this new version, sadly it wont last, the tourney format made it too big money and anything else will be seen as cheapening even if it’s the right call.
I will be trying tonight to return to watching Duel and hopefully it will get better ratings this time but if the price is right is on that could be a problem. I hope ABC fixes this problem and again I think that Tuesday after DWTS as long as it’s not against AI and current Friday slot would be enough. Duel is a very enjoyable show especially this time around because of Greeny’s personality and even though the money tree is overused it is easier to understand and to me that is one of the key elements to a good gameshow is easy to understand. Duel is a game that would make a good either PC Game, DVD Game, Plug In Play or handheld game. I’m not too smart at trivia but the questions this time were more easier this time around and many of the questions i didn’t need more than 2 chips.
It will be up against Price is Right again tonight, and I presume continue to be as long as the current run of TPIR prime-time is done. Ghost Whisperer has been returned to it’s old Friday at 8 slot thanks to the end of the writer’s strike.
ABC needs to get Duel out of this tie against TPIR. Even moving it an hour ahead would make sense at this point. But it’s not going to have a chance as long as it’s head to head with Price.
It might be too late. IMO, ABC is doing this unpurpose. I have a feeling that ABC has clearly no hope for this show, which is pissing my butt off. Next week, CBS isn’t having a TPiR special, but I’ll bet that even if it didn’t compete against TPiR, Duel would still be vulnerable. What the hell is ABC thinking? Don’t they have any brains? Huh? GEEEZ! >-(
ABC = Arse is where the Brains are cause we cant say Cunt on television (Capital letters are the ABC) lol
First the stuff that makes this Thread sound Like a Broken Record
1. Greeny is great I’m glad someone at the show allowed him to be him.
2. Money tree ladder I still think should be Chip based but I’m Fine with it
3. Max Question I like it
4. Yes it could probably do better in another time slot (Maybe Mondays Opposite AG?)
5. All or Nothing- Incentive factor of Po10 going for 10 million in most cases, none
Now the new Stuff
Like that they nixed the gallery instead going for just a choice of 3
Would like to see an incentive system of some kind either on a Per duel(like 2500?) or Money tree basis for the loser (1000 1st,2500 2nd,5000 3rd,10000 4th,20,000 or maybe a car if you fall 1 win away from the jackpot) or just say risk maybe 1/2 (and possibly put 1/2 in the Jackpot.
WHERE IS DUEL TAPED? NEW YORK OR L.A.?
First off, the obligatory reminder to please lay off of the ALL CAPS.
In answer to your question, Duel was taped in LA. I say “was,” because they’re almost certainly already finished with the entire season (6 shows, I think) by now.