19 Responses

1. Jeff Metzner

   1

   October 26th, 2006 at 1:37 pm

   I think they should accept forms of words, or at least give the player a chance to guess again like Password used to do. However, the big thing that caused me to stop watching was simply that the contestants didn’t seem very smart.

2. Paul Dreyer

   2

   October 26th, 2006 at 4:06 pm

   I agree with Jeff on the forms of words point.

   Also, giving the final letter of a word seems ridiculous and pointless. The host can let the player know there is a single letter remaining, and then if s/he manages to miss it, reveal the whole word and move on.

   My memory may be off, but didn’t the older version of the game give the first letters of each word prior to the beginning of a round?

   And yes, get better contestants. The episode I watched had players as dumb as a sack of hammers. The performance on the bonus round was an embarrassment.

3. Jason

   3

   October 26th, 2006 at 4:15 pm

   The bonus round should be for $10,000 and it should be the format used when Geoff Edwards did Chain Reaction in Montreal.

   They would show the first word and the first letters of the next six words and seven additional letters if needed. If they do not finish the chain, they should get $250 for each word to word connection.

4. Steve

   4

   October 26th, 2006 at 4:44 pm

   Hmmm… some that I haven’t mentioned previously. I’m not going to say anything about the set because I like the dark set. It’s moody, but I will say…

   1. Play for a little bit more money — I know that sounds dumb but c’mon — three people winning a total of $7,000 doesn’t seem like much of an incentive. They should at least be going for $10,000.
   2. What is up with that theme music? All by itself, it sounds like something that is played on an elevator and it’s the same 16 notes over and over again in a pattern?
   3. I do like the idea of “Form of the word”. I mean at least give them another guess if they say something like “paper” for “papers”.
   Combine those with the 10 I mentioned in the last post, and this game will go from mediocre to excellent.

5. Mark

   5

   October 26th, 2006 at 7:18 pm

   I’d rather GSN renew I’ve Got A Secret, That’s the Question, or Starface before Chain Reaction, but if they have already decided on it, I’d recommend:

   1. Don’t give the last letter for a word
   2. Allow certain forms of the word (plural -s or -es, past -ed, gerunds -ing)
   3. Returning Champions for 3 or 5 days max
   4. Higher stakes in the bonus round: Maybe if a team gets 5 right their money in the main game is tripled, and if they get 7 right, it’s multiplied times 5. That’s not gonna break your budget.

   Things I do like:

   1. The set: Very nice indeed! I love the modern look.
   2. The basic bonus round idea (aka GO!). Go!, itself, was an underrated show, in my view, and the concept is a good one, if you ask me.
   3. The speed chain: Maybe you can up the values of them to 300, 600, and 900, but the idea came across as okay in my book.

6. Paul

   6

   October 26th, 2006 at 8:05 pm

   In my opinion, the one big change I’d make is the host. Who the HELL is the person they got hosting? Bring in someone with some experience hosting game shows: Tom Kennedy, Geoff Edwards, even Todd Newton would be a great choice.

   Other than that, I agree with my fellow fans and say up the stakes. Give everyone a grand at the start, make the first two rounds $500 a word, the third round $1000 a word, and, if they still wanna use the gamble idea, make the maximum bet per word $1500.

7. Jason Lewis

   7

   October 26th, 2006 at 10:55 pm

   I’ve only watched the game a few times and was very disappointed in the remaking of this classic game. Remember way back when Bill Cullen hosted it? Every word that a contestant’s team got, was the same amount of point… example: Dog lead to WHISTLE… “Whistle” itself was worth only 7 points… and once a team reaches 50 points, the team was allowed to play the end game. Allow the other ‘losing’ team to return for another chance… more like the best 2 out of 3. I totally agree with everyone else in this forum about raising the stakes a little. Chain Reaction offered a total of $10,000 for winning the end game, and that was the 80’s… you would think since this is the 21st century they would keep or up the stakes.

   Going back to someone mentioning about the host… I’ve pointed it out SEVERAL times that the host needs to gain some experience. Everytime I see him explaining the rules of the game, you can always tell that he’s reading a tele-prompter. Please, someone slap him with some expereince and make it seem like he’s actually interested in playing along with the game.

   Please, please please…. get some contestants that know what the hell their doing? How do they end up on the show? Getting something out of the cracker jack box? I’ve always said that some of those contestants ‘need Jesus!’ Especially when it comes to the end game… give me a break!

   Now, getting back to the end game… can’t they find something better than using the host’s podium for that??? And the blind-fold is a stupid idea. Have a little area on the side of that million dollar stage and have them sit down like they did in the older version of the game. Also, in addition… have the computer please KEEP up with the contestants in the end game… again, another million dollar piece of machinary and it can’t keep up.

   I seriously believe that this game will be cancelled in a short time. Along with “That’s The Question” and “Starface.”

8. Steven

   8

   October 26th, 2006 at 11:30 pm

   I just did some quick math and it seems to me the most any team can win is roughly $14,000. I would definitely up the stakes, maybe something like this.
   1st round-Each word–$100-Speed Chain/$300
   2nd Round-Each word-$300-SC/$500
   3rd Round-Each word-$500-SC/$1000
   Betting round, max bet $1000

   Bonus Round, Balance it out Guys!!!
   $500 per word/ 10 words in 90 sec.—-$10,000
   COME ON GSN, YOU GAVE AWAY MORE ON WHAMMY FER CRYIN OUT LOUD?!?!?!?!?

9. Vanilla Spice

   9

   October 27th, 2006 at 1:09 am

   The largest problems facing this show and, admittedly, many others picked up by GSN, involve pacing and sound.

   Rapid play helped make the NBC run a fan fave. Simply making the host privy to the answers and doing away with the “chickity chickity” sound effect and jumble animation will shave seconds off of each response and will give Dylan Lane a chance to offer color commentary the way Bill Cullen had. By forcing the set to wait for the computer to run through its animation and sound corners Lane into saying, “Is it…” and “That’s a good guess.” When a correct response is given, insert the sound effect and the animation there but make the animation more rapid, and combine it with the bell and the color change. The chance for color commentary also makes room for more humor. Let’s face it, this format is not played for agonizing suspense.

   The “speed chains” are, likewise, anything but. Require a vocal response within an allotted time, say the current 7 seconds, or perhaps 10 to make it easier. Do not wait for time to run out to get those contestants talking. Another way to liven up the current leaden pace is to make the speed chains worth more money. At the current clip, they don’t even score the same money per correct response as in the regular game play and, unless they can turn the tides on a close game, they’re a waste of time.

   All of this contributes to one main gripe with this show, as well as Lingo and Whammy!: Sonically, there is too much dead air, and that will make the show seem slow. Viewers don’t get to hear enough of the audience, and part of that is because the sound needs to be mixed with more emphasis on the mid-range. When contestants don’t get what seems like an obvious answer, we need to hear the audience groan. When contestants give an apt response, we need to hear applause and shouting. Compare a clip of Press Your Luck to one of Whammy! and you can hear a big difference.

   The guesser in the bonus round probably ought to sit down in front of the two clue givers, so we can see everyone’s facial expressions.

   If the low stakes really bother audiences, you may not have to technically up the stakes so much as allow more successes, which may include accepting forms of the word as correct responses as in the NBC run. That, too, will help to speed up the gameplay. Then again, $10,000 in 1983 is worth almost $20,000 today.

   The ingredients are there but they just need some fine tuning.

10. adam

    10

    October 27th, 2006 at 1:32 am

    I’d make the main game best 3 rounds out of 5, team that completes the chain wins that round. If there’s a tie after 4 rounds, make the last round be one of those speed chains. 1 word, filled in a letter at a time, first team to buzz in and get it wins. No cash in the game, sans speedchains worth a flat $500 per.

    For the giving the last letter on words, I agree with some of the others here. Give each team one try to guess it, and then otherwise reveal it. (BTW if this happens on the last word of a chain, the team that got more words in the round takes it).

    Also go back to the old format, where it’s not just phrases, but rather stuff like sport-football-pigskin that sort of thing.

    Finally for the bonus, make it worth $10,000 for 10 words ($100 per word on a loss), ditch the blindfold, and have the host let them know they got one right instead of relying on the computer.

11. JV

    11

    October 27th, 2006 at 4:26 am

    I’d return the play/pass element… return it to the old Cullen format, but instead of points, each letter is $25. $1500 wins the game and goes to the bonus. Get rid of the damn blindfold, it’s a bonus round not an execution.
    — double the money after 4 correct answers ($3000)
    — triple the money after 7 correct answers ($6000)
    — 10x the money after 10 correct answers ($15,000)

    And as much as they don’t want to go ahead and have continuity, I, for one would like to see returning champions. 5 show maximum. Perhaps if they do that, they can add some sort of progressive jackpot to getting 10 right in the bonus round (start it at $10,000 and add $1,000 like Lingo)

    One more thing… Dylan is about as interesting as watching C-SPAN2 during a quorum call. He needs to be himself and yet infuse a lot more personality or it is not going to work. There are better candidates for host out there, and you wouldn’t even need to go to the game show alumni to recruit.

12. ai

    12

    October 27th, 2006 at 9:13 am

    get rid of that bell get a real buzzer or something in the bonus round, it looks so cheap

13. Brandon

    13

    October 27th, 2006 at 1:02 pm

    Everyone has given their general opinions, which I agree with for the most part…my two gripes are in the bonus round. Stop letting the contestants pass so damn much. Make them actually TRY to describe the word. I get so tired of the team passing and the word hasn’t even been up for two seconds. Either give them a set number of passes, or write some better words. I’ve seen some crazy stuff pop up, that I wouldn’t expect even the best team to describe.

    Also, can you stick to one camera shot? The constant camera shots are just annoying and unnecessary. A set shot on the three is fine. It’s a game show, not a music video.

14. Darren

    14

    October 27th, 2006 at 1:31 pm

    In all fairness to the contestants, most of them are not old enough to have seen the original shows, and certainly not the bonus round. (Dylan says, “I hope you’ve been practicing…” before that round… but why in the hell would someone practice *that* unless they knew well in advance that it was coming?) Now that a season of shows have gone by GSN viewers young and old know the game and the players who do better are more likely to try out.

    One tweak for the game that you might try out: reverse the order of revealing a letter and giving a guess. Part of the reason for so many blank stares and silence instead of a guess is that — especially for the first letter of a word — the contestant doesn’t know what s/he’s getting. Seed each line with a letter at the start. Contestant selects top or bottom to guess at. If they’re wrong, a letter goes up in that word for the other team to consider. They don’t have to go for the word with the new letter if they’re more confident about the answer at the other end of the puzzle.

    This change also contrasts strategy in the main game vs. twitch in the speed round.

    One other change: fix the betting in Round Three. It really doesn’t work. A team that’s behind because they can’t play is not going to magically jump into the lead with good betting, and that’s what we’ve seen. Scores being slowly eroded $100 at a time while there are blank stares and silence. (Using the first tweak *would* fix this because now teams know what information they’re betting on!) I would also allow the team that’s behind to be able to bet $0, just so a weaker team has more of a fighting chance.

    Just my thoughts.

15. Ernie Goodwyn

    15

    October 27th, 2006 at 3:20 pm

    My main gripes with the show are with the format. Here’s how I think that should be done…

    1) New host- Dylan Lane doesn’t cut it. Either inject that man with a personality or get somebody else to do the job. I’m not saying it’s gotta be one of the legends; you can find somebody who’s never hosted a show before that’s a quick learner and everything would be fine. Lane’s just not catching on.

    2) Last letter/form of the word- It’s already easy enough that the chains are compound words/phrases. Giving them the last letter of the word just dumbs this down even further. Make them earn that word by not telling them it’s the last letter. If they miss, their opponents get a shot. If *they* miss, reveal the word and move on. And yes, just like on “Password”, if a team guesses a form of the word (ex: the “smoker/smoking/smoke” debacle from episode one), they should get another chance at it or even accept it. For example, if they guess “fighting” and the word is “fight”, they should give it to them since their guess incorporated the whole answer. However, if they guess “fight” and the answer is “fighting”, tell them “form of the word” and give them another shot at it, since “fight” doesn’t incorporate the whole answer, just part of it. Make sense? Good, cause I lost myself after “Password”. :)

    3) Set a goal- I agree with others that playing to a set goal (say, $2,000) would be better than “most money wins”. This way, that screwed up betting round could be dumped. Also, make the Speedchains worth more, since they’re supposed to be special and teams have to earn the right to play them.

    4) Returning champions- Would be nice, but not a big deal if it doesn’t happen.

    5) *SMARTER CONTESTANTS*- This should be top proirity! You could have THE perfect format for a game show, but if you’ve got a bunch of idiots that can’t grasp the concept or just plain suck at it, it zaps the fun out of it quicker than anything. Yeah, sometimes it’s funny to see clueless contestants, but when that becomes the status quo for your show, it gets old really fast. BTW, watching dummy contestants struggle through Instant Reaction is the single most uncomfortable feeling watching a game show I’ve ever had.

    Like I said before, CR has loads of potential to be a great show, but right now, it’s more like the kid in middle school who settles for C’s and D’s when he should be making straight A’s. My suggestions should at least get the ball rolling in the right direction towards improvement.

16. Corey B

    16

    October 27th, 2006 at 5:26 pm

    It’s nice to see a revival of a classic show, but GSN seems to be doing a terrible injustice to the originals. For the most part, though, some of the changes aren’t too bad. I think giving cash for each word is a good change as well as the speed chains for solving the chain. I’d up the speed chain value to something more significant, maybe $500 each. I’d definitely retool the bonus round by putting the guesser up front and getting rid of the bell. As far as Lane, I’d let him stay for at least another season (if CR even stays on that long). If he doesn’t improve, just let Chuck host. Look what happened to Lingo!

17. Nick

    17

    October 27th, 2006 at 9:00 pm

    “Suggestions beyond raising the prize money,” eh? Well…how about reverting completely to the NBC version? Nah, that’s asking a bit too much in one swoop, but with what they’ve got, here’s things I can see change improving:

    First and foremost, increase the pace the game is played at. There is no need for a “word check” every time a word is guessed. This is just a pointless waste of time and makes the game drag out. The game is much more interesting to watch if it moves along speedily. Simply having the contestant guess his word, have the host respond if it’s right or not, then move on the to the next player would keep the game much more interesting. This would also open up more free time that could be used to, say, get to know the contestants a bit. At least reveal their last names, please. It’s important to establishing an identity.

    The scoring system is in need of improvement. They’ve already got something right with the scoring being in dollars and not points. Now, if a method could be devised of the scoring being more appropriately awarded, it would be a major improvement. Having something based on the number of letters per word and having double-score words like the NBC version did would be a start. The final round’s scoring system of betting per word should be eliminated, because it’s the only thing that keeps a team under the current format from getting into a situation where they can’t win. Ideally, something that revolved around reaching a certain target score would be the best, but if you were not going to have straddled games, then your next best bet would be the leader when time runs out. Essentially, the scoring system needs to have more structure than what they do now.

    On a related note, the Speed Chains either need a larger payout or be made simpler. The current payout isn’t very relative to the effort required.

    As for elements concerning gameplay, chains where everything wasn’t necessarily a “before and after,” if you will, would add variety to the game. Also would be not revealing the final letter of a word. This would have the game be more thought provoking. Of course, you would need contestants that would be thinkers enough to have an interest in the game. We won’t shy away from contestants over thirty. We promise.

    And if the bonus round just can’t offer a larger prize, a payout structure that offered the contestants some kind of pittance for their effort, despite win or loss, would be a welcome change. I would consider an alternative payout structure besides so many to double and more to triple. Even a few bucks per word would at least guarantee that most teams would come out with something.

    And speaking of the bonus round, ditching the blindfold would be nice. It’s just plain tacky. If the contestant can clearly see the words from their position without the blindfold, then alternative staging methods would be a viable solution.

    In conclusion, the pacing of the gameplay, the scoring, and the flexibility of chains are the areas that need the most major work. The other areas aren’t as detrimental if not fixed, but they would make the show more enjoyable if they were. I honestly see potential for this incarnation of Chain Reaction. GSn can lose the “WTF Edition” reputation from their version if they’re willing to make the effort.

18. Woodie B.

    18

    October 27th, 2006 at 11:17 pm

    Here’s what needs to be done with Chain Reaction:

    1) Double the money. Rounds 1-4 are worth $200-$800 a word. Team that finishes the chain gets the opportunity to wager up to half their stake on a speed chain. First team to $5,000 wins the game.

    2) Accept singular or plural words. If it is a form of a word, the player gets one more opportunity to guess the word.

    3) Do not give the last letter in a word. If both teams cannot guess the word, nobody scores.

    4) Eliminate the Betting Chain–some games have anti-climatic finishes.

    5) Like others have suggested, play the bonus game from the 1986 edition. Give the first word, and reveal the first letters of the next six words. To help them along, ten letters will be given at their disposal when a word isn’t correct. If the team completes the chain, their money is tripled. If unsuccessful, they get $300 per correct word. A team can potentially walk away with over $15,000–not bad for 30 minutes.

    From what I heard from Geoff Edwards’ interview on http://www.tvgameshows.net, he has given a couple of pointers to Michael Davies & Dylan Lane already.

19. Kevin C.

    19

    October 29th, 2006 at 2:14 am

    First goal: Get smarter contestants!!!

    (Assuming the show has been renewed, people will have seen the show and will have a better idea about the gameplay. There would be no excuse to have complete idiots for contestants
    on almost every episode).

    Second Goal: Get a new host!!!

    (I’m sure that Dylan is probably a nice guy. However, he just doesn’t cut it as a game show host. I have a few suggestions for hosts to replace Dylan: Kennedy (who had hosted Friend or Foe for GSN), or Mark L. Wahlberg (hosted Russian Roulette for GSN).

    Third Goal: Increase the prize stakes!!!

    (I would add the idea to the bonus round where 10 correct answers multiply the money by 5. This third goal also ties in the fourth goal as well.)

    Fourth Goal: Change a couple flaws in the gameplay!!!

    (With the current system, the speed chain is worthless. We have values of $100, 200, and 300 respectfully, which would be equal to getting only one word right in each of the respective rounds. I would increase the speed chain to $250 for round one, $500 for round two, and $1000 for round 3. Furthermore, I would change the betting round. Having a $100 minimum bet is fine, but having only a $500 maximum sucks. A team that is way behind after the third speed chain has absolutely no chance of coming back and winning unless the leading team is real dumb when wagering. I would say that either team should be allowed to bet $1000 maximum on guessing, except for the final word when they would be allowed to bet the entire amount if they wished.)

    With all the changes in the game, the maximum total winnings would be $87,500 (assuming one team got all words and speed chains in the main game, and got 10 words in the bonus round). If you think that is too much, then remember that GSN’s Russian Roulette gave a top prize of $100,000 back in 2002. It is 2006, and my changes would still be less than that top prize of RR.

    Thanks to all those who will sincerely consider these goals to shoot for.