22 Responses

1. Ryan

   1

   April 7th, 2008 at 1:36 pm

   The only good thing is that I had yet to hear of a spoiler for any $1M win. Having said that, I agree. You don’t need a spoiler when someone wins a million every other MDS show.

   I wouldn’t mind seeing the original format now of the bonus spin for a million.

   So I have to ask, is it me or do the reactions after a million dollar win seem so toned down. Cripes, Frew Carey often seems more excited than the contestants themselves.

2. ScottNotSteve

   2

   April 7th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

   Actually, this is the first time since Power of 10 that Drew actually seemed excited about a Million Dollar Win (he had been under the weather in some past episodes). I think the contestants by and large are in shock when it happens.

   By the way, I watched Duel and had no idea this was on (it’s not in my DVR auto-record anymore). I enjoyed Duel more, even though far less was won.

3. Mark

   3

   April 7th, 2008 at 2:33 pm

   I do think the million-dollar wins have occurred a bit too often, but who are we going to blame for that? I mean, winning the showcase with a bid under $1000 away from the ARP is still an extremely rare thing during the daytime shows. It’s just a big coincidence that it happened twice during the first four MDS shows (and I don’t think anyone ever did it during Bob’s MDS episodes). I don’t think Fremantle did anything to make it easier to win a million dollars. We’ve just had lucky contestants.

4. Corbin

   4

   April 7th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

   Alex, I respectfully disagree with your view that these $1,000,000 wins are “too numerous.” Mark said it just right when he said that these are all very rare events and that each is amazing it it’s own right. Any other contestant any day of the week and these would have all been for nothing. What we are witnessing is something truely remarkable. I’m sure the insurance companies that are ponying up the $1,000,000 win monies are very suprised too.

   If anything bothers me about the $1,000,000 wins, it is that no big deal is made about them other than some confetti. Unfortunatly, TPIR doesn’t really allow much room for summarization and reflection over what it already does. $1,000,000 wins on Millionaire are always followed by discussion in the games immediatly afterwards. Also though, these specials were taped out of order so… it is somewhat hard to do that too.

   One thing to note about the Clock Game win: notice how the clock moved after Cynthia’s first guess on the couch even though Cynthia’s first guess was correct. Many have noted that this is not typical. It is supposed that this was done to satisfy some requirement by the insurance companies.

5. Brad D.

   5

   April 7th, 2008 at 3:27 pm

   I also agree with Mark. I mean they haven’t made getting $1 million on the show easy. It would seem as if Bob would of had more $1 million winners when he was hosting the MDS since getting $1.00 on two spins IMO seems easier than winning a double showcase and/or winning a pricing game in an almost impossible way. It’s weird in a way but there’s nothing that fremantle can do about it. The contestants have just been real fortunate.

6. myke25

   6

   April 7th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

   I can’t recall a time in recent history that a Clock Game player got both prizes in 10 seconds…let alone hit one right on the nose. I, too, think TPIR is just having a run of good luck.

   I used to produce a state lottery show that offered a 1-in-four shot at $1 Mil every week…we’d average 1 Millionaire a month, and often have back-to-back million-dollar-winners. The last thing any game show producer wants is for winning $1 Million to feel old…and we came real close sometimes.

   So, my suggestion to Fremantle would be to take a good hard look at how they offer the million before CBS orders more MDSs. Even though I found myself tearing up a bit when Cynthia won…I don’t want to get to the point where I’m saying “eh. Big Deal!” at a million-dollar win.

7. Sam

   7

   April 7th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

   As was pointed out earlier, the clock moved on her first guess a full tick. I’d rather talk about how the million dollar wins are plentiful than talk about how Cynthia was gypped out of the million if she just missed it by a second. That didn’t happen, and wouldn’t have happened. Congratulations to her. :)

8. David

   8

   April 7th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

   It’s a case of the odds catching up-they didn’t give a million away all the previous times, so it’s catching up to them now…

9. Marc Power

   9

   April 7th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

   well at least the $1M wins answer one question that’s been plauging game show fans’ minds for a year or so: “What the (insert expletive) happened to Temptation’s budget?”

   I didn’t watch either TPIR or Duel on Friday btw, I totally forgot, I’m more interested though in watching Duel just based on what I’ve been hearing.

10. steve

    10

    April 7th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

    Wow… I’m not so much impressed at the million-dollar win, so much as how it was won. This was the first contestant I’ve ever recalled seeing nail a price on the first guess. Why? Because so many contestants start out guessing $100-increments until they narrow it down between $X00 and $Y00, then go in from there… because that’s what everyone else always does. Honestly, why haven’t more contestants began with bids of $X99 or $X95 from the get-go? Whether or not that was an intended strategy, much props to her, she definitely won her million and it was greatly deserved.

    But to answer the question of too many millionaires, I think we have crossed the fatal line. It’s no longer surprising, it’s no longer delighting. At least for me, the era of million-dollar-joys is coming to a close, or is over. I’ll admit, I find myself getting very happy when a family wins $20,000 on Family Feud, or a $25,000 bonus on WoF (yes, even the lowest amount still makes me happy!) but with almost (almost) every primetime show being worth $1 million, it gets old really quickly. (I can’t really comment on syndie WWTBAM, none of the local stations carry it anymore.) It’d be really nice to see primetime shows just completely back away from the million-dollar format for a while, and maybe offer a top prize of only $100k. Heaven knows I’m probably alone on this one, but it’s hard to enjoy some of these shows anymore. Will the top prize ever come down? No, now that it’s up there and firmly rooted there since the original WWTBAM and its copycats, we’re going to stay with 7-digit prizes til kingdom come. And that saddens me.

11. jaymich

    11

    April 7th, 2008 at 7:26 pm

    Firstly, I agree with the thought that M-D winners have become common-place…but, IMHO, it’s just inflation talking…back in the 70’s, $25,000 was huge money (a la “The (original, nighttime) $25,000 Pyramid” with Bill Cullen, and “The New Treasure Hunt” (with $25,000 as the top prize…so, now, it’s $1,000,000.

    As for TPIR’s MDS, I actually do think that there have been a lot of winners. Firstly, if you want to give away the money in the Showcase round, reduce D-S zone down from $250 to (maybe) $100 (the old zone)…don’t increase it.

    Also, as soon as $999 went up on the screen, I *knew* the $1,000,000 was in the bag. Maybe I’ve watched the game too often, but I have seen $999 as the second price *way* too often…and I predicted the $999. As for the lucky first guess, who knows? Maybe she saw it on a previous episode…I’ve seen it happen.

    I did like the other M-D games, though…needing all 5 right on “One Away” on the first try, or needing $60,000 in Plinko to try for the Million…both were great. But, my favorite (so far) was trying to get the one box (out of 15) on 1/2 off…did someone say “Treasure Hunt” or Deal or No Deal?”

    Here’s a thought…get a bigger Punchboard, and have 1 (and only 1) slot for the million.

12. The Great Butler

    12

    April 7th, 2008 at 7:28 pm

    People are never satisfied. It mystifies me how the same person can whine about TPIR giving away “too much” and then whine about Deal or No Deal not giving ENOUGH away.

13. captparis1

    13

    April 7th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

    The real problem with the success of the TRIP MDS- is that it seals the fate of Po10. Drew has QUICKLY become too linked to TRIP and/or the MDS and that could have effected 10’s recent run.

    Drew is now- the new Price guy and who is give a damn about a barrel that goes up and down on a screen, for near unwinable, unimaginable $10 million. Producer Mike Davies has to realistically- consider getting a NEW host for that show, if it is to survive and regain…its…own…identity!

14. Ohio Wx Guy

    14

    April 8th, 2008 at 12:04 am

    That was the sickest clock game win in history! And there is just a lot of luck on TPIR right now… It will come down with time.

15. Frank Rossi

    15

    April 8th, 2008 at 1:01 am

    My only question, to those of you who have attended TPiR tapings, is this: can the contestant see any hand signals from the audience during the Clock Game based on the contestant’s positioning. The contestant was far off the second price until she turned her head toward the audience — and then headed to “ten hundred” from $1,300. I fear that Clock Game is not a good game for TPiR as a $1 million game because of the audience getting the actual retail price unlike in other games — any audience “help” here would be based on true knowledge, not mutual guessing. Any comments from those who know the set better than I do would be appreciated. Thanks.

    - Frank

16. DB25

    16

    April 8th, 2008 at 6:13 am

    I think the $1M wins are indeed too frequent, and frankly, not really all that exciting. I thought playing the Clock Game for $1M was a bad choice. I didn’t mind when they tried to do it for Plinko and One Away - at least that was more of a challenge. If they make it somewhat easier, it looses the spark and excitement for me. I don’t mind the showcase $1M win if you are less than $1,000 away, that is indeed more of a challenge.

    Drew also does not seem very excited to me in terms of giving away a million dollars. He was much more excited when he gave away the million on Power of 10, yet I’m not sure why. Maybe that’s just his personality. I always try and remember that he is a stand-up comedian by trade, not a television host.

17. Voltaire

    17

    April 8th, 2008 at 11:52 am

    Compared to the 2 $1M wins in the showcases I was in studio for, I think Drew was much more excited over this $1M win simply because he hadn’t been spoiled on the results beforehand. For the showcases - he is told which showcase to reveal first, and the confetti cannons being rolled out on stage spoiled that there would be a $1M winner - whereas in Clock Game he didn’t know whether she was going to win until after he checked the clock and saw she won in only 8 seconds.

    As for clock game being easy? I agree this is likely the game that CBS wanted to give away the million, but how many times do we see someone win clock game in 10 seconds let alone guess a prize exactly right on the first guess? Setting up the prices as 899 and 999 also helped, whereas if it were something like 913 and 762 - there would be almost no way they could’ve given away the million here. I personally think that CBS didn’t want to 3 $1M winners in 5 shows, but I’m sure they didn’t want to go through the entire set of 6 MDS’s without a $1M winner for ratings purposes - so they set it up with some DSW friendly showcase prices, and a couple of moderately rare but achievable stipulations for the $1M games and they got what they wanted.

    As for those of you who said the clock shouldn’t have moved - you’re right, but I believe it was part of the insurance policy that a correct guess on the first bid requires a 1 second runoff - just like how in basketball you can’t make a basket without any time off the clock.

    Re: Frank
    From the positioning of the turntable, the contestant is able to see most of the audience but the audience is NOT allowed to say anything during the playing of the game. While the contestant COULD possibly see hand signals - it wouldn’t be clear enough for the contestant to decipher immediately. Not only that - during Clock Game the lights are dimmed on the audience too - during the one-bids and come on downs there are lights that illuminate the audience but during gameplay and commercials they are dimmed.

18. David Howell

    18

    April 8th, 2008 at 5:16 pm

    ‘I think Drew was much more excited over this $1M win simply because he hadn’t been spoiled on the results beforehand.’

    Similarly, viewers are much more excited over big wins if they haven’t been spoiled on the results beforehand. Hint.

    Anyway, it’s obvious CBS wanted one million-dollar winner, but there really was no planning for three. How often do you see people guess MDS-level showcases, or any showcases for that matter, to within $1k? Not often that’s for sure. And most of the pricing game stipulations were near-impossible to win - even this one was only won because of the prices and a great first guess.

19. Alex

    19

    April 8th, 2008 at 7:52 pm

    Hmmmm. It’s obvious that this “million dollar game” format needs ironing out. This Clock Game million dollar win seemed too easy, but million dollar games on previous episodes (Range Game, Plinko) seemed too hard.

    Oh well. Trial and error is just part of the job of running a game show! :P

20. Chad

    20

    April 8th, 2008 at 8:11 pm

    Is it too easy to win $1,000,000? I don’t think so. For Million Dollars, they’ve tried:

    One Away: Get all 5 numbers in the price of the car right on the first try.
    Odds: 1 out of 24 or %04.1666
    Opinions: This is a good choice, in my opinion. It’s difficult, yet rewards smart shoppers.

    Range Game: Predict the price of the car EXACTLY.
    Odds: 1 out of 600, or %00.1666
    Opinions: If CBS wants a $1,000,000 win, would they give it a 1:600 chance of being won? Remember, the specials were taped out of order, so budget problems can’t be the reason they made it so hard. I think it’s just so there’s NOT a $1,000,000 winner every episode.

    Plinko: Win at least two chips, put three chips in the $20,000 slot, and then do something with a special gold chip.
    Odds: Assuming that the object was to put the gold chip in the $20,000 and that all slots have an equal chance of being hit, the odds would be about %00.02032210.
    Opinions: This was almost completely luck-based. You can improve the odds slightly by getting more Plinko chips, but aside from that, there’s not much else you can do. On the plus side, this was a classic game and it was almost mandatory that they use this as the Million Dollar Game.

    1/2 Off: Win $25,000; then give it up for a chance to chose one box that could have $1,000,000.
    Odds: The odds of winning are 1:16 assuming you know nothing about pricing and have a 50:50 shot at every small prize. You will have better odds the more you know about pricing. The odds of winning $1,000,000 is 1 in 240, or $00.041666
    Opinions: CBS probably threw 1/2 Off in to give the show a Deal or No Deal feel. Giving up $25,000 for a slim shot at $1,000,000? I think that the usual TPiR contestants are there to win maybe a dining room group, a TV, or, if they’re lucky, a car. Would you, a casual audience member, give up a relatively high amount of cash for a small chance at $1,000,000? Not me.

    Clock Game: Win both prizes in less than 10 seconds.
    Odds: This entirely depends on how fast you can talk.
    Opinions: If you know binary search, then this is the easiest game in the rotation and you are virtually sure to win in 30 seconds. If you are a fast talker and can bid smartly, you are virtually sure to win in 30 seconds. But can you combine the two and win in 10 seconds? Also, you are rewarded if you are a Loyal Friend and True. If you watch the show often, you know that prizes in Clock game usually end in 99.
    In Cynthia’s case, when she picked the $899 on the first try, I was screaming. I was hoping for something slightly harder on the second prize, maybe $979? But when the $999 popped up on the screen, I was confident we would have a $1,000,000 winner. She started out shakily, but as we know won the big money.

    Million Dollar Showcase: Bid to within $1,000 without going over on your showcase and win.
    Odds: Depends entirely on your knowledge of pricing and the difficulty of the showcase.
    Opinions: I think it is just good luck that we’ve had two out of five $1,000,000 winners. The usual winning range for daytime showcases is $5,000 to $10,000; while on the Spectacular’s it’s not uncommon to see people be off by more than $25,000 and still win.

21. David Howell

    21

    April 10th, 2008 at 4:23 am

    Very good analysis from Chad. Clock Game was definitely the most winnable game of the lot, but by no means easy (if she hadn’t lucked out on $899 she wouldn’t have got it); 1/2 Off was almost certainly thrown in as a DoND alternative (and incidentally is a much more favourable gamble than the final one on Power of 10 - expected value of the gamble is ($1m/16)=$62,500 against a sure $25,000, but with a 15/16 shot at nothing even the famously risk-taking American contestant pool will generally not take it, and certainly not the TPIR contestant pool which as Chad points out is a bit different); Plinko was there because it pretty much had to be; Range Game was there to ensure another loss in case of, you know, what we’ve had; One Away is a good pick; as for the Showcases, we’ve just had a crazy bit of luck.

    I suspect CBS would have planned for at most two winners, one of them on Clock Game. They got three, one of them on Clock Game.

22. Peter

    22

    April 14th, 2008 at 1:38 am

    I actually think we have a good balance of Million dollar wins, it happens often enough to prove that it CAN be done, but it doesn’t hapen so often that it becomes unexciting.