New Show Opinions
Instead of creating a different post for each show, let’s just do it all in one.
In case you aren’t aware, every game show under the sun starts a new season today. Wheel of Fortune begins its 25th year celebration, Jeopardy! starts a new one, Family Feud gets a new, nice logo with the same fantastic host of John O’Hurley, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? begins its sixth season on its way to its thousanth show, and finally we have the debut of Crosswords (which is quite good) and Temptation (which isn’t quite good to me). Don’t forget tomorrow GSN will start a brand new US season of That’s The Question with a nice set and actual writers! That makes it exponentially better off the bat. What did you think about all the new shows, changes, and such? Mainly, what did you think of Crosswords?
Photo courtesy of Valleycrest Productions.
At least Temptation offers the oportunity for returning contestants and (from what I gather) the Instant Cash wallets grand prize goes up every time it isn’t picked. Those are tried and true game show traditions I was pleased to see continued. Die-hard $ale fans seem disappointed, but I find it fun.
Crosswords seems to have hit written all over it IMHO. Wasn’t sure how the Spoilers would work, but they definitely added a little more jeopardy (not Jeopardy!) to the game. :) Wish we could learn more about them to have a rooting interest, but this is all about the fast-moving game.
Guess I’m just used to Chuck’s Scrabble when it comes to crossword game shows, but I expected Ty to say “building off the d in friend” to give the main show more context. It almost becomes a different show in the bonus (although using the same board) when the contestants have to give acrosses and downs.
To Neville, it seemed you had trouble calling out the numbers in the bonus. Was that due to the technical issue you mentioned? A screen malfunction, maybe? Very good job btw, and congratulations!
The Crossword Extra (kind of a Daily Double in disguise) seemed to hurt you also, Neville, when one of the spoilers bet away all the money that (mainly you) had worked to build at your original podium. All in all, a lot of fun…just wish they had daytime slots where I live (instead of the wee hours). Can’t wait for TTQ Season Two!
Ben: I too had concern about the spoilers being disadvantaged in the first place, but I honestly think that if a player is smart enough and is not up against someone who knows EVERY answer, there’s certainly enough time for ach person to have a fair shot. For those wondering, the only times the contestants see the entire puzzle are the same time the home audience does – beginning of show, beginning of Round 3, and the Bonus Round. Because of how the “branches” work on the show, all helpful pre-solved letters go away if a clue is missed. Hence, in round 3, even though many words have letters already filled in, we are not given these, making the show a little more difficult.
JD: As far as the technical problem in the bonus round went, I gave the correct answer of TURIN early on, but the computer failed to recognize it as correct. Because of this, I was given a little bonus time at the end to solve RAIL. My issues calling out numbers were based on the fact that I was trying to call out numbers before I coud see them – having attempted to memorize them at the beginning of the Bonus Round. To all future contestants: THIS DOES NOT WORK! You get too flustered trying to solve the puzzle and you end up calling numbers that aren’t even in the puzzle! As far as the Extra moment went, if that hadn’t been missed, it could’ve turned out that I was “spoiled” on the last clue of the game – so it may have been a blessing in disguise! :)
Thanks to all for the congratulations, including Ben, Alex, JD, and anyone else I’ve missed. I’ll come back later to answer more questions and share a few stories, but this post is long enough as it is, and I have 8AM Physics to get ready for!
Neville
TEMPTATION are you kidding me nothing like the 80s version wich rocked, this has 0 chance to go the hole season
J! & WOF good as always.
CROSSWORDS as for mgcw we got a mega hit on our hands. As for payouts i would make a few changes:
$50 per letter round 1 $100 per letter round 2 $200 per letter round 3 $10,000 bonus round with returning champions for 5 days.
I watched Crosswords and am a big fan of it. I think it’s the best new game show to come out since 1 vs 100. Would like to see the champ come back though and more money added but other than that this game is a winner in my book.
I have not seen Temptation yet (don’t know when it’s on in here in Purgatory, er, Philadelphia) but am curious to see how that is going to play.
Neville, congratulations once again on making history on Crosswords. Coincidentally, Power of 10 million-dollar winner Jamie Sadler is also from New Jersey (and 19), so if the two of you ever faced off in, say, Grand Slam Jr. (for the under-21 set), you might give him a run for his money (no pun intended). And hey, let me know how Antigua is this time of year.
To Bryan Hayes: I’m already quite aware of your obsession with wanting to be Todd Newton’s manservant, but for goodness sake, give it a rest. Much like you, though, I would’ve liked to have seen Peter Tomarken on another game show, only:
a) He’s 64 years old.
b) He’s been dead for well over a year.
c) I didn’t get back into game shows until October of last year.
Besides, I’m sure he’ll show up in a better game show than Temptation sooner or later (Game Show Marathon: The Series, anyone?).
Temptation plays at 4-5 PM on WFMZ, channel 69 out of Allentown. All the cable outlets in Philly carry it. Too bad no Philly station picked it up, but then again, Family Feud hasn’t been on a Philly station since WGTW-48 went to TBN, but we’ve been able to watch it on WFMZ since then.
Neville — welcome :D .. to quote “I think, though, it’s low because not only is it new, many of it’s contestants aren’t of the Crossword variety, but instead of the LA side job acting variety.” .. when I first flew out in 2002 to do my one-day trifecta game show auditioning spree, the one thing I kept seeing over and over, at Friend or Foe, Hollywood Squares and Pyramid alike were signs everywhere saying “Do not list ACTOR as your occupation!” .. Because in LA EEEEVErryyyone’s an actor! .. I just had no idea up until then that they actually placed CLASSIFIED ADS to find contestants! (the more recent method being Craigslist).. funny stuff.. :D
LObs
Julia, Crosswords is on at 4 on WFMZ. I checked the schedule last night and Temptation was on at 8 (until 9 PM) I’ll watch a whole episode tonight and find out how much I’ll hate it.
I did catch a couple of minutes last night and I think Rossi needs to cut down saying ‘temptation dollars’ — just say dollars and move on. I also don’t like the singing lyric trailer.
On WoF’s new scoreboard upon closer expection, it looks like the same size as the scoreboard in the 80′s with the eggcrate display and frames.
Further observations about Temptation…
*Yeah, the name sounds like a cheesy soap opera…but I think it actually fits the show more than the snazzier old-school name, $otC. Will you be tempted to give up your lead for prizes or money? Will you be tempted to return as champion or go for the safe prize in “Shopper’s Paradise”?
*Would like to see more mini-games and more variety introduced, but I don’t think it’s a bad way to spend a half-hour.
Hello everyone,
I just catch M. G. Crosswords today on WYTV (Youngstown’s Oh ABC Affiliate) and I feel that this is a really great show. Though they should have s returnung champ to spice things up a bit. Overall I think merv’s final project was one of his best works next to Wheel and Jeopardy. I planing to go to LA next year on vacation so I might just try out. As for temptation, boring, stick to the old format. Enough said.
Jim, I see where you’re coming from on many of your points on “Crosswords.” I’d like to refute a few of them, if you don’t mind. :)
“The core flaw is that they are using traditional crosswords, where there are too many uncommon “filler” words.” These words, often known as “crosswordese” are words that most crossword solvers are familiar with. I don’t think that ELAN and EMCEE, though, fit in to that category (ORT probably does.) But, this rewards both contestants and home viewers that actually work crosswords. I honestly believe that the average “Jeopardy!” viewer does know what EMCEE means, mainly because some of the clues on “Jeopardy!” are much more difficult and esoteric than crosswordese.
“In a real crossword, those “project” words and phrases are ones you work toward with the opposite check words…you don’t go at it with a wild guess.” I agree that in a REAL crossword that would be your strategy. On this show, I believe a good strategy would be to either A. figure it out very quickly (1%) or B. not ring in (99%). But, why should they still ask those in the main game? Because every clue shown in the main game, whether answered correctly or not and whether edited out of the final showing or not (this happens to strings of difficult clues) gets entered into the puzzle, thus helping out the contestant in the bonus round. And, if you happen to solve an 11+ letter word with only 1 letter given, then it’s just like solving a tough “Wheel” bonus round where the letters you called have not shown up.
“The Spoilers gimmick is too random, and the rule where the spoiler doesn’t get a choice of podiums if one of the two main podiums misses first doesn’t help. The kind of people this show is supposed to attract, I think, don’t like these kinds of gimmicks.” Personally, at first, I was not the biggest fan of this facet of the show. However, the more I think about it, I see that, while the best player may not win every time, it adds a competitive air to the show that you’d like to see in “Jeopardy!” but rarely do. Yes, players are still in it until the last possibly second, but how is this different from “Family Feud’s” scoring method? I think that the show is doing it’s best to ensure that it is a competitive episode each time. Also, it makes it a harder game for the contestants to play – sure someone is guaranteed to win, but how can I ensure it’s me? There’s a lot of unseen strategy going on at this point – it’s not as clear cut (for now) as it is with some of the “veterans” of the industry.
Those are just some of my thoughts that look at it from the positive perspective – sure the show has its flaws, but they all do – there is no PERFECT game show. I think it’s too early to judge whether or not the show will last through to Fall 2008. I can definitely see why it wouldn’t, but I can also see why it has a good shot at making it. And as far as “Temptation” and “That’s the Question” go, my cabe doesn’t get GSN or MNTV :(
They fixed the scoreboards on Wheel. The totals are now higher up and there’s now arrows signifying who buzzed in at the bottom (though the spokes/pegs still kinda block the arrows they are still very visible).
As far as Temptation is concerned, here goes:
For lack of better terminology, this show SUCKS. Too many changes for the sake of changing, and not good changes at that.
The Knock-Off rounds are a direct “Knock Off” of Wipeout, and Paramount should sue the hell out of 20th and Fremantle for stealing it. The fame game is a 90% ripoff of Wheel of Fortune’s toss-up rounds. It seems like whoever pieced this format together does not have an original bone in their body.
What, I ask, was so wrong with either Australian Temptation or US 80′s $ale that warranted such massive retooling Aussie Temptation consistently wins its time slot. 80′s $ale stayed on the air for 6 1/4 years. Obviously, something worked with those two series. Even with a smaller prize budget, such sweeping changes were unwarranted. If it ain’t broke…
As far as Rossi Morreale, he never met a consonant he liked. He seriously needs to slow down and maybe try to add a little suspense to the game.
All in all, Twentieth and Fremantle screwed up a major opportunity to bring an internationally respected game show back to its native shores. Instead, they morphed it into a hyperactive, unoriginal, cheap mess that should be put out of its misery.
Just like the America’s Cup of 1983, the Aussies knew what they were doing when they introed the new Temptation in 2005. This US version is nothing more than an amalgam (!) of the old Sale with Wipeout (the Knockout Board), and without the general knowledge. Unless they can make this more like the Aussie version (and original Sale), this show will be dead by mid-season. Merv’s Crosswords (MGC) deserves a whole season, is easy to play, and requires some spelling as well as smarts. Update Password, and maybe the old 1970s games The Big Showdown and
Split Second, and you’d have an interesting block…
Amen To That!!!!!!!!!