Author Topic: Wipeout and Downfall tonight (Read 4175 times)

Matt Ottinger · « **on:** June 22, 2010, 02:36:57 PM »

Our group has never shown a whole lot of interest in Wipeout, but nevertheless its official season premiere (after a preview episode a few weeks back) is tonight. It's followed by the debut of Downfall, the drop-stuff-off-a-building game we discussed (in advance) here. Previews suggest to me that there might be a fairly decent quiz component to this one, which would be nice to see.

Turns out these shows have an unlikely defender. He makes some pretty good points, too.

TLEberle · « **Reply #1 on:** June 22, 2010, 03:58:26 PM »

Everything I've seen about Downfall leads me to believe that someone is really fond of the Fast Bucks Bonus Round.

/or Outburst
//Scott Ferrall's voice over work was a welcome addition to the promos, too.

Jeremy Nelson · « **Reply #2 on:** June 22, 2010, 06:30:44 PM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'242831\' date=\'Jun 22 2010, 02:58 PM\']Everything I've seen about Downfall leads me to believe that someone is really fond of the Fast Bucks Bonus Round.

/or Outburst
//Scott Ferrall's voice over work was a welcome addition to the promos, too.[/quote]
Is it all "list" questions? I thought there was some actual trivia somewhere in there.

Lirodon · « **Reply #3 on:** June 22, 2010, 09:20:09 PM »

[quote name=\'Jeremy Nelson\' post=\'242833\' date=\'Jun 22 2010, 06:30 PM\'][quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'242831\' date=\'Jun 22 2010, 02:58 PM\']Everything I've seen about Downfall leads me to believe that someone is really fond of the Fast Bucks Bonus Round.

/or Outburst
//Scott Ferrall's voice over work was a welcome addition to the promos, too.[/quote]
Is it all "list" questions? I thought there was some actual trivia somewhere in there.
[/quote]

Not quite, they're all clues for items in a specific category.

TLEberle · « **Reply #4 on:** June 23, 2010, 12:29:11 AM »

Wow was I glad to be wrong.

It feels like either a more involved Jack Attack or the quiz bowl bonus from Hell.

Double like.

Loogaroo · « **Reply #5 on:** June 23, 2010, 03:27:46 AM »

There's something bass-ackwards about this show. If a player stops the belt with prizes on it, shouldn't they be safe with the money put at risk, and not the other way around? "Congratulations, you won a new dining room set - but not really!"

It's not a total insult of one's intelligence the way Identity or Set for Life was, but the novelty of watching things fall off a roof is going to wear off very fast. And there's not a chance in the world that anyone - especially the folks they'll be casting on the show - will get far enough into the game for there to be a realistic chance at seeing someone win a six- or seven-digit payoff. I'll find other ways to pass the time, thanks.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #6 on:** June 23, 2010, 10:14:28 AM »

[quote name=\'Loogaroo\' post=\'242872\' date=\'Jun 23 2010, 03:27 AM\']And there's not a chance in the world that anyone - especially the folks they'll be casting on the show - will get far enough into the game for there to be a realistic chance at seeing someone win a six- or seven-digit payoff.[/quote]
I'll grant you the "especially the folks they'll be casting" part. But the material is not really that difficult. It's more challenging than I thought, but a decent trivia player -- who's not freaked out by the surroundings -- could clean up on this show with the simplest of strategies. Pick your worst categories first, pass immediately if you don't know the answer, and for heaven's sake, pay attention to the category. Both players on last night's show made stupid mistakes because they didn't remember that the answers were one-word movie titles or fathers of offspring and not mothers.

Jeremy Nelson · « **Reply #7 on:** June 23, 2010, 10:51:47 AM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'242864\' date=\'Jun 22 2010, 11:29 PM\']...or the quiz bowl bonus from Hell.

Double like.[/quote]

I'd hate to see what happens when you neg 5.

Clay Zambo · « **Reply #8 on:** June 23, 2010, 11:59:32 AM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'242878\' date=\'Jun 23 2010, 10:14 AM\']It's more challenging than I thought, but a decent trivia player -- who's not freaked out by the surroundings -- could clean up on this show with the simplest of strategies.[/quote]

And there you have the casting philosophy: get attractive people who know a few things but will be freaked out by the surroundings.

Jeremy Nelson · « **Reply #9 on:** June 23, 2010, 12:20:54 PM »

I don't want to see over the edge either, because frankly, the first player looked like she didn't even really drop...it was somewhere between getting let down easy and a Russian Roulette free fall. If they're not going to free fall the player, it defeats that illusion when they show the whole drop, and a lot less players are likely to be intimidated by it.

clemon79 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 23, 2010, 12:23:36 PM »

They're clearly giving them enough of a drop to get a shriek out of them, and that's it. Pretty clearly (hell, they're hooking Jericho up to a safety line, for God's sake), they're trying to keep the insurance premiums as low as possible for this.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #11 on:** June 23, 2010, 01:49:14 PM »

Something I thought about last night while watching.

The illusion of going off the side of a building is cool, but how much more expensive would it have been to construct an indoor, raised set, say 10 feet from the floor. Keep the conveyor belt, but instead of prizes falling off the building, you have simulated prizes (i.e. a large plastic toy car, or simply art cards with the pictures of prizes) rolling off. Something that wouldn't make as much as a mess for cleaning up. I just wonder how much building an elaborate set + renting studio space would cost compared to building an elaborate set + renting the top of a building.

When it's time for the contestant to go bye-bye, they simply fall down a chute, a la Russian Roulette.

Of course, the image of seeing a Ford Focus go off the side of the building might sound more appealing, but to me, seeing a contestant fall into some large pit stirs my curiosity. Two examples, 1) when I used to watch Remote Control as a kid, and saw losing contestants retreat into the wall, it genuinely scared the hell out of me. 2) A friend and I once watched RR, and when he saw a contestant fall through the floor, his eyes almost came out of his head.

In both cases, you most likely know that the contestant is just fine. At the same time, it was fun wondering because the show didn't have to to tell you that they were fine. It was kinda implied since, y'know, the show went to air.

clemon79 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 23, 2010, 02:04:25 PM »

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'242889\' date=\'Jun 23 2010, 10:49 AM\']The illusion of going off the side of a building is cool, but how much more expensive would it have been to construct an indoor, raised set, say 10 feet from the floor. Keep the conveyor belt, but instead of prizes falling off the building, you have simulated prizes (i.e. a large plastic toy car, or simply art cards with the pictures of prizes) rolling off. Something that wouldn't make as much as a mess for cleaning up. I just wonder how much building an elaborate set + renting studio space would cost compared to building an elaborate set + renting the top of a building.[/quote]
Sure, you could do that. You could also do the whole thing with computer graphics on a screen. And now you're just removed the entire visual gimmick of the show. (Ask anyone who's ever chuckled at Letterman's lackeys dropping something off the top of the Ed Sullivan Theater.)

The people who are enjoying the show for the (quantity of) content are people like us, and we don't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to the overall ratings. The ACTUAL audience who will determine if this show lives or dies are in it (at least initially, but that's where it matters) for the gimmick. Take the gimmick away and the show fails miserably.

Joe Mello · « **Reply #13 on:** June 24, 2010, 12:18:14 AM »

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'242889\' date=\'Jun 23 2010, 01:49 PM\']Of course, the image of seeing a Ford Focus go off the side of the building might sound more appealing, but to me, seeing a contestant fall into some large pit stirs my curiosity.[/quote]
Same. The people-dropping sounds to me like a better hook, because with the prizes, they drop and that's that. No two people falling will be the same, and I can't think of a better way to emphasize the "You Suck" factor then by showing the player the door.

I didn't watch the premiere, so I can't say for sure, but I feel like I've seen something like Downfall before, but in Japanese and with gyroscopes instead of stuff on conveyor belts.

NickintheATL · « **Reply #14 on:** June 24, 2010, 01:22:57 AM »

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'242933\' date=\'Jun 24 2010, 12:18 AM\']No two people falling will be the same, and I can't think of a better way to emphasize the "You Suck" factor then by showing the player the door.[/quote]

This reminds me of the woman who was crying because she was going to drop on "Russian Roulette." She cried and fell sideways. I laughed.