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Author Topic: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr  (Read 14800 times)

snowpeck

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Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« on: July 28, 2016, 04:04:35 PM »
Quote
BUZZR Explores the Most Controversial Win in Press Your Luck History with Special Airing of the Michael Larson Episodes
NETWORK TO OFFER TWO-NIGHT INSIDE LOOK AT A ONE OF THE BIGGEST SCANDALS IN GAME SHOW HISTORY BEGINNING SUNDAY, JULY 31ST

How do you turn a truck full of ice cream and a cheap shirt into a small fortune?  Just ask Michael Larson.  In 1984, Michael Larson, an ice cream truck driver from Ohio, made history by winning $110,237 (equivalent to a quarter of a million dollars by today’s rates) on Press Your Luck.   Larson memorized the Big Board’s pattern and broke the bank.  He was able to avoid the Whammies like no other and set the record for the most money won on Press Your Luck, and also at the time, the most money won in a single day in game show history.

To prepare for his upcoming appearance on the show, Larson began recording episodes of Press Your Luck. By carefully studying the light indicator used for its eighteen-square Big Board, Larson discovered that it always moved in one of five looping patterns.  And by memorizing these patterns, he would be able to predict which squares the indicator would move to next.  What ensued was one of daytime television’s strangest moments — one that exposed the flaws of both man and technology.

BUZZR will commemorate Michael Larson’s epic winnings this Sunday with a special programming marathon.  Starting at 8:00 PM ET on July 31st, BUZZR will air the pair of Michael Larson episodes, along with a showcase of Press Your Luck’s other big single-day winners.  Viewers will be able to cheer Larson on as he goes on to win big bucks and makes his mark in Press Your Luck history.

Then on Saturday, August 6th at 8:00 PM ET, BUZZR will air the Michael Larson episodes once again, but this time with special BUZZR Bonus Bites included.  These fun bits of trivia are a BUZZR exclusive and will provide further insight into the scandal.

Quick BUZZR Facts:

·       Airs Sunday, July 31st at 8:00 – 11:00 PM ET, with a repeat from 11:00 PM – 2:00 AM ET

o   Two-part Michael Larson episode from 8:00 – 9:00 PM ET; 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM ET

o   Showcase of other contestants with large single-day wins from 9:00 – 11:00 PM ET; 12:00 – 2:00 AM ET

 

·       Second Airing on Saturday, August 6th from 8:00 – 11:00 PM ET, with a repeat from 11:00 PM – 2:00 AM ET

o   Michael Larson episodes to include BUZZR Bonus Bites of trivia providing additional insight into this epic piece of game show history
« Last Edit: July 28, 2016, 07:29:01 PM by snowpeck »
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PYLdude

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2016, 02:37:26 AM »
The one thing that always seems to get me is how quick people are to call this a "scandal".

Was it really that unsettling that he, through use of the copious amounts of time he seemed to have on his hands, figured out their system? I mean beyond the chaos behind the scenes on that particular taping day.

I'd argue that his life afterwards was far more scandalous than what he did on Press Your Luck. (And even before he got on the show in the first place.)
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TLEberle

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2016, 03:05:27 AM »
To the network and producers, yes it was very unsettling. I agree that the word scandal implies something that isn't quite there.
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Jimmy Owen

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2016, 09:42:40 AM »
The scandal is that the board was not random, as viewers may have reasoned.
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BrandonFG

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2016, 11:09:33 AM »
The one thing that always seems to get me is how quick people are to call this a "scandal".

Was it really that unsettling that he, through use of the copious amounts of time he seemed to have on his hands, figured out their system? I mean beyond the chaos behind the scenes on that particular taping day.
"Scandal" is indeed overblown, but I guess it makes the story juicier. "Controversy" seems to fit better IMO.

The stuff that happened on Twenty One was scandalous (hence it being called the Quiz Show Scandals). This was somebody who found a flaw in the system, and exposed it. It's along the lines of counting cards: not illegal, but the powers that be aren't gonna be very happy about what they perceive as an "unnatural" win.

Interesting thing is, when Randy West appeared on the show, he had a friend in the audience who I believe was a professor. Said friend spotted the pattern as well. There was also a guy named Dave Wagner who appeared on the show around the same time as Randy, and later wrote a book on how to become a contestant. He noted recalling a pattern as well, and indirectly referred to Larsen's run that happened a few months later. Someone was bound to figure it out.
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NickintheATL

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2016, 11:14:57 AM »
Interesting thing is, when Randy West appeared on the show, he had a friend in the audience who I believe was a professor. Said friend spotted the pattern as well. There was also a guy named Dave Wagner who appeared on the show around the same time as Randy, and later wrote a book on how to become a contestant. He noted recalling a pattern as well, and indirectly referred to Larsen's run that happened a few months later. Someone was bound to figure it out.

That's how I've always felt about it.  It's CBS and Carruthers' own fault for not protecting themselves better.  That was a $110,237 mistake.

Denials

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2016, 01:36:46 PM »
Other than implementing changes to ensure that nothing like it happened again, did PYL make any changes to the Board values, question difficulty, or anything else to try and recover the budget impact of the Larsen win?  Or did the production company (or CBS) just have the win affect its bottom line?

Sodboy13

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2016, 05:06:22 PM »
The scandal is that the board was not random, as viewers may have reasoned.

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TLEberle

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2016, 05:17:04 PM »
Half-snarky, half-serious thing that will make sense when I come back to the point later: how is it that Sale of the Century figured out how to make dancing lights go at a good clip and look random (because to me and every other viewer at home, they were random), but Press Your Luck couldn't? What quantum leap in technology happened in those five years?

/very snarky reply: PYL could have had the players looking away from the board like on Time Machine.
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Ian Wallis

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2016, 07:41:58 PM »

That's how I've always felt about it.  It's CBS and Carruthers' own fault for not protecting themselves better.  That was a $110,237 mistake.

I agree.  I always felt they stayed with those original patterns for far too long.  I noticed that there were certain patterns that kept repeating almost from the beginning.  By the time Larson was on the show, it had been airing for over nine months.

One week after those episodes, they finally changed the patterns, but there were still only five.  In mid-August, they changed them again and in mid-September, made another change but this time implemented over 30 patterns.  Some of them were quite easy to figure out.
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TLEberle

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #10 on: July 29, 2016, 07:57:14 PM »
For how long would the light continue on its pattern, and when was it told by the program to move along to another pattern? Why couldn't they write longer patterns?
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clemon79

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #11 on: July 29, 2016, 08:08:39 PM »
Half-snarky, half-serious thing that will make sense when I come back to the point later: how is it that Sale of the Century figured out how to make dancing lights go at a good clip and look random (because to me and every other viewer at home, they were random), but Press Your Luck couldn't? What quantum leap in technology happened in those five years?

It's easier to make a bouncing light look bouncy with a grid of nine items as opposed to a rectangle of 18?
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Adam Nedeff

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #12 on: July 29, 2016, 10:05:59 PM »
Half-snarky, half-serious thing that will make sense when I come back to the point later: how is it that Sale of the Century figured out how to make dancing lights go at a good clip and look random (because to me and every other viewer at home, they were random), but Press Your Luck couldn't? What quantum leap in technology happened in those five years?

/very snarky reply: PYL could have had the players looking away from the board like on Time Machine.
I don't think it was a quantum leap in technology; remember, the lights on "Second Chance" moved at an even faster speed than the "Sale" lights. My GUESS is they wanted those lights to go slowly on "PYL" to go slowly to create the illusion of control. Disregard the fact that it wasn't actually a random sequence for a moment; average non-Larsen viewer (and non-Larsen contestants) sees the speed with which the light moves and it's juuuuuust slow enough to make them think that if they really, really focus, they can get that light to stop on the Big Bucks square every time, and of course their reflexes will never be that fast.

beatlefreak84

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #13 on: July 29, 2016, 10:12:48 PM »
For how long would the light continue on its pattern, and when was it told by the program to move along to another pattern? Why couldn't they write longer patterns?

For most of the run, each pattern was 18 frames long; namely, it would hit every square on the PYL board exactly once, and then a new pattern was selected.  Earlier episodes were more clunky in that the same pattern would repeat a few times and then abruptly switch to one of the other patterns, I think after a certain amount of time had passed.

I don't know why they didn't write longer patterns, or heck, just make the indicator light go much faster (like on Second Chance); both of these (barring an essentially random code) would have probably prevented contestants like Larson.  I chalk this up to part laziness, part they truly didn't think anyone would crack the code and would be able to get the timing down with lights and actual money on the line.

Concerning $ale, the indicator light moved, at least to my eyes, much faster, and didn't seem to hit all 9 spots before repeating a pattern.  But, I would think, even *if* someone could crack the code to the Fame Game board, unlike on PYL, there's no guarantee you win the game.  You still have to answer Fame Game questions right, and, even if you were perfect on that, you'd earn a max of $50 score money (assuming no bargains/Instant Cash).  That's a decent amount, but a good speed round player could still beat you.  Thus, the amount of time spent learning the patterns/getting the timing down would probably be better spent on studying trivia, IMO.

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clemon79

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Re: Michael Larson Press Your Luck episodes on Buzzr
« Reply #14 on: July 29, 2016, 11:18:14 PM »
or heck, just make the indicator light go much faster (like on Second Chance)

This, at least, is obvious - visually, the bounce on PYL is a LOT more satisfying then the frenetic flash on Second Chance.
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