Super Millionaire's New Rules Out

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'MYosua\' date=\'Feb 10 2004, 03:11 PM\'] I'd argue that even ATA + DD might also be too powerful, if the results of the poll show 2 answers that have significantly more responses than the other 2.  Then the contestant can go with the audience twice, and hope one answer is OK.  (Of course, since these are all upper-tier questions, the audience might not be the most reliable...) [/quote]
 Agreed, but you hit upon my argument right at the end - when you start getting to those truly insane upper level questions, the ATA poll results start to level off...

You're right, tho, if they happen to overhwhelmingly point to one of two answers, it would be as good a fodder for the DD as any.

(Double Dip. Was Thrifty a national drugstore chain, and if so, did they all have cheap ice cream? When I was teeny, you could get a two-scoop cone for 30 cents, and it went up as high as 65 or so (a TRIPLE was 90, and too hard to manage) before Rite-Aid bought them all out. The Chocolate Chip was EXCELLENT as cheap drugstore ice cream goes...)

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Feb 10 2004, 04:39 PM\'] Well, for the sake of semantics, the 50/50 lifeline would give the player a 50/50 shot at the right answer, still producing two possibilities, regardless of how many choices were presented originally [/quote]
 More to the point, if this information about The Perfesser's call is true, the DD only kicks in after the second tier, so you'd still have to have four answers to play it out the way Davies et. al. suggest it.

I dunno if I buy it, though. What if someone were to Carpenter and make it to the $10M question with both of those lifelines intact? What should be a Landmark Moment In Television History would be totally anticlimactic, and Davies and his posse would be the goats for blowing it.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'scully24\' date=\'Feb 10 2004, 04:59 PM\']

I've seen an awful lot of postings from real game show insiders who say that staffers have been told on several shows not to talk to him.

Is that because he's inaccurate, or just because the shows didn't want important information to leak out? [/quote]
 Probably a combination of things. He's been known to be inaccurate, and he's been known to openly and unashamedly practice questionable journalistic ethics. And it's pretty clear that he has very little respect for his sources in situations like this.

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Feb 10 2004, 06:51 PM\'] [quote name=\'JTFriends1\' date=\'Feb 10 2004, 03:14 PM\']
Three Wise Men allows the player to consult with three trivia experts (men and women, Davies notes) who will be in a different part of the "Millionaire" studio. The experts will include a mix of journalists, academics and past game-show champions.

 [/quote]
There are a few people on this board who'd be perfect for the former contestant portion of this triumvirate. [/quote]
 Noreen Wald posts here?

[CaseyAbell]

The Prof is completely accurate, according to the ABC media release:

http://www.abcmedianet.com/shared/ams/asse.../021004_07.html

Wow, a contestant who keeps the 50-50 and Double Dip intact has the ultimate weapon.  Could lead to some very interesting decisions...and to a complete anticlimax on the last question.

But if some intrepid contestant answers the five mill question correctly with the 50-50 and Double Dip still intact, they'll just unleash the confetti and forget the last question.

I guess.

In other Millionaire news, the syndie hit an all-time high in household count for the latest week:

http://www.zap2it.com/television/news/ratings/syndication/

I gotta think that the hoopla around Super Millionaire will only help the syndie for the rest of this sweeps month. Which is a very nice side benefit for Davies and company.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Feb 10 2004, 10:19 PM\'] Wow, a contestant who keeps the 50-50 and Double Dip intact has the ultimate weapon.  Could lead to some very interesting decisions...and to a complete anticlimax on the last question.

But if some intrepid contestant answered the five mill question correctly with the 50-50 and Double Dip still intact, they'll just unleash the confetti and forget the last question. [/quote]
 Which is not so anticlimactic after all.  The DD-50/50 play means you win with a stack of 14 questions.  In the unlikely event somebody gets that close, I'm sure Reege will be cued to draw out the suspense on question #14...

Notice in that news release that the "Experts" get 30 seconds to discuss the answer, just like your phone friends do.

Hey, I'm just happy the new secret-weapon lifeline isn't called "Sloppy Seconds."

[trainman]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 10 2004, 04:35 PM\'] (Double Dip. Was Thrifty a national drugstore chain, and if so, did they all have cheap ice cream? When I was teeny, you could get a two-scoop cone for 30 cents, and it went up as high as 65 or so (a TRIPLE was 90, and too hard to manage) before Rite-Aid bought them all out. The Chocolate Chip was EXCELLENT as cheap drugstore ice cream goes...) [/quote]
 No, they weren't national...southern California only, as far as I know.  I'm a little surprised that Rite Aid has kept the ice cream counters in operation at the former Thrifty stores they inherited (and they still call it "Thrifty ice cream").

At any rate, my guess is that they'll still play out the final question if the contestant gets there with the 50:50 and Double Dip lifelines intact.  But I'll tell you, that would be a contestant with a big smile on his or her face.

[CaseyAbell]

If these rules stay the same, preserving the 50-50 through the 100K level now becomes critically important. The 50-50, long scorned as the most useless of the three traditional lifelines, now becomes the most powerful...if you can keep it intact through the first ten questions. After all, answering the tenth question correctly with the 50-50 intact guarantees you 500K...

But only if you want to use the Double Dip/50-50 combo on the eleventh question instead of keeping the ultimate weapon for the really enormous payouts.

Devilishly clever.

[CarbonCpy]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 10 2004, 07:30 PM\'] Frankly, I think Three Wise Men is a pretty clever name.
 [/quote]
 I am finding that this man's jib is quite similarly tailored to my own.

Besides, as Mark Jeffries said, I'm thinking that it would be similar to ATA.  Just with the people wearing, say, mortarboards...

[DrJWJustice]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Feb 10 2004, 10:19 PM\'] The Prof is completely accurate, according to the ABC media release:

(snip)

Wow, a contestant who keeps the 50-50 and Double Dip intact has the ultimate weapon.  Could lead to some very interesting decisions...and to a complete anticlimax on the last question.

But if some intrepid contestant answers the five mill question correctly with the 50-50 and Double Dip still intact, they'll just unleash the confetti and forget the last question.
 [/quote]
 As a legitimately published academic who will have his Ph.D. before Christmas (I dearly hope!!!), I prefer to refer to Beverly as "The Perfessor" rather than legitimizing his position as "The Prof."  Semantics, to be sure, but I take offense at him being given an academic title, given his quetionable ethics in journalism, the subject he supposedly "teaches" at his school.  Frankly, I'm very worried about the kind of journalists he's unleashing into American newsrooms.  OK, enough digression....

Now, to answer the second part, let us not forget an Alex Trebek classic, "Pitfall."  Just because someone had a PitPass in hand, that didn't mean that they automatically passed safely over the elevator.  I'd have to say the same with a contestant with $5 million in the bag and the Double Dip and 50-50 lifelines still intact.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd be damned nervous if I were in that situation -- with millions of Americans and Canadians to be watching my every move on television the following night.

[Craig Karlberg]

Here's my take on the new Lifelines:

3 Wise Mem(Women) - It's a clever one for sure.  There's a minor flaw;  what if the 3 "experts" each give one answer instead of a majority.  That would cause a contestant to change his strategy a bit.

Double Dip - Clearly the strongest lifeline yet.  And if you combo the 50/50 with it, it might be too powerful.  That's a flaw in of itself.  Another flaw is where the combo is used at Question 15 creating an anticlimatic situation.

[CaseyAbell]

I prefer to refer to Beverly as "The Perfessor" rather than legitimizing his position as "The Prof."

Sorry, but I'll call him the Prof if I want to. He's been right on top of the Super Millionaire story, getting an interesting interview with Davies and keeping up with developments on the new version of the game.

You can call him anything you want, and I'll call him anything I want. Fair enough, no?

Double Dip - Clearly the strongest lifeline yet. And if you combo the 50/50 with it, it might be too powerful. That's a flaw in of itself. Another flaw is where the combo is used at Question 15 creating an anticlimatic situation.

Again, my guess is that, if some unbelievably good or lucky contestant manages to answer the fourteenth question correctly with both the Double Dip and the 50-50 still intact, they'll just launch the celebration and avoid a complete anticlimax on the fifteenth question. The odds against this scenario look overwhelming, especially during the very limited runs that ABC seems to be planning for the game.

The real trap will come on the 30K, 50K and 100K questions. I'm sure these will be REAL nasty, designed to use up any of the first three lifelines still remaining. Will contestants do everything possible to preserve the 50-50, even if it means a significantly bigger risk on these questions?

Interesting, indeed.

[Mike Tennant]

[quote name=\'JayC\' date=\'Feb 10 2004, 04:29 PM\']They couldn't think of a more creative name for Three Wise Men?  How about "Ask the Experts"?[/quote]
Good thing they're not doing this on the British show, or they'd have to call them the Magi so as to be politically correct.

[uncamark]

All of a sudden, I see Larry, Moe and Curly as the Three Wise Men--or should it be the Three Wise Guys?

"Spread out...!"

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'DrJWJustice\' date=\'Feb 11 2004, 12:44 AM\'] Now, to answer the second part, let us not forget an Alex Trebek classic, "Pitfall."  Just because someone had a PitPass in hand, that didn't mean that they automatically passed safely over the elevator.  I'd have to say the same with a contestant with $5 million in the bag and the Double Dip and 50-50 lifelines still intact.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd be damned nervous if I were in that situation -- with millions of Americans and Canadians to be watching my every move on television the following night. [/quote]
 I thought of this, and you have a definite point. The money ain't won until the contestant realizes they've won it and takes the correct actions to do so.

Wow. Talk about interactivity...twelve million people watching, every ONE of them yelling at the screen that you have it wrapped, and you sit there in the Hot Seat and DON'T REALIZE IT. It'd be Katherine Rahm with that freakin' Pitstop all over again.

Okay. I'm marginally interested again.