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Questions about 21

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bttritle:
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Sep 21 2003, 07:07 PM\'] I am also firmly of the opinion that 21 didn't work because , while it might have been enthralling in the 1950s, forty and change years later it really is a fairly mediocre game, and NBC tried to make it interesting by throwing money at it. Hell, 21 is the damn POSTER-BOY for Mo' Money Syndrome. :) [/quote]
Regardless of why the show didn't work, it's not the reason it was cancelled.  TwentyOne met all the criteria for a successful show at the time it aired.  It revitalized a Monday night line up, it was a top twenty show on more than one occasion, and it was obvious that people were watching DESPITE the number of changes the made to the payout format.  

It was cancelled because NBC didn't want to recognize that a large portion of the population wanted to watch it.

bttritle:
[quote name=\'tomobrien\' date=\'Sep 21 2003, 11:05 PM\'] And the game with Chris Franciosa in the booth, where Chris had 8 and his opponent had 19 points.  Chris chooses 10, which means he can't even tie her.  Instead of stopping the game and awarding it to the opponent, Maury reads the question.

It is rather like seeing Sonny Fox stumble through The $64,000 Challenge... [/quote]
The game wouldn't have been over at that point.  Chris was the challenger, which meant the champ would have gone after him.  And the only time they stop the champion before a question is asked is if the declared point value wasn't going to bring them up to 21, because the challenger already hit it.  

So who was stumbling?

The Ol' Guy:
There's another element in Quiz Show that helped explain why Twenty-One and other related shows in that era made such an impact - with threats to our lifestyle around us - especially the fear of becoming a \"second-rate\" nation to Russia, we had to prove to the world and ourselves that America had the strongest army, the best education system, and the smartest people - I think somehow we translated the fact that if someone knew a lot about art or boxing or anything else, it helped us continue a feeling of superiority - or at least the feeling that we have the people with the brains to beat any problem that comes along. TV shows with people smarter than anyone else in the world helped us feel better. The clips of the first program showed Twenty-One had the potential to be a disaster. The \"problem\" was solved by rigging. That was also part of the great disillusionment - we didn't have all the answers, and we were tricked into thinking we did. The premise of the original Twenty One had potential - bright people battling it out, gladiator-style. If you felt it was honest, it would be somewhat entertaining. The remake could have been entertaining as well, if they hadn't so eagerly tried to copy MILLIONAIRE. It seemed every recent big-money quiz was a multiple-choice fest, and that got old fast. Straight questions about one IQ notch above Jeopardy and slightly smaller stakes could have made this one stand out from the pack.

clemon79:
[quote name=\'bttritle\' date=\'Sep 21 2003, 09:33 PM\'] It was cancelled because NBC didn't want to recognize that a large portion of the population wanted to watch it. [/quote]
 Yeah, because NBC is ALL ABOUT shunning the largest potential audience they can.

This is the stupidest argument I've heard in a long time. And I'm involved in a pretty stupid argument elsewhere on this very board.

Ol' Guy: Those are some excellent points, and a perspective on the issue I hadn't heard before. Please post more. :)

Dbacksfan12:
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Sep 22 2003, 12:38 AM\'] [quote name=\'bttritle\' date=\'Sep 21 2003, 09:33 PM\'] It was cancelled because NBC didn't want to recognize that a large portion of the population wanted to watch it. [/quote]
Yeah, because NBC is ALL ABOUT shunning the largest potential audience they can.

This is the stupidest argument I've heard in a long time. And I'm involved in a pretty stupid argument elsewhere on this very board.

Ol' Guy: Those are some excellent points, and a perspective on the issue I hadn't heard before. Please post more. :) [/quote]
 Keep in mind he won a large sum of money from this show...

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