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PYL and/or Whammy: Your views

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Dbacksfan12:
I am of the opinion that these formats (especially Whammy!) are made to appeal to children, and the under 18 demographic.  They have childish antics, and really are not appealing to watch.  (However, I feel the same way about B&E games, minus the childish antics).  The questions are easy enough an 8 year old could answer them--yet they are missed all the time.

I made these suggestions over on the GSN boards and was roasted.  Since I like to think this group is more intellegent, what do y'all think?

Matt Ottinger:
I don't think the people who designed the formats gathered in a room and said to each other, "OK, let's make a game that appeals to children."  So in that sense I disagree with you.

However, and I've said this before, our favorite game shows tend to be the ones that we remember from our childhood, and those obviously are going to be the ones that children can understand and play along.  Bright, flashy and easy-to-get shows like PYL and TPIR certainly fit that description, even though they're not specifically *designed* for children the way other games are.

A lot of you who were pushing so strongly for GSN to bring back PYL (either with the reruns or with the remake) are in your twenties and have fond childhood memories of the original, either on CBS or the incessant USA reruns.  Those of us who are older never entirely got your obsession with the show (hence the term "tomarkenite" back on Usenet) because we weren't kids when it was on originally and we recognized it all along as being a flashy, somewhat engaging but ultimately pretty empty game.

uncamark:
My mind tells me that "PYL" and "Whammy!" are silly, stupid shows.  However, my gut gets me involved whenever I'm watching a final round and the spins are being passed back and forth.  That's the whole secret of the show--the all-or-nothing setup can engage some real nail-biters that you get caught up in, even if you note the stupidity of people pounding on a button while screaming "BIG BUCKS NO WHAMMIES!"  And that's the dirty little secret of the format.  And I also try to be out of the room or on another channel during the question rounds--that helps.  (And I was a grown adult when "PYL" was first on and I still got caught up in the stupid show.)

As for B&E, there is nothing wrong with the formats of their shows that can't be improved by better, more challenging question writing, better end games and a less kitschy feel.  ("TJW" became a better show in the end simply for having Bill Cullen around--even if Cullen wasn't at his peak, Cullen off-peak is better than a lot of hosts at their peak.)

Jimmy Owen:
Well, you gotta remember that the show it replaced was "Child's Play," so maybe CBS wanted a show that was more child's play than "Child's Play."  Personally, I prefered "Second Chance."

JayC:
What's B&E?  Sorry if that's a stupid question.

OT: This is my 100th post!

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