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Comparing Password Plus to Super Password
Ian Wallis:
--- Quote from: Jeremy Nelson on January 14, 2025, 08:59:19 AM ---In retrospect, I'm surprised that considering contestants gave clues for half the game, they weren't afforded that option in either the SP or PP bonus round.
--- End quote ---
I wondered about that too. In Pyramid at the time, most often celebrities gave the clues but at least contestants had the option. It sucks if you got paired with a weaker celebrity and they blew your one chance at it.
Ian Wallis:
--- Quote from: TimK2003 on January 14, 2025, 09:29:36 AM ---In P+, the "house" would benefit from either a loss or an illegal clue in the original Alphabetics era as that budgeted money would never be given out. SP could still adjust the difficulty level if they wanted to, but all that did was increase the chances to build up larger bonuses in later games.
--- End quote ---
In re-watching the first few months of Password Plus on GameTV recently, it surprises me how easy most of the Alphabetics rounds were. It seems that nine times out of ten the jackpot was won. I don't recall that kind of ratio later in the series, nor on Super Password.
BillCullen1:
I thought PP had better hosting and format before the change to $500 winning the game. SP had the better end game and the Cashword was a nice addition. But Bert was a little too talkative and blurted out answers too often, IMO. Still enjoy seeing both shows on Buzzr.
chris319:
The consensus at the time was that Bill Cullen moved the game along too slowly. Watching his shows decades later, it is apparent that he wasted a lot of time making wisecracks and trying in vain to inject levity.
Bert Convy was fantastic on Tattletales but he was out of his league on SP. He was always going for the joke and didn't get that Password was never intended to be a comedy show. Plus, he had an annoying penchant for announcing to the world when he thought he had the answer to a puzzle. Allen had his flaws but overall was better for the format.
The prize budget (money actually awarded) on P+ was remarkably stable at $22,000 per week.
TimK2003:
--- Quote from: chris319 on January 15, 2025, 03:49:53 AM ---
Bert Convy was fantastic on Tattletales but he was out of his league on SP.
--- End quote ---
I neither agree or disagree on that, but he made SP in his own image, much like what Ray Combs and Drew Carey did to Feud and Price, accordingly.
Bert did a good job on TT and WLOD because the games did not straddle, and thus he had to keep the games moving in order to end on time.
IMHO, Bert livened things up and slowed the pace down a bit compared to earlier Password incarnations to give contestants to enjoy their time on the show a bit more to give them more than just a quick 10-15 minute experience, like what some of the earliest Passwords seemed to do with Ludden at the helm, and occasionally on P+ when puzzles were solved rather quickly.
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