Lower Budget, Higher Ratings

[Kevin Prather]

(Speaking of which, did they ever offer the Excel and the Precis in the same bonus? Seems like that would be a way to save money by having the original and the rebadge together.)

I once watched a week of shows where six of the eight cars started with the letter C. I don't recall the win rate, but I'm sure it helped rebalance the budget.

That's nasty. Reminds me of those all-cash games in the original series with amounts like $69, $96, $696, etc.

Nice.

[joshg]

(Speaking of which, did they ever offer the Excel and the Precis in the same bonus? Seems like that would be a way to save money by having the original and the rebadge together.)

Indeed LOL   


https://youtu.be/E38UwiKzqoI?si=4H6ccKSYuLfwc740

[TLEberle]

No surprise he not only won the car quickly but also scooped a Thunderbird and $10,000 in the championship playoff.

[steveleb]

There were many instances where budgets were slashed due to factors besides actual ratings--time period downgrades first and foremost-- and there was no discernable ratings erosion that immediately resulted from them.  As for ratings growth--in daytime in particular, there's rarely been a cause-and-effect that a bigger budget caused a ratings increase.  Even in the case of ABC PYRAMID the show was improving once it moved to 2 PM before the jackpot was doubled.

Sure, tournaments with large payoffs occasionally spiked numbers--the JOKER's run between 77 and 80 where each ensuing tournament's grand prize was improved upon are perhaps the best example--but the belief that the bigger the payoff the bigger the audience is essentially a myth, and Lord knows I spent far too much time analyzing ratings patterns to prove that point to superiors who felt strongly about keeping budgets in line to overrule otherwise eager producers who still believed the myth,

[SamJ93]

Would J! count when they eliminated co-champions in the event of a tie? I doubt very few (if any) fans stopped watching because of it, and it was a pretty obscure rule (and very much an anomaly for a game show) until Arthur Chu began exploiting it.

[TimK2003]

If my fuzzy memory was right, when Tom Kennedy's Name That Tune first started (in the Kathie Lee Johnson years) if a player won their match AND the Golden Medley, they got an individual shot in the isolation booth the following show for $100,000.

Then when they went to the disco set, any player who won the match AND Golden Medley only got to play in additional Tournament of Champions elimination matches weeks later  for a shot at the big prize.  They never got to play against the house for the $100,000 like they did in the Kathie Lee years.

I want to say there were more years (and ratings) during the disco era than the first Kennedy version.

Was that correct?

[Jeremy Nelson]

If my fuzzy memory was right, when Tom Kennedy's Name That Tune first started (in the Kathie Lee Johnson years) if a player won their match AND the Golden Medley, they got an individual shot in the isolation booth the following show for $100,000.

Then when they went to the disco set, any player who won the match AND Golden Medley only got to play in additional Tournament of Champions elimination matches weeks later  for a shot at the big prize.  They never got to play against the house for the $100,000 like they did in the Kathie Lee years.

I want to say there were more years (and ratings) during the disco era than the first Kennedy version.

Was that correct?

I think it was 4 for the OG and 3 for the disco.

I don't know if the show actually got cheaper- they were giving away a guaranteed $100,000 every nine weeks and cars in Melody Roulette- a prize previously reserved for Golden Medley winners. Shoot, I know I'd seen losing contestants walk away with $5k+ on numerous occasions. I'm not familiar with the ballpark win rate on the original Kennedy version, but it would surprise me if they were giving away $100k in 1975 once a month.