Other than that, the old KISS principle is applied perfectly to Pyramid. They just tried too hard to be different, and it didn’t work.

This, for me, applied most to the Tournament qualification. I just watched an ep with Kathy Najimy and in the first Winner's Circle, she gave an illegal clue and my first thought was "damn, that guy already got disqualified for the tournament".

The three fastest successful runs seemed like the best way to go for qualification; I understand that they wanted an easy way to cull the field and skirt continuity for syndication, but to penalize players after they already have to overcome bad writing and nitpick-y judging seemed like bad form to me.

I didn’t have a problem with the 6 in 20 second mechanic. That was a nice little twist.

Other than that, the old KISS principle is applied perfectly to Pyramid. They just tried too hard to be different, and it didn’t work. The writing was the killer for me. You look at the two most modern Pyramid efforts, they stuck to basics (well, for the most part) and it worked.

I'm going to push just a wee bit, though I understand they needed to shave somewhere and that bought them two minutes. However:

The nice thing about 7 in 30 seconds is that you're expected to run off probably three or four of the answers without much trouble. A good team will then have a reserve amount to use if the sixth or seventh prompt is tough for them. (and if they run out of time? Rough chuckles, welcome to game shows.)

Six in twenty to me as a 22 year old felt way too fast. No real time to grasp what's going on or let the round sink in because we have the four-line topic titles and then the Super Six presentation and dashing off to the winners circle. Absolutely no time to reflect or let the tension sink in. (Did Donny ever mention "If you win the $15,000 here, that's a total of $25,000 and then we'll see you back her to try for another $100,000"? I don't recall.

I didn’t have a problem with the 6 in 20 second mechanic. That was a nice little twist.

Other than that, the old KISS principle is applied perfectly to Pyramid. They just tried too hard to be different, and it didn’t work. The writing was the killer for me. You look at the two most modern Pyramid efforts, they stuck to basics (well, for the most part) and it worked.

I was going to say the success of The Traitors had to be a huge tick in The Mole's favor, but this renewal was first reported in February 2023, when The Traitors had just been out in America for a month. So perhaps not.

Season 1 of Netflix's version looks to have come out around the time that Traitors was starting to air in English-speaking countries, so it's still possible someone said "we have The Traitors at home"

It’s amusing when you recall that Alan Cumming and Ari Shapiro have just been out on tour together with their “Considered Cabaret” show that they’re now hosting similar shows.