The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => Game Show Channels & Networks => Topic started by: Bryce L. on March 17, 2020, 11:17:55 AM
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The listings have been updated through April 13th, and here's what's changing on the 30th...
- Press Your Luck returns to the daily lineup, now at 4:00pm, with fresh episodes (picking up at episode 312)
- Concentration 76 is on at 7:30pm, starting from episode 0971
- Let's Make a Deal 85 moves to 8:30pm
- Card Sharks with Jim Perry moves to 9:30pm, replacing the Eubanks episodes in that slot
- Concentration 76 replaces Sale of the Century in the Sundays at 4:00pm hour
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Not sure where to post this, but I'll post it here. According to posts on their social media (https://twitter.com/BUZZRtv/status/1242134053266042882), wherever Buzzr is located, they've been forced to begin performing their operations remotely because of COVID-19 precautions put into place. They mention that while the channel will continue to broadcast, this could affect the Buzzr schedule going forward when it comes to new-to-Buzzr episodes making their way on the network. Could this mean a shorter than expected run for Concentration than expected? Or will we cycle through episodes of others show faster than normal? Time will tell.
I wonder if this is a concern for other cable networks and, particularly, sub-channels. I was at first thinking maybe, but now that's changed to maybe not thinking about it more. I feel like Buzzr is a channel that has new programming it needs to plow through to convert to a format to air it, whereas other cable channels and subchannels already have the entire run of Golden Girls or Bewitched ready to go to insert wherever it is on the schedule.
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I'd assume that all of the product BUZZR has digitally converted over the past 5 years is still stored, backed up, and remotely accessible if need be.
I'd also think that they could also go back to "not seen in ages" episodes, and those of us that have only more recently acquired the channel would still be pleased...
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Their schedules are posted through the early hours of April 20...
- Classic Concentration resets to January '88 on Friday the 10th
- Password Plus goes back to April '79 on Monday the 13th
- Match Game '74 stops new episodes on Thursday the 16th
- Supermarket Sweep '00 begins randomizing their episodes on Thursday the 16th (with the last new episode being #70)
- Password '67 rewinds again on Friday the 17th (after nine fresh episodes)
- Press Your Luck goes back to September '84 on Friday the 17th
Concentration '76 is the only thing with a fresh episode airing as of Friday the 17th.
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Sequentially, there is no skipping in production number sequence of Concentration once it starts at 0971?
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Sequentially, there is no skipping in production number sequence of Concentration once it starts at 0971?
Correct. Uses the same numbering scheme that TTTT and WML? use, a sequential week counter ("097") followed by a number for the day of the week (1 = Monday, 2 = Tuesday, etc.)
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Is Narz Concentration only on at 6:30 MY time, or are there encores later in the evening?
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Is Narz Concentration only on at 6:30 MY time, or are there encores later in the evening?
1 episode per night during the week. Sunday afternoon 4PM-5PM ET will show encores of the episodes aired on the prior Monday & Tuesday.
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The first over-the-air broadcast of Narz Concentration in 42 years goes nicely. An amusing inside reference by Jack to brother Tom Kennedy at one point.
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Interestingly, we're going to see at least one rule change this week.
Earlier this month, Buzzr uploaded (http://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic,31819.0.html) part of show #0975, wherein Jack makes a bit of a deal about how players get three picks per turn in Game 1. The episode aired tonight, #0971, still has two picks per turn.
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I wonder if all those rapid "Bonus Number" matches in tonight's show influenced that to a degree. By going with three picks all around you could get rid of two "Bonus Number" spaces presumably on the board and add an extra prize.
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A few other observations: Double Play is still outright played for $100 and a car, Game 2 still uses the white-on-black Wild Cards (rather than the multicolored ones that debuted by the December '77 tapings), and there are still no "Free Look" spaces.
By going with three picks all around you could get rid of two "Bonus Number" spaces presumably on the board and add an extra prize.
Based on available footage, when "three picks per turn in Game 1" became the norm the Bonus Number spaces were completely removed from said game.
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Tonight's 9:00 p.m. Eastern Supermarket Sweep deviates from Buzzr's online schedule -- instead of being the new-to-network 1063 of season six, the network has jumped back to (what I think is) season six's 1019. Let the wild speculation commence!
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My quick guess would be skeleton staff meant that the new episode wasn't ready to go.
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Tonight's 9:00 p.m. Eastern Supermarket Sweep deviates from Buzzr's online schedule -- instead of being the new-to-network 1063 of season six, the network has jumped back to (what I think is) season six's 1019. Let the wild speculation commence!
"They're self-contained, so m'eh. Unless someone's collecting them, they won't notice. Let's just rewind now."
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Tonight's 9:00 p.m. Eastern Supermarket Sweep deviates from Buzzr's online schedule -- instead of being the new-to-network 1063 of season six, the network has jumped back to (what I think is) season six's 1019. Let the wild speculation commence!
I knew I recognized that first Bonus Sweep clue...
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My quick guess would be skeleton staff meant that the new episode wasn't ready to go.
Yeah, I'm afraid this is what Buzzr was warning us of when they sent out their message what seems like months ago, but was only like two weeks or less. This was noticeable from the beginning of the episode since it jumped from Randy West episodes back to Johnny Gilbert.
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And on the upcoming schedules, the 9:30am slot for Sweep (which is three weeks behind the 9:00pm slot) lists episode 1019 on April 28th... which perfectly matches tonight's episode... here's what the rest of that week has...
4/27... 1062
4/28... 1019
4/29... 1064
4/30... 1065
5/1... 1066
So, if we hear Randy tomorrow, we'll know tonight was basically a fluke.
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And on the upcoming schedules, the 9:30am slot for Sweep (which is three weeks behind the 9:00pm slot) lists episode 1019 on April 28th... which perfectly matches tonight's episode... here's what the rest of that week has...
4/27... 1062
4/28... 1019
4/29... 1064
4/30... 1065
5/1... 1066
So, if we hear Randy tomorrow, we'll know tonight was basically a fluke.
Tonight's episode was a Randy West-ie.
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Now I don't know what the hell is going on. Last night was a Johnny Gilbert episode, but the captions did not match the episode and were clearly for a Randy West episode (featuring mention of Sweep Swipe).
(https://i.imgur.com/jGCOjA5l.png)
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Now I don't know what the hell is going on. Last night was a Johnny Gilbert episode, but the captions did not match the episode and were clearly for a Randy West episode (featuring mention of Sweep Swipe).
(https://i.imgur.com/jGCOjA5l.png)
Looks like they showed a repeat of episode #1020 instead of the scheduled #1065.
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And in the 9:30pm slot tonight instead of a Perry 1980 CS, we get one from the Eubanks-era with the car game :o
(Paris was on MGHS, wasn't she?)
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Did Car Game-era Eubanks episodes always go slower than molasses flowing uphill, like tonight's is?
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My experience viewing them indicates yes.
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And in the 9:30pm slot tonight instead of a Perry 1980 CS, we get one from the Eubanks-era with the car game :o
I don't think they were even expecting it, the commercials don't seem to have been cued right.
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(Paris was on MGHS, wasn't she?)
Two different people.
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And in the 9:30pm slot tonight instead of a Perry 1980 CS, we get one from the Eubanks-era with the car game :o
I don't think they were even expecting it, the commercials don't seem to have been cued right.
Happened during tonight's Concentration as well. After the second Double Play, they played a quick mini-game with the two contestants, and upon returning to the contestant area, abruptly went to commercial during Jack's explanation.
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And in the 9:30pm slot tonight instead of a Perry 1980 CS, we get one from the Eubanks-era with the car game :o
I don't think they were even expecting it, the commercials don't seem to have been cued right.
Happened during tonight's Concentration as well. After the second Double Play, they played a quick mini-game with the two contestants, and upon returning to the contestant area, abruptly went to commercial during Jack's explanation.
That cut on Concentration was probably to cover where a ticket/contestant plug had been in the original broadcast.
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Happened during tonight's Concentration as well. After the second Double Play, they played a quick mini-game with the two contestants, and upon returning to the contestant area, abruptly went to commercial during Jack's explanation.
That cut on Concentration was probably to cover where a ticket/contestant plug had been in the original broadcast.
Ah, makes sense. Thanks!
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My experience viewing them indicates yes.
Several years ago I linked to an episode shared by our own Chelsea Thrasher noting that it felt like Bob was taking up lots of time that could have been better served by playing the game, but similar to how Super Password would play one Alphabetics every day if nothing wonky happened, Card Sharks at that point had timed things out to a whole cycle of main game-Money Cards-car game per day unless a game went by in one question.
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And in the 9:30pm slot tonight instead of a Perry 1980 CS, we get one from the Eubanks-era with the car game :o
(Paris was on MGHS, wasn't she?)
The did the same thing the last time we got to episode 461, which tells me their file is mislabeled.
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Two important things for both shows regarding hosts taking it so slowly:
Both hosts (Eubanks and Convy) are sensational ad libbers whose banter and conversation with contestants (and in Convy's case celebs) are often just as if not more entertaining to the casual viewer than the game itself. Entire blooper reels have been built out of Bert's shenanigans, and with Bob's shenanigans you never knew if it was going to be something salacious, sarcastic, or shockingly genuine and touching (there's a recurring thing on some early '88 shows when Bob becomes a grandfather for a first time that are genuinely sweet). Even moreso in the era when things are being done live to tape, cutting them out or having them tighten it up too much is working against both men's strengths.
At the same time, there's also the budget. Eons ago I remember mentioning somewhere or another (can't recall if it was a post or some messenger conversation or both) - remember, these are TV productions, being held accountable for the money they have as a prize budget. Let's say you're budgeted for six complete games per week. On Super Password, within $400 you know exactly how much it costs each game to play. Either 3 ($600) or 4 ($1000) puzzles, a cashword round ($1000, always eventually paid out as it rolls over), and a bonus game ($5000, again, always eventually paid out). Average the two out, that's ~$6,800 per complete game. On Card Sharks? You're only guaranteed on the hook for $200. But there are $100 and $500 bonuses that can be won - and the bonus game can pay out anything from $0 to $32K although functionally anything north of about $15K is uncommon. Plus a car, which even if discounted for promotional consideration is still an expense.
If you're producing a show and accountable for it's budget, why in the holy hell would you spend around $7K (Super Password) or potentially five figures (Card Sharks) extra that you 100% don't have to to have the host constantly speed through games (which isn't either man's strength in the first place, especially Convy) when by slowing down you not ONLY save money but you get more of the parts that the average daytime viewers find charming and relatable and enjoyable beyond the play-along factor. Viewers get more *person* time, you save *thousands*. It's win-win for the shows, and there's a reason that Super Password lasted almost five years at NOON while the Eubanks version of Card Sharks went north of three
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Happened during tonight's Concentration as well. After the second Double Play, they played a quick mini-game with the two contestants, and upon returning to the contestant area, abruptly went to commercial during Jack's explanation.
That cut on Concentration was probably to cover where a ticket/contestant plug had been in the original broadcast.
Ah, makes sense. Thanks!
In the closing segment, Jack even mentioned something about writing to that address if you want to meet their contestant coordinator after one contestant thanked her on the air. I know Buzzr did the same seemingly oddball edit on at least one other episode, and I expect we'll see it again.