The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Joe Mello on September 11, 2006, 08:17:16 PM
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Probably one of the few positives from today's television schedule was the premiere of J! and Wheel in HD. I might as well interject my thoughts on how they actually adapted and looked after watching an episode.
I'm not liking those contestant podiums on Jeopardy. They look nice, but there's next to zero way to tell who buzzed in. The neon lights are so small, they get swallowed up by the rest of the setpiece. I'd love for some sort of change, but I doubt that'll happen. Another thing I noticed was that the board values seemed scrunched vertically. To me, that doesn't make sense, since HD would more than likely increase the width of the image, not the height.
As for Wheel, their on-screen graphics department definitely looks like they know what they're doing. The animations were all shiny and crisp-looking as they should, and the new fonts look nice and streamlined. One of the best additions was flashing a graphic with the banked totals during round 3, which does have its advantages for the viewer following the game at home. In terms of the actual Wheel, it looks like it went back about 10 years in terms of color and texture. Not sure if it's good or bad yet, but it's definitely interesting. That pink $900 space does look out of place, though.
Overall, I'd say J!'s changes were questionable whereas Wheel's were fine and dandy.
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Ive read some really un flattering reviews of Jeopardy from 720p stations, I personally think it might look better on a 1080i station since its been mentioned both are beeing feed from Sony at 1080i.
Now id wish SKY would repick up these shows for SKY One and get two HD shows for hardly anything I bet to fill thier morning schedule.
Though then that might give them ideas to get The View in HD *Shudders*
Id buy SKY HD then, although its lack luster to other HD services here in Europe.
Ah well just BBC HD from the UK for me.
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[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'131130\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 07:17 PM\']
Probably one of the few positives from today's television schedule was the premiere of J! and Wheel in HD. I might as well interject my thoughts on how they actually adapted and looked after watching an episode.
I'm not liking those contestant podiums on Jeopardy. They look nice, but there's next to zero way to tell who buzzed in. The neon lights are so small, they get swallowed up by the rest of the setpiece. I'd love for some sort of change, but I doubt that'll happen. Another thing I noticed was that the board values seemed scrunched vertically. To me, that doesn't make sense, since HD would more than likely increase the width of the image, not the height.
As for Wheel, their on-screen graphics department definitely looks like they know what they're doing. The animations were all shiny and crisp-looking as they should, and the new fonts look nice and streamlined. One of the best additions was flashing a graphic with the banked totals during round 3, which does have its advantages for the viewer following the game at home. In terms of the actual Wheel, it looks like it went back about 10 years in terms of color and texture. Not sure if it's good or bad yet, but it's definitely interesting. That pink $900 space does look out of place, though.
Overall, I'd say J!'s changes were questionable whereas Wheel's were fine and dandy.
[/quote]
Here's what I posted elsewhere re: WOF.
If you saw the show in HD it was interesting to note the "side action". During the toss-ups you could see Pat on the left most part of the screen. Plus during many shots of the current player, his/her opponent(s) could be visible on the side of the screen. When the yellow player is up there are shots where all 3 players are visible because of the widescreen format.
The most annoying part of the HD broadcast is now the WOF “bug” is not in the left corner but floating midway into the screen. A small thing I know compared to how nice the show looks in all its 1080 lines of glory.
As for Jeopardy, I knew that podium was going to be the first thing we brought up here. I also think it's just too imposing. Also notice no more shots of the clue captured by the camera, and if you're watching in HD that makes for a heck of a lot of blue on your set at once.
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[quote name=\'remlap\' post=\'131135\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 05:24 PM\']
Ive read some really un flattering reviews of Jeopardy from 720p stations, I personally think it might look better on a 1080i station since its been mentioned both are beeing feed from Sony at 1080i.
[/quote]
Are they? My local affiliate said they would not be airing them in hidef because of an incompatibility in the formats, but at the same time it comes up as 1080i when I tune it in. Maybe that's the cable box talking, tho.
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I pretty much agree with everything you say, Joe. I much prefer the rocketship podiums over the new "bar" one. You can't even use plural forms because they all seem to be hooked together. Wheel's were definitely much better. I also like the new outlining of the dollar amounts on the wheel towhere it gives it more of a 3D look. All in all, Wheel's HD changes > Jeopardy's HD changes
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[quote name=\'remlap\' post=\'131135\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 04:24 PM\']
Though then that might give them ideas to get The View in HD *Shudders*
[/quote]
Or Oprah in HD (which could happen next season). But we would REALLY shudder if TPIR ever goes hi-def anytime soon!
Jonathan Allen
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Most of my thoughts have already been posted--Wheel's graphics department has it together, and I can't tell who's ringing in on Jeopardy! Just to copy two minor gripes I just shared elsewhere about J!:
1) What's with the eensy-weensy returning champion's total at the start of the show? Good thing Johnny speaks so clearly.
2) The "shadows" on the board "monitors" look ultra-cheesy up close. I couldn't help but notice it during Final Jeopardy!, with the full-"monitor" graphics right next to the "blank" screens with the shadows.
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[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'131130\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 07:17 PM\']
As for Wheel, their on-screen graphics department definitely looks like they know what they're doing. The animations were all shiny and crisp-looking as they should, and the new fonts look nice and streamlined...In terms of the actual Wheel, it looks like it went back about 10 years in terms of color and texture. Not sure if it's good or bad yet, but it's definitely interesting. [/quote]
But the big question remains...How many more of those 73,234,661,998,440 colors of light do you see in HD versus a non-HD? :-P
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Yeah, someone needs to tell the J! staff that not everyone's HDTV's are the size of Long Island.
Just to make this perfectly clear (because it's referenced in the thread's subtitle), my opinions are formed from watching an RCA 20" flat-screen TV getting a regular signal.
I also couldn't tell who made the better make-up joke, or if they were even funny enough to tell.
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As I said in another thread, the new set easily lends itself to reviving the old Trebek standard of having a white rectangle light up around the player's name. Big horkin' way to tell who rang in.
-Jason
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They definitely need bigger ring-in indicators. The red neon was even tough to notice on my 38" HD set.
The board graphics really disappointed me. They had an opportunity for a huge makeover of the board but they're sticking with the same fonts and cheezy backgrounds they've always had. Only now they look really cheezy.
And on a local level, no points to WABC for their sloppy master control. They had about 20 seconds of black out of the first segment with a quick fast-forward on air, and they started rewinding the tape right as the Sony logo came up at the end.
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I don't know if it was something with the HD signal coming over the satellite or not, but watching it over WPVI was a problem. The picture kept momentarily going out amidst some pops and cracks, and there was lots of pixelation and blue screens during WoF.
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[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'131161\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 09:19 PM\']
I don't know if it was something with the HD signal coming over the satellite or not, but watching it over WPVI was a problem. The picture kept momentarily going out amidst some pops and cracks, and there was lots of pixelation and blue screens during WoF.
[/quote]
DirecTV takes the native over-the-air signal in MPEG-2 format and then recompresses it to MPEG-4 before uplinking it to the satellite. It wouldn't surprise me if the extra compression and decompression steps between WPVI's transmitter and your receiver introduced some glitches.
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[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'131130\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 07:17 PM\']
As for Wheel, their on-screen graphics department definitely looks like they know what they're doing. The animations were all shiny and crisp-looking as they should, and the new fonts look nice and streamlined. One of the best additions was flashing a graphic with the banked totals during round 3, which does have its advantages for the viewer following the game at home. In terms of the actual Wheel, it looks like it went back about 10 years in terms of color and texture. Not sure if it's good or bad yet, but it's definitely interesting. That pink $900 space does look out of place, though.
Overall, I'd say J!'s changes were questionable whereas Wheel's were fine and dandy.
[/quote]
Wheel is definitely cleaning up it's act. It looks so much sharper now. Is it me, or does that $3,500 space look hella weird?
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I just have a standard-def TV, but being there at the Wheel premiere, it looked hella tight on the studio monitors, even though a lot of the graphics were added in post and I only saw it at home.
I like the J! podium is good in design, but it'd be admittedly hard to block it to look good in both 16:9 and 4:3. On the SD set, the sides get clipped off. It also looks taller and makes the contestants look short. I think J! would be better off being reduced to 14:9 for SD, rather than full clip to 4:3.
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[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' post=\'131173\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 10:03 PM\']
[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'131130\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 07:17 PM\']
As for Wheel, their on-screen graphics department definitely looks like they know what they're doing. The animations were all shiny and crisp-looking as they should, and the new fonts look nice and streamlined. One of the best additions was flashing a graphic with the banked totals during round 3, which does have its advantages for the viewer following the game at home. In terms of the actual Wheel, it looks like it went back about 10 years in terms of color and texture. Not sure if it's good or bad yet, but it's definitely interesting. That pink $900 space does look out of place, though.
Overall, I'd say J!'s changes were questionable whereas Wheel's were fine and dandy.
[/quote]
Wheel is definitely cleaning up it's act. It looks so much sharper now. Is it me, or does that $3,500 space look hella weird?
[/quote]
And I thought it was my eyes and my TV.
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Haven't seen the new shows, although I caught some of the new J! last week at work (love getting the satellite feeds in advance!). Regarding the ring-in indicators, it's still early in the season. I remember the neon lights not working at first when this set debuted back in 2002. They finally got it ironed out after about a week or so.
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Wheel is definitely cleaning up it's act. It looks so much sharper now. Is it me, or does that $3,500 space look hella weird?
I'm starting to believe the Top Dollar Wedges are holographs.
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All I can say about Wheel's colors: Light blues and greens are back, baby! It does bring back the days of the 1990's. Although that $3,500 space is way too hot pink. Might wanna tone it down a bit.
And everything that has been said about Jeopardy!'s podia has been said already. I was seriously hoping for a throwback to the early podiums...
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The new J! podia looks nice, but for some reason, I couldn't follow along as to who buzzed in(I need those for visual aids). The J! board sure looks like one huge monitor even thought there are 36 little ones(6 for the categories & 30 for the $ vaues & clues therein). At the end when the champ's winnings were displayed, they reminded me of those sokari fonts I use to see from certain 70's game shows. I liked that.
As I mentioned in another thread, the scoring update in round 3 ia fine as long as it's done right without messing it up. It would make a nice feature in a tight match during the speed-up round. The graphics were very nicely done all the way around. The wheel itself sure looked neat untill that $3,500 wedge screamed weird at me. I'll have to see it in HD to get a better idea.
Overall, Wheel gets good HD marks & J! gets mediocre marks(unless they fix the situation with the buzz-in lights soon).
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[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' post=\'131140\' date=\'Sep 12 2006, 01:40 AM\']
[quote name=\'remlap\' post=\'131135\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 04:24 PM\']
Though then that might give them ideas to get The View in HD *Shudders*
[/quote]
Or Oprah in HD (which could happen next season). But we would REALLY shudder if TPIR ever goes hi-def anytime soon!
Jonathan Allen
[/quote]
Hey one of my guilty pleasures is Oprah and ill be willing to admit it, but dont go changing channels if shes on, sadly it bombs here every time shes picked up ITV2 is airing her right now in the UK and have already decided not to renew he contract when it ends.
TPiR in HD would need years of work I guess, but shooting a TPiR in widescreen has been down here and in Oz.
Come to think of it all BBC's Panel and Game-Shows will be in HD by 2010, since its the deadline for all shows to be shot in HD.
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Hey guys, I thought I should chime in at this insane hour about Jeopardy...
....I had the same issue with the Jeopardy podiums during the first taping of the new season, but those odd red indicators don't last forever. =)
At a later taping for shows that will air in October, the indicators changed to a much brighter white color where the red bars currently reside. At least it was MUCH easier to tell who buzzed in during the latter tapings. So, fret not my fine GSF bretheren... the fugly and hardly noticeable red bars don't last very long!
I do, however, love some of the background set pieces being used on Jeopardy. They look snazzy in-studio, and I think they look really good in HD. More off-white set pieces make the set look slightly brighter, and I love it.
Hey... the newer set grew on me after two tapings, what can I say? =D
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A little trivia - here in Green Bay, we couldn't see J and WOF in HD even if we had the sets to do so.
The local station, WLUK, isn't showing them in HD because "we don't have the equipment to show HD tapes. We get our Fox HD stuff off the network"
And add to that the station won't let the local cable carry its digital channel because the cable won't pay (but does charge extra for its digital tier).
Gotta love cheapskate TV.
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I don't like those new J! podiums either. You can barely see who's buzzing in, if ever.
They could've letterboxed the shows for us regular TV people, and it wouldn't have hurt us all that much.
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Haven't seen the new shows, although I caught some of the new J! last week at work (love getting the satellite feeds in advance!).
Where exactly are they feeding now on satellite? I tried tuning in last week but they've moved from their previous locations (or times). Feud and WWTBAM are also no longer feeding at the same time/place. Feud fed at the previous time on Labor Day, but when it came time for the new season it was gone. Arghh!
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[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' post=\'131235\' date=\'Sep 12 2006, 01:21 AM\']
The J! board sure looks like one huge monitor
[/quote]
Sure does, doesn't it?
(mutter...)
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'131253\' date=\'Sep 12 2006, 02:15 PM\']
Haven't seen the new shows, although I caught some of the new J! last week at work (love getting the satellite feeds in advance!).
Where exactly are they feeding now on satellite? I tried tuning in last week but they've moved from their previous locations (or times). Feud and WWTBAM are also no longer feeding at the same time/place. Feud fed at the previous time on Labor Day, but when it came time for the new season it was gone. Arghh!
[/quote]
Is C-band used for Game-Show feeds?
C-band here is hardly used anymore here in Europe nearly everything is KU Band even for feeds which are normally 4:2:2 high profile MPEG-2 (high tech pro MPEG-2) or encrypted.
Though one thing its dam easy to get WABC and NBC Network feeds, thanks to the Peacock Stations Sat Uplink centre ;)
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Fox 21 (Eastern Shore of MD) doesn't show Wheel of J! in HD, so we can't get the new "full" view of the new sets and all, *yet*...
From a non-HD perspective though, I like what both shows have done. J!'s podiums are seemingly oversized, but I don't think they look bad, rather classy instead. I won't gripe about the podium lights, since that's said to have been rectified.
Wheel's updates were top-notch. I like a lot of the revamped music, surprisingly, and that wheel looks a lot better with the return of the early 90's colors! If anything, change that one pink 900 to a yellow 900 like they used to be, and bring back the top-dollar spaces from last season, all of them look somewhat out of place on the wheel now.
All the new graphics looked sharp as well, you can tell their graphics department put a lot of energy into making sure all that stuff looked just right. There were a variety of new camera angles used, which I thought was cool also. The score recap window seen midway in round 3 had an "it's about time!" reaction from me, I've thought for some time now that WOF should do something of the sort, so that today's audiences can actually attempt to keep up with the contestants and get more "into their shoes."
Now, if that Wild Card space ends up not working well and looking like just a gift tag-ripoff-looking space, my opinion could take a 180...
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Lowly standard-def viewer here...
My first thought on the new Jeopardy lecterns was "They've done it again." This is at least the second, if not third, podium design where the ring-in lights are too subtle at first.
It's also far more (far too) obvious on Jeopardy that you're getting the middle 4:3 out of a 16:9 image, between the lecterns taking exactly the width of the screen and the zoom-out clue reveals starting with a font that had been compressed horizontally to fit the 4:3 clue window, but winds up normal-looking by the time it finishes. 14:9 seems like the best way to go for them.
On Wheel, you could see half of the people on either side when there was a shot of the center contestant. That doesn't work well. Otherwise, I have no complaints.
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I found it interesting that Jeopardy! now no longer is even pretending that the close-up category reveals are shots of the actual board. There are big vertical black strips between each category that definitely aren't on the real board.
The thing that distracted me the most, though, was that the spacing between lines of the clues was uneven. There doesn't seem to be any specific reason for it (it's not the commas, which was my first hypothesis), it's just that some lines within the clue are closer together than others on the screen. I found it surprisingly distracting, but maybe it's just me.
As for Wheel, having the cumulative totals appear isn't a bad thing, but in round three only? Since there's always a violent dollar swing in the speed-up round, there's no strategy in trying to outscore your opponents in round three -- the strategy is still to just get a huge score, regardless of what your opponents have.
--
Scott Robinson
(It also occurs to me that a Wheel contestant who only solves the first toss-up puzzle or who only solves one puzzle with a score of less than $1,000 will receive the same thing as a contestant who didn't succeed at all.)
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AFAIK, the contestants have the cumulative scores at their disposal all the time in the used puzzle board area. As a home viewer, I don't really need an update mid-round. I know it's soooo hard to follow when you wait a staggering couple of minutes between cumulative score updates. As you said, the totals are only really important in the second half of the game (i.e. post $3,000 toss-up) and at that point, it usually goes to speed-up right after we just got a rundown on the scores in the previous segment. Not an addition I like.
-Jason
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[quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'Sep 12 2006, 12:32 PM\'] AFAIK, the contestants have the cumulative scores at their disposal all the time in the used puzzle board area.[/quote]
Not in the same area as the unused letter board, but yes, such a display is available to the contestants, near the administration table. It includes whose turn it is, any prizes won, current round score, and cumulative score for each player.
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Is C-band used for Game-Show feeds?
Yes, and feeds of many other programs as well. Some channels, such as ESPN and USA still feed through C-band, while a lot of others have now gone digital.
Usually over the years the game show feeds have remained pretty stable in terms of co-ordinates and times - but this year it looks like they've all changed.
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So C-Band in America is still analogue? Most of the C-band that is here in Europe is digitallly encoded.
Even if was popular id never be able to fit a 1.8metre dish here :-/ ah well, better for me.
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[quote name=\'mystery7\' post=\'131160\' date=\'Sep 11 2006, 08:18 PM\']
They definitely need bigger ring-in indicators. The red neon was even tough to notice on my 38" HD set.
The board graphics really disappointed me. They had an opportunity for a huge makeover of the board but they're sticking with the same fonts and cheezy backgrounds they've always had. Only now they look really cheezy.
And on a local level, no points to WABC for their sloppy master control. They had about 20 seconds of black out of the first segment with a quick fast-forward on air, and they started rewinding the tape right as the Sony logo came up at the end.
[/quote]
I was watching the WABC feeds as well and it was very obvious that they were manually switching back for the commercials.
Also, during J!, the pixelization of the clues left a bit to be desired as well..
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Wow. What a choppy edit that bonus round spin was tonight.
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' post=\'131242\' date=\'Sep 12 2006, 07:02 AM\']
A little trivia - here in Green Bay, we couldn't see J and WOF in HD even if we had the sets to do so.
The local station, WLUK, isn't showing them in HD because "we don't have the equipment to show HD tapes. We get our Fox HD stuff off the network"
And add to that the station won't let the local cable carry its digital channel because the cable won't pay (but does charge extra for its digital tier).
Gotta love cheapskate TV.
[/quote]
A year ago, the charge-for-carrying-digital snafu kept me from getting the CBS station on cable in HD, but that's been resolved. However, I am plagued by the same other problem mentioned by Dr. Bear: my local stations won't carry syndie shows in true HD although I could see them that way if they did.
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I still insist that WOF has some of the sharpest graphics they've ever had, including the open. And it looks like they've gotten rid of the "No More Vowels" tag! That music is the f'in pits, though. I am so happy with this show in HD--a bright show like this deserves it. J! just seems a little weird.
Question folks: is it just me, or does the screen go blurry after a graphic flashes, such is the toss ups? I know it isn't my TV cause it's relatively new... or is it?
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[quote name=\'chad1m\' post=\'131304\' date=\'Sep 12 2006, 07:52 PM\']
Wow. What a choppy edit that bonus round spin was tonight.[/quote]
That's been happening for several years now. It is my belief that whenever Pat has to perform more than one final spin (for whatever reason), there's an edit to show the wheel landing on the dollar space for the actual final spin. Not sure why they can't essentially do a reshoot.
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That music is the f'in pits, though
Totally disagree, I love the new closing theme.
I'd always liked the Kaplan composition heard for the past 6 years, but they finally took it and significantly spiced it up and made it more lively.
Does anyone happen to know who's responsible for it? John Nordstrom, maybe?
--Jamie
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[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'131351\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 01:27 AM\']It is my belief that whenever Pat has to perform more than one final spin (for whatever reason), there's an edit to show the wheel landing on the dollar space for the actual final spin. Not sure why they can't essentially do a reshoot.[/quote]
It kills me that they now have a distracting full-screen animation for the final spin, yet they don't use it to cover an edit necessitated by the final spin landing on a non-dollar amount (just have Pat start over from "That bell means time is running out...").
--
Scott Robinson
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[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'131351\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 02:27 AM\']That's been happening for several years now. It is my belief that whenever Pat has to perform more than one final spin (for whatever reason), there's an edit to show the wheel landing on the dollar space for the actual final spin.[/quote]
The bad final spins were edited out in the Ohio State Fair eps. I saw in '97, so this has been happening for a decade or longer.
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Well, it's only within the past few years that I've actually been paying attention to this kind of stuff. In high school (2-6 years ago), there were other pressing issues (namely marching band) and who knows what I was preoccupied with before then.
/Don't answer that.
//I echo Scott's sentiments. That Final Spin graphic really should be put to better use. Otherwise, the Feung Shuei is ruined.
///Did I spell that right?
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[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'131423\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 03:29 PM\']
//I echo Scott's sentiments. That Final Spin graphic really should be put to better use. Otherwise, the Feung Shuei is ruined.
[/quote]
Like, topping off a scrapheap?
///Did I spell that right?
No.
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Have any pics or videos surfaced on the net of the new sets (other than the ones at Sony's home pages) for those of us who are... temporarily without cable? :-/
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It seems we're in a mixed era reminiscent of the early 1960s - some of us have HD, most of us don't - rather like the days of early color. And the sets have to reflect that - watchable for the majority while providing something for the early adopters. Sounds like J tried harder than WOF, at least on my one viewing so far, to go more toward HD; I wouldn't have known about Wheel had I not read it (or heard Sajak's jokes). Not that having either show is going to sell another HD set, even in our group. But as shows change over and HD prices come down, it'll be the norm.
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[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' post=\'131458\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 11:13 PM\']
[quote name=\'CJBojangles\' post=\'131453\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 09:47 PM\']
Have any pics or videos surfaced on the net of the new sets (other than the ones at Sony's home pages) for those of us who are... temporarily without cable? :-/
[/quote]
Well, I didn't know you needed cable to watch syndicated shows.
[/quote]
Perhaps he lives in an area where it's virtually impossible to get ANYTHING without cable, even with rabbit ears. I once lived in an area where this was the case (Narrowsburg, NY...population 400).
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' post=\'131480\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 06:45 AM\']
It seems we're in a mixed era reminiscent of the early 1960s - some of us have HD, most of us don't - rather like the days of early color. And the sets have to reflect that - watchable for the majority while providing something for the early adopters. Sounds like J tried harder than WOF, at least on my one viewing so far, to go more toward HD; I wouldn't have known about Wheel had I not read it (or heard Sajak's jokes). Not that having either show is going to sell another HD set, even in our group. But as shows change over and HD prices come down, it'll be the norm.
[/quote]
Watching the two shows in HD the past few days, that's actually how I felt - I got an idea of how it felt to be in the '60s as the world (as far as TV goes) was changing to color. That's the main reason to me that as far as TV goes, the '60s were so fascinating. At the beginning of the decade, you had a small amount of shows in color, but by the end of the decade, EVERYTHING was in color.
I can't help wondering, had the digest-sized, local editions of TV Guide continued, in addition to the (BW) for Black-and-white shows, (CZ) for colorized, would we have had a little (HD) bullet too?
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[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'131481\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 05:48 AM\']
[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' post=\'131458\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 11:13 PM\']
[quote name=\'CJBojangles\' post=\'131453\' date=\'Sep 13 2006, 09:47 PM\']
Have any pics or videos surfaced on the net of the new sets (other than the ones at Sony's home pages) for those of us who are... temporarily without cable? :-/
[/quote]
Well, I didn't know you needed cable to watch syndicated shows.
[/quote]
Perhaps he lives in an area where it's virtually impossible to get ANYTHING without cable, even with rabbit ears. I once lived in an area where this was the case (Narrowsburg, NY...population 400).
[/quote]
Absolutely! Out here in the Mountain time zone, there are stations that have not only their main transmitter tower, but literaly dozens of signal repeaters that try to boost the signal over mountains & canyons to get to those who live in the boonies.
CJB must be living in Southeast Ohio, as that's the only area with enough topography barriers that would create such a situation -- not to mention a sparser area when it comes to TV station coverage.
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I agree - when I lived in Wabash, Ind. in 1981-82, the local 12-channel cable system had no CNN, no ESPN - just over the air channels and Chicago channels because you couldn't get anything without a three-story antenna rig. (Not to be confused with a Diana Rigg.)
As I remember, we had four Fort Wayne stations, four Indy stations (including WTTV which officially is Bloomington), one South Bend station (WNDU for the Notre Dame games), Chicago's WGN, WFLD and WTTW. You could get HBO (which ran from 4 p.m.-3 a.m.) with a converter box; when HBO wasn't on, they had C-SPAN.)
The good thing - I could see MASH reruns five times a day (six on the days when it was still on the network). And for those of you counting, that meant we had two CBS, two ABC and three NBC channels.
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' post=\'131496\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 10:39 AM\']
I agree - when I lived in Wabash, Ind. in 1981-82, the local 12-channel cable system had no CNN, no ESPN - just over the air channels and Chicago channels because you couldn't get anything without a three-story antenna rig. (Not to be confused with a Diana Rigg.)
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I'd love to know how many network channels are left now. :)
Harrisburg was the same way - in 1980, when we got cable, the only "cable" channel on there was HBO. We had the six Harrisburg stations from around the area, the Philly channels, and the Baltimore channels, plus 9 and 11 from NYC. Eventually cable channels replaced them (CNN and ESPN were the first to wipe some out), and now the only ones left besides Harrisburg's channels are WPHL-17 and WPIX-11.
ObGameShows: I enjoyed watching reruns of "Card Sharks" when KYW aired them at 12:30pm, until a channel called MTV took its space.
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I can't help wondering, had the digest-sized, local editions of TV Guide continued, in addition to the (BW) for Black-and-white shows, (CZ) for colorized, would we have had a little (HD) bullet too?
Probably. Even though it had become harder to read in its latter years, does anyone around here miss the digest-sized edition besides me? (And probalby Aaron and Jimmy)
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'131505\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 11:11 AM\']
Probably. Even though it had become harder to read in its latter years, does anyone around here miss the digest-sized edition besides me? (And probalby Aaron and Jimmy)
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<Raises hand.>
I would make it a point whenever I went out of town to pick up one of those (still have a good number of them boxed up--although nowhere near the collections Ian, Aaron and Jimmy have).
Strange how the temptation didn't hit me when I was in L.A. and NY within five weeks of one another this summer. :)
Doug
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'131505\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 12:11 PM\']
Probably. Even though it had become harder to read in its latter years, does anyone around here miss the digest-sized edition besides me? (And probalby Aaron and Jimmy)
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Oh, you *know* I do. :)
It's weird to go away somewhere and not think about picking up a TV Guide...Instead, I'll buy a local paper to see how they do their listings.
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The only time I don't actively wish it were still around is the interval between the last Rams game and the first Cardinals telecast of spring training.
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Question folks: is it just me, or does the screen go blurry after a graphic flashes, such is the toss ups? I know it isn't my TV cause it's relatively new... or is it?
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I"ve noticed this too, I'm in Chicago as well, perhaps a problem over at WLS.
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'131505\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 09:11 AM\']Even though it had become harder to read in its latter years, does anyone around here miss the digest-sized edition besides me? (And probalby Aaron and Jimmy)
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Ahem.
(In 1998, I stayed at a motel in Wabash, Indiana, that had the local cable system -- and if I recall correctly, they still carried both Indianapolis and Fort Wayne stations.)
(I just checked, and I guess I did recall correctly -- plus WNDU from South Bend is still there as well. However, they don't carry all the Indy stations; their only Fox affiliate is WFFT from Fort Wayne.)
(They also had Game Show Network on the basic lineup -- it was Marcus Cable, which was the first MSO to sign a carriage deal, if I recall that correctly, too.)
(I'm trying to promote parentheses instead of slashes. How am I doing?)
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[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'131494\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 09:56 AM\']
CJB must be living in Southeast Ohio, as that's the only area with enough topography barriers that would create such a situation -- not to mention a sparser area when it comes to TV station coverage.
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Southwest Ohio, actually. :P
Now that we've cleared up where I live and why I can't get the shows, back to my question. Anyone know of any visual aid?
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[quote name=\'trainman\' post=\'131585\' date=\'Sep 14 2006, 11:34 PM\'](I'm trying to promote parentheses instead of slashes. How am I doing?)[/quote]
Parentheses (as you may know) need no promotion. They breed like crazy. (If we didn't keep putting words between them, they'd have us overrun in days.)
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A quick HD update: at the time of publication of this article (http://\"http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/news/2006.09.20-n_SYNDICATION.shtml\") from TV Technology, "more than 50 of the 207 client stations" were looking at carrying Wheel and J! in syndication.
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(In 1998, I stayed at a motel in Wabash, Indiana, that had the local cable system -- and if I recall correctly, they still carried both Indianapolis and Fort Wayne stations.)
(I just checked, and I guess I did recall correctly -- plus WNDU from South Bend is still there as well. However, they don't carry all the Indy stations; their only Fox affiliate is WFFT from Fort Wayne.)
(They also had Game Show Network on the basic lineup -- it was Marcus Cable, which was the first MSO to sign a carriage deal, if I recall that correctly, too.)
Well, they've improved since I lived there. Granted, in Wabash, over-the-air reception stinks (you barely get Fort Wayne or South Bend stations, which are all UHF.) So they went with FW and Indy stations and WNDU because in those pre-NBC contract days, WNDU carried all the Notre Dame football home games live (and why not, the college owned the station in those days).