The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: TimK2003 on May 29, 2008, 08:55:49 PM
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Now that Drew has established himself on TPIR, and that he now has his daily legion of Drew-BiesŪ attending the show donning Drew shirts and the like, how are the current contestant lines shaping up compared to the lines seen in the last few years of the Barker regime?
I may be going out to LA on business in September, and wanted to find out how late you can still get there nowadays to still be assured a seat in the studio?
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As usual, the true answer is 'depends on the day', but I'd suspect you could show up surprisingly late, especially for the 4pm taping.
Lemme check to see if there's any recent updates on the lines from g-r, but when I went to the MDS's last February...actually, that's a bad example. Lines were way down, and one of the late tapings actually had seat fillers. I was able to see both tapings on both Tuesday and Wednesday of that week...I believe I was #244 and #285 (or something like that), despite not actually being 'in line' for the 4pm taping until about 2:30pm.
EDIT: Here's the most recent report on the lines, courtesy of Voltron291 from his trip 2.5 weeks ago:
we camped out since 10 the night before to secure priority numbers 1, 2, and 3 <...> The next group arrived at midnight, and then Michael’s group and April’s group arrived around 2 AM. Nobody else arrived until about 3 hours later
So yeah, the lines aren't exactly buzzing at this point.
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[quote name=\'Mr. Armadillo\' post=\'187074\' date=\'May 30 2008, 10:49 AM\']
Lines were way down, and one of the late tapings actually had seat fillers
[/quote]
This is nothing new. Since I don't work on the show, I don't know how attendance is going. But some things make me think they could be doing better.
-More usage of seat fillers (happened with Barker as well)
-Sites like hollywoodtickets.com and tvtix.com listing tickets available for almost every taping (I only saw this a few times with Barker and even then there was only availability for a few tape dates)
-Didn't they have a contestant number to call? (I'm not sure if they even still do this)
-Lifting the ban on contestants playing again (IMO, to encourage more people to come to fill the audience)
Again, just my opinion.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'187082\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:13 PM\']
-Didn't they have a contestant number to call? (I'm not sure if they even still do this)[/quote]
They plug it sometimes on the show.
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[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'187084\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:42 PM\']
[quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'187082\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:13 PM\']
-Didn't they have a contestant number to call? (I'm not sure if they even still do this)[/quote]
They plug it sometimes on the show.
[/quote]
800-852-8909. Seems to be plugged every week or so, with the e-ticket plug used the rest of the time.
/miss 78-hundred, Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 9-double-oh-3-6
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'187082\' date=\'May 30 2008, 09:13 AM\']
This is nothing new. Since I don't work on the show, I don't know how attendance is going. But some things make me think they could be doing better.[/quote]
Why is it a problem that people can actually go to see the show without having to turn the whole thing into a religious pilgrimage?
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187090\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:12 PM\']Why is it a problem that people can actually go to see the show without having to turn the whole thing into a religious pilgrimage?[/quote]
Or depriving yourself of a night's worth of sleep while hanging out in the heart of a downtown famous for its crime and air pollution.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187090\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:12 PM\']
[quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'187082\' date=\'May 30 2008, 09:13 AM\']
This is nothing new. Since I don't work on the show, I don't know how attendance is going. But some things make me think they could be doing better.[/quote]
Why is it a problem that people can actually go to see the show without having to turn the whole thing into a religious pilgrimage?
[/quote]
I don't know if I call it a problem, but I do wonder about whether the show continues to be viable (and this is not coming from a Barker worshipper). Dwindling audience interest/attendance could be a sign that it isn't (even if many of us seem to like what Drew is doing).
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'187105\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:39 PM\']
I don't know if I call it a problem, but I do wonder about whether the show continues to be viable (and this is not coming from a Barker worshipper). Dwindling audience interest/attendance could be a sign that it isn't (even if many of us seem to like what Drew is doing).
[/quote]
Dwindling attendance means not jack-shiat so long as the TV ratings hold steady. CBS needs whatever-the-capacity-of-the-studio-is (put your hand down, Gavazzi) for each show, and no more, to produce exactly the same show they have been producing for 30+ years. This is simply market-correction.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187107\' date=\'May 30 2008, 02:49 PM\']
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'187105\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:39 PM\']
I don't know if I call it a problem, but I do wonder about whether the show continues to be viable (and this is not coming from a Barker worshipper). Dwindling audience interest/attendance could be a sign that it isn't (even if many of us seem to like what Drew is doing).
[/quote]
Dwindling attendance means not jack-shiat so long as the TV ratings hold steady. CBS needs whatever-the-capacity-of-the-studio-is (put your hand down, Gavazzi) for each show, and no more, to produce exactly the same show they have been producing for 30+ years. This is simply market-correction.
[/quote]
I get that. The bigger question is how much of a correlation there is between the ratings and less audience attendance. Does the fact that attendance is dwindling in fact mean that the ratings are falling?
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My opinion is that the dwindling attendance is in part to three factors
1) It's not Barker
2) It's not Barker's last year
3) Drew's newness has worn off
A possible fourth could be the current tape schedule, but I don't know enough about it to venture a guess.
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'187110\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:55 PM\']
I get that. The bigger question is how much of a correlation there is between the ratings and less audience attendance. Does the fact that attendance is dwindling in fact mean that the ratings are falling?[/quote]
Don't we have access to the ratings to find out?
My point is that I don't see why there WOULD be a correlation, because the product that is being presented on-screen is exactly the same so long as they can get 300-or-whatever (I said DOWN, Gavazzi! :)) people to sit in the studio.
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I don't know the studio capacity, believe it or not. :-)
[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'187086\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:47 PM\'][quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'187084\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:42 PM\'][quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'187082\' date=\'May 30 2008, 12:13 PM\']-Didn't they have a contestant number to call? (I'm not sure if they even still do this)[/quote]They plug it sometimes on the show.[/quote]800-852-8909. Seems to be plugged every week or so, with the e-ticket plug used the rest of the time.[/quote]
It's done on the second taping each Wednesday.
And yes, I realize how dorky it is that I know that.
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187107\' date=\'May 30 2008, 03:49 PM\']Dwindling attendance means not jack-shiat so long as the TV ratings hold steady.[/quote]
Yeah...but from what I understand, they aren't.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187118\' date=\'May 30 2008, 04:25 PM\']
Don't we have access to the ratings to find out?
[/quote]
Last I saw was a VARIETY article Chris Bogart linked to indicating that ratings were down 15% (a number CBS "could live with").
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'187121\' date=\'May 30 2008, 05:38 PM\']
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'187118\' date=\'May 30 2008, 04:25 PM\']
Don't we have access to the ratings to find out?
[/quote]
Last I saw was a VARIETY article Chris Bogart linked to indicating that ratings were down 15% (a number CBS "could live with").
[/quote]
They can live with it, because primetime ratings, in many cases, are down 25%.
That's a win in the TPIR book.
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Not if they are slipping to other daytime programs, though...
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With the exceptions of Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital, who've posted modest gains - the remaining entirety of daytime has experienced viewership losses between 10% and 20% year-to-year. If true, a 15% loss would put TPiR about middle of the pack in terms of viewership losses, but still doing favorably compared to daytime-at-large.
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Do I recall correctly that local CBS affiliates love (or used to love) the show largely because it gives their noon newscasts a big boost over the competition? That's related to ratings, of course, but not necessarily exclusively (it could be partly that there's some quality of TPIR that leads to more people than average hanging around for the news, for instance).
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[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'187126\' date=\'May 30 2008, 07:56 PM\']
Do I recall correctly that local CBS affiliates love (or used to love) the show largely because it gives their noon newscasts a big boost over the competition? That's related to ratings, of course, but not necessarily exclusively (it could be partly that there's some quality of TPIR that leads to more people than average hanging around for the news, for instance).
[/quote]
That's a good point. But I would think that, if I were in a higher position at an affiliate, I would be a tad concerned with a 15% drop in the ratings. Thinking in terms of station managers, they always want their ratings, and then in turn the ad rates, to be as high as they can be. With the lead-in that Price has been to the noon news for years for local affiliates, if the numbers do indeed slip, it might be cause for alarm.
Mind you, I may be jumping the gun with some of these assumptions, so please do keep in mind things can change and go either way.
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Let me make this point succiently as possible :
Ratings are good : Ad dollars are better.
Ratings are good in measuring how popular a show is, HOWEVER, ratings are deconstructed daily, into various demographics that may or may not be desirable to station owners. And those demos can be spun into desirable ad rates, even if the show isn't #1.
With that in mind, you need to understand that just because a show isn't as highly rated as another in its time slot, does not mean it's not as successful.
Go ask the GM of the second place tv station in town how much money his station made last year. The number will still astonish you. Many of them gave up chasing the 1st place title years ago. As long as the demos are desirable, their jobs are safe.
Turning this back to TPIR : just because the ratings are down 15% doesn't mean they're still not making a boatload of money on it, and if the GM's are overall happy with the audience that leads into the noon newscast (which , btw, tend to be older than most other newscasts), then they're happy, and not willing to mess with a 35 year old proven formula.
Price works for two reasons : One, it's proven, and two, any replacement will likely bring in an unproven, demographically-questionable audience. Sure, Springer might do well at 11am, but what kind of advertisers will it bring in, and how will that affect the noon show dollars?
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Good point...even if Price slips and costs affiliates some dollars, what exactly could they replace Price WITH and hope to get anything close to the same dollars that even a slipping Price is pulling?
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[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'187119\' date=\'May 30 2008, 05:37 PM\']
I don't know the studio capacity, believe it or not. :-)
[/quote]
In looking some stuff up on TV City, J-Shea has the capacity for 33. It has a seating capacity of 330. source (http://\"http://www.j-shea.com/TVCity/Schematic.html\")
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[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'187115\' date=\'May 30 2008, 03:17 PM\']
My opinion is that the dwindling attendance is in part to three factors
1) It's not Barker
2) It's not Barker's last year
3) Drew's newness has worn off
A possible fourth could be the current tape schedule, but I don't know enough about it to venture a guess.
[/quote]
5) Gas at $4/gallon.
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[quote name=\'TheLastResort\' post=\'187218\' date=\'Jun 1 2008, 03:14 PM\']
5) Gas at $4/gallon.
[/quote]
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5426/ba...boblargeet0.gif (http://\"http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5426/bagdadboblargeet0.gif\")
This is all perfectly normal.
/bravo
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Meet the head of security at CBS Television City, telling hopeful TPIR audience members to go away:
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5426/ba...boblargeet0.gif (http://\"http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5426/bagdadboblargeet0.gif\")
"Lot ees fool, lot ees fool."
Sunday night there were two people in line as of 11 pm.
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CBS will keep "TPIR" on as long as possible, if only because they know that the replacement, barring Fremantle getting a guarantee that they can control the time slot, is the hour going back to the affiliates.
CBS has just claimed 1,000 weeks at number one in the Nielsens in daytime, but it's still a hollow claim when you only have one network in head-on competition.
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I'm curious, how were the lines 10, 15 or 20 years ago? Could you still arrive after the sun rose and still get a good seat (if any)?
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No worries, Les Moonves would probably come with an idea for a "Deal or No Deal" ripoff and slot it at 11am. I think Drew has at least 5-10 years to go, and the show is a long way from hitting the trash bin.
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[quote name=\'JRaygor\' post=\'187429\' date=\'Jun 3 2008, 12:43 PM\']
I'm curious, how were the lines 10, 15 or 20 years ago? Could you still arrive after the sun rose and still get a good seat (if any)?
[/quote]
12 years ago my now-wife and I showed up at 9 and got perfectly fine seats for the second taping. And there was still plenty of waiting around to mark the experience. And Barker was tired and grumpy. Even then. Also, one of a group that was really obnoxious to the ushers in line won $10,000 in the Grand Game.
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[quote name=\'rwalker\' post=\'187890\' date=\'Jun 10 2008, 05:12 PM\']
No worries, Les Moonves would probably come with an idea for a "Deal or No Deal" ripoff and slot it at 11am. I think Drew has at least 5-10 years to go, and the show is a long way from hitting the trash bin.
[/quote]
Presumably, the fabulous new 60-minute "Plinko."
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[quote name=\'Neumms\' post=\'187956\' date=\'Jun 11 2008, 02:37 PM\']And Barker was tired and grumpy. Even then. Also, one of a group that was really obnoxious to the ushers in line won $10,000 in the Grand Game.[/quote]Why does none of this surprise me?