The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: ITSBRY on March 12, 2004, 10:51:58 AM
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I'm curious...I happened to love Wink's HR and I was wondering if anyone on the board either worked on the show or ever attended a taping.
I've always wondered how large that set was in "real life". It sure looked huge on TV. IMO, that was one of the greatest sets in gs history...one of the last mondo-glitzy sets of the 80s (Especially cool was the moving dice table from the pilot).
Also...does anyone know where the pilot was taped? I know that the actual series was taped at TV City, but the series set looks much more "cramped" than the pilot set. Maybe that's why it looked so much bigger.
And finally...does the entire pilot exist on the trading circuit or do we just have the clip montage that John Ricci posted on his site last year?
PS- John, if you're reading this, do any of your clips have a wide shot of the set?
Thanks!
ITSBRY
itsbry@juno.com
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I sent your questions to Wink - he's busy doing his radio show, but promises to respond over the weekend. I'll post his response when he does ;-)
Randy
tvrandywest.com
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[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Mar 12 2004, 01:50 PM\'] I sent your questions to Wink - he's busy doing his radio show, but promises to respond over the weekend. I'll post his response when he does ;-)
Randy
tvrandywest.com [/quote]
How cool is this ? Your question is being answered by the host himself !
To me, during the main game, The numbers don't seem so big but when the bonus round comes and they start doing the wide-shot of the board, they look massive.
I think I've seen promotional pictures of Winker standing next to the Big Numbers and his head was just smaller than the digits, but I don't know the distance of that picture so I do look foreward to his answers !
BTW, Randy, do you have any contact with Rolf Benirschke or Bob Goen ? : )
-Joe R.
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I sent your questions to Wink - he's busy doing his radio show, but promises to respond over the weekend. I'll post his response when he does ;-)
*GULP*
OMG! Randy, that's so awesome! Many thanks and tell the Wink-er thanks for me too. I shall eagerly wait for his response. :-)
I was so hooked on this show as a teenager...would sure love to see the reruns again. Sadly, I didn't have the foresight not to tape over most of the episodes that I had from the USA reruns, so I only have 1 1/2 shows left.
The "holy grail" for me is that music package with the full version of the theme though.
ITSBRY
itsbry@juno.com
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Just remember, the camera adds 10 pounds to a set :)
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Mar 12 2004, 07:38 PM\'] Just remember, the camera adds 10 pounds to a set :) [/quote]
Whose?
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Wink's numbers will be dwarfed, DWARFED I say, by the giant statue of Barker they're going to erect by the satellite dishes. My sources tell me they're considering having Barker sitting in repose a la the Lincoln Memorial.
That MIGHT give you some idea of the size of the numbers.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Mar 13 2004, 07:05 AM\'] Wink's numbers will be dwarfed, DWARFED I say, by the giant statue of Barker they're going to erect by the satellite dishes. My sources tell me they're considering having Barker sitting in repose a la the Lincoln Memorial.
That MIGHT give you some idea of the size of the numbers. [/quote]
And where's gameshowguy2000 to take this seriously? ;)
Tyshaun
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[quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'Mar 13 2004, 09:35 AM\'] [quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Mar 13 2004, 07:05 AM\'] Wink's numbers will be dwarfed, DWARFED I say, by the giant statue of Barker they're going to erect by the satellite dishes. My sources tell me they're considering having Barker sitting in repose a la the Lincoln Memorial.
That MIGHT give you some idea of the size of the numbers. [/quote]
And where's gameshowguy2000 to take this seriously? ;)
Tyshaun [/quote]
He's off somewhere still trying to figure out why the syndicated version of Feud is called the "Evening" version...
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Mar 12 2004, 08:38 PM\'] Just remember, the camera adds 10 pounds to a set :) [/quote]
"How many cameras were on you?"--Chandler Bing
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[quote name=\'ITSBRY\' date=\'Mar 12 2004, 07:51 AM\'] ... I've always wondered how large that set was in "real life". It sure looked huge on TV. IMO, that was one of the greatest sets in gs history...one of the last mondo-glitzy sets of the 80s (Especially cool was the moving dice table from the pilot).
Also...does anyone know where the pilot was taped? I know that the actual series was taped at TV City, but the series set looks much more "cramped" than the pilot set. Maybe that's why it looked so much bigger... [/quote]
Wink responds:
>> The "High Rollers" set was HUGE! It took up one end of a stage at CBS. If it looked big on TV you can imagine how it looked in person! The lucky "numbers" were HUGE in size - and by the very nature of the set, with all the lighted numbers, the set was very big on electronics too.
I have to agree that the set was one of the best looking in game show history. Without question it was one of the most expensive to construct.
I never could understand why "High Rollers" never fully found its audience. I always felt it was a solid game. And yes. The return of the dice via the moving table was quite neat for its time.
The pilot for the show was taped at CBS. Don't know why the set looked "cramped", for as I recall we taped all "High Rollers" shows, pilot and series, in the same studio at CBS TV City.
Thanks Randy for passing these comments along.
Wink <<<<
And there you have it... another episode of "You Asked For It" ;-)
Randy
tvrandywest.com
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[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Mar 13 2004, 10:51 PM\'] I never could understand why "High Rollers" never fully found its audience. I always felt it was a solid game. And yes. The return of the dice via the moving table was quite neat for its time.
[/quote]
Although Wink is a professional, and I'm just a mere novice; I found the format to be terribly boring...2 of 3 dragged on; and as we saw with the syndicated version, "Big Numbers" wasn't even played on the premiere!
Those mini games didn't help either...
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[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Mar 13 2004, 10:54 PM\']
Although Wink is a professional, and I'm just a mere novice; I found the format to be terribly boring...2 of 3 dragged on; and as we saw with the syndicated version, "Big Numbers" wasn't even played on the premiere!
Those mini games didn't help either... [/quote]
Some would argue that what really didn't help Wink's HR's pacing was the fact that the prizes changed each game. Unlike the 1978-80 run, the prizes would change with each game(and the carryover of prizes from game to game was discontinued as well), whether or not they were won.
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Some would argue that what really didn't help Wink's HR's pacing was the fact that the prizes changed each game. Unlike the 1978-80 run, the prizes would change with each game(and the carryover of prizes from game to game was discontinued as well), whether or not they were won.
I agree there. In fact, I thought the one thing that would make the game go faster was to simply leave the prizes that weren't won up for the next game of the match and then replace all of them at the beginning of a new match against a new opponent.
Or, if that's too boring, what I used to do when I played the home game (I have the '88 version!) is, if no one even cleared a column in a round, I would simply leave the prizes the way they were and just simply change the numbers for the next one.
Either way, I think it would've made for a faster-moving show. You could probably mention the mini-games as well, but I thought those were rather fun!
Anthony
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Some would argue that what really didn't help Wink's HR's pacing was the fact that the prizes changed each game. Unlike the 1978-80 run, the prizes would change with each game(and the carryover of prizes from game to game was discontinued as well), whether or not they were won.
What you're also forgetting is that is wasn't all that often that Alex's board was filled. There'd need to be 3 plugs either way (for each new prize being introduced to the columns). So this wasn't the thing that dragged it, although I agree the pacing on Wink's edition was slow.
-Jason
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There was one MAIN flaw I saw with Wink's HR. The mini-games. They took a good several minutes that COULD have been used for gameplay, just to decide a prize for a column. What's the Point
What I would have done, would be, quite simply, the same way Trebek's version did it (Sans Fishbowl): 3 Prizes up for grabs per game. Any non-cleared prizes remain until next game. Prizes stay until column is won. Once there's 5 prizes in a column, nothing can be added TO that column until those 5 are cleared
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[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 02:51 PM\'] There was one MAIN flaw I saw with Wink's HR. The mini-games. They took a good several minutes that COULD have been used for gameplay, just to decide a prize for a column. What's the Point
What I would have done, would be, quite simply, the same way Trebek's version did it (Sans Fishbowl): 3 Prizes up for grabs per game. Any non-cleared prizes remain until next game. Prizes stay until column is won. Once there's 5 prizes in a column, nothing can be added TO that column until those 5 are cleared [/quote]
I like the original Trebek format myself: each number bears an independent prize, and sometimes, one half of a prize (such as a car). Win the round, win the prizes...the only flaw I see is if you win the round, and 1/2 the car, you'd be SOL if you didn't find the other half, or if your opponent picked it up.
I'd only do mini-games if the game were self-contained.
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I never could understand why "High Rollers" never fully found its audience. I always felt it was a solid game.
I agree with that. Unfortunatly Wink's version was never seen in my area, but I do have about 12 episodes I've obtained via trades, and I think it's a great show that should have had a longer life. It lasted three years in USA reruns so it must have had some sort of audience!
Some would argue that what really didn't help Wink's HR's pacing was the fact that the prizes changed each game. Unlike the 1978-80 run, the prizes would change with each game(and the carryover of prizes from game to game was discontinued as well), whether or not they were won.
That's the one thing I could change about it if I could. If a prize (or column) wasn't won, they should have added to it like they did on Trebek's version.
Also, since the bonus game is a hard one to win, maybe $200 per number rather than $100 would have been better. Having said that, I know that the amount of money wouldn't have changed the show, but seeing so many contestants get to $800 and not getting that last number leaves you wanting after a while. It's a big jump from $800 to $10,000 for that last number!
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Mar 15 2004, 09:39 AM\']Also, since the bonus game is a hard one to win, maybe $200 per number rather than $100 would have been better. Having said that, I know that the amount of money wouldn't have changed the show, but seeing so many contestants get to $800 and not getting that last number leaves you wanting after a while. It's a big jump from $800 to $10,000 for that last number![/quote]
But that is exactly what made the $10,000 win so exciting. If the consolation prize is too large (and they should be happy they got a consolation prize, unlike many bonus games which take away all earlier bonus game winnings if the player bombs out), then the win doesn't seem so impressive. I think the Big Numbers part was the only perfect part of the show. The other areas could have stood some of the suggested improvements in this thread, but I still liked the show and was sorry to see it go so quickly (although that did help me get a cheap copy of the home version very soon after the premiere).
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Comparing the two, I thought both were very good. Wink's though seemed to drag, but I wouldn't blame him for it. I think part of it were the little things. It took the buzzer a LONG time to get to buzz in, literally! Compared to Trebek's which had a fast as heck light. And the dice looked IMPOSSIBLE to roll right, compared to Trebek's which had rounded edges (and were a bit smaller). Wink's version had an AWESOME set and a great theme along with it. A new version would be awesome, with a huge video wall for the main game and huge numbers for the end game.
David
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My apologies to Mr. Martindale but his memory of the High Rollers pilot may be fuzzy. (Then again, maybe a second pilot was shot on a CBS lot.) I witnessed the taping of the pilot at the ABC Network studios on Prospect Avenue in Hollywood. The local station used video of a runthrough for a series of reports on game shows.
I remember watching the rehearsal and seeing the glitzy set for the first time. Each number was about three or four feet tall.
Alfonzo Smith
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[quote name=\'alfonzos\' date=\'Mar 16 2004, 04:18 PM\'] I remember watching the rehearsal and seeing the glitzy set for the first time. Each number was about three or four feet tall. [/quote]
That doesn't sound far fetched at all. Remember guys, television cameras can make things look HUGE. For example, Hollywood Squares' ain't tiny, but it is certainly not as humongous as it looks on television. At most, the squares are like 18 feet tall.
Brandon Brooks