The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: cmjb13 on August 22, 2004, 06:45:59 AM
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There was a hint sometime back of doing a live TPIR show on CBS. It would probably have to be a primetime special instead of daytime.
I recall Barker saying that he told somebody the crew was so great they could do a show live without a problem.
Some people don't even know the show is taped. I can't see many more people tuning in just because it's live.
Would there be any cost difference for taping live vs. to tape?
Overall, would it be worth it?
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Well, if TPiR is going live... For a Prime Time show, I think it would work, IF ALL of the game did work and the contestants do not hem and haw over a price.
For a regular show, no way. If we go on at 11 ET, all of the audience need to be seat by 7:30ish am PT. Which means all of the interviews takes 1 1/2-2 hours. Rules and regs, name tage goes even earlier.
Charles
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If it were live, wouldn't it take two hours to air, like a certain Palace game? Especially with the turnarounds? On a show like this, you could have interviews with some staff members between games.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 06:45 AM\'] Some people don't even know the show is taped. I can't see many more people tuning in just because it's live.
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I think you answered your own question right there. Like any good game show, TPIR gives off the illusion of being live and immediate without having to bother with the added logistics of actually being live. As a highly publicized stunt, sure, maybe there's a small added curiosity value. But the show wouldn't look much different than it does anyway, so there's really not much point.
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There were several instances of "going live" during the '80s, and (IMHO) it didn't add much. NBC publicized a live "Search for Tomorrow" in 1983. I don't usually watch soaps, but I watched that one to see it there'd be any major blunders (there weren't). There were also several instances of sitcoms going live - a "Gimme a Break" episode from around '86 went live one Saturday night.
I don't think "Price" really needs to go live. I'm quite certain they could pull it off, but you're risking too much by doing so - for example, what it a game takes longer than it should and you're running way behind - you can't edit it out at that point.
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I think the problem with a live TPiR is that the games would have to be selected to require the least effort in staging - and that would shift things more toward Double Prices and Coming or Going, rather than Plinko and Triple Play. Combine that with the previously-stated point that TPiR looks pretty much live on a day-to-day basis, and you're pretty much back to "why bother?"
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[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 01:29 PM\']I think the problem with a live TPiR is that the games would have to be selected to require the least effort in staging - and that would shift things more toward Double Prices and Coming or Going, rather than Plinko and Triple Play. Combine that with the previously-stated point that TPiR looks pretty much live on a day-to-day basis, and you're pretty much back to "why bother?"[/quote]
I think CBS exec's wondered if the show could be done live and Barker said that the crew was so talented, it could be done. IIRC, that same day, something went wrong with That's too much. He said something like "And I told people we could do this show live". I'm just guessing it was a thought of trying something new.
They've already taken the show on the road and done numerous primetime specials. What's really left to do that hasn't been done?
Wonder who they would salute? Maybe, the crew.
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CBS could hype a Live TPiR with the hook being that someone *WILL* win $1,000,000 in live TV. Has that been done in a gameshow capacity? Millionaires, we've had a few but none on live TV (aside from lottery shows which, to me, are gray area GSs)
And Plinko could "easily" be done. Have the game onstage at the start of the show, Audience entrance, IUFB comes from the announcer area, play the game. IUFB2 comes into contestants row. PG2 is a turntable game.
That would give in the area of 7-10 minutes to clear the Plinko board from the stage...more than enough time (I would think).
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I think a better publicity stunt for TPIR would be a "reunion special". The audience would be all people who were on the show before. Bring back as many of the former models as they can. Spread it out over 2 hours so there's time to show clips of old shows. (If that's not enough material for 2 hours, they could play more than 6 pricing games.)
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[quote name=\'JayDLewis\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 09:56 PM\'] CBS could hype a Live TPiR with the hook being that someone *WILL* win $1,000,000 in live TV. Has that been done in a gameshow capacity? Millionaires, we've had a few but none on live TV (aside from lottery shows which, to me, are gray area GSs)
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Um, Play for a Billion comes to mind. Also if we're counting international games, then there was a weird special called "Someone's Going to Win a Million" where they gave away one million pounds live in a game specifically designed to stop WWTBAM from being the first UK game to give away a million quid.
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[quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 11:09 PM\'] [quote name=\'JayDLewis\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 09:56 PM\'] CBS could hype a Live TPiR with the hook being that someone *WILL* win $1,000,000 in live TV. Has that been done in a gameshow capacity? Millionaires, we've had a few but none on live TV (aside from lottery shows which, to me, are gray area GSs)
[/quote]
Um, Play for a Billion comes to mind. Also if we're counting international games, then there was a weird special called "Someone's Going to Win a Million" where they gave away one million pounds live in a game specifically designed to stop WWTBAM from being the first UK game to give away a million quid. [/quote]
As much apprehensive I am about mentioning international game shows:
Aussie "Millionaire" has done at least two Celeb specials live. On the first one, it took nearly 2 hours 40 mins to get though the whole show (All 6 celebs played).
They had live home players on the phone, as well (Half of the celeb cash went to a home player)
-Joe R.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 02:45 PM\'] They've already taken the show on the road and done numerous primetime specials. What's really left to do that hasn't been done?
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Having people price items while crawling around in a pit of termites.
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It's kinda funny that this topic was raised, because I thought that if The Price is Right is EVER to be done live, there should be a reason for it, which should not necessarily be to give away gobs and gobs of cash, but the timing of the event. I always thought of a New Year's Eve Special timed to ring in the New Year as the show ends. However, it would be EXTREMELY difficult, not only for the reasons cited in the last posts (contestants mulling over prices and numbers, possible pricing game malfunctions, transitions, etc.), but for these reasons as well:
(1) I do not think that David Letterman would be really happy about being bumped for this show, especially since it would be relegated to the wee hours of the night since local affiliates usually take over around 11:15-11:30 PM.
(2) If it were to be an hour-long show, that difficulty would be very, very apparent since local news won't pony up the top half of the 10:00 P.M. hour (I am speaking in central time, by the way), and reasons cited in number one.
So, unless CBS even considers doing a stunt like that one, I do not think that having TPiR done live is worth the struggle. Besides, some people still have the illusion that the show is being aired live. I probably would have it as well, but then I became a Radio and Television major. :)
The Inquisitive One
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 08:56 AM\'] There were several instances of "going live" during the '80s, and (IMHO) it didn't add much. NBC publicized a live "Search for Tomorrow" in 1983. I don't usually watch soaps, but I watched that one to see it there'd be any major blunders (there weren't). There were also several instances of sitcoms going live - a "Gimme a Break" episode from around '86 went live one Saturday night.
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Don't forget "Roc" (Fox sitcom that starred Charles S. Dutton); they went live during their second season in 1992. "ER" did a live season premiere in 1997 (actually, they did it twice for the East and West Coasts), as well as the TV movie "Fail Safe" in 2000. Ironically, both starred George Clooney!!
Oh, and "The Drew Carey Show" also did a live episode sometime in 2001 or '02. How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up?
Jonathan Allen
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[quote name=\'JayDLewis\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 10:56 PM\']CBS could hype a Live TPiR with the hook being that someone *WILL* win $1,000,000 in live TV[/quote]
You would have to pray that someone does get 1.00 on the bonus spin. Otherwise, they would have to find another gimmick.
That would give in the area of 7-10 minutes to clear the Plinko board from the stage...more than enough time (I would think).
It takes about half that time.
I think a better publicity stunt for TPIR would be a "reunion special". The audience would be all people who were on the show before. Bring back as many of the former models as they can.
Good luck.
Spread it out over 2 hours so there's time to show clips of old shows.
They'll never do this no matter how many times I suggest it. The logistics of getting somebody to dig through thousands of tapes for clips just won't happen. I would have love to have seen some clips for Barker's 80th Birthday show, but I was told they want the show to feel like a current celebration, rather than fill it with outdated clips. Plus they didn't have anybody to dig for the clips.
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[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 01:27 AM\'] How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up?
Jonathan Allen [/quote]
I would guess they wouldn't want to risk having any impov that fell flat on the show. Also, the press attention associated with doing a live show. They might have feared that ET would send over Pat O'Brien to cover the story and they wanted to avoid that possibility.
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[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 02:27 AM\'] "ER" did a live season premiere in 1997 (actually, they did it twice for the East and West Coasts), as well as the TV movie "Fail Safe" in 2000. Ironically, both starred George Clooney!! [/quote]
That's neither ironic nor even a coincidence. Clooney pretty much spearheaded both efforts to go live.
Oh, and "The Drew Carey Show" also did a live episode sometime in 2001 or '02. How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up?
Jimmy nailed that one. They typically did a couple hours of improv to come up with one half-hour show A live show would suffer creatively compared to what they could normally air. Also, there's the issue of the comics doing something -- accidentally or not -- that might be inappropriate.
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 07:37 AM\'] I would guess they wouldn't want to risk having any impov that fell flat on the show. Also, the press attention associated with doing a live show. They might have feared that ET would send over Pat O'Brien to cover the story and they wanted to avoid that possibility. [/quote]
Hell, they had Richard Simmons and Lassie, would Pat O'Brien be that much of a sink?
Matt Ottinger
Also, there's the issue of the comics doing something -- accidentally or not -- that might be inappropriate.
Which seems to be the point of most of the shows, not that I'm complaining :)
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 01:35 PM\']Hell, they had Richard Simmons and Lassie, would Pat O'Brien be that much of a sink?
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I hope they didn't give Lassie the host role in Party Quirks.
LASSIE: Bark! Bark! Bark!
DREW: That's right girl, Colin was a Britney Spears stalker!
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 03:45 PM\'] [quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Aug 22 2004, 01:29 PM\']I think the problem with a live TPiR is that the games would have to be selected to require the least effort in staging - and that would shift things more toward Double Prices and Coming or Going, rather than Plinko and Triple Play. Combine that with the previously-stated point that TPiR looks pretty much live on a day-to-day basis, and you're pretty much back to "why bother?"[/quote]
I think CBS exec's wondered if the show could be done live and Barker said that the crew was so talented, it could be done. IIRC, that same day, something went wrong with That's too much. He said something like "And I told people we could do this show live". I'm just guessing it was a thought of trying something new.
They've already taken the show on the road and done numerous primetime specials. What's really left to do that hasn't been done?
Wonder who they would salute? Maybe, the crew. [/quote]
Wasn't the "Bill Cullen" version of TPIR from the late '50s live? If so, then technically it has already been done.
It seems like it could not fit in one hour, maybe two. I can vision about 20 crew members trying to push the Plinko game out of the way, while 20 more are setting up the big wheel(not). It would be a major putt bain for them without a doubt.
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[quote name=\'passwordplus\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 03:52 PM\'] It seems like it could not fit in one hour, maybe two. I can vision about 20 crew members trying to push the Plinko game out of the way, while 20 more are setting up the big wheel(not). It would be a major putt bain for them without a doubt. [/quote]
It's probably doable, but just from my own experience--the taping I attended on June 15 (slated to air exactly one month from today) took about an hour and 15 minutes in real time to do (not spoiling anything here, just stating a fact--I will have a question for the TPiR vets here but AFTER the eppy airs). I know that extra 15 minutes doesn't sound like much, but trying to trim those gaps out for a live airing could be a major headache, even as outstanding as the crew in 33 is.
I'll be sure to remind everyone as we get closer to the airdate (so that it's safe to hide the women and children from the TV screen ;-) ).
Doug -- and the countdown to 600 continues
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[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 02:27 AM\'] ... How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up? [/quote]
Here's something you probably didn't know: for each taping, they play enough games for two or three episodes. Then the [Variety]exex[/Variety] piece the shows together from the footage.
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[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 01:27 AM\']How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up?[/quote]
I always assumed it was because whenever "The Drew Carey Show" did a live episode (they did more than one), they had pretty much the entire cast of "Whose Line" on and kept interrupting the plot to do short improvised bits.
On the subject of a live TPiR... I don't doubt that the show could be staged to get all of the games and prizes in and out during the breaks (Plinko would have to be later, though, because they combine the first and second acts into one act in prime time). The trick is in the showcases, which are the things that always slow down the pace of the taping. Especially troublesome is the fact that if they're doing prime time, they like to get a big-ticket vehicle in each of the showcases, which makes staging incredibly difficult. They'd pretty much be stuck with offering one sportscar per showcase, because I can't see them risking a huge boat or motorhome not hitting its mark in time. Here's the only way I see it working:
Showcase one:
Two prizes consecutively behind door number one (either two trips, which are already loaded before the taping, or a trip and a prize (the prize can be loaded during the Showcase Showdown).
Followed by a vehicle behind door number three (also loaded during the Showcase Showdown).
Showcase two:
A prize on the turntable (loaded during the Showcase Showdown or commercial).
A "thin" prize that can be placed in front of the vehicle that's still sitting behind door number three (they do this all the time with entertainment centers and clocks and motorcyles and such).
A vehicle behind door number two (by this time, all props from previous acts have been cleared away, the final vehicle has been rolled in, and the cyc closed... hopefully).
This also makes things easy for the final act, because remember, either showcase has to be available to be displayed again depending on who wins. Or both showcases!
They'd also have to drop the guaranteed million-dollar spin unless they could clear enough space behind the turntable to move the big wheel back there during the showcases (they've done it before).
The only problem left would be getting the two cameras that shoot the showcases to hit all of their marks in time. Yep, only two cameras shoot all of the prizes in the showcases. At least in daytime. For primetime, does the jib replace a floor camera, or do they shoot with five cameras?
With a lot of planning, it could be done, but like everybody else has said, would it be worth the stress?
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Scott Robinson
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On the subject of a live TPiR... I don't doubt that the show could be staged to get all of the games and prizes in and out during the breaks (Plinko would have to be later, though, because they combine the first and second acts into one act in prime time).
The first & second act are done separately. Bob throws it to Rich after the 1st game, but at that point, a break is done to setup the next game. It's not as fluid as you see it on TV. You can see the edit if you look hard enough.
With a lot of planning, it could be done, but like everybody else has said, would it be worth the stress?
It's stressful enough with Primetime specials that are taped. I wouldn't want to be put through that. Remember that CBS is pushing for these specials, not Fremantle. The subject of another road show keeps coming up and I say the same thing. It's not worth it. They aren't going to get any extra ratings (slightly, if any). Difference there is they can get a lot of money from another venue for the show as opposed to CBS.
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[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 06:28 PM\'][quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Aug 23 2004, 02:27 AM\'] ... How come a live "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" wasn't even thought up? [/quote]
Here's something you probably didn't know: for each taping, they play enough games for two or three episodes. Then the [Variety]exex[/Variety] piece the shows together from the footage.[/quote]
On the British version, the stuff that didn't make it into the regular eps were taken care of in an "outtakes" episode, of which there were one or two every season. Those eps generally have Clive doing an opening sans audience explaining what you're about to see, a series of effects separating the games and credits played over freeze frames instead of the usual "read the credits in a style..." One outtakes show had a series of bloopers, introed by Clive with a reference to "It'll Be Alright on the Night," the UK TV bloopers show (which has a reciprocal material agreement with Dick Clark's bloopers specials).
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[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Aug 24 2004, 02:27 PM\'] On the British version, the stuff that didn't make it into the regular eps were taken care of in an "outtakes" episode, of which there were one or two every season. Those eps generally have Clive doing an opening sans audience explaining what you're about to see, a series of effects separating the games and credits played over freeze frames instead of the usual "read the credits in a style..." [/quote]
This was done...once, I think, on the US version. They did a "Best of WLIIA" which featured mostly not before seen clips from Drews version (the difference being that they had an audience for that one).
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Aug 24 2004, 02:22 PM\']
On the subject of a live TPiR... I don't doubt that the show could be staged to get all of the games and prizes in and out during the breaks (Plinko would have to be later, though, because they combine the first and second acts into one act in prime time).
The first & second act are done separately. [/quote]
Not if the show's airing live, they're not.