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No cable in my office, so if this crops up during today's episode (or if someone already knows) chime on in.
The format of BB87 was modified from the original in that two solo players are competing. The modification extends to each player getting the "top-to-bottom" advantage for one round (challenger gets it first, then the champion). Question--who has the advantage in the third game of the best "two out of three?"
Thanx.
Doug
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 09:01 AM\']The format of BB87 was modified from the original in that two solo players are competing. The modification extends to each player getting the "top-to-bottom" advantage for one round (challenger gets it first, then the champion). Question--who has the advantage in the third game of the best "two out of three?"
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No one. It's played on a 4x4 board.
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Danke. Gracias. Merci.
IOW, thank you. :)
Doug
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That way of doing the show continues to make no sense.
Why have an uneven board if you had solo players playing each color?
FOLLOW-UP: Anyone know why there was no family pair in this version?
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[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 11:01 AM\']That way of doing the show continues to make no sense.
Why have an uneven board if you had solo players playing each color?
FOLLOW-UP: Anyone know why there was no family pair in this version?
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GREAT question. Experts? After 2 days of reminiscing, i have (once again) come to the conclusion that as a one on one q&a show, BB doesn't work. it's just not the same ....
so why mess with a (IMHO) good thing for the revival?
another thing that bothers me about this show (and something that game shows , ESPECIALLY Goodson shows, were embracing BIG time by the mid 80s) , was the lack of a game board, replaced by computers....the set , while a nice update of the original, just looks empty without an actual board...
SP, Classic Concentration, Blockbusters....just not the same thanks to modern technology.
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Those must have been tough shows to endure as a studio audience member. There would be no way to follow the game without looking at a monitor. Maybe it should have been a 4X4 game for both players at all times.
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Another question, since I'm w/o GSN right now, and was seven years old when the revival came out:
1) Was the Gold Run any harder than on the first version?
1a) How high did the jackpot get? If the difficulty wasn't much higher, I would be surprised to see it get above $25,000 or so.
(So it was a two-parter. I'm sorry. I just dig "Blockbusters".)
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[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 10:16 AM\']so why mess with a (IMHO) good thing for the revival?
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Easier to fill a contestant pool, would be my guess. I'd guess it's easier to find solo players than it is to find interested family pairs.
was the lack of a game board, replaced by computers....the set , while a nice update of the original, just looks empty without an actual board...
SP, Classic Concentration, Blockbusters....just not the same thanks to modern technology.
Yes. Though the other night found me with a rare hour between 8 and 9 on Tuesday, and so I chose to watch American Idol. The giant oval video screen at center stage, I think, would make a damn fine gameboard for a Concentration revival.
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[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 12:16 PM\']SP, Classic Concentration, Blockbusters....just not the same thanks to modern technology.
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Pyramid, too. Bring back trilons. (Well, and capable writing.)
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[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 12:31 PM\']1) Was the Gold Run any harder than on the first version?
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I just caught this for the first time today myself, so maybe it was just me...but it definitely seemed like Rafferty took a longer pause between the contestant calling the space and him reading the clue, sometimes as much as a whole second.
Perhaps this was some sort of attempt to make it more difficult? Then again, if you're resorting to things like that, why not just shorten the time from 60 to 45 seconds?
--Sam
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[quote name=\'SamJ93\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 02:46 PM\'][quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 12:31 PM\']1) Was the Gold Run any harder than on the first version?
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I just caught this for the first time today myself, so maybe it was just me...but it definitely seemed like Rafferty took a longer pause between the contestant calling the space and him reading the clue, sometimes as much as a whole second.
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During the main game, it looked like Bill was reading from a computer screen in his desk and not from question cards like Mr. Cullen. Could it just take an extra second for the computer to call up the question and Bill is forced to wait until it appears?
As far as the jackpot inquiry from earlier, the Gold Run award doesn't begin to increase until later in the run and it is done Password Plus and Hot Potato style. It just increases for that particular player if they don't win the top dollar. It always is worth $5000 to a new champion. And I believe winning the game only got you $100 instead of the $500 offered in the original run.
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The delay is most likely due to the fact that Bill was indeed reading questions off a monitor. Blockbusters was the first game show in the US to adopt this now-fairly-standard process.
Has anybody else noticed how much more housewife-y the questions are on this version than on Cullen's?
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It may be a quirk on my part, but to me it's still important--I have no complaints about using improvements in technology for game boards--just have a monitor on the set where they can be seen, even if just an establishing shot (no complaints about insets or split screens). Don't have everyone looking off into the great unknown. The board *always* should be on stage, no matter what.
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[quote name=\'Neumms\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 02:22 PM\'][quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 12:16 PM\']SP, Classic Concentration, Blockbusters....just not the same thanks to modern technology.
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Pyramid, too. Bring back trilons. (Well, and capable writing.)
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Pyramid was fine for me, monitors or trilons. It's one show where it didn't feel like the flow was gone with modern technology. I'll agree with you on the writing, though.
Two more mid-80s examples I thought of, Crosswits and High Rollers. Never seen the 70s C-W, but I remember reading there was a model, and the 80s version using a chryon puzzleboard just seems lackluster, or was the show just lackluster? ;-) (Yes, Zach, I know the Sparks version had a female announcer, and it doesn't compensate)
BTW, anyone have any pics of the 70s C-W board? Always wanted to see some screenshots.
The chryoned columns on HR seemed cheap IMO, and just didn't fit into such a flashy set.
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 05:30 PM\']
Two more mid-80s examples I thought of, Crosswits and High Rollers. Never seen the 70s C-W, but I remember reading there was a model, and the 80s version using a chryon puzzleboard just seems lackluster, or was the show just lackluster? ;-) (Yes, Zach, I know the Sparks version had a female announcer, and it doesn't compensate)
BTW, anyone have any pics of the 70s C-W board? Always wanted to see some screenshots.
The chryoned columns on HR seemed cheap IMO, and just didn't fit into such a flashy set.
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I have that famous "half an episode" that's floated around the circuit...Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the puzzleboard on the '70s C-W was just a simple series of lights. When the player got the word right, each light (one letter per light) would come on in succession. Jerri Fiala would use her pointer to show what word they were going for when one was picked (i.e. "3 ACROSS").
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[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 04:35 PM\']I have that famous "half an episode" that's floated around the circuit...Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the puzzleboard on the '70s C-W was just a simple series of lights. When the player got the word right, each light (one letter per light) would come on in succession. Jerri Fiala would use her pointer to show what word they were going for when one was picked (i.e. "3 ACROSS").
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I believe it was one big Mylar panel put in front of the board with the puzzle outline, including the numbers, and the solution (with the category art card covering the solution). Whether they had one big transparent Mylar card in the back of the board with the entire puzzle or if they inserted one letter at a time on the board, I don't know. Every box had its own light and when the word was solved, the operator would light up each unlit letter one at a time--and it sounded like the bell was automatically activated by turning on the light. When the puzzle was solved, there seemed to be a switch that turned on all of the lights.
What I don't know is if they had more than one board to swing in for going from the opening (with the celebs' names on the game board) to the first puzzle (or the rare going from the third to the fourth puzzle), or if they had to stop tape or the stagehands were changing away while Jack did the interviews.
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[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 04:32 PM\'] The board *always* should be on stage, no matter what.
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The board actually was on stage- it was just hidden behind a door in the big blue hexagon. Sometimes when they panned in the center for the game board animation, you can see the doors opening up and revealing the monitor inside. Nevertheless, it still looked chintzy.
Tyshaun
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[quote name=\'SamJ93\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 02:46 PM\']I just caught this for the first time today myself, so maybe it was just me...but it definitely seemed like Rafferty took a longer pause between the contestant calling the space and him reading the clue, sometimes as much as a whole second.
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It should be noted that the clock starts after Bill the R finishes the first question. I believe that's how they compensated for the pause.
In these first few weeks--as it was in the first few weeks of the original--there was no money won in the front game. All the money was made in Gold Run. I could be wrong, but it must have been about the time GR was made progressive when the front games paid $100 each, and that was also the time different animation was used in preparing the board for the front games. Of course, I hadn't seen BB87 since its original airing until just now. I actually remember watching that original broadcast (on tape after school, of course) of today's episode (#2). That was a heartbreaking GR loss, but Debbie did have her chances. She's pretty, though.
[other members squirt Jason with fire hose] Sorry about that. It's always easy to tell who the single people are on this board.
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Sometimes when they panned in the center for the game board animation, you can see the doors opening up and revealing the monitor inside. Nevertheless, it still looked chintzy.
That's one reason why the '70s seemed to be the "golden era" of game shows. Just looking at the mechanics of the board was part of the fun - with everything computerized, you just don't have that.
Can you imagine if they tried a revival of the '76 "Break the Bank" today? I'd hate to think what the board would look like - but it almost certainly wouldn't have the charm and appeal of the original.
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[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 05:31 PM\']
In these first few weeks--as it was in the first few weeks of the original--there was no money won in the front game.
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Debbie's total at the end of yesterday's show was $800. At the top of today's show, Bill announces her grand total as $1200. The extra $400 must have come from winning $100 for each maingame she's won in her two matches so far. Bill must have forgotten to award the $100 per maingame win. He makes references to the $100 per maingame win starting with today's show. Ergo, they must have awarded the $100 per maingame from the beginning of the run. As to when the progressive jackpots began, that I do not remember.
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[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Apr 6 2005, 08:39 AM\']That's one reason why the '70s seemed to be the "golden era" of game shows. Just looking at the mechanics of the board was part of the fun - with everything computerized, you just don't have that.
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I'll agree with this. Boards that are made up of monitors run by computers--and I fully understand the economics behind all this--always make me feel like it's something I could do on my PC at home, not something special that can only be done with a big budget and a TV studio. The big, spinning FF board, for example, looks impressive in a way that a monitor that I could pick up at Best Buy does not. There's just something about having tangible, rather than virtual, props on a game show that makes it a more pleasurable experience.
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 04:30 PM\'][quote name=\'Neumms\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 02:22 PM\'][quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Apr 5 2005, 12:16 PM\']SP, Classic Concentration, Blockbusters....just not the same thanks to modern technology.
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Pyramid, too. Bring back trilons. (Well, and capable writing.)
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Pyramid was fine for me, monitors or trilons. It's one show where it didn't feel like the flow was gone with modern technology. I'll agree with you on the writing, though.
Two more mid-80s examples I thought of, Crosswits and High Rollers. Never seen the 70s C-W, but I remember reading there was a model, and the 80s version using a chryon puzzleboard just seems lackluster, or was the show just lackluster? ;-) (Yes, Zach, I know the Sparks version had a female announcer, and it doesn't compensate)
BTW, anyone have any pics of the 70s C-W board? Always wanted to see some screenshots.
The chryoned columns on HR seemed cheap IMO, and just didn't fit into such a flashy set.
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On Pyramid, I'll also agree with the writing aspect, but I also must add my complete dislike for the "judging" on the show....So many times while watching Donny's Pyramid, I would get so steamed at how so many of the clues that would have gotten the ol' "cuckoo" back in the Dick Clark days would go untouched...It's like I'd hear what would be contrived as a "illegal" clue, then I'd hear the "cuckoo" in the back of my mind (having the old ruleset burned into memory), and then wait to hear whatever the hell you would describe thier sound as, and then get nothing. On that note, I'll take a big cleansing breath now.
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[quote name=\'Jumpondees\' date=\'Apr 6 2005, 10:34 PM\']It's like I'd hear what would be contrived as a "illegal" clue, then I'd hear the "cuckoo" in the back of my mind (having the old ruleset burned into memory), and then wait to hear whatever the hell you would describe their sound as, and then get nothing.
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"cuckoo droppings"?
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[quote name=\'matchgame\' date=\'Apr 8 2005, 01:40 AM\'][quote name=\'Jumpondees\' date=\'Apr 6 2005, 10:34 PM\']It's like I'd hear what would be contrived as a "illegal" clue, then I'd hear the "cuckoo" in the back of my mind (having the old ruleset burned into memory), and then wait to hear whatever the hell you would describe their sound as, and then get nothing.
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"cuckoo droppings"?
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Didn't they do something special with the Gold Run on the last episode?
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How many matches was the champion allowed to play? I'd figured five but the episode I pulled out yesterday (from the collection) had a champion defeated with over $27,000. Were they allowed 10 shots at the Gold Run (assuming they were undefeated)?
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[quote name=\'catnap1972\' date=\'Apr 8 2005, 05:59 PM\']How many matches was the champion allowed to play? I'd figured five but the episode I pulled out yesterday (from the collection) had a champion defeated with over $27,000. Were they allowed 10 shots at the Gold Run (assuming they were undefeated)?
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10 trips to the Gold Run was the Rafferty BB limit IIRC, and didn't a contestant named Jeanne go all the way?
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[quote name=\'golden-road\' date=\'Apr 8 2005, 05:16 PM\']
Didn't they do something special with the Gold Run on the last episode?
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The player got an extra $1K added to their total on the final Gold Run on the BB87 finale, as it was not won.