The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => Game Show Channels & Networks => Topic started by: TLEberle on December 02, 2015, 12:58:41 AM
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Yesterday was the last episode of the initial CBS run, today was the first episode of the reprieve after Blackout failed to make a mark. From go Pyramid came out guns blazing: in the first Winner's Circle the team had 30 seconds to get the 300 box for the $10,000 prize but they fail to pick up "Things You Plan." They also show what a horrible idea six in 20 seconds was: Betty White takes ten seconds to describe "a bottle," and plows through the remaining six answers to win the Mystery Seven prize and send her partner to London, England.
I forget how much longer this version lasted, but they're certainly making the most of the reprieve.
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I forget how much longer this version lasted, but they're certainly making the most of the reprieve.
13 weeks...ran from April 4-July 1, 1988.
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Why not let Blackout run until Family Feud premiered, though, assuming that Feud is going to take the place of whatever was in its spot? At that point you had TPIR, Card Sharks, $25,000 Pyramid--am I forgetting something here, because that's a two-hour Murderer's Row of game shows there if Feud and Pyramid co-exist.
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As poorly as Pyramid did near the end of its run, Blackout did even worse. From what little glimpses I've seen of the numbers, Pyramid and Card Sharks were at a draw ratings wise, although both were losing out to their NBC counterparts; Pyramid to $OTC, Card Sharks to Classic Concentration. I'm sure there is someone that can add more definitive info......
Tyshaun
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As hard as it is for me to believe it, maybe people were just burned out on it after five years. Good info, thanks, Tyshaun.
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As hard as it is for me to believe it, maybe people were just burned out on it after five years. Good info, thanks, Tyshaun.
Viewers obviously are not burned out by The Price is Right and it's still on the air after 44 years, and no end in sight.
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As hard as it is for me to believe it, maybe people were just burned out on it after five years. Good info, thanks, Tyshaun.
Viewers obviously are not burned out by The Price is Right and it's still on the air after 44 years, and no end in sight.
And?
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As poorly as Pyramid did near the end of its run, Blackout did even worse. From what little glimpses I've seen of the numbers, Pyramid and Card Sharks were at a draw ratings wise, although both were losing out to their NBC counterparts; Pyramid to $OTC, Card Sharks to Classic Concentration. I'm sure there is someone that can add more definitive info......
Tyshaun
That helps shed some light on an odd situation.....I always wondered why Pyramid came back if it was only going to be replaced in three months anyway. That *was* the game plan all along, no?
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In getting rid of tapes, I came across three episodes of Blackout I haven't seen in a while, and I enjoyed them. Granted, I'm not the average audience member from 1988. I tried playing along at points, muting the TV for 20 seconds, and listening to the blacked-out portion. No other show was asking its viewers to do that much legwork to participate. Going from 84 words of gameplay & two Winner's Circles on Pyramid to (up to) 9 words & 1 endgame on Blackout had to be like replacing Jeopardy with Deal or No Deal for some people.
In the four months prior to Blackout's premiere, Pyramid averaged a 15 share against Sale, which was pulling a 13. When Blackout debuted, its first two weeks averaged a 12 share to Sale's 14. The remainder of Blackout's run averaged a 9 share to Sale's still-steady 14. When Pyramid returned, it averaged a 12 share to Sale's 14 share for those final 13 weeks. The returning Family Feud was neck-and-neck with Sale for the next 28 weeks, before pulling ahead during Sale's final months.
If that looks a little odd to you, regarding why CBS would want to get rid of Pyramid: from May to September, Pyramid was losing to Sale of the Century - at some points, with Sale having a 14 share vs. Pyramid's 11 share.
-Jason
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I can kind of understand the burnout perspective, if only for this reason:
Sure, the daytime Pyramid had been on for five plus years at that point, but if you look at it closer, you have had at least one Pyramid series on the air for fourteen consecutive years to that point (fifteen when production on the nighttime show wrapped at the end of the season). Maybe it wasn't simply that the $25K Pyramid had run its course but the entire series had largely been done in by viewer apathy.
Look at the series that have been done since then. Would it have mattered if John Davidson or Dick Clark was the host of the 1991 series? Honestly, with all the crap they did to it (which was largely unnecessary) I don't think it would've been very long for the world anyway. Pyramid? Even though I enjoyed the series (really in spite of itself), I think getting two years was a fortunate twist for them. The Pyramid was okay, not spectacular, but you would think that going back to a format that the overall series did well with would've at least garnered a second season even if we're talking GSN here.
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I concur with the GSN revival. Especially since if you're going to fuss gameplay being a factor in that one season, you have to recognize that it was destined to happen because everyone's 9 years removed from the game by that point, including your only veteran player, Melissa Peterman. You need a 2-season investment in that show to really get the kind of expert play reminiscent of the classic days from the celebs who prove themselves the quickest learners.
Then again, it can also be said that Pyramid's time has passed because we as a nation don't know how to communicate clearly anymore and don't want to be bothered to try.
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Then again, it can also be said that Pyramid's time has passed because we as a nation don't know how to communicate clearly anymore and don't want to be bothered to try.
That said, the next version of Pyramid will have no spoken words....The celebrity texting the contestant the words, and the contestant texting back the answer. :)
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That said, the next version of Pyramid will have no spoken words....The celebrity texting the contestant the words, and the contestant texting back the answer. :)
> /= LOL
> :'-(
ding
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...Then again, it can also be said that Pyramid's time has passed because we as a nation don't know how to communicate clearly anymore and don't want to be bothered to try.
"Horsecrap" can also be said. I know how to clearly communicate. My kids know how to clearly communicate. Clear communication can be a life/death situation in my line of work and we pull it off flawlessly.
I get aggravated at people who use false lamentations to indict society on mythical problems.
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"Horsecrap" can also be said. I know how to clearly communicate. My kids know how to clearly communicate. Clear communication can be a life/death situation in my line of work and we pull it off flawlessly.
I get aggravated at people who use false lamentations to indict society on mythical problems.
So says the guy who posts non-sequitur image macros in lieu of actually making a point. Sorry, Herschel, I'm not buying what you're selling.
There's a board game from the early 1990s, "Inklings," where you score points by writing down clues to a keyword and the shorter your clue is the more points it is worth. The Mole: Australia used then-spanking new SMS technology to play some of the games. That said I think it is silliness of the highest order to say that the Pyramid franchise is dead and buried because we have a generation of young people with their nose in their phones and using truncated language. (I personally bristle when my sister says "say again?", but only because I find it brusque and rude when compared to "I beg your pardon, could you please repeat that?")
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That said, the next version of Pyramid will have no spoken words....The celebrity texting the contestant the words, and the contestant texting back the answer. :)
> /= LOL
> :'-(
ding
You win teh thread.
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(I personally bristle when my sister says "say again?", but only because I find it brusque and rude when compared to "I beg your pardon, could you please repeat that?")
(http://images.cryhavok.org/d/13825-2/Wat.jpg)
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I get aggravated at people who use false lamentations to indict society on mythical problems.
I do too, but a general decline in our nation's literacy sharpness isn't a mythical problem. Ask anyone in education.
That said, it shouldn't mean there can't be a competent version of Pyramid on the air today.
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...So says the guy who posts non-sequitur image macros in lieu of actually making a point. Sorry, Herschel, I'm not buying what you're selling...
Serving warrants, clearing buildings, tactical work and emergency medical procedures are quite different from a game show message board. They require clarity in communications. Here, I like to have fun at times.
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I will say that this thread has been a fascinating read so far, especially since it gets at the heart of the changing TV landscape.
When I first saw the discussion of why we don't have Pyramid, arguably one of the all-time classic game shows, on TV except in reruns, my gut reaction was to look at the classic game shows that *are* currently on TV. I started thinking, what do these shows have that Pyramid doesn't? My personal feeling: The "big 4" (Wheel, Price, J!, Feud) all have an active home play-along factor. On all of these shows, you can shout out the next number of the price of the car or what you think is the #1 answer while you are watching at home. You feel connected to the show: a good feeling when your answers match what's on the show, even better when you get the answers and the contestants don't, and a ho-hum feeling when your answers don't match.
But, Pyramid doesn't have that connection. It largely requires you, the viewer, to just sit back and watch other people play. Sure; you might be thinking of better clues than Nick Turturro or wondering how the contestant in the Winner's Circle got "Things That Wilt" from just hearing "old flowers". But, unlike the "big 4", you know what the answers are going to be if you are looking at the screen. This reduces the viewer connection and active playing-along.
Overall, I don't think the current generation is any smarter or dumber than the previous one. The big difference is the need for constant active stimulation. As a teacher, I don't see students necessarily getting dumber; I instead see a greater need to get them more actively engaged in the classes. If I can't get them participating, then it doesn't matter how great of a lecture I give; I will do nothing except reach the A students who would have learned it anyway. The second I lose their active engagement, out come the phones. So, that's my feeling on Pyramid: it just doesn't have that active stimulation for most people.
Sorry for the long post, but, trust me; I'd love to see new episodes of Pyramid. I mean, Celeb Name Game got a second season, and Hollywood Game Night is still on, so I think there's hope. But, in the mean time, at least GSN hasn't given up on Pyramid reruns. :)
Anthony
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But, Pyramid doesn't have that connection. It largely requires you, the viewer, to just sit back and watch other people play. Sure; you might be thinking of better clues than Nick Turturro or wondering how the contestant in the Winner's Circle got "Things That Wilt" from just hearing "old flowers". But, unlike the "big 4", you know what the answers are going to be if you are looking at the screen. This reduces the viewer connection and active playing-along.
I disagree because you essentially undercut your point: for me "yelling at the TV" is the equivalent of "playing along at home." If I am calling out the three clues that I think will score the box, I am participating, even if it's just me in my condo. (Sometimes I will harangue one of my friends via IM and play it out, especially if the team was one box away from the grand prize.
If we presume that Jon Sea was actually making some sort of point about TPIR being on the air 44 years and not slowing down (which is debatable anyway) and not just annoying his keyboard, let's think about that. Most daytime game shows of the mid 70s and 80s had a five-year shelf life, plus or minus. What is is about the handful of shows that break through and last ten or fifteen years, and what is is about the others where we laud them and enjoy talking about them, but they peter out at the mark I mentioned? Is it as simple as network executives thinking that one show is stale so let's put something else on, and do those long-lasting shows make it just on their own strength or is there a bit of good luck in dodging the ax once or twice?
Lastly, five point penalty to Chris Lemon--Beaker should be saying "Meep," obviously.
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do those long-lasting shows make it just on their own strength or is there a bit of good luck in dodging the ax once or twice?
I definitely know that daytime Wheel of Fortune managed to dodge the ax twice: once in the Spring of 1980 when NBC execs were deciding which three game shows would be axed to make room for The David Letterman Show, the other a few months later (per Randy West's tribute to Charlie O'Donnell (http://www.jrjgames.com/main/randy/charlie/index.html)):
"Wheel of Fortune" was canceled midway through 1980, and a final farewell episode was taped to air on August 1st. Charlie O'Donnell, always in demand, pledged himself to his former KRLA mic-mate Bob Eubanks to work on Eubanks-Hill's syndicated “The Toni Tennille Show” which began taping at KTLA's studios that summer for a September debut in syndication.
In an unusual turn of events, NBC then reversed itself. Reportedly in reviewing David Letterman's new 90-minute morning show Silverman felt that the final half-hour was weak. The programmer speculated that cutting the program to one hour would strengthen its overall performance, and just days after the staff, cast and crew were notified that NBC had canceled "Wheel of Fortune" the network rescinded the cancellation. Mindful of his KHJ experience and his credo that "a handshake is my word," Charlie honored his commitment to "The Toni Tennille Show." Jack Clark was then hired to lend his smooth, conversational style to Wheel.
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Years ago, I read on here or ATGS that Merv was shopping Wheel around for syndication as early as 1980. I'm guessing he saw the writing on the wall at NBC, and was preparing himself for a possible cancellation. From what I remember, he'd considered going with Firestone Syndication and 20th Century Fox, the latter being the distributor for his show Dance Fever. With game shows falling off the radar around 1981-82, I wonder if a nighttime Wheel takes off by premiering a few years prior?
Always figured Charlie left Wheel because of his commitment to Barry-Enright and KCOP. Never knew it was for Bob Eubanks.
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Thank you to Brandon for providing a bit of analysis to go with the C&P. Knowing that Merv was looking to go the syndication route that early does help add a little more color to the picture--it's also interesting to note that 1980 would have been the five year mark for Wheel in daytime, and we're now at 33 years in the early evening.
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Years ago, I read on here or ATGS that Merv was shopping Wheel around for syndication as early as 1980. From what I remember, he'd considered going with Firestone Syndication and 20th Century Fox, the latter being the distributor for his show Dance Fever.
Based on what I can find through Variety's archives, Merv had been trying to pitch a syndie Wheel since at least 1977 (2/9/77 Weekly, Page 45). 20th Century Fox bought the syndication rights in 1980, apparently planning Wheel as a five-a-week strip (2/20/80 Weekly, Page 52).
Always figured Charlie left Wheel because of his commitment to Barry-Enright and KCOP. Never knew it was for Bob Eubanks.
I think Charlie started working with Barry-Enright in 1981. I know he was doing at least Bullseye then.
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Lastly, five point penalty to Chris Lemon--Beaker should be saying "Meep," obviously.
I wanted the "wat" of Lloyd Christmas from the meme with Xzibit, but I couldn't find it quickly.