Bill Cullen hosting a modern show

[WarioBarker]

I always thought an Americanized Countdown belongs on PBS. No big budget, keep the Numbers Game and Conundrum, and still offer the leather-bound dictionary as the grand prize*.

If there should be a reward for winning a regular game (do the Brits do that?), I'd offer something small, like a gift card to Brookstone ($500 or $1,000), or even Barnes and Noble (I could lose my mind in either store), and maybe $100 card for the runner-up. Small, yet satisfying

Countdown awards a neat-looking custom-made teapot to regular-game winners, one for each day if I'm not mistaken. The teapots aren't sold in stores, though, and the earlier ones have become collector's items since the teapots changed when the set did IIRC.

Agreed on the gift-card rewards, but at least throw in the Countdown Teapot.

1. If you're talking about the visit-each-team-member aspect of Feud, they could have staged it the same way they did Hot Potato. And while he wouldn't have been as funny as Dawson, he was funny enough on the shows he did that he still could have made the show his own.

Fair point, but what about Fast Money?

2. He hosted $25KP for five seasons, although they had to stage that differently as well. Why couldn't he have done MDP? To me, the best reason not to have him host would be the desire to keep him available as a celeb player.

I excluded Million-Dollar Password (not to be confused with Million-Dollar Pyramid) because of the whole standing-up-all-the-time principle the show had for some reason. They threw out 38 years of format improvements for one that was putrid and, worse, self-contained.

I second the exclusion of modern-day J! and TPIR. I think he'd be fine on Wheel. I'd love to hear his comments on the puzzles.

Agreed, but Bill on Wheel would only work if he entered from the right-hand side.

[tpirfan28]

The Apprentice.

/so confused...

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'240107\' date=\'Apr 28 2010, 05:05 PM\']The Apprentice.

/so confused...[/quote]
I know.  Isn't that terrific?

[BillCullen1]

Remembering that Bill would be 90 if he were still with us, assuming he still had most of hid mental faculties, here's what I see him hosting:

Millionaire - a natural for him, but start the clock AFTER he reads the choices.
5th Grader - he could be seated behind a teacher's desk next to the contestant
Pyramid/Donnymid - he proved he could do it
Million Dollar Password - just put a chair behind the podium

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'BillCullen1\' post=\'240121\' date=\'Apr 29 2010, 07:39 AM\']Million Dollar Password - just put a chair behind the podium[/quote]

Maybe they could get a deal and buy four more chairs while they're at it.

I like the teacher's desk, too. Blockbusters showed how elegantly Bill's disability could be handled and had a unique look because of it. (Not that Bill didn't handle it elegantly himself.)

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'BillCullen1\' post=\'240121\' date=\'Apr 29 2010, 05:39 AM\']Million Dollar Password - just put a chair behind the podium[/quote]
IIRC, there already *was* one, you just didn't see Regis use it much on camera.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'240102\' date=\'Apr 28 2010, 02:27 PM\']And I agree on the gift-card rewards, but at least throw in the Countdown Teapot.[/quote]Yes, those ever-popular American teas.

[vtown7]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'240102\' date=\'Apr 28 2010, 02:27 PM\']Countdown awards a neat-looking custom-made teapot to regular-game winners, one for each day if I'm not mistaken. The teapots are not sold in stores, however, and the earlier ones have become collector's items because the teapots changed when the set did IIRC.[/quote]

Incorrect; you get the teapot on your first win only.  Otherwise there would be a bunch showing up on ebay!

Winners eventually get the leatherbound Oxford English Dictionary for a finals win; the runner up gets a 1000 pound cash prize.

Runner-ups on the show get a full Oxford English Dictionary, a copy of Suzie's latest book, a pen, a clock, and a nice travel bag to put your goodies in. as well as your name card. And if you ask nicely, you can get your numbers game solution.

Countdown, while it doesn't give away massive prizes, treats its contestants superbly.  All my meals were paid for, as well as two nights in a hotel, taxi transportation to/from train station and to/from studio, as well as money towards train fare.  I really felt like a king for that tape day.

Ryan.

/still would love to have that teapot though

[WarioBarker]

Got $107.71 on you? (£1 British = ~$1.54 Canadian.)

[vtown7]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'240138\' date=\'Apr 30 2010, 12:54 AM\'][quote name=\'vtown7\' post=\'240130\' date=\'Apr 29 2010, 02:56 PM\'][quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'240102\' date=\'Apr 28 2010, 02:27 PM\']Countdown awards a neat-looking custom-made teapot to regular-game winners, one for each day if I'm not mistaken. The teapots are not sold in stores, however, and the earlier ones have become collector's items because the teapots changed when the set did IIRC.[/quote]Incorrect; you get the teapot on your first win only. Otherwise there would be a bunch showing up on ebay!

/still would love to have that teapot though [/quote]
Got $107.71 on you?

/£1 British = ~$1.54 Canadian.
[/quote]

Well there you go!

Although they have changed the design overtime and it now says "Countdown Winner".

R.

[1984Gameshowsfan]

This is actually an interesting topic plus this could lead into a topic about other classic hosts doing modern shows; although that topic has been probably done on game show messge boards before but still I think it would be fun to think about.

[GameShowGuru]

[quote name=\'irwinsjournal.com\' post=\'240085\' date=\'Apr 27 2010, 03:49 PM\']How about Bill "crossing the pond" and hosting Countdown?[/quote]

Frankly, between Bill's spontaneous sense of witty banter and the letter selections tending to spell out unusual words, if Bill was at the helm when the letter selection spelled out "CUNTFLAPS" or any other word to that effect, the show would've ground to a screeching halt.  Now I love Bill's sense of quick wit, but I know for certain the show's proceedings would've been halted while he put his 2 cents in.  For that matter, the show had more of a serious and intellectual vibe that I'm not sure if Bill's humor would've been the best fit or the most appropriate.  

Just my opinion.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'GameShowGuru\' post=\'240144\' date=\'Apr 30 2010, 11:13 AM\']Frankly, between Bill's spontaneous sense of witty banter and the letter selections tending to spell out unusual words, if Bill was at the helm when the letter selection spelled out "CUNTFLAPS" or any other word to that effect, the show would've ground to a screeching halt.[/quote]
What a load of sloblock.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'240081\' date=\'Apr 27 2010, 09:50 AM\']Seconded. Reading that, my mind showed me Bill on Jeopardy! -- and it worked. Slowed down the game, sure, but the early Trebek shows were like that as well (look at the Premiere sometime -- two entire categories aren't touched).[/quote] I thought that so much of the material being unplayed had more to do with Triple Stumpers and wrong answers had much more to do with the slowing of the pace than direction to Alex.

The problem with the "Bill's slow" meme that Jake perpetuated upthread is that any producer could say "Pick up the pace, please, Bill." $25k Pyramid had a certain amount of material to get through in a day. Three on a Match flew through the material. If Mark Goodson wanted the game to move faster, he could have made it so. (And that's an interesting point; if you compare a Rafferty episode, how much faster did it move?)

I would much rather watch the slow and steady pace of Bill Cullen than the faux-drama buildups of Jack Barry or some hacky comic blundering his way through the show, or someone with no room to adlib trying to barnstorm through the material.

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'240086\' date=\'Apr 27 2010, 12:52 PM\']Since J! was originally conceived as a comedy game, Bill might have fit in well.  Art sorta made it conform to his style.[/quote]Did Comedy Jeopardy! make it out of the pilot stage? I thought those in charge realized that they would run out of the laughing gas after a month of shows, so they played it straight.

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'240102\' date=\'Apr 28 2010, 12:27 PM\']I excluded Million-Dollar Password (not to be confused with Million-Dollar Pyramid) because of the whole standing-up-all-the-time principle the show had for some dumb reason.[/quote]My guess is that they wanted to have the players able to celebrate after the winning moment without having to leap out of their chairs. And you're looking at up to six of those winning moments per half, just in the money round.

You may not like the forty years of tradition being thrown out, but things like that aren't done randomly.

[J.R.]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'240155\' date=\'May 1 2010, 02:06 AM\']I would much rather watch the slow and steady pace of Bill Cullen than the faux-drama buildups of Jack Barry[/quote]
That got me thinking. I wonder how Jack Barry would do hosting a modern show?

Jack: "Is that your final answer?"

Mary: "Yes"

Jack: "You said B, now to continue on, this must be right right answer. If you are wrong, you will lose it all. This was a decision of great importance. I asked you the question "What is the color of a Stop sign?" I gave you the options of Green, Red, Yellow or Mauve. You told me you wanted B as your final answer. A choice that you made without lifelines. For the opportunity to stay in the game and see another question, Mary Richards of Denver, Colorado, your response is...  RIGHT FOR $500!"