Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July  (Read 34502 times)

Blanquepage

  • Member
  • Posts: 1344
  • "Pacman cereal: it eats YOU!" - Geoff, Starcade
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #15 on: July 11, 2023, 12:41:15 PM »
Looks like Hollywood Squares is already live, and we're in the post-Whoopi part of the run.
https://www.patreon.com/BlanquePage - A building library of game show music remixes you never thought you'd need to hear ^_-
https://gameshowvault.blogspot.com/ - The revived Game Show Vault blog
www.youtube.com/blanquepage - Youtube channel of fun game show stuff

MikeK

  • Member
  • Posts: 5280
  • Martha!
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #16 on: July 11, 2023, 12:54:32 PM »
March 2003, if you believe Lainie Kazan's IMDb.

And the 1P Eastern episode jumps to November 1, 2002.

jage

  • Member
  • Posts: 309
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #17 on: July 11, 2023, 02:34:15 PM »
Squares is up, currently showing an episode from season 6 from Staff Appreciation Week. Really liked the last couple years of this run.

TimK2003

  • Member
  • Posts: 4395
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #18 on: July 11, 2023, 06:32:33 PM »
Squares is up, currently showing an episode from season 6 from Staff Appreciation Week. Really liked the last couple years of this run.

It's like the Jeopardy! Channel of late:  They bounce around a lot ‐‐ even during tournament weeks.  Not sure if Wheel does the same, as I don't watch that channel.

BrandonFG

  • Member
  • Posts: 18476
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #19 on: July 11, 2023, 10:24:56 PM »
Maybe cameras were much more advanced in 2003, but the picture quality looks great for a 20-year-old show.
"They're both Norman Jewison movies, Troy, but we did think of one Jew more famous than Tevye."

Now celebrating his 22nd season on GSF!

Chelsea Thrasher

  • Member
  • Posts: 1710
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #20 on: July 12, 2023, 12:23:14 AM »
CBS didn't update their cameras to support HD until ~2005. (Roughly the same time as the Sony lot). Exact timing varied studio to studio, and even when cameras were upgraded, the entire rest of the chain still had to be upgraded too and different shows had different needs (ie: not showing 84 year old Barker in 1080i).

One thing that definitely gets underestimated in footage from the late 90s and early 2000s is the difference between 480i (the broadcast standard at the time) and 480p. Go and spend literally any time on Youtube comparing the two and, genuinely, it might be the most underrated leap forward in video quality (because it was so rapidly subsumed by the 720/1080 and widescreen changes) in media history (at least since the change to color). And while the original transmissions would have been 480i, and while most GSN reruns back in the day at some point would have gone to 480i at some point before your eyeballs (where the choke point was changed over time), now you're seeing 480p tapes upscaled to Pluto's baseline 720p. So when you see Squares/Wheel/J! on Pluto, or other shows from that era, it's really the first time you're seeing the quality the episode was recorded and saved at - and why there seems to be an appreciable leap in video quality in reruns of many shows from the mid-late 90s onwards even when the broadcast standards hadn't changed.

(the difference that progressive scan makes over interlaced is one of the reasons 720p has held on for as long as it has vs. 1080i; but now that a lot of 1080i signals are flipping to at least 1080p, they're starting to be left behind or being put into a forced upgrade - to say nothing of 4K)
« Last Edit: July 12, 2023, 02:38:47 AM by Chelsea Thrasher »

MSTieScott

  • Executive Producer
  • Posts: 1894
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #21 on: July 12, 2023, 03:46:55 AM »
Airing right now, there's an episode from the first Game Show Week sandwiched in between two consecutive episodes from a later week. I hope that means the other four Game Show Week episodes are sprinkled throughout the rotation.

The Friday episode of Game Show Week is labeled Show #5065 (season 5, episode 65). The guide on Pluto TV's website seems to show the next few episodes that are coming up, so that'll help anybody looking for specific episodes.

bwood

  • Member
  • Posts: 430
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #22 on: July 12, 2023, 07:10:02 AM »
I don't know if it was the same Game Show Week episode that aired today or not, but there was one on last night in the 8pm hour.
Not sure what episode number, but Tom said to "watch tomorrow" for something special, teasing that it was the episode that Peter Marshall would be hosting. I think that was the Thursday episode of the week with Peter hosting, so this may have been the Wednesday if I remember correctly.

I loved this post-Whoopi era of HS.
Wish it would have lasted longer than 2 Seasons.
Looking forward to Whoopi era episodes as well.

SamJ93

  • Member
  • Posts: 837
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #23 on: July 12, 2023, 09:32:32 AM »
Has anyone actually called that "viewer comment hotline" that Tom plugs on several episodes to see where it goes now? I'm kinda surprised they didn't edit that out or at least cover up the number...
It's a well-known fact that Lincoln loved mayonnaise!

MikeK

  • Member
  • Posts: 5280
  • Martha!
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #24 on: July 12, 2023, 11:41:49 AM »
I don't know if it was the same Game Show Week episode that aired today or not, but there was one on last night in the 8pm hour.
The Tuesday ep. from that week aired at 8:30 PM last night.

What a treat this channel is, especially since my area only got the first ~16 weeks of the series in 1998.

colonial

  • Member
  • Posts: 1635
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #25 on: July 13, 2023, 07:49:40 PM »
Has anyone actually called that "viewer comment hotline" that Tom plugs on several episodes to see where it goes now? I'm kinda surprised they didn't edit that out or at least cover up the number...

Per a Google search, it's now for a notary service in the Dallas area.

Chelsea Thrasher

  • Member
  • Posts: 1710
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #26 on: July 21, 2023, 01:24:15 AM »
Squares full rotation of episodes is now available on demand, and includes a total of 166 episodes (out of 180) from season 5, and 169 episodes from season 6 - including both Game Show Weeks in their entirety (shows #5061-5065 and #6041-6045). No particular pattern to which episodes are unavailable, with every panel of both seasons having at least three episodes present.

MSTieScott

  • Executive Producer
  • Posts: 1894
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #27 on: July 21, 2023, 04:26:59 AM »
I've been wondering whether the channel would skip any episodes as the result of a joke that would be deemed in poor taste in 2023. I haven't been watching too regularly, but so far, I haven't heard anything exceptionally offensive. And one way to hide random-seeming skips would be to run the episodes on the live channel wildly out of order. It's only a theory, but I like my theory.

Not only am I happy to see the entirety of both Game Show Weeks available, but the April Fools' episode (#5132) is also available on demand. And all five episodes of Staff Appreciation Week are at the end, so we can watch everybody's reactions to the known cancellation across the entire taping day.

TimK2003

  • Member
  • Posts: 4395
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #28 on: July 21, 2023, 05:38:39 PM »
I've been wondering whether the channel would skip any episodes as the result of a joke that would be deemed in poor taste in 2023. I haven't been watching too regularly, but so far, I haven't heard anything exceptionally offensive. And one way to hide random-seeming skips would be to run the episodes on the live channel wildly out of order. It's only a theory, but I like my theory.

I've enjoyed watching the Pluto H² Channel ‐‐ especially since Northeast Ohio was denied this show  for 5½ of it's 6 seasons (THANKS, WEWS).  On a recent Pluto episode, I saw that Penn & Teller continued the YOU FOOL! tradition well beyond that infamous episode.

The only problem with the H² episodes on "shuffle mode" is the confusion of  main game play and bonus round formats from episode to episode.  I never knew they had tried the best 2 out of 3 game format with carryover games between episodes for a time.  And the key round formats were tweaked a bit.

BrandonFG

  • Member
  • Posts: 18476
Re: Two New Pluto TV Channels in July
« Reply #29 on: July 21, 2023, 05:50:08 PM »
The only problem with the H² episodes on "shuffle mode" is the confusion of  main game play and bonus round formats from episode to episode.  I never knew they had tried the best 2 out of 3 game format with carryover games between episodes for a time.  And the key round formats were tweaked a bit.
Until I started watching Pluto, I forgot this was a thing myself. The two ways to figure out which season of H^2 you're watching:

1. Self-contained episodes: 2002-03.
Straddling: 2003-04.

2. Cheaper bonus round prizes: 2003-04.

The last three seasons alternated between 4 and 4:30 pm on WTKR so I watched quite a bit in college. The Pluto channel is taking me back in time right now...when I worked on the yearbook, our theme for those two years revolved around entertainment. I lobbied hard to get the cover to look something like the H^2 intro, but I lost that battle. :P
"They're both Norman Jewison movies, Troy, but we did think of one Jew more famous than Tevye."

Now celebrating his 22nd season on GSF!