Buzzer + FLASHGames² Exclusive Chain Reaction+StarFace Previews

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'125860\' date=\'Jul 31 2006, 10:50 PM\']
Bets: how long in the run before a contestant is given the last letter of a word, and still misses it?
[/quote]
Since they don't seem to be throwing out "form of the word" warnings, I totally see it happening, and depending on the circumstances, I'm not sure I would crucify a contestant who committed that sin.

[JasonA1]

With their screwy judging, the contestant might guess a plural when the word is exposed and be deemed wrong.

I'm hoping that Dylan Lane does a lot less reading on subsequent eps so I can make a better judgement. "StarFace" I was actually pleased with, 'cause I went in expecting nothing. The contestant on the end actually didn't bother me because he was treated just as he should've been. Newton had tons of people turning on the juice on W! and only sniped at a few of them. Danny won't mind.

-Jason

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'125862\' date=\'Jul 31 2006, 11:05 PM\']
"StarFace" I was actually pleased with, 'cause I went in expecting nothing.
[/quote]
And that's what you got. That was PAINFUL. Not "enh". PAINFUL.

Newton had tons of people turning on the juice on W!

...and Skyler Stone should have been beaten with a hammer there too.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'125863\' date=\'Aug 1 2006, 02:13 AM\'][quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'125862\' date=\'Jul 31 2006, 11:05 PM\']"StarFace" I was actually pleased with, 'cause I went in expecting nothing.[/quote]
And that's what you got. That was PAINFUL. Not "enh". PAINFUL.[/quote]
Besides Bonaduce's voice, what was painful about it?  I thought the clip was surprisingly entertaining.  Is it high priority TV?  Heck no.  What I saw was a simple, fun game.  If the other 17 minutes of the show are junk, I'll gladly take back my praise.

Chain Reaction, on the other hand...Michael Davies should've watched tapes from either previous version to see how the game is played.  Giving the last letter and essentially free money to one team is horrible.  Based on every ad and clip I've seen, the chains only go downward e.g. MONEY PIT -> PIT BULL -> BULL CRAP (hey, that describes Chain!) -> CRAP SHOOT.  With all due respect to Chain's contestants, the show should be titled "Chain Reaction for Dummies".

[ilb4ever2000]

I managed to sit through the StarFace clip. It was entertaining for what it was. I could not sit through the Chain Reaction clip.

[Moe Train]

I'm one of those contestants on Chain Reaction, and saying that it's for Dummies... well... Try the game out on the GSN site and see how "easy" it is!  I know that sometimes words seem obvious, but when you're thrown in front of a ton of camers, a studio audience, and only have 5 seconds to answer, it's MUCH harder than you'd think!  

I had a blast on the show, and my show will probably be aired this week.  I'm Moe, Matt was to my left, and Ryan was to my right.  Our episode will be MUCH higher energy than the preview on that site.  (Yeah, I'm partly to blame for that...)

I'm excited to see the first batch of shows.  I have a feeling that the preview was one of the first taped, so there wasn't as good as a flow as the show we taped.  From what I've read on other forums, the first show took three hours to tape, and ours wasn't even an hour.  The more time vested in the show, the better off it will be.  

Give it a chance, it will be worth your time!

[Blanquepage]

Starface was mildly engaging. I didn't have high hopes for Danny Bonaduce, but ya know, he seems to be pretty decent.

The original Chain Reaction remains in my top 15 favorites of all time. At the moment, I can really only describe this new charmless, non-compelling, dry, pretty-faced-cardboard-cutout-of-a-host-conducted version with a frequently used expression down here in San Antonio: a la jodida.

--Jamie

[PYLW]

I still regret not sitting in front of the contestants at the first Chain Reaction taping. And wow, the show doesn't translate as well on the clip as it did during the taping. I wouldn't be shocked if Chain Reaction becomes one of GSN's shorter lived shows.

[joshg]

How come Chain doesn't have the secondary title of : 'The All-New Smush '06'? I watched the preview clip and I have to say that the excitement seems to be removed from the program. Entirely. Plus, all chains are now going to be 2 word phrases? Does that seem like an easy way out of writing creative chains?

I'm probably the only one, but does anyone sense that Michael Davies' best game show days are behind him? He caught lightning in a bottle with Millionaire, but then we get that pile of Chain Reaction? I'm beginning to think of game shows now as archaeology... we dig them up and people try to replicate what's found... only to not understand what made them fun in the first place.

Josh

[FlashStash]

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'125862\' date=\'Aug 1 2006, 02:05 AM\']
With their screwy judging, the contestant might guess a plural when the word is exposed and be deemed wrong.

-Jason
[/quote]

No, they would be correct.

Here's the rules on the judging from what we were told at our taping.

Plural will be accepted for singular and vice-versa, as long as the plural is made with a 's' or 'es', meaning "mice" would not be accepted for "mouse", but "streets" would be accepted for "street".  In any other case, the exact word must be given, which kind of makes sense since it's all compound phrases and there is usually only one form of the word that will work with the word above and below it.

And while I understand we're not the target audience, I think we can step beck and say the average viewer is not going to care that it's only compound words and phrases (considering 99% of the viewers will never have seen the original), nor will they care that the last letter of the word is given.  GSN is looking for interactivity in its new shows now, so that people can play along online, which I think this show has.

FS

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'FlashStash\' post=\'125883\' date=\'Aug 1 2006, 05:53 AM\']
In any other case, the exact word must be given, which kind of makes sense since it's all compound phrases and there is usually only one form of the word that will work with the word above and below it.
[/quote]
Except the way the chains are written, they're gonna go from top to bottom, which means the players are gonna play it top to bottom. And that leads to the uncomfortable situation where players are trying to blindly guess what form of "SMOKE" they're looking for.

Nutshell, if you have items in your chain that you need both the top and bottom clues to figure out the proper tense of, that's bad writing.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'125865\' date=\'Jul 31 2006, 11:35 PM\']
Besides Bonaduce's voice, what was painful about it?  I thought the clip was surprisingly entertaining.
[/quote]
Well, to each their own. I thought it was blindingly stupid. The game did nothing to enthrall me, the subject matter REALLY didn't do anything to interest me, and the set was horribly lame, even WITH the huge projection screens behind everyone. There was just nothing there whatsoever for me. Now, someone who regularly drools over ET or The Insider (featuring television legend Pat O'Brien) might get something out of it, but not me.

It reminded me of a game show tailor made for this news producer I used to work with who would bump real news stories in favor of whatever celebrity fluff crap she could find. She's a reporter in Denver now. I feel for the people of Denver.

[FlashStash]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'125886\' date=\'Aug 1 2006, 09:27 AM\']
[quote name=\'FlashStash\' post=\'125883\' date=\'Aug 1 2006, 05:53 AM\']
In any other case, the exact word must be given, which kind of makes sense since it's all compound phrases and there is usually only one form of the word that will work with the word above and below it.
[/quote]
Except the way the chains are written, they're gonna go from top to bottom, which means the players are gonna play it top to bottom. And that leads to the uncomfortable situation where players are trying to blindly guess what form of "SMOKE" they're looking for.[/quote]

Not if they're thinking a bit...they really should be picking the above or below based on the number of available answers.  For example, if I had to choose between RED _______  and ________ KONG, you'd be better off taking the letter above, since that word has less combinations.  Maybe I was the only one, but *I* definitely didn't play just top to bottom.

Nutshell, if you have items in your chain that you need both the top and bottom clues to figure out the proper tense of, that's bad writing.

Bad rules?  Maybe, but like I said the average viewer isn't going to care.  Bad writing?  I don't really see how making players guess the exact word has anything to do with the writing of the puzzle. "CHAIN SMOKE" is not a writing problem, it's a rules problem, if you're inclined to view it that way.

FS

[GS Warehouse]

Originally, I wasn't going to quote any of the previous posts, but I can't pass up this set-up line:
[quote name=\'FlashStash\' post=\'125890\' date=\'Aug 1 2006, 09:49 AM\'][quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'125886\' date=\'Aug 1 2006, 09:27 AM\']Except the way the chains are written, they're gonna go from top to bottom, which means the players are gonna play it top to bottom. ...[/quote]Not if they're thinking a bit...[/quote]If you think even a bit, you automatically fail the contestant screening.

Since American Idol's season ended, there's been nothing to watch on Tuesdays (to me, at any rate--Mom's just starting to get sucked in to House lately after watching the off-network repeats on USA, but that's getting off-topic).  Yes, I know it's World Series of Poker season again, but again that's another topic.  My point is, based on these reviews, Chain Reaction and Starface are just two more reasons to keep the set off tonight.  If it seems like these shows are programming for the not-too-bright set, here's my (overly cynical) point of view:

Meet Joe Sixpack.  He has more dollars than sense, no pun intended.  He makes a lot of money even though he can't tell chain links from sausage links.  And he's easily brainwashed into buying any old junk he sees on TV.  (In fact, he's wearing a Victoria's Secret thong right now only because he's been exposed to the commercials, but I digress.)  OTOH, I graduated from high school with a bronze cord and made the Dean's list in college three times, and I do about three sudoku puzzles a day.  And I've seen the older versions of CR on USA.  However, I'm the unemployed son of a dollar store owner who's very frugal with her money, and I've inheirited that trait.

So which one of us do today's advertisers want watching their ads, Joe Sixpack or me?  That's right, Joe wins every time, and that's why TV today is cluttered with shows for dumb people (and thanks to our educational system, it's the third fastest-growing demo in the country, behind fat people and Hispanics).  I never thought anyone, much less I, would be labelled as too smart to watch TV!

[color=\"#FF0000\"]Disclaimer:[/color] The story above was written with my tongue firmly in my cheek, especially that last paragraph.  If you're actually taking this post seriously, Starface wants you as a contestant.

[uncamark]

Sorta relieved I haven't set my DVR for either show, although I'll take Rice's word for it that things get better on "CR" once they get beyond those first shows.  Meanwhile--that one decision to show the whole word penalizes it for me.

I'll wait on "Starface" until I've seen the whole thing--right now, I'm not impressed, although I think Bonaduce might just work.  Who's the announcer?  I didn't catch his name.