Audience Participation Mechanisms

[TimK2003]

I'm just curious if anyone knows how much did/does it cost on average to create & install audience participation gizmos for audience polling (i.e. Millionaire's Ask The Audience), audience voting (i.e. Date Choosing on Love Connection) or audience games (those Yes/No Paddles on The Better Sex")?

Also, while still on topic...

•  What was the first game to use audience participation equipment? (The last years of Collyer's TTTT???)

•  The most complicated system?  (The Better Sex or Celebrity Sweepstakes??)

•  The best and worst of those gizmos?

[Adam Nedeff]

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'129410\' date=\'Aug 27 2006, 10:29 PM\']
•  What was the first game to use audience participation equipment? (The last years of Collyer's TTTT???)
[/quote]

Zach-mode: TTTT actually used audience voting in the earliest episodes of the series after launching. On the 5th Anniversary show, a contestant returning from the premiere mentions winning extra money because the audience voted in the premiere.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' post=\'129412\' date=\'Aug 27 2006, 11:19 PM\']
[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'129410\' date=\'Aug 27 2006, 10:29 PM\']
•  What was the first game to use audience participation equipment? (The last years of Collyer's TTTT???)
[/quote]Zach-mode: TTTT actually used audience voting in the earliest episodes of the series after launching. On the 5th Anniversary show, a contestant returning from the premiere mentions winning extra money because the audience voted in the premiere.[/quote]
Old-Person-Mode:  Audience reaction to jokes told on Can You Top This were registered on the "Colgate Laugh Meter".... in 1942.

[Craig Karlberg]

The best audience participation system goes to Millionaire because it's used to help the player get the right answer.  It's probably the most expensive I think too because the devices are somehow wirelessly connected to a computer system that tracks their votes.

As for the worst?  Those Yes/No paddles on The Better Sex.  Sometimes, it's hard for me to count the yes & no paddles because they're not in seperate groups & they have the tendencey to make it look so cluttered.

Most complicated probably goes to Celebrity Sweepstakes because the audience votes on the celebrity they think knows more on a particular question.  Their odds are based on some formula used to calculate how the audience votes on a celebrity in relation to each member.

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' post=\'129429\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 04:25 AM\']
The best audience participation system goes to Millionaire because it's used to help the player get the right answer.  It's probably the most expensive I think too because the devices are somehow wirelessly connected to a computer system that tracks their votes.
[/quote]
Sigh.

They're not wireless.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' post=\'129429\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 01:25 AM\']
The best audience participation system goes to Millionaire because it's used to help the player get the right answer.  It's probably the most expensive I think too because the devices are somehow wirelessly connected to a computer system that tracks their votes.

As for the worst?  Those Yes/No paddles on The Better Sex.  Sometimes, it's hard for me to count the yes & no paddles because they're not in seperate groups & they have the tendencey to make it look so cluttered.

Most complicated probably goes to Celebrity Sweepstakes because the audience votes on the celebrity they think knows more on a particular question.  Their odds are based on some formula used to calculate how the audience votes on a celebrity in relation to each member.
[/quote]
Craig, we have to know, why do you keep doing this? Every time you post something you only manage to cram your foot further down your throat. Aren't you running out of leg by now?

Please, tell us. I MUST know how that brain of yours works.

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'129414\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 12:08 AM\']Old-Person-Mode:  Audience reaction to jokes told on Can You Top This were registered on the "Colgate Laugh Meter".... in 1942.[/quote]I don't want to hear anyone complain about there being too much product placement on TV today.  Sounds like it was worse in the golden days!

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'129434\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 09:29 AM\']Craig ... I MUST know how that brain of yours works.[/quote]What brain?

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'129434\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 08:29 AM\']
Craig, we have to know, why do you keep doing this? Every time you post something you only manage to cram your foot further down your throat. Aren't you running out of leg by now?
[/quote]
However, he has to be Luden's best customer.

[Fedya]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' post=\'129439\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 12:22 PM\']
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'129414\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 12:08 AM\']Old-Person-Mode:  Audience reaction to jokes told on Can You Top This were registered on the "Colgate Laugh Meter".... in 1942.[/quote]I don't want to hear anyone complain about there being too much product placement on TV today.  Sounds like it was worse in the golden days!
[/quote]
I was reminded of the same thing a few weeks back when TCM aired the 1933 movie "Should Ladies Behave".  About five minutes in two of the characters step out on a terrace, and behind them there's a light-up billboard for -- Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler in "Dinner at Eight"!

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Fedya\' post=\'129460\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 03:10 PM\']
[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' post=\'129439\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 12:22 PM\']
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'129414\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 12:08 AM\']Old-Person-Mode:  Audience reaction to jokes told on Can You Top This were registered on the "Colgate Laugh Meter".... in 1942.[/quote]I don't want to hear anyone complain about there being too much product placement on TV today.  Sounds like it was worse in the golden days!
[/quote]
I was reminded of the same thing a few weeks back when TCM aired the 1933 movie "Should Ladies Behave".  About five minutes in two of the characters step out on a terrace, and behind them there's a light-up billboard for -- Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler in "Dinner at Eight"!
[/quote]

And then there's that Warner Bros. cartoon where the formative version of Bugs Bunny sings a little number about how a Looney Tunes cartoon made him crazy.

And to get it back to game shows, in old radio Phil Baker used to acknowledge correct answers on "Take It or Leave It" (the "$64K Question" prototype) by saying "Right with Eversharp!"  (A pen company, so there's a homophone in play here.)  And let's not forget Warren Hull's contestants on "Strike It Rich" having to hold a box of Fab detergent while on stage.  It's just that over 30 years of television shows not having single sponsors or rotating sponsors have gotten us accustomed to less blatant sponsor plugs (or for some of you, you've never lived in an era where a single sponsor could have their name on everything you'd see on a show).