Author Topic: "Midnight Money Madness" Premieres Tonight on TBS (Read 14768 times)

Joe Mello · « **Reply #15 on:** August 28, 2006, 10:16:23 PM »

Good old-fashioned fudging. I think, Chris, that what they do is delay the pulling of names, which is completely covered by the lack of rules. They say your text entry goes into a pool, but they never really say when the entries are drawn.

I also don't think the Top 5's are anything but surveys. No Hot Potato-style lists pulled from various sources. Just street savants.

Oh, and forever whatever my US$0.02 is worth, Playmania isn't bad, but not necessarily good.

clemon79 · « **Reply #16 on:** August 28, 2006, 10:29:50 PM »

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'129531\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 07:16 PM\']
Good old-fashioned fudging. I think, Chris, that what they do is delay the pulling of names, which is completely covered by the lack of rules. They say your text entry goes into a pool, but they never really say when the entries are drawn.[/quote]
Right. Note that I said that everything they were doing was technically within the law. Never question that for a second. But you can't deny that the _illusion_ that is created by a) leaving the queue empty, and b) having Shandi or Horseface or whatever HPOA they have out there call attention to that while begging for texts, is that All Lines Are Open and This Is Your Big Chance To Get In. In fact the HPOA's SAY as much. "Look, the Player's Lounge is EMPTY!!! Text NOW!!!11!!ONE!!ELEVEN"

It's not illegal at all, but it _is_ disingenuous, and if this format receives enough attention that people start to care, it's gonna get them in trouble. Maybe not legal trouble, but when it's a game show, as Jack Barry can tell you, public perception is just as important.

Quote

I also don't think the Top 5's are anything but surveys. No Hot Potato-style lists pulled from various sources. Just street savants.

Sure, but that said, it was terribly irresponsible of them to see the results of the "Top TV Shows Starting With 'S'" poll, see that Starface made it (and I'm gonna assume the best and go with the idea that there was a big friggin' banner on the page the poll was presented on which influenced people, and not suggest that they flat-out hax0red the results), and clear that for air in a game in which they not only give away cash money, but charge most people a fee to enter. (Yes, you can enter online for free. Yes, I've also noticed that they call attention to that about as little as they possibly can.)

Good promotion? Yes. But INCREDIBLY irresponsible? Also yes.

JasonA1 · « **Reply #17 on:** August 28, 2006, 10:57:58 PM »

Right right right, sorry. I've been pretty vocal/active in the PlayMania thread about this stuff. The show used to be watchable, but now it's so stally it's barely good as an activity to win the money.

And for Joe, just another reason why the show was better in its infancy - they used to use top 5s based on actual information. Problem was, the games moved out fairly fast because a lot of the players were clearly Googling the answers.

-Jason

Clay Zambo · « **Reply #18 on:** August 29, 2006, 08:39:19 AM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'129533\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 10:29 PM\']
But you can't deny that the _illusion_ that is created by a) leaving the queue empty, and b) having Shandi or Horseface or whatever HPOA ...[/quote]

I'd spent a minute or two, while reading other messages in this thread, trying to figure out that acronym--and I almost Googled it. But I think, now, from context, I've got three of the four words. What's the "H" stand for?

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #19 on:** August 29, 2006, 08:48:31 AM »

Hawtt.

The Great EZE · « **Reply #20 on:** August 29, 2006, 08:49:07 AM »

[quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' post=\'129579\' date=\'Aug 29 2006, 07:39 AM\']
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'129533\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 10:29 PM\']
But you can't deny that the _illusion_ that is created by a) leaving the queue empty, and b) having Shandi or Horseface or whatever HPOA ...[/quote]

I'd spent a minute or two, while reading other messages in this thread, trying to figure out that acronym--and I almost Googled it. But I think, now, from context, I've got three of the four words. What's the "H" stand for?
[/quote]

Hofstra.

Shandi and Mel might be from Missouri and London (respectively) but they know where to get a quality education...

TimK2003 · « **Reply #21 on:** August 29, 2006, 09:43:04 AM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'129526\' date=\'Aug 28 2006, 08:36 PM\']
Okay, admittedly, that part is speculative. But we seem to be hearing a LOT of stories about how GSN is running their show to maximize text entries: manipulating games so that they go ON and ON and ON (like the StarFace incident), not putting players in the Waiting Lounge or whatever the hell that queue is called to encourage more people to text than normally would, even though they DO IN FACT have people waiting, they just want to represent that they don't so people think they can get in, that kind of thing. Nothing specifically illegal, but certainly deceptive enough that if word got out widely that they were doing it that way, there would be a backlash.
[/quote]

Not that I would support such a crusade, but if you have a local TV station that loves to do "60 Minutes"-type investigations -- especially during the upcoming November sweeps -- now is the time to "suggest" doing a story on "manipulative contests for fun & profit".

A couple of years ago, WJW/Fox 8 in Cleveland ran an investigation on our good friend Miss Cleo the psychic ("Call Me Now") lady, and went on location to prove that <gasp> she was a fake! Even pulled a surprise "Gotcha" while she was shopping at the local grocery store in Florida.

Speaking of fishy scams, there is always the evil Clear Channel Radio contests where each CC station calls the contest by a different name ("Cash Grab", "Beatle Bucks", "Song Of The Day",...) but yet it's all tied in to one and only one "Be the 100th *nationwide* caller at 1-888-SUCKERS to win $10,000 cash!!!" contest. Although callers are not forking over money to play, it's still a sucky contest.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #22 on:** August 29, 2006, 10:14:39 AM »

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'129591\' date=\'Aug 29 2006, 09:43 AM\']

Not that I would support such a crusade, but if you have a local TV station that loves to do "60 Minutes"-type investigations -- especially during the upcoming November sweeps -- now is the time to "suggest" doing a story on "manipulative contests for fun & profit".

[/quote]

But wouldn't that be manipulating the ratings of the newscast?

davemackey · « **Reply #23 on:** August 29, 2006, 10:20:34 AM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'129594\' date=\'Aug 29 2006, 10:14 AM\']
But wouldn't that be manipulating the ratings of the newscast?
[/quote]
It's not anything that news departments don't already do during the sweeps. It's not so much "how can we report the news and serve the public" but "how can I save my sorry ass from getting fired for not delivering our station eyeballs".

TimK2003 · « **Reply #24 on:** August 29, 2006, 01:23:40 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'129594\' date=\'Aug 29 2006, 09:14 AM\']
[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'129591\' date=\'Aug 29 2006, 09:43 AM\']

Not that I would support such a crusade, but if you have a local TV station that loves to do "60 Minutes"-type investigations -- especially during the upcoming November sweeps -- now is the time to "suggest" doing a story on "manipulative contests for fun & profit".

[/quote]

But wouldn't that be manipulating the ratings of the newscast?
[/quote]

Perhaps, but I also think it is good for media outlets to warn or to show people when businesses or products are not on the up and up. Whether it is a restaurant with more rats in the kitchen than employees, e-mail scams, or deceptive for-profit companies.

chad1m · « **Reply #25 on:** August 30, 2006, 12:26:20 AM »

Okay, umm... wtf? They spend the first ten minutes of the show talking about how you enter and how the entry process works. And now we're back from break and we're treated to an episode of Bloopers so they can check to make sure their phone equipment is working right? This is pretty lame. I don't even think PlayMania had this much trouble their first week, and their a pretty small network compared to the giant TBS.

WilliamPorygon · « **Reply #26 on:** August 30, 2006, 12:48:07 AM »

Well, quite frankly, after the debacle that happened in the last five minutes of the show last night, I would have liked to seen them pull a You're In The Picture. Also, they really do need to make sure their system is working right. Two people during the show last night got cut off with the "sorry you weren't selected" message WHILE ON THE AIR. Sorry, but that was the straw that kept me from giving them a second chance tonight.

Monarx · « **Reply #27 on:** August 30, 2006, 01:21:05 AM »

This show... the word trainwreck comes to mind. They didn't have enough time last night to get the last player's answer, so they just assumed he said it and give him the money.

As a coincidental aside, the challenge is "name a 'queen'", and the last person to call in was named "Sharmell".

/All hail King Booker!

chad1m · « **Reply #28 on:** August 30, 2006, 01:23:42 AM »

Hahahahahaha.. I thought that was slightly funny myself. =D

Monarx · « **Reply #29 on:** August 30, 2006, 01:42:22 AM »

This reminds me of a video production class project from high school... except with a call-in system. And twice as bad.

Edit: Jm J. Bullock said it best... he said it's a "telethon from Hell".

Author Topic: "Midnight Money Madness" Premieres Tonight on TBS (Read 14768 times)

The Great EZE