Outlook: That's The Question

[Sonic Whammy]

Well, the premiere is in the books. Here's what we've got:

A puzzle appears that is a question, and the answer to that question is provided. Each player takes turns answering mini-questions. The answer to these mini-questions are found by unscrambling letters to a word or name. Among these letters there is an extra letter. That extra letter goes into the puzzle in its appropriate places. Each question answers earns a point per time the letter goes in the puzzle. Guessing the puzzle question with the answer provided earns a bonus 5 points.

2 rounds of 3 puzzles each are played. Round 2 plays with double points, the answer to the question also needing to be filled in, plus the ability to maintain control as long as you keep answering questions right. Most points wins.

The bonus round plays the same way, where each point earned translates to 1 second toward solving one final puzzle, answer and all. When time is up, you have 10 seconds to spell everything out. Do it, and win $5000.

I find it to be an interesting twist on Wheel and $1MCoaL, so on that alone, I like it quite a bit. But if the premiere was any indication, the bonus round was WAY WAY too easy. Tonight's player had over 2 minutes to fill in the puzzle, which was enough to practically spell it all out. I think something should have been done to toughen that up a little bit. Perhaps only fill in ONE of that extra letter instead of everywhere it goes in the question. Would make the extended time more sensible.

The show's also a little too quiet for what it's worth. I know this is GSN, and no audience can be afforded, but there's practically no background at all. They keep it so quiet so that you can hear this tiny female voice whispering "Question" all the time, and say "That's The Question" when a puzzle is solved. Not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Ah, well, I still like it for what it's worth. I'll give it... a B-.

[chad1m]

That's a pretty good summary. I agree with everything you say. The applause is definitely really too quiet. It sounds more like a public access or quiz bowl game show.

BTW, may I alter your text and use it for a Wikipedia entry for the show?

[clemon79]

Oh gawd.

Does EVERYTHING have to have a flippin' Wiki article anymore?

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'133214\' date=\'Oct 2 2006, 06:10 PM\']
Does EVERYTHING have to have a flippin' Wiki article anymore?
[/quote]
Just mark it as a candidate for deletion.

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'Sonic Whammy\' post=\'133210\' date=\'Oct 2 2006, 05:45 PM\']
The show's also a little too quiet for what it's worth. I know this is GSN, and no audience can be afforded, but there's practically no background at all. [/quote]

I thought that was because of the Netherlands taping, perhaps they couldn't find very many audience members...?

For some reason I kept thinking of Cross-Wits from the 1970s, perhaps because of the atmosphere/dark lighting/quiet applause.

[chad1m]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'133214\' date=\'Oct 2 2006, 07:10 PM\']Does EVERYTHING have to have a flippin' Wiki article anymore?
[/quote]

Roar. It's a prominent feature of the GSN schedule and I figured it would be nice to have an article for it. It's not like I'm creating a Chris Lemon page. =X

[JasonA1]

They keep it so quiet so that you can hear this tiny female voice whispering "Question" all the time, and say "That's The Question" when a puzzle is solved. Not sure if that's a good thing or not.

That's an intentional sound effect.

Agreed that the show needs more life. Also, I think the show could use some sort of buzzer faceoff climax to not only bring the game to a better end, but give the opponent ample opportunity to actually determine their own fate, rather than hope the other guy fails.

-Jason

[Sonic Whammy]

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'133223\' date=\'Oct 2 2006, 07:44 PM\']
Agreed that the show needs more life. Also, I think the show could use some sort of buzzer faceoff climax to not only bring the game to a better end, but give the opponent ample opportunity to actually determine their own fate, rather than hope the other guy fails.
[/quote]
That's a good way of looking at things, too. Maybe make the 2nd round only 2 puzzles, then have a final round face-off like you said.

And if you really want to make a Wiki article of it, Chad, be my guest. You have to understand that Wiki is a growing pop culture encyclopedia as well as a standard online World Book. If Chad doesn't do it, trust me, someone else will.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Sonic Whammy\' post=\'133226\' date=\'Oct 2 2006, 05:12 PM\']You have to understand that Wiki is a growing pop culture encyclopedia as well as a standard online World Book. If Chad doesn't do it, trust me, someone else will.[/quote]And therein is the big problem. You would never find "Jeopardy!" or "The Match Game" as an entry in the World Book Encyclopedia. Now we have television episodes and single songs (not even an album, but a single track!) given their own page.

Please, stop the madness. Won't someone PLEASE think of the children?

[gsfreak82]

I missed the premiere.  I set it on my TiVo but when I tried to play it, there was only a black screen.  With what I read it sounds almost like another show Bob did, The Home Shopping Game.  There you also had to unscramble words.  The main game sounds like Jumble taken out of the newspaper since one letter in the mini answer goes in the puzzle.  Hopefully the 2nd show will tape for me.  



Brian

[cmruready]

Agreed that the show needs more life. Also, I think the show could use some sort of buzzer faceoff climax to not only bring the game to a better end, but give the opponent ample opportunity to actually determine their own fate, rather than hope the other guy fails.

At first I thought that toss up question at the beginning would be the way the game would be played, so they could use that as a bonus round; reveal questions slowly and contestant must buzz in and give X amount of questions and answers in X amount of time.

Toss-up also sounds good for a final question of the main game to give the trailer a chance.

[Steve McClellan]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Oct 2 2006, 10:42 PM\']Please, stop the madness. Won't someone PLEASE think of the children?[/quote]
You forgot "Get off my lawn".

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'133240\' date=\'Oct 2 2006, 10:42 PM\']And therein is the big problem. You would never find "Jeopardy!" or "The Match Game" as an entry in the World Book Encyclopedia. Now we have television episodes and single songs (not even an album, but a single track!) given their own page.[/quote]
Other than wasted effort on the part of the article writers, I still don't see the actual problem with that. Do the links to minutiae compel you to click them?

[Clay Zambo]

I get that the contestants and host are facing an off-screen monitor.  (The gameboard-on-the-floor graphic is cute if unnecessary.  It made my wife ask, "Is the puzzle really on the floor?"--which caused me to think, well, that's one way to raise the difficulty bar: make the players read the gameboard upside down.)

And I know this was the first episode broadcast (if not necessarily the first one taped), but I was starting to get annoyed by the players who, it seemed, never took their eyes off the gameboard, even when answering one of the mini- questions.  I found it one of the less interesting stage pictures (sorry, screen pictures) I'd ever witnessed.

As for the game itself: eh.  Nice playalong factor, at least.  Did Bob announce that there would be three puzzles per round?  The end of the main game took me by surprise.  ("It's over?  Oh.  Well, yeah, I guess it is.")  The end game or bonus round or whatever it's called seemed awfully easy in that episode--but perhaps yesterday's winner got lucky.  I have no problem with somebody who does really well in the main game getting an advantage in the bonus, but the difficulty could be raised by making the mini-questions tougher.

All in all: not appointment tv by any stretch.  Nor something I'd want to Wiki.

[Brig Bother]

That's quite interesting.

There's also a French version called "Tele la question", but the rounds don't go to a certain amount of puzzles, they're timed at three-and-a-half minutes each. Any open question when the time runs out is filled in randomly and offered on the buzzers, players score 3 points everytime they're letter is involved somewhere and the bonus appears to be three points for every unfilled letter. The bonus game offers a flat 90 seconds. The whole show is done and dusted in 15 minutes.