Author Topic: Wall Street Journal article (Read 4512 times)

dzinkin · « **on:** November 10, 2006, 01:08:08 PM »

Friday's (11/10/2006) Wall Street Journal has an article on how networks supposedly consider game shows to be a good way to combat the use of DVRs. An excerpt from "Everything Old is New Again":

Quote

The big broadcast networks are hoping one of TV's oldest and most unstable genres -- game shows -- can help cure an array of new ailments in prime time, from a ratings slump for new reality shows to the increasing use of digital-video recorders to skip commercials.

Despite the implosion of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" five years ago -- a debacle that underscored how susceptible game shows are to over-saturation -- the major networks think they have winning entries in the category. Next Tuesday, Walt Disney Co.'s ABC unveils "Show Me the Money," a splashy series hosted by William Shatner. Contestants win money by answering trivia questions and then choosing among 13 female dancers, who carry scrolls containing secret dollar amounts.

The full article is here (free as I type this); it clearly was written some time ago, as it refers to The Rich List without noting that Fox has pulled it for now, but it's a good read nonetheless. The print version includes three pictures not in the online version, including one of Show Me the Money and one of (co-moderator alert) Bill Cullen on The Price is Right.

Bed, Bath and Beyond Alert: the article also contains a reference to "the bikini-clad models of 'Deal or No Deal.'" Did I miss A Very Special Episode? ;-)

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #1 on:** November 10, 2006, 01:27:52 PM »

Perhaps I'm a bit dim today, but how do game shows and reality shows help with DVR commercial-skipping?

EDIT: Okay, so I actually looked at the article, and now I see the reasoning. (It's not an excuse, but your description made the excerpt you posted sound more like a sidebar, DZ.)

Clay Zambo · « **Reply #2 on:** November 10, 2006, 02:50:32 PM »

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'137525\' date=\'Nov 10 2006, 01:27 PM\']
Perhaps I'm a bit dim today, but how do game shows and reality shows help with DVR commercial-skipping?

EDIT: Okay, so I actually looked at the article, and now I see the reasoning. [/quote]

Seems to me it's not just the playalong. Jeopardy! is as much fun to watch and play along with the next morning, or at least when I'm not also cooking dinner. But the play-at-home, send-a-text-or-enter-online deals, they don't work if you're not in the moment. They're the only thing that'd keep us watching 1v100, live, and tape-delaying Doctor Who.

(How does the home viewer game work, by the way, for non-Eastern time zones? Does NBC play a separate game for each?)

clemon79 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 10, 2006, 04:39:11 PM »

[quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' post=\'137528\' date=\'Nov 10 2006, 11:50 AM\']
(How does the home viewer game work, by the way, for non-Eastern time zones? Does NBC play a separate game for each?)
[/quote]
Yes. They insert the segment separately on their different time zone feeds.

chris319 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 11, 2006, 03:59:22 AM »

Quote

Contestants win money by answering trivia questions and then choosing among 13 female dancers, who carry scrolls containing secret dollar amounts.

Every time I read this I think to myself, "Damn, I could have thought of that". By the same token, J. Fred Muggs could have thought of it, Mister Ed could have thought of it, Cousin Itt could have thought of it ...

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #5 on:** November 11, 2006, 07:06:37 AM »

I don't know why they have those pesky questions. Why not just have the contestant choose $$ amounts, choosing to continue or stop with what they have. One can stay on as long as he/she picks amounts higher than the last pick. If they pick an amount that is lower than than the previous one, they lose.

chris319 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 11, 2006, 11:07:33 AM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'137585\' date=\'Nov 11 2006, 04:06 AM\']
I don't know why they have those pesky questions. Why not just have the contestant choose $$ amounts, choosing to continue or stop with what they have. One can stay on as long as he/she picks amounts higher than the last pick. If they pick an amount that is lower than than the previous one, they lose.
[/quote]
I'm going to pitch this Monday morning. You get 10%.

For the youngsters who don't know who I'm talking about:

http://people.uncw.edu/rohlerl/rohler/muggs2.jpg

http://www.larrytt.com/celebrities_playing_tt/mister_ed.jpg

http://wongablog.co.uk/wb-images/cousinit.jpg

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #7 on:** November 11, 2006, 11:20:56 AM »

Chris, if you need a title for your pitch, I was thinking of calling the show "Go 4 It."

TimK2003 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 11, 2006, 12:26:58 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'137533\' date=\'Nov 10 2006, 05:39 PM\']
[quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' post=\'137528\' date=\'Nov 10 2006, 11:50 AM\']
(How does the home viewer game work, by the way, for non-Eastern time zones? Does NBC play a separate game for each?)
[/quote]
Yes. They insert the segment separately on their different time zone feeds.
[/quote]

What exactly is the 1 v 100 home viewer game? I live out in the Mountain Time Zone, I see the legalese of the game during the credits, but I have not seen it. We get the DonD home viewer games, though.

WhammyPower · « **Reply #9 on:** November 11, 2006, 12:36:38 PM »

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'137604\' date=\'Nov 11 2006, 11:26 AM\']
What exactly is the 1 v 100 home viewer game? I live out in the Mountain Time Zone, I see the legalese of the game during the credits, but I have not seen it. We get the DonD home viewer games, though.
[/quote]
You're asked a question with 3 choices (just like on the show), and you text in what you think the answer is. It gets easier about 40 minutes into the show, as they show the percentage of people who texted in for each answer.

clemon79 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2006, 02:36:51 PM »

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'137604\' date=\'Nov 11 2006, 09:26 AM\']
What exactly is the 1 v 100 home viewer game? I live out in the Mountain Time Zone, I see the legalese of the game during the credits, but I have not seen it. We get the DonD home viewer games, though.
[/quote]
Fascinating. That answers a question I've had for a long time. I knew the networks didn't do a special Mountain feed, affils usually have to record the Eastern/Central feed and air it on a delay. They must do a cut & cover over the home viewer game segments.

TimK2003 · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2006, 06:25:13 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'137613\' date=\'Nov 11 2006, 03:36 PM\']
Fascinating. That answers a question I've had for a long time. I knew the networks didn't do a special Mountain feed, affils usually have to record the Eastern/Central feed and air it on a delay. They must do a cut & cover over the home viewer game segments.
[/quote]

Actually, DoND does do a specific home player game for the Mountain Timers. If you look on the DoND rules page on the nbc.com website, there are a few dates listed that the Mountain Time Zone does not get to play and/or see a home viewer contest.

Pretty much for viewers in Alaska & Hawaii, per the rules, they will see the home player game but cannot play (they probably get the Pacific Feed tape delayed). It looks like they get an on-screen message that says "contest over/do not play"

I still can't make heads or tails from the rules page if the winner of each feed must live in that eligible time zone or TV market to win. It looks like you can put in your 10 chances in any time zone in where the show is currently airing. However, if they only take winners from the eligible time-zone markets, then us Mountain Timers have the best odds to win.

And depending on where in the MST zone you live in you may see network shows at different times. I have seen a few Mountain markets where they will air the live West-Coast feed, which means if Seattle airs DonD at 7PM PT, viewers who may be living in Great Falls, Montana may see it at 8PM MT.

trainman · « **Reply #12 on:** November 11, 2006, 11:17:12 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'137613\' date=\'Nov 11 2006, 11:36 AM\']I knew the networks didn't do a special Mountain feed, affils usually have to record the Eastern/Central feed and air it on a delay.[/quote]

From my closed-captioning days, I know NBC and ABC have regular Mountain feeds of their late-night programming. Maybe they don't trust their affiliates' master control operators to be awake enough at those hours to run the tape-delay correctly. (In ABC's case, obviously, it allows them to update "Nightline" if necessary.)

Terry K · « **Reply #13 on:** November 13, 2006, 06:13:52 AM »

[quote name=\'trainman\' post=\'137641\' date=\'Nov 12 2006, 12:17 AM\']
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'137613\' date=\'Nov 11 2006, 11:36 AM\']I knew the networks didn't do a special Mountain feed, affils usually have to record the Eastern/Central feed and air it on a delay.[/quote]

From my closed-captioning days, I know NBC and ABC have regular Mountain feeds of their late-night programming. Maybe they don't trust their affiliates' master control operators to be awake enough at those hours to run the tape-delay correctly. (In ABC's case, obviously, it allows them to update "Nightline" if necessary.)
[/quote]

AFAIK, NBC does have a MT feed. In the case of CBS (and Tomalhe can back me up on this), there is at least one or two affiliates in MT who take everything from CT. KCLO in Rapid City is in MT, however, all of its programming is on a CT schedule, meaning prime time is 6-9p, Letterman goes at 9:35 and so on...

One of the reasons we're seeing more MT feeds is due to HD. There are few stations in MT equipped to properly tape delay shows in HD at this point.

In the case of 1 vs 100, they likely don't have enough versions of the questions ready to use for MT viewers.

clemon79 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 13, 2006, 09:21:07 AM »

[quote name=\'Terry K\' post=\'137712\' date=\'Nov 13 2006, 03:13 AM\']
In the case of 1 vs 100, they likely don't have enough versions of the questions ready to use for MT viewers.
[/quote]
I would find that REALLY hard to believe. Instead of two questions, they would need...three. I'm gonna guess it's more infrastructure-related, like they don't have the warm bodies to run the actual contest.

(Which would also surprise me, but a little less, because you would think they farm that out to a third-party company, anyhow.)

Author Topic: Wall Street Journal article (Read 4512 times)

dzinkin

Terry K