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[Mr. Armadillo]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'194433\' date=\'Aug 18 2008, 08:03 PM\'] I'm not sure I like it until I see it in action, but it certainly will make the Hot Seat that much warmer.
[/quote]

How so?  The contestant's butt won't be in the seat long enough to get it warmed up properly!

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'194444\' date=\'Aug 18 2008, 07:55 PM\']In Regis' version it was made very clear that there was no time limit and they would edit out especially long pauses.  As I recall from in-studio storytelling, only one player really took that to a preposterous extreme.[/quote] Which is why I referenced the daily version, and not the network one.

If they ever established a time limit for Meredith's version, I never heard about it.  (Paging Mr. Mackey.  Mr. Dave Mackey, white courtesy phone!)  But trying to enforce a "sit there and stare" rule would be awfully tough.

I don't see what would be so hard about it. If you don't know the answer within ten minutes, I don't think it's going to come to you at 10:13, no matter the priming and grimacing that you do. When you have four answers on the screen and someone staring at them without saying anything or going through "When I was a young lad in Detroit, my grandmother told me about this particular landmark..." it gets really boring to watch. And that boring-ness increases the closer to $100 the contestant is.

/and if the answer comes to you then, well, that's just too bad, isn't it.

[Fedya]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'194447\' date=\'Aug 18 2008, 11:04 PM\']
[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' post=\'194437\' date=\'Aug 18 2008, 08:40 PM\']Categories: brilliant. Such a subtle change, but it makes a risk worth a reward if you know your Shakespeare. Viewers will want to see what the $100K question on "ice cream" is too.[/quote]
I'm sure some contestants won't like the questions that turn up in categories where they expect to do well. Viewers may not, either, which makes me wonder whether this will make for better television. My definitive example (which I would LOVE to see on J! in a slightly different form) is this, in the category MUSIC:

A below middle C has a frequency of 440 Hz. Which note has a frequency of 880 Hz?
A. the A below that one
B. B below middle C
C. middle C
D. the A above middle C

(The answer is D. Any note has a frequency double that of the same note, one octave lower.)
[/quote]
It would be more definitive if the A below middle C actually had a frequency of 440 Hz.  It's the A above middle C that's 440 Hz (more or less).  In fact, A hasn't even always been 440 Hz.

I know it's only Wikipedia, but there's more than enough information about historical pitch to make anybody's eyes glaze over.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'194449\' date=\'Aug 18 2008, 11:11 PM\']
I don't see what would be so hard about it. If you don't know the answer within ten minutes, I don't think it's going to come to you at 10:13, no matter the priming and grimacing that you do.[/quote]
"Ten minutes", though, is an enforceable limit.  If there's a firm time limit (and again, I don't know whether or not there is) then there's absolutely no problem.  But "you can't just sit there and stare at the question" is too vague, and therefore probably isn't a rule.  Obviously five seconds of silence is OK.  Is ten?  Twenty?  Sixty?  Can you stare for sixty seconds, talk to Meredith for a moment, and stare another sixty?  A "time limit" is either a specific number or it isn't, and if it isn't, then it's not really a limit.

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'194449\' date=\'Aug 18 2008, 11:11 PM\']When you have four answers on the screen and someone staring at them without saying anything or going through "When I was a young lad in Detroit, my grandmother told me about this particular landmark..." it gets really boring to watch. And that boring-ness increases the closer to $100 the contestant is.[/quote]
And again, the idea is that they would (and regularly do) edit away the boring bits.

[Jay Temple]

[quote name=\'Fedya\' post=\'194450\' date=\'Aug 18 2008, 10:37 PM\']
[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'194447\' date=\'Aug 18 2008, 11:04 PM\']
[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' post=\'194437\' date=\'Aug 18 2008, 08:40 PM\']Categories: brilliant. Such a subtle change, but it makes a risk worth a reward if you know your Shakespeare. Viewers will want to see what the $100K question on "ice cream" is too.[/quote]
I'm sure some contestants won't like the questions that turn up in categories where they expect to do well. Viewers may not, either, which makes me wonder whether this will make for better television. My definitive example (which I would LOVE to see on J! in a slightly different form) is this, in the category MUSIC:

A below middle C has a frequency of 440 Hz. Which note has a frequency of 880 Hz?
A. the A below that one
B. B below middle C
C. middle C
D. the A above middle C

(The answer is D. Any note has a frequency double that of the same note, one octave lower.)
[/quote]
It would be more definitive if the A below middle C actually had a frequency of 440 Hz.  It's the A above middle C that's 440 Hz (more or less).  In fact, A hasn't even always been 440 Hz.

I know it's only Wikipedia, but there's more than enough information about historical pitch to make anybody's eyes glaze over.
[/quote]
D'oh! That's what I thought, but I did a quick search and either the site that I found had it wrong or I misread it.

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'194444\' date=\'Aug 18 2008, 10:55 PM\']
If they ever established a time limit for Meredith's version, I never heard about it.  (Paging Mr. Mackey.  Mr. Dave Mackey, white courtesy phone!)  But trying to enforce a "sit there and stare" rule would be awfully tough.
[/quote]
Oh great! Am I double parked at the white curb again? I'll go move my car.

Yes, in Regis' day, it was take all the time you need, we don't care, we'll edit it out if we need to. When I was a contestant, Rich Sirop addressed the time issue with us in his Green Room briefing. He said that we could take a reasonable amount of time on each question, but if in the producers' opinion we were taking too much time, either a producer or Meredith would prompt for an answer.

I think this move is one that's going to (1) eliminate a lot of the post-production on this show, and (2) change the tenor of the game.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'davemackey\' post=\'194479\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 01:15 PM\']
I think this move is one that's going to ... (2) change the tenor of the game.
[/quote]

Oh, great.  Now there's a singing audition?  

[aaron sica]

Apparently there's been a change in the Harrisburg market...

I emailed WHP to find out about any changes in the schedule - "700 Club" is now going in at the 9am hour, with "The Doctors" at 10. WLYH will now have the DoND hour at 7. As for Millionaire? It's moving to Fox43.

I notice a lot more stations airing "700 Club" now than before as well..

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' post=\'194483\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 12:35 PM\']
[quote name=\'davemackey\' post=\'194479\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 01:15 PM\']
I think this move is one that's going to ... (2) change the tenor of the game.
[/quote]

Oh, great.  Now there's a singing audition?  
[/quote]

Oh--is Joey Fatone now hosting the show?  

[rugrats1]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'194492\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 02:43 PM\']
I emailed WHP to find out about any changes in the schedule - "700 Club" is now going in at the 9am hour...

I notice a lot more stations airing "700 Club" now than before as well...
[/quote]

I wonder if Pat did any armtwisting to get WHP to carry 700 -- "Susquehanna Valley will be going to damnation if you don't carry my show."

[sshuffield70]

Until a few years ago, the show was live at 10AM.  Now it's at 9AM.

I don't think there's arm twisting as far as affiliates, just with ABC Family due to existing agreements.

[Fedya]

Aaron Sica wrote:

I emailed WHP to find out about any changes in the schedule - "700 Club" is now going in at the 9am hour, with "The Doctors" at 10.

They're showing 70s soap operas again?  ;-)

(I'd rather watch that than watch shtick of people trying to be as snotty as Dr. Phil....)

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'sshuffield70\' post=\'194548\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 09:12 PM\']
Until a few years ago, the show was live at 10AM.  Now it's at 9AM.

I don't think there's arm twisting as far as affiliates, just with ABC Family due to existing agreements.
[/quote]

It's kind of funny how WHP has come full-circle over the years....They aired "PTL Club" (and later "Jim Bakker", etc.) during the 7am hour in the '70s, then at 9am once "Captain Kangaroo" was scaled back in '81. Now they fill the 9am hour with religion once again..

[Jimmy Owen]

As we all know, stations are paid handsomely to run 700 Club, so for a bottom-line, short-term thinking general manager, running it is a no-brainer.

In Flint/Sag/BC our CBS affilliate ran 700 Club rather than TPIR starting in Jan 76.  Over-the-air viewers were "Price-less" until Sept 79.  We did get the Nighttime version via the ABC affiliate, but no daytime Price.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'sshuffield70\' post=\'194548\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 08:12 PM\']
Until a few years ago, the show was live at 10AM.  Now it's at 9AM.

I don't think there's arm twisting as far as affiliates, just with ABC Family due to existing agreements.
[/quote]

ABCFAM has no exclusivity on that show (and they'd just as soon be rid of it, but are stuck with it due to Robertson's non-negotiable perpetuity clause with Fox for FAM that could not expire with new ownership).

Considering that "700 Club" is a time buy by CBN, I think the station is happy to take the revenue in a dead time period (unless you have "Today" or Regis and Kelly or are a Fox/MyTV affil that more or less has to take Mike and Juliet--or if you're WLS in Chicago and have Oprah).