WWBTAM Changes

[mcsittel]

Maybe they could have offered contestants a "time out" lifeline where they can 'buy' a couple of minutes to think.  

As for the other changes, they're interesting enough to make me at least DVR the season premiere.  I wonder how the banking will work-the clock stops only *after* they say final answer?  Seems to me the only way they could keep a slow talker from stopping the clock quickly only to draw out their response.

The other unknown to me is whether or not the clock and presumed contestant-host banter reduction will make the show less interesting, as Meredith's role would seemingly be limited  to mostly reading and time announcing.

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'194527\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 06:34 PM\']
Obviously, the clock has to stop during at least the PaF and Ask the Expert lifelines. I wonder how many people will use them just to get that extra minute or so of thinking time?
[/quote]

Using a lifeline now to stop the clock sort of harkens back to the days of the Wonderwall pit stops on Winning Lines -- just a hell of a lot less answers to look at on the screen!

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'mcsittel\' post=\'194552\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 06:25 PM\']The other unknown to me is whether or not the clock and presumed contestant-host banter reduction will make the show less interesting, as Meredith's role would seemingly be limited  to mostly reading and time announcing.[/quote]I think you're right on both accounts: Meredith is merely along for the ride now, and I think the game will be much less interesting. Lifelines deployed on early questions not because you're unsure, but because you need to buy some time means players won't have them when they're truly needed.

I think we'll see more $0 winners, lots more $1,000 losers, people bailing out before $16,000, people being frozen out of the game, and maybe some winners of hundreds of dollars who let the game get away from them.

And you won't get nearly as much humor as was possible before, because it'll be brushed to the side in order to get another contestant in the chair, who will also-flame out early.

Millionaire worked because it's such a simple game. The changes have been small, and for the most part, they either worked or they were discarded in due time. The most recent change before this was the addition of the video wall, which served to display lifeline usage and milestone amounts.

[Joe Mello]

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'194556\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 09:38 PM\']
[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'194527\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 06:34 PM\']
Obviously, the clock has to stop during at least the PaF and Ask the Expert lifelines. I wonder how many people will use them just to get that extra minute or so of thinking time?[/quote]
Using a lifeline now to stop the clock sort of harkens back to the days of the Wonderwall pit stops on Winning Lines -- just a hell of a lot less answers to look at on the screen![/quote]
And they'll probably still be left on the table after the contestant bails.

[MSTieScott]

I'm not looking forward to the timer on the questions. Not only does it eliminate the fun of watching a contestant come this close to making a choice their final answer, but as others have pointed out, it may cut down on letting us hear the contestants' stream-of-consciousness thought process for their answers, which is half of the reason the show is captivating.

Not only that, but now there's no incentive for the writers to include those questions where you arrive at the correct answer by applying knowledge from a field unrelated to the question -- by the time the contestant would be able to deduce the correct answer, their time would be up. And I'm not expecting any more questions that can be solved by performing basic, but time-consuming, mathematical functions. I loved those questions, because they could be answered easily if the contestant would just take the time to think things out, but they almost always burned a lifeline on them.

Actually, there is incentive for the writers to include those types of questions -- with the timer ticking, contestants will be more prone to use lifelines or walk away, helping the show's prize budget.

[goongas]

The contestants can see the category menu.

[Craig Karlberg]

Some of the new changes of Millionaire I'm intrigued, like the Menu.  We now know that the players can see the menu.  Whether that helps a player remains to be seen.

The new graphics look nice.  Should be neat to check out.

As for the new lifelines, Ask the Expert can be problematic sometimes.  The availibility of former contestants & famous people can be an issue with regards to certain questions.  I'll have to wait & see on that.  The Double Dip is basically a good trade-off from the 50/50 in that you have more options to play with.  Once you commit to it, you have to follow through on it.

The clock is my biggest issue here.  The way it was the last 9 years in the US was good for me because I can sometimes think about what the answers might be.  Now, with the clock, it just adds speed into the game.  This is what happens when we live in an ADD-laced society these days.  I'll watch the first week just to see how it goes.

[TheConfessor]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'194557\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 08:56 PM\']
[quote name=\'mcsittel\' post=\'194552\' date=\'Aug 19 2008, 06:25 PM\']The other unknown to me is whether or not the clock and presumed contestant-host banter reduction will make the show less interesting, as Meredith's role would seemingly be limited  to mostly reading and time announcing.[/quote]I think you're right on both accounts: Meredith is merely along for the ride now, and I think the game will be much less interesting. Lifelines deployed on early questions not because you're unsure, but because you need to buy some time means players won't have them when they're truly needed.
[/quote]

It seems to me it might be just the opposite.  The clock only limits the time a contestant can think about the questions.  There will be no clock running between questions, so that opens the door for WWTBAM to become even more of a talk show, where Meredith can chat about banalities with the contestant as long as she wants, but actual game play is limited to brief spurts of 15, 30, or 45 seconds.

[CarShark]

[quote name=\'TheConfessor\' post=\'194584\' date=\'Aug 20 2008, 05:51 AM\']It seems to me it might be just the opposite.  The clock only limits the time a contestant can think about the questions.  There will be no clock running between questions, so that opens the door for WWTBAM to become even more of a talk show, where Meredith can chat about banalities with the contestant as long as she wants, but actual game play is limited to brief spurts of 15, 30, or 45 seconds.[/quote]But the door wasn't closed before. Meredith could talk to the contestant during and in between questions.

My favorite question of Meredith's run was during College Week, when a guy had to say the Pledge of Allegience a half-dozen times to figure out how many words were in it. He kept getting answers that weren't even part of the choices. One time he started counting the syllables. Eventually, he did figure out it was 31, locked it in, and won. Even though it was only a Tier Two question, the audience cheered when he got it. I'd miss a moment like that.