Author Topic: GSN pledged to "Newlywed Game" revival (Read 9424 times)

clemon79 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 15, 2009, 01:37:51 AM »

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'206270\' date=\'Jan 14 2009, 09:45 PM\']
I would believe they had that many *skits*[/quote]
Really? I bet they had far fewer skits than they did prizes. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if they had *two* skits locked and loaded - one clunk, one not - regardless of the selection (save for a check, of course), and they just modded the prize one a little to fit with whatever prizes they wanted to give away.

Of course if someone wants to hop online and get their ass whipped at UT2 (maybe he's upgraded to 3 by now, I dunno), I bet Geoff would be able to tell us...

TimK2003 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 15, 2009, 09:41:24 AM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'206274\' date=\'Jan 15 2009, 02:37 AM\']
[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'206270\' date=\'Jan 14 2009, 09:45 PM\']
I would believe they had that many *skits*[/quote]
Really? I bet they had far fewer skits than they did prizes. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if they had *two* skits locked and loaded - one clunk, one not - regardless of the selection (save for a check, of course), and they just modded the prize one a little to fit with whatever prizes they wanted to give away.
[/quote]

That would be very interesting to find out. One other thing I'm curious about is the ratio of prizes (both physical prizes and cash prizes) to clunks -- primarily in the New Treasure Hunt days.

Back then there were fewer boxes to pick from, there was more than just one check available on the selection floor (there was the $25K check, plus smaller checks of varied amounts), the prizes and the klunks. I think it would be safe to assume then that all boxes had all different prizes, and most likely all different skits.

Forward to the 80's Treasure Hunt, the producers probably did duplicate some prizes and skits since the number of boxes increased and now there was only one "progressive jackpot" check in play -- smaller checks were eliminated.

clemon79 · « **Reply #17 on:** January 15, 2009, 11:30:36 AM »

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'206285\' date=\'Jan 15 2009, 06:41 AM\']
I think it would be safe to assume then that all boxes had all different prizes, and most likely all different skits. [/quote]
This is Chuck Barris, the brains behind "a prize picked especially for you." I don't think that's a safe assumption at all. It might be the case, but I'm not going to make that leap.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #18 on:** January 15, 2009, 11:35:48 AM »

I'm gonna plead some degree of ignorance here--the few TH episodes I've actually watched (and I'd love to see more) it seems the klunks were just a setup for the real prize.

Were there people who only got klunked?

clemon79 · « **Reply #19 on:** January 15, 2009, 12:38:22 PM »

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'206291\' date=\'Jan 15 2009, 08:35 AM\']
Were there people who only got klunked?[/quote]
Oh yes.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #20 on:** January 15, 2009, 01:02:14 PM »

I'm suddenly intrigued by all this speculation about the Treasure Hunt boxes.

I'm remembering two things in particular. (Well, three if you could the brightly colored leotard/miniskirt combos the models wore...) Over and over, and many years after the fact, we've heard stories from Chuckie Baby and from Geoff himself about having to be ready for dozens and dozens of possible skits. Certainly Barris has a reputation for making stuff up, but if that's something that's NOT true, it's a legend that has survived without any real evidence to the contrary.

I'd also wonder how S&P would figure into all of this. If there were fewer skits than boxes, and only, say, half a dozen prize packages, as long as S&P knew about it, would it matter that the audience is being led to believe that there was something different in every box?

The other thing I always remember is that at the end of the skit, Geoff would show us the empty box, proving that there was nothing left inside. I always thought that was a little silly since there was a commercial break between the contestant's selection and the reveal, time enough to put in or take out whatever they wanted.

clemon79 · « **Reply #21 on:** January 15, 2009, 01:37:25 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'206304\' date=\'Jan 15 2009, 10:02 AM\']
I'd also wonder how S&P would figure into all of this. If there were fewer skits than boxes, and only, say, half a dozen prize packages, as long as S&P knew about it, would it matter that the audience is being led to believe that there was something different in every box?[/quote]
Not in the least. If the S&P guy has a sheet of paper that says "If the player picks Box 2, 7, 12, 18, 26, or 32, they win X", then the rest is chrome and I have not one single problem with that. I don't ever remember them promising anything other than that one box held Emile Autori's check, which was absolutely true.

Quote

The other thing I always remember is that at the end of the skit, Geoff would show us the empty box, proving that there was nothing left inside. I always thought that was a little silly since there was a commercial break between the contestant's selection and the reveal, time enough to put in or take out whatever they wanted.

Never mind that: it would be even easier to fill the boxes before the show: Prize Boxes get the Prize Prop, a beret or whatever, and the Clunk Boxes get whatever rubber chicken or what have you they're using for that skit. They could buy in bulk.

mmb5 · « **Reply #22 on:** January 15, 2009, 01:53:55 PM »

Whatever you do, stay away from boxes 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42.

parliboy · « **Reply #23 on:** January 15, 2009, 02:31:22 PM »

Then how do they address the problem of the same skit being chosen twice in a show?

clemon79 · « **Reply #24 on:** January 15, 2009, 02:35:00 PM »

[quote name=\'parliboy\' post=\'206313\' date=\'Jan 15 2009, 11:31 AM\']
Then how do they address the problem of the same skit being chosen twice in a show?[/quote]
Good point. Which makes the likelihood of Matt's suggestion that they just pre-load the prop in the box during the break all the more likely. One skit for the first half, one for the second half. Boom, done.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #25 on:** January 15, 2009, 02:39:32 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'206314\' date=\'Jan 15 2009, 01:35 PM\']
[quote name=\'parliboy\' post=\'206313\' date=\'Jan 15 2009, 11:31 AM\']
Then how do they address the problem of the same skit being chosen twice in a show?[/quote]
Good point. Which makes the likelihood of Matt's suggestion that they just pre-load the prop in the box during the break all the more likely. One skit for the first half, one for the second half. Boom, done.
[/quote]
I must be missing something. Wouldn't that insinuate that whoever plays game 1 gets "x" prize no matter which box they pick (unless they pick the box with the check), and whoever plays game 2 gets "y" prize?

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #26 on:** January 15, 2009, 02:43:40 PM »

[quote name=\'mmb5\' post=\'206310\' date=\'Jan 15 2009, 01:53 PM\']
Whatever you do, stay away from boxes 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42.[/quote]
They're just numbers, Hurley.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #27 on:** January 15, 2009, 02:49:25 PM »

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'206315\' date=\'Jan 15 2009, 02:39 PM\']I must be missing something. Wouldn't that insinuate that whoever plays game 1 gets "x" prize no matter which box they pick (unless they pick the box with the check), and whoever plays game 2 gets "y" prize?[/quote]
This is basically the extreme example of what we're talking about, but theoretically, if it's OK for there to be fewer skits than boxes, then taking that to the limit, it's theoretically OK to have ONE skit. As long as there's something else, even a one in 64 chance, then there's a game.

Again, without evidence to the contrary, all we really have is the repeated word of Barris and Edwards that there actually WERE all those different skits for all those different boxes. Everything else is just our speculation.

clemon79 · « **Reply #28 on:** January 15, 2009, 03:39:31 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'206320\' date=\'Jan 15 2009, 11:49 AM\']
This is basically the extreme example of what we're talking about, but theoretically, if it's OK for there to be fewer skits than boxes, then taking that to the limit, it's theoretically OK to have ONE skit.[/quote]
I wasn't going quite that far. I was thinking that considering how tenuously connected the skits were to the prizes anyhow, it would be easy to have a single skit, and then five or six prizes to segue to from that skit.

Quote

Again, without evidence to the contrary, all we really have is the repeated word of Barris and Edwards that there actually WERE all those different skits for all those different boxes. Everything else is just our speculation.

Absolutely.

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #29 on:** January 15, 2009, 05:54:55 PM »

Quote

That would be very interesting to find out. One other thing I'm curious about is the ratio of prizes (both physical prizes and cash prizes) to clunks -- primarily in the New Treasure Hunt days.

It seems there more more clunks on the '80s version than on the '70s - based on what I've seen of the '80s version (pretty well everything GSN aired) plus what I remember from the '70s (and what I've traded for over the years). I guess the fact that the '80s version was five-a-week probably had something to do with it. I'm sure they couldn't afford to give away as much per show as they did on the '70s version.