'Second Chance'

[The Pyramids]

What can you remember about 'Second Chance'? Namely how close was it in look and feel to 'Press Your Luck'? As far as I know a regular episode has never surfaced.

[Neumms]

I loved it. The question round was slower and more cerebral, although I don't recall how hard the questions were. And at some point they changed the $5000 space to an eggcrate readout that would randomly stop when the spinner did on some thousands of dollars, a change that appeared cheap. And was cheap, though perhaps necessarily so.

The music and board SFX were and are awesome, and the board unfolding during the opening had no purpose yet was way cool.

An observation--the Carruthers used the Whammy on PYL, and they'd used it on Beat the Odds. So why did Second Chance have a devil, especially when Joker's Wild had one at the same time?

[Jimmy Owen]

It had a brighter feel to it than PYL.  Turning set was cooler than PYL.  Jim Peck has always been a favorite host of mine, so he can do no wrong in my book.  On SC, the  game was about hoping people would win, whereas on PYL, you were hoping people would lose, so you could see the cute animations.  The buzz-in format of PYL was a little less fair to the contestants than the write-it-down system of of Q&A on SC.   I also liked the music package of SC better.

[tyshaun1]

[quote name=\'Neumms\' post=\'237000\' date=\'Mar 6 2010, 04:18 PM\']An observation--the Carruthers used the Whammy on PYL, and they'd used it on Beat the Odds. So why did Second Chance have a devil, especially when Joker's Wild had one at the same time?[/quote]
From reading into what Mike Brockman, the man who was daytime head at each network the shows were picked up at, said during Stu Stoshak(sp?)'s interview a couple weeks back........ When Carruthers pitched him the idea of reviving SC in 1982, he was on board, except he wanted more flash and pizazz, and the focus to be more about the board (paraphrasing). He wanted the board to "come alive and be animated", in the thought that the show would appeal to children as well as their parents. Thus, the "Whammy" was born. Plus, in short, Second Chance is named after the Q&A, Press Your Luck is named after the board round.

Tyshaun

[WarioBarker]

My only exposure to the show is through Pilot #3 -- it's a nice show, and had a lot of what eventually came seven years later.

Jim Peck has always been a favorite host of mine, so he can do no wrong in my book.

So...you like Hot Seat and 3's A Crowd?

The buzz-in format of PYL was a little less fair to the contestants than the write-it-down system of of Q&A on SC.

I always thought that the "write-it-down" format was flawed, since it's usually obvious who had the correct answer the first time (if anybody did) and Jim usually began with the person who got the question right. Also, some contestants wrote an answer that wasn't one of the three given later on.

at some point they changed the $5000 space to an eggcrate readout that would randomly stop when the spinner did on some thousands of dollars, a change that appeared cheap. And was cheap, though perhaps necessarily so.

That was most likely after a contestant essentially predated Michael Larson. ABC paid for more patterns to be added to the board, and presumably changed Square #4 at this time. They probably changed the space in Round 1, too.

[rjaguar3]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'237020\' date=\'Mar 6 2010, 08:43 PM\']And Jim usually began with the person who got the question right.[/quote]

Not true.  Based on the pilot, on the first question of each round, Jim began with the first player, on the second question, the second player, and on the third question, the third player.

[WarioBarker]

Just double-checked -- yeah, that's right. Sorry.

[Ian Wallis]

That was most likely after a contestant essentially predated Michael Larson. ABC paid for more patterns to be added to the board, and presumably changed Square #4 at this time. They probably changed the space in Round 1, too.

Do we know for sure that this Second Chance Larsen incident really happened?  Personally, I find it hard to believe.  I would think if it really had happened, we would have heard something about it after all these years.  Since Larson has been mentioned on a couple of game show specials and has been well-known, certainly somebody would have remembered the earlier incident - but no.

Urban legend?

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'237074\' date=\'Mar 7 2010, 12:37 PM\']Do we know for sure that this Second Chance Larsen incident really happened?  Urban legend?[/quote]
At one of the homegrown GSCs, Jim Peck said someone pulled a Larson, winning over $70,000.

[WarioBarker]

At one of the homegrown GSCs, Jim Peck said someone pulled a Larson, winning over $70,000.

...Wow. I knew it was high, but not that high (I thought it was about $25-30K). Wasn't the limit on ABC at the time about $20,000 or so? Looking at this, is it any wonder that ABC paid for more patterns on a stopgap series?

/if it's spoken by the emcee or producer (who are the most likely to remember something like that), it's likely true
//if it's Chuck Barris, on the other hand...

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'237078\' date=\'Mar 7 2010, 01:02 PM\']/If it's spoken by the emcee or producer (who are the most likely to remember something like that), it's likely true.[/quote]
Not quite...Bob Eubanks vehemently denied that the "In the butt" blooper ever happened for about 25 years.

[Sodboy13]

[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'237075\' date=\'Mar 7 2010, 11:40 AM\'][quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'237074\' date=\'Mar 7 2010, 12:37 PM\']Do we know for sure that this Second Chance Larsen incident really happened?  Urban legend?[/quote]
At one of the homegrown GSCs, Jim Peck said someone pulled a Larson, winning over $70,000.
[/quote]

Can that really be attributed to pattern memorization, rather than a hell of a run of luck, though?  That Second Chance board moved so fast, I would think that someone would have to have incomparable reflexes, along with some pretty high-speed brain power, to pull it off.  The only way I could see that as feasible is if the board only had one pattern (Wiki, FWIW, says there were 9 at the outset), and even then, I think you'd need to have incredible trigger-finger reflexes to hit the big spaces with any consistency.

[WarioBarker]

Not quite...Bob Eubanks vehemently denied that the "In the butt" blooper ever happened for about 25 years.

Because he forgot about it, and the memories he was told were off.

[J.R.]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'237093\' date=\'Mar 7 2010, 02:43 PM\']Because he forgot about it, and the memories he was told were off.[/quote]
Did you personally ask him?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'237093\' date=\'Mar 7 2010, 03:43 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'237081\' date=\'Mar 7 2010, 01:16 PM\']...Bob Eubanks vehemently denied that the "In the butt" blooper ever happened for about 25 years.[/quote]
Because he forgot about it, and the memories he was told were off.
[/quote]
Or maybe he didn't want to be associated with such a crude urban legend. I'd think a punchline like that would be pretty difficult to forget, esp. when viewers constantly bring it up. Kinda like "She came on down and they came on out"...except THAT Bob was proud of that story.