"Whew!"

[alfonzos]

I watched a video of a friend of mine who was a contestant on Whew! He faced five opponents in fourteen games. Thirteen of those games were won by the Blocker. Was that typical? Did the game favor the Blocker generally? If so, the game was seriously flawed and I must change my opinion of the game as an unheralded classic. A game that favors one player over the other by that much of a margin is just plain wrong.

Possible fixes:
- Do what Bob Steward did on the original $10K Pyramid. Cover the bottom level with a slab of plywood. The gameboard would have five levels instead of six.
- Give the Blocker four blocks instead of six.
- Make the bloopers shorter. Some of them took six seconds to read aloud.
- The highest level should have four bloopers instead of three. It’s still a long shot; just less so.

[chris319]

One of the problems with Whew! was that the cute material went by too fast. Need proof? How long was it on the air?

[Eric Paddon]

I have never been among the big fans of this show precisely because of this point, that the Blocker always seemed to have a built-in advantage which wasn't helped by the fact that the Charger was at the mercy of having to wait for Tom to read the *entire* blooper.     The Charger could have saved a few precious seconds if he/she had the option of just saying it any point especially since the game was too fast-moving as it was to enjoy the "humor" of the clue.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'alfonzos\' post=\'237228\' date=\'Mar 9 2010, 03:00 PM\']If so, the game was seriously flawed and I must change my opinion of the game as an unheralded classic.[/quote]Wow, can you look down your nose any farther?

Please, oh great and wonderous King Alfonso the XIIIth! Won't you tell us which game you will rip to shreds because the game has a slight imperfection, or a format that bores you to death! I just can't wait.

[quote name=\'Eric Paddon\' post=\'237243\' date=\'Mar 9 2010, 05:29 PM\']especially since the game was too fast-moving as it was to enjoy the "humor" of the clue.[/quote]It wasn't The Far Side or anything, but I thought they were more often funny than not.

The easy solutions are more time for Charging or cut a level and a block. If the blocker has three secret buttons on his podium, you can certainly have a touchscreen or even a keypad there so that the Charger doesn't have to go offstage and waste a bundle more time.

And if that doesn't balance things out, increasing the time so that each person can charge twice and block twice, whoever has more money goes on to the Gauntlet.

[alfonzos]

Please, oh great and wonderous King Alfonso the XIIIth! Won't you tell us which game you will rip to shreds because the game has a slight imperfection, or a format that bores you to death! I just can't wait.

Curb thy sarcasm, knave!

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'alfonzos\' post=\'237264\' date=\'Mar 9 2010, 08:47 PM\']Curb thy sarcasm, knave![/quote]Well played, my liege.

[Offshored2007]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'237265\' date=\'Mar 9 2010, 11:48 PM\'][quote name=\'alfonzos\' post=\'237264\' date=\'Mar 9 2010, 08:47 PM\']Curb thy sarcasm, knave![/quote]Well played, my liege.
[/quote]
+1

I still miss this show, despite some of the comments here, some of which I agree with.

[Ian Wallis]

I still miss this show

So do I.  I'm happy we have about 14 episodes of this in the trade curcuit, but I'd love for more to surface.  Not to mention the closing theme!

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'237382\' date=\'Mar 11 2010, 05:16 PM\']

I still miss this show

So do I.  I'm happy we have about 14 episodes of this in the trade curcuit[/quote]
I'm curious, because I've never been enough of a fan to track them all down:  What celebrity episodes are known to exist?

[Ian Wallis]

I'm curious, because I've never been enough of a fan to track them all down: What celebrity episodes are known to exist?

Here's what I've got (I think I've got everything that's currently in the trade curcuit):

--May, 1979 - very excitable woman wins $25,000 (joined in progress) (OC)
--June 1, 1979 - Howard Wilson's first show (OC)
--June 4, 1979 - Howard's second (OC)
--June 6, 1979 - Howard's fourth (OC)
--June 8, 1979 - Howard's fifth (pre-empted on the 7th for CBS "Magazine") (OC)
--June 11, 1979 - Howard's sixth (OC)
--June 12, 1979 - Howard wins $25,000 (Guantlet run only) (OB)
--Aug 27, 1979 - Randy Amasia's first ep. (SM)
--Aug 28, 1979 - Randy's Guantlet win (SM)
--late Oct, 1979 - Tami vs Steven (halfs of two eps.) (SM)
--Apr 8, 1980 - Trish Stewart, Jamie Farr (OB)
--Apr 9, 1980 - next show; last segment is missing (OB)
--May 20, 1980 - Gary Collins, Mary Ann Mobley (credits clipped) (OC)
--May 21, 1980 - Gary and Mary Ann (no closing credits)(OC)
--May 22, 1980 - Robert Vaughn, Marcia Wallace (no closing credits) (OB)
--May 23, 1980 - David Jones wins $25,000 (no closing credits) (OB)
--May 29, 1980 - John Saxon, Betty White (rough video) (OB)
--May 30, 1980 - (last ep.) John and Betty (rough video) (SM)

[WarioBarker]

--May, 1979 - very excitable woman wins $25,000 (joined in progress) (OC)

Gene vs. Carrie, begins at Round 2.

--June 1, 1979 - Howard Wilson's first show (OC)

Began with Melissa vs. Tony.

--Aug 27, 1979 - Randy Amasia's first ep. (SM)
--Aug 28, 1979 - Randy's Guantlet win (SM)

I've seen both with "NOT FOR BROADCAST" in the bottom-right corner; David vs. Ann Elise after the big win.

--May 20/21, 1980 - Gary Collins, Mary Ann Mobley
--May 22/23, 1980 - Robert Vaughn, Marcia Wallace
--May 29/30, 1980 - John Saxon, Betty White

...Why did the celebs change halfway through the week of 5/19-23/80?

[alfonzos]

Please add to the database: what is the Blocker victory to Charger victory ratio? I, too, enjoy the show but if the game had been balanced maybe its run would have been longer that twenty six weeks.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'237391\' date=\'Mar 11 2010, 06:25 PM\']--Aug 27, 1979 - Randy Amasia's first ep. (SM)[/quote]
This is also available from its original broadcast.  Randy told me one of his co-workers at the time had a VCR.  Said person taped the first show but forgot about the second.  Randy thought it wasn't coincidental that said co-worker was a former co-worker shortly after the 2nd ep.

[whewfan]

Not sure if this counts, but the Whew! production I put together 7 years ago is also on YouTube. Hard to believe it was that long ago. The gameboard, AFAIK is still in my Dad's garage, but it's warped and needs to be reworked. I still have TONS of bloopers that never got used (enough, maybe, to do an ENTIRE WEEK of shows)

[Ian Wallis]

Could you explain why the celebrities changed halfway through the week of 5/19-23/80?

Sure.  It was CBS's practice at the time that if a show was pre-empted one day, it ran the following day.  Sometimes this lead to new celebrities starting on the Tuesday show (for example), and going until the following Monday.  This happened a lot on Match Game and Tattletales in the '70s, as well as the original $10,000 Pyramid.  In fact, for much of the time, it was unusual if a new week actually started on a Monday.