[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'240092\' date=\'Apr 27 2010, 11:18 PM\'][quote name=\'Dan88\' post=\'240091\' date=\'Apr 28 2010, 12:07 AM\']And a bonus round. And a $25,000 bonus for a nine-letter word. And no Numbers Games or Conundrums.
I'm sorry, Matt, but they'd have to mount a better pilot if they wanted Bill --
Countdown should not be dumbed-down for American audiences, because a dumbed-down
Countdown just isn't
Countdown.[/quote]
I always thought an Americanized
Countdown belongs on PBS. No big budget, keep the Numbers Game and Conundrum, and still offer the leather-bound dictionary as the grand prize*.
If there should be a reward for winning a regular game (do the Brits do that?), I'd offer something small, like a gift card to Brookstone ($500 or $1,000), or even Barnes and Noble (I could lose my mind in either store), and maybe $100 card for the runner-up. Small, yet satisfying (that's not what she said)...
*
According to Amazon, a $6,000 value!
[/quote]
A bookseller like B&N or Amazon would be a great choice for a gift card. Goes with the overall intellectual atmosphere.
As for the amount, why not $5 or $10 per point, depending on prize budget and discount from the sponsor? If you add a round or two to the current UK format to stretch from 45 minutes with short ad breaks* to 60, I figure that the average winning score will end up around 100.
* - at least in comparison to here. IIRC, Countdown's 45-minute slot has the same 39 minutes of show as Price's 60-minute timeslot.