Create a New WWTBAM Lifeline

[mathwhiz]

Just for fun, if you could create a new lifetime for Who Wants to be a Millionaire - what would it be?  I'm not saying I think they really need to add another one, but just was wondering what other lifelines they could add if they wanted to.

I would say to add an "Extra Time" option that you earn after the first 5 questions.  You could pick this option to give you an extra 30 seconds of time on your clock.  This 30 seconds would come from your banked time (if you didn't bank 30 seconds yet, you would get what was in your bank). That way if you still think you can figure out an answer but just need a few more seconds, you could get it. Also, this would give contestants a chance at using some of that banked time since so few get to the million dollar question.

So - what lifeline would you create?

Rich

[Jimmy Owen]

Ask Meredith.

[tpirfan28]

"Time Bank".  At any time you can use it, and *all* the banked time goes for the current question.

[DoorNumberFour]

"Look At A Damn Map".

[BrandonFG]

Time Out
At any point from the third tier on, the contestant can get unlimited time on one question, just like in the old days. As for the time bank, at whatever point the contestant calls for his or her Time Out is the amount of time added to the bank.

Double Time
Contestant can double the amount of time on the clock, which goes into effect whenever the contestant asks. The only potential problem I see is that the show would probably have to adopt a millisecond clock, in the event of a contestant asking for this lifeline with an odd number of seconds remaining... No potential problem, I'm just an idiot. ;-) :-P

[gameshowcrazy]

Google It!

Contestant gets 30 seconds of internet time.  Lets face it, most people couldn't pour piss out of a boot if instructions were printed on the heel, so this won't be as easy as most people think, look how many times it failed on PAF, which is why they should bring that one back.

[Loogaroo]

Time Out is an excellent one.

Ask Meredith would be a messy one, because if she gives an answer and it's wrong, it would make her look bad. (Especially if she pulls a "Rebar" and says she's positive about an answer and she ends up being wrong.) That's not terribly good TV.

I wouldn't mind seeing Switch the Question come back, with one change: the contestant gives them some sort of specialty category (like the ones from Debt) and the current question is replaced with one from that category.

[chris319]

- Call Herb Stempel (self explanatory). I was going to say Call Dr. Bergen Evans but inasmuch as he's dead, that wouldn't work very well.

- Ask the Little Genius - ask an eight-year-old genius. Unfortunately, the Little Genius may already have been given the answers by the producer, possibly resulting in legal entanglements, so that one's out.

- Lower the Bubble - ABC may still have the giant plastic bubble used on 100 Grand. It may help contestants think better. Or not.

- Here's the Encyclopedia; Look It Up - also self explanatory.

This one isn't applicable to WWTBAM because it doesn't have an isolation booth, but there's

- Turn the Air Conditioning Back On, Please - air conditioning is restored to the isolation booth. The improved air circulation helps contestants remember the answers they had been given by Mr. Enright.

[ten96lt]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'240217\' date=\'May 2 2010, 03:22 PM\']Time Out
At any point from the third tier on, the contestant can get unlimited time on one question, just like in the old days. As for the time bank, at whatever point the contestant calls for his or her Time Out is the amount of time added to the bank.

Double Time
Contestant can double the amount of time on the clock, which goes into effect whenever the contestant asks. The only potential problem I see is that the show would probably have to adopt a millisecond clock, in the event of a contestant asking for this lifeline with an odd number of seconds remaining...[/quote]
I like "Time Out" I was thinking of that name or "Stop the Clock!" as the name. I also like "Google It." Another one I was thinking of was similar to ATA where an audience member could tell you the answer if they knew it by either hitting a button on the ATA keypad and they'd selection someone that knew to answer it.

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'ten96lt\' post=\'240229\' date=\'May 2 2010, 05:03 PM\']Another one I was thinking of was similar to ATA where an audience member could tell you the answer if they knew it by either hitting a button on the ATA keypad and they'd selection someone that knew to answer it.[/quote]
Which is great until that audience member blows it for the contestant, and is afraid to leave the studio alone.

[Setsunael]

[quote name=\'ten96lt\' post=\'240229\' date=\'May 2 2010, 08:03 PM\']Another one I was thinking of was similar to ATA where an audience member could tell you the answer if they knew it by either hitting a button on the ATA keypad and they'd selection someone that knew to answer it.[/quote]
Already available in the German version (see it in action there), if you elect to remove the second safety level.  Lifeline allows the audience members that think they've got the right answer to stand up, contestant choose one of them who explain his choice , then they may confer a little, ala Ask The Expert.  Would the audience member be right , he's awarded a 500€ prize.




About the time-extender lifelines ... wouldn't they just most of the time lead to diastrous moments like the million-dollar lose from last summer ? Freezing clock would be a better solution.

As for ideas of new lifelines :

Ask MY Expert -  basically ATE, but you choose the "Expert" from one of your relatives - making it a PAF , without the 30-sec clock and Google.  Fair enough ?

Trade Up -  allows you to exchange the upcoming question with one from an higher level of your choice , if you think one of the future categories from the Millionaire Menu would be easier to play with.

[dale_grass]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'240217\' date=\'May 2 2010, 03:22 PM\']Double Time
Contestant can double the amount of time on the clock, which goes into effect whenever the contestant asks. The only potential problem I see is that the show would probably have to adopt a millisecond clock, in the event of a contestant asking for this lifeline with an odd number of seconds remaining...[/quote]
Double 23 is 46... why the need for fractions of a second?  Or am I not understanding?

I've pondered the concept of an absolute clock.  The contestant has eight minutes at the top of the show and the clock runs from the time Meredith finishes the options to the time the contestant says "Final answer," including uses of lifelines.

With the current set-up, I like the idea of tapping from banked time in one form or another.

[Jimmy Owen]

Buy a Clue.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'240240\' date=\'May 2 2010, 07:07 PM\']Buy a Clue.[/quote]Would it still be $250 per clue, or would you adjust for inflation?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'dale_grass\' post=\'240239\' date=\'May 2 2010, 10:05 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'240217\' date=\'May 2 2010, 03:22 PM\']Double Time
Contestant can double the amount of time on the clock, which goes into effect whenever the contestant asks. The only potential problem I see is that the show would probably have to adopt a millisecond clock, in the event of a contestant asking for this lifeline with an odd number of seconds remaining...[/quote]
Double 23 is 46... why the need for fractions of a second?  Or am I not understanding?
[/quote]
It just hit me how badly I suck at math (hence me majoring in journalism), and that I somehow confused multiplication with division (sheesh-I blame sleep deprivation).

/Thanks to all who like Time Out