Create a New WWTBAM Lifeline

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Jumpondees\' post=\'240365\' date=\'May 4 2010, 07:42 PM\']"Double Time" (Not to be confused with a concept from earlier in the thread with the same name)

This lifeline would be earned after the completing the first 10 questions (i.e. reaching the $25,000 level in the U.S. version).  Its primary purpose would be to revive a lifeline used on a prior question at a cost of speeding up the clock in "double time" for the remainder of the game, thus halving the time the contestant has to answer the questions.[/quote]
<click>

"Hey, Cletus? Why's that clock running fast?"

"I dunno, Brandine. What's on Judge Judy?"

<click>

(In other words: way too convoluted.)

[Jumpondees]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'240389\' date=\'May 5 2010, 01:18 PM\']<click>

"Hey, Cletus? Why's that clock running fast?"

"I dunno, Brandine. What's on Judge Judy?"

<click>

(In other words: way too convoluted.)[/quote]

You're assuming Cletus "grad-jee-ated" primary school and knows what a clock is.  :-)

[TLEberle]

Last week on a lark, I pointed my browser to hulu.com and watched the first several episodes of the show, and remembered what hooked me in the first place. A simple game being played for life-changing money by a cross-section of America. Regis would explain the rules of the game "the more questions you get right, the more money you'll win" and he went over the three lifelines in detail that would seem absurd ten years later, but back then, the idea that you could get that sort of help was revolutionary.

I don't know whether it is funny, sad or somewhere in between that we're trying to "fix" a show that was not broken for a long long time.

[Hastin]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'240436\' date=\'May 5 2010, 09:53 PM\']I don't know whether it is funny, sad or somewhere in between that we're trying to "fix" a show that was not broken for a long long time.[/quote]

From a viewer standpoint, the show was not broken. However, from a production standpoint, the open-ended questions could be a taping nightmare. I get the point of the clock, and updating the money tree. They've only messed with the lifelines because they didn't want to make it too easy. The only problem is that they made it too hard.

[DrBear]

The Staples "Easy" button. Hit it and your question is replaced with a $100 level question. That was easy.

Instant Safe Zone. You can make the last question you asked a safe zone but you lose the option to quit after hearing the question for the next two questions.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Hastin\' post=\'240440\' date=\'May 6 2010, 03:04 AM\']From a viewer standpoint, the show was not broken. However, from a production standpoint, the open-ended questions could be a taping nightmare. I get the point of the clock, and updating the money tree. They've only messed with the lifelines because they didn't want to make it too easy. The only problem is that they made it too hard.[/quote]
Agreed...I remember reading reports that contestants were taking almost an hour to answer just one question. To me, it's like a math exam; you can spend all the time in the world deliberating on the answer, but you either know it or you don't. I like the clock for that reason.

However, I still dislike the fact that the clock starts as soon as the choices are read, and Meredith's reading eats away at the time a bit. Plus, you get semi-obnoxious contestants like that guy who kept interrupting Meredith earlier this season. I'd have her read the four choices then say, "Ready...Go!"

[WilliamPorygon]

Longshot!

Contestant draws from a deck of 3 cards, 1 of which skips him/her ahead to the million dollar question and 2 of which drop the contestant to the last safe level and ends the game.

/As long as we're being unrealistic...

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'DrBear\' post=\'240444\' date=\'May 6 2010, 04:32 AM\']Instant Safe Zone. You can make the last question you asked a safe zone but you lose the option to quit after hearing the question for the next two questions.[/quote]
That's actually pretty interesting! I'd adjust it to "until the next safe haven" rather than the next two questions. That could raise an interesting decision: Make $100,000 a safe haven, but agree to answer every remaining question up to the million. Would you do it?

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Kevin Prather\' post=\'240471\' date=\'May 6 2010, 04:10 PM\']Would you do it?[/quote]Make the tree ($100k)-$100k-$100k-$1m?

Pass.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Kevin Prather\' post=\'240471\' date=\'May 6 2010, 07:10 PM\'][quote name=\'DrBear\' post=\'240444\' date=\'May 6 2010, 04:32 AM\']Instant Safe Zone. You can make the last question you asked a safe zone but you lose the option to quit after hearing the question for the next two questions.[/quote]
That's actually pretty interesting! I'd adjust it to "until the next safe haven" rather than the next two questions. That could raise an interesting decision: Make $100,000 a safe haven, but agree to answer every remaining question up to the million. Would you do it?
[/quote]
Honestly, even with the "contract", I prolly would, knowing I'm still walking out with a six-figure payday. However, $100,000 is still pretty darn life-changing, but dropping down to $100,000 doesn't sting as much as losing another $75,000 on top of it. At the very least, I'd consider the $100K safety net compared to the $25K.

I had an idea for implementing a safety net, but just didn't know how to execute it. I think I simply had it to where you just told Meredith you wanted to use that as your net, nothing more, nothing less. However, I like the Good Doctor's suggestion as well. The more I think about it, the more I like it. Here's a modification: you can't quit through the rest of the tier...would some good strategy, you implement the safety net after your fourth question of that tier, that way, you're only obligated to the one question...

[ten96lt]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'240473\' date=\'May 6 2010, 06:24 PM\'][quote name=\'Kevin Prather\' post=\'240471\' date=\'May 6 2010, 07:10 PM\'][quote name=\'DrBear\' post=\'240444\' date=\'May 6 2010, 04:32 AM\']Instant Safe Zone. You can make the last question you asked a safe zone but you lose the option to quit after hearing the question for the next two questions.[/quote]
That's actually pretty interesting! I'd adjust it to "until the next safe haven" rather than the next two questions. That could raise an interesting decision: Make $100,000 a safe haven, but agree to answer every remaining question up to the million. Would you do it?
[/quote]
Honestly, even with the "contract", I prolly would, knowing I'm still walking out with a six-figure payday. However, $100,000 is still pretty darn life-changing, but dropping down to $100,000 doesn't sting as much as losing another $75,000 on top of it. At the very least, I'd consider the $100K safety net compared to the $25K.

I had an idea for implementing a safety net, but just didn't know how to execute it. I think I simply had it to where you just told Meredith you wanted to use that as your net, nothing more, nothing less. However, I like the Good Doctor's suggestion as well. The more I think about it, the more I like it. Here's a modification: you can't quit through the rest of the tier...would some good strategy, you implement the safety net after your fourth question of that tier, that way, you're only obligated to the one question...
[/quote]
Would get very interesting if the contestant did it when the stakes got higher. For example you make $250K your safe haven making the $500K a free guess, but you have to gamble $250K to win the $1 Million. Could make for some exciting T.V.

[cyclone45]

Phone a friend+ Ask the Expert.

Here's my thought. You bring your 5 friends to NY with you, they sit backstage. When you want to use the phone a friend, they're all backstage, no google or anything allowed. It then becomes an Ask the Expert type skype video call. That way they can bring Phone a Friend back and still keep their integrity. Producers out there? Are you reading? Hello?

[Loogaroo]

That's essentially how they do it in Australia - your companion is also your PaF, sequestered backstage and with a camera on them for when the time is needed to call upon them.

Why they didn't think of doing something like that instead of dumping the whole concept is rather puzzling. Either complaint with the Lifeline as it existed before (production costs, the Google factor) would be remedied with that.

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'Loogaroo\' post=\'240547\' date=\'May 9 2010, 03:11 AM\']Why they didn't think of doing something like that instead of dumping the whole concept is rather puzzling. Either complaint with the Lifeline as it existed before (production costs, the Google factor) would be remedied with that.[/quote]
Since the beginning of the syndicated run, when players suddenly had to pay their own way out to NY, how often do you see a contestant even bring a companion?

[vexer6]

Ask A Friend-You can contact a friend via Skype instead of an expert, this way you can be sure that your friend isn't using Google or anything like that.

Category Change-Similar to Jump The Question, except you get to change the question to a category of your choice.

Three Best Friends-Similar to Three Wise Men, three friends of the contestant each give they're own answers to the question.

I'd also like their to be a "Last Chance" for the final quesiton like there was in the US version of "It's Your Chance Of A Lifetime" If the contestant used up all their lifelines, they could re-use one lifeline of their choice, the catch is they'd be locked into answering the question if they used Last Chance.