Card Sharks Eubanks style

[wdm1219inpenna]

From time to time, the Sandman forgets to deliver to me on his route, so I end up staying up rather late. I was up watching "Card Sharks" at 3am with Eubanks hosting. I love his style, and the way he could instigate things, especially on the Newlywed Game. That being said, I have a few pet peeves about the show.

The original opening spiel was rather lame, compared to the 1978 version. I often wondered why they couldn't keep the opening poems? The set seemed brighter than Perry's which I actually liked, but the opening, especially the early episodes "From Television City in Hollywood, it's Card Sharks!". Bleh....Gene Wood deserved better copy than this dreck.

Win big money,
And give many thanks,
To our charming host,
Mr. Bob Eubanks onnnnnnnnnnnnnnn CARD SHARKS!!!!

Play the cards right,
You could go far,
Winning thousands of dollars in cash,
Plus this brand new car ONNN....etc. etc.

I loved the advent of the educated guess questions. One thing that annoyed me however, why, when it was an answer under 100, didn't they use the sportstype font readouts? I was never too fond of the 10 person survey questions, I felt they took a little too much time at times too. It was a good effort to add some variety to the game however.

It always irks me when Bob says to a losing contestant "We'll see you again." No you won't. Technically yes we will, in rerun land, but why would you say that? Just seems awkward, makes it seem like they'll be invited back to play again, when that clearly is not the case.

The 2nd end game for the car, while somewhat enjoyable, felt a little bit like having a 2nd dessert after having a 1st dessert. I definitely preferred the jokers in the deck to the 0-10 answer board used toward the end of the show too, although the $500 bonus for being one off wasn't so bad. Sadly, when the jokers popped up, it kind of ruined the flow of the Money Cards game. That's why I was never too keen on the Rafferty version with the prize cards. They always seemed to mess up the flow of the game somehow. I would have preferred instead that any 5 time champion would win the car for having won 5 matches in a row.

I missed the NBC sound effects for this game. The "ding" and the "buzz" sound effects on this version seemed very shallow or weak as compared to the NBC version.

While I admire the show for trying to add new elements to the original, sometimes less is more, as I learned when I hosted "Card Sharks Plus" on another game show related website last year.

I'd be interested in hearing the rest of your opinions about this, and any feedback about the comments shared.

Stay well!

Bill

[bandit_bobby]

Bob also said the "We'll see you again" line on "Dream House".

[Chief-O]

[quote name=\'wdm1219inpenna\' post=\'245896\' date=\'Aug 14 2010, 06:27 PM\']The original opening spiel was rather lame, compared to the 1978 version. I often wondered why they couldn't keep the opening poems? The set seemed brighter than Perry's which I actually liked, but the opening, especially the early episodes "From Television City in Hollywood, it's Card Sharks!". Bleh....Gene Wood deserved better copy than this dreck.
[snip]
Play the cards right,
You could go far,
Winning thousands of dollars in cash,
Plus this brand new car ONNN....etc. etc.[/quote]
Not bad. I did, however, like the open copy they used later on.....

I loved the advent of the educated guess questions. One thing that annoyed me however, why, when it was an answer under 100, didn't they use the sportstype font readouts? I was never too fond of the 10 person survey questions, I felt they took a little too much time at times too. It was a good effort to add some variety to the game however.

They did add variety, yes, but in my opinion, they did kind of break away from the basic "survey" format of the CS questions. The audience questions still had the essence of the survey format, though. Problem is, they both slowed down the main game to some extent.

The 2nd end game for the car, while somewhat enjoyable, felt a little bit like having a 2nd dessert after having a 1st dessert. I definitely preferred the jokers in the deck to the 0-10 answer board used toward the end of the show too, although the $500 bonus for being one off wasn't so bad. Sadly, when the jokers popped up, it kind of ruined the flow of the Money Cards game. That's why I was never too keen on the Rafferty version with the prize cards. They always seemed to mess up the flow of the game somehow. I would have preferred instead that any 5 time champion would win the car for having won 5 matches in a row.

I do agree that the prize cards on Rafferty's show got in the way. I really don't think the jokers affected the bonus round too much. As I write this, I just thought that a better idea would've been to give the contestant another joker each time they won. The "5 wins = car" idea does sounds like a good one.

I missed the NBC sound effects for this game. The "ding" and the "buzz" sound effects on this version seemed very shallow or weak as compared to the NBC version.

It seemed NBC always had the edge on sound effects; I definitely prefer the CS/"Scrabble"/CC/etc. bell over the TPIR bell. My personal CS sound effects gripe was why Eubanks and Rafferty didn't use the TPIR overbid buzzer for Money Cards busts.

[TLEberle]

I do agree that the prize cards on Rafferty's show got in the way. I really don't think the jokers affected the bonus round too much.

Got in the way of what? Didn't the syndicated version as three questions in the first two games and only one in the third? And it wasn't like "Oh, you've revealed an Oak Day Bed, and that isn't lower than a King, so you lose all your cards up to this point." You slide the prize over, rerack another card, and off you go.

[Jeremy Nelson]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'245904\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 12:32 AM\']Didn't the syndicated version as three questions in the first two games and only one in the third? And it wasn't like "Oh, you've revealed an Oak Day Bed, and that isn't lower than a King, so you lose all your cards up to this point." You slide the prize over, rerack another card, and off you go.[/quote]
The syndicated and CBS version used the basic format of four questions in the first two games and three in the third; later in Eubanks' run, the third game was cut to one question.

Bill kept the game moving along quickly enough where prize cards didn't get in the way. If the games stopped so Gene Wood could do prize copy on each prize card, then it would be a problem for me. But that's not the case here.

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'wdm1219inpenna\' post=\'245896\' date=\'Aug 14 2010, 06:27 PM\']The 2nd end game for the car, while somewhat enjoyable, felt a little bit like having a 2nd dessert after having a 1st dessert. I definitely preferred the jokers in the deck to the 0-10 answer board used toward the end of the show too, although the $500 bonus for being one off wasn't so bad. Sadly, when the jokers popped up, it kind of ruined the flow of the Money Cards game. That's why I was never too keen on the Rafferty version with the prize cards. They always seemed to mess up the flow of the game somehow.[/quote]

I didn't like prize cards and the second dessert either. Prize cards added no excitement, nothing to game play. If they had to have the car game, at least use real cards ("find the ace!") instead of those crummy "no" cards. A joker for every match you won would have helped a little.  

I think it would have helped to play whole games (not matches) with the 10 members of the audience and the educated guess questions. It seemed dumb to set the whole thing up for only one question. You wouldn't have both of them (or either of them) everyday then, but that's fine.

My big pet peeve was that the CBS set felt cheaper than the impressive NBC set. That's odd, because CBS games were usually mounted far more stylishly than NBC and ABC's. I'm nitpicking, of course, but the manually operated freeze bar and the absence of a Money Cards lectern were come-downs. I hate having people just stand in the middle of nothing. I'm not crazy about the Today Show plaza either. And the chaser lights around the car looked hastily done and out of place.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

Actually, I felt that the CBS set was an improvement over the NBC one. The NBC set looked like it could fall apart at any minute.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'gameshowlover87\' post=\'245915\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 12:52 PM\']Actually, I felt that the CBS set was an improvement over the NBC one. The NBC set looked like it could fall apart at any minute.[/quote]
I was always more partial to the CBS set myself, mainly because a) it was my first exposure to the show*, and b) it seemed more open. IMO, the NBC set was a little cramped, and every time I saw the "G2T2" podium roll out, it looked like it was ready to tip over. However, the NBC version had a sweeter contestant desk and I liked that it had an actual lecturn for the Money Cards, not the cheesy eggcrate chyron that the later version used.

Also loved the tilting Aces on the CBS set, which only seemed to last the first half-season, perhaps not to interfere with the car on stage? However, I thought the light border for the car was cheesy and out of place, and looked like the centerstage door from Face the Music. ;-)

*As a kid, I desperately wanted that card table!

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Jeremy Nelson\' post=\'245912\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 09:01 AM\']Bill kept the game moving along quickly enough where prize cards didn't get in the way. If the games stopped so Gene Wood could do prize copy on each prize card, then it would be a problem for me. But that's not the case here.[/quote]That's what I focus on. Bill knew where to find the humor in something (or tension, or silliness) but also knew when to keep things moving. Bob Eubanks will slow the proceedings to zero, whether talking to one of the Audience Ten or probing the reasoning on a question. And it gets so bad that he asks the offstage producer "OK, who's got control of the cards?"

I like the NBC set, I like some of the set pieces from the CBS game. I like both musical scores. I adore the work of Jim Perry and Bill Rafferty, but I loathe Bob Eubanks. That's really what it comes down to for me, not whether the opening has a poem or the sound effects sound like they're gimpy.

[Ian Wallis]

To be honest, I've always preferred the CBS version slightly over the NBC version.  I think the set is better - maybe a bit more cozy - and the variety of questions (bringing in the 10 audience members or educated guess) added a little something I felt was lacking on the NBC version.

Having said that, I like both...or maybe I should say all three (the prize cards on the Rafferty version didn't bother me), but CBS gets the nod - slightly.

[TimK2003]

I preferred the NBC set, and Perry over Eubanks (never saw a syndicated Rafferty episode until recently -- and I liked Rafferty more than Eubanks).  

It was good to see that Card Sharks finally got it's own original theme when the show went to CBS, and the CBS theme fit the CBS set.  That said, I still prefer the NBC/Double Dare-retread theme over the CBS/Syndie theme.

As far as overall gameplay, I prefer the original NBC format.  There was no extra or special games either during the match or the Money Cards.  Those Educated Guess/Audience Poll Questions and the post-Money Cards bonus games were just distractions which ate up actual game time -- Much the same way that the High Rollers bonus games did in the Martindale Syndie eps which also happened around the same time.

To a lesser extent, I kind of disliked the CBS version from the start. since it bumped Press Your Luck into oblivion, seeing that the CBS affiliate in Toledo chose syndicated programming (Oprah, etc...) over airing PYL in the afternoon.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'245923\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 02:33 PM\']and the CBS theme fit the CBS set.[/quote]Does not compute.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'245925\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 06:07 PM\'][quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'245923\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 02:33 PM\']and the CBS theme fit the CBS set.[/quote]Does not compute.
[/quote]

Perhaps he meant that cartridge on which the CBS theme was recorded fit the cartridge player at CBS.  Woulda been bad had it not.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

[quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' post=\'245926\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 07:14 PM\'][quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'245925\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 06:07 PM\'][quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'245923\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 02:33 PM\']and the CBS theme fit the CBS set.[/quote]Does not compute.
[/quote]

Perhaps he meant that cartridge on which the CBS theme was recorded fit the cartridge player at CBS.  Woulda been bad had it not.
[/quote]

Well played.

I felt that the CBS theme sounded too much like stock commercial music.

[JasonA1]

[quote name=\'Jeremy Nelson\' post=\'245912\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 09:01 AM\'][quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'245904\' date=\'Aug 15 2010, 12:32 AM\']Didn't the syndicated version as three questions in the first two games and only one in the third?[/quote]
The syndicated and CBS version used the basic format of four questions in the first two games and three in the third;
[/quote]

Travis is nearly right; for a brief period on the syndie version (as noted here) one less question was asked in each round. Other posts I'm finding add another configuration to the mix, saying they briefly asked 4 questions, then 3, then 2, before going back to the original setup.

-Jason