Feud question

[Kevin Prather]

But if the format is SSDTT, if one family sweeps the first three questions, they should be well over 300, yes?

He's saying that if one family scoops 200 points in the first two, that question three will have at most 98 points on the board.

Right, but are the dollar values not doubled for the third question?

That would make a max of 49 points on the board for that question. Highly unlikely, I'd say.

[TLEberle]

They are, so there would be answers totaling 49 respondents. Or less.

[clemon79]

They are, so there would be answers totaling 49 respondents. Or less.

Right, so the production company, short of doing something completely insane like that, can't reduce the odds of the game ending earlier or later than question four to zero. Which was my point.

[JasonA1]

What they're saying, without getting to the nut of it, is that they have been doing that going back to Richard Karn. If one family wins the first two rounds, then suddenly round 3 has a number one answer of 14 points, with the remaining answers clocking in around that. If the first two rounds are split, the third round question is "normal."

-Jason

[Mr. Armadillo]

They are, so there would be answers totaling 49 respondents. Or less.

Right, so the production company, short of doing something completely insane like that, can't reduce the odds of the game ending earlier or later than question four to zero. Which was my point.

I can clearly recall them asking one Double question this year that only had 44 respondents on the board.  There's a reason that the Double questions are usually way more open-ended than the rest (going back to the Karn years), and I suspect this is it.

[clemon79]

I can clearly recall them asking one Double question this year that only had 44 respondents on the board.

I'm not doubting you, but the utter stupidity of that just amazes me. I posit that when your Number One answer is "Other", you've got a problem with that question.

[Mr. Armadillo]

Another update on 'How to Edit Your Shows Within an Inch of Their Lives:"

According to Golden-Road user Axl, who attended a taping last week, the rules of the game actually forbid a team from reaching Sudden Death with zero points, to the point that a Triple question had to be thrown out since the trailing family didn't put enough points on the board for the leading family to win outright on a steal.  

Of course, it probably would have been thrown out anyway because they don't like airing questions worth so few points, but Heaven forbid that the show be forced to use two Sudden Death questions.

[TLEberle]

According to Golden-Road user Axl, who attended a taping last week, the rules of the game actually forbid a team from reaching Sudden Death with zero points, to the point that a Triple question had to be thrown out since the trailing family didn't put enough points on the board for the leading family to win outright on a steal.  

If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit.

[Jeremy Nelson]

But if the format is SSDTT, if one family sweeps the first three questions, they should be well over 300, yes?

He's saying that if one family scoops 200 points in the first two, that question three will have at most 98 points on the board.

Right, but are the dollar values not doubled for the third question?

That would make a max of 49 points on the board for that question. Highly unlikely, I'd say.

From what I've seen, a sweep of the first two rounds usually would put the leading team somewhere between 140 and 180, meaning that the third question could still be worth a lot, but in the end nowadays, never a win.

I would love to see the double Fast Money, but how long is that Triple round segment? I'd imagine it's not as long as the actual Fast Money segment, but then again, Steve wouldn't have to explain the rules or do that dopey cutaway twice. The second one, I imagine, would jump right into the proceedings as Dawson's version did after the first couple of years.

/Still wonder why they explain the rules before EVERY Fast Money

According to Golden-Road user Axl, who attended a taping last week, the rules of the game actually forbid a team from reaching Sudden Death with zero points, to the point that a Triple question had to be thrown out since the trailing family didn't put enough points on the board for the leading family to win outright on a steal.

Seeing things like this happen just irk me....it's like the format is built on an industrial line- either it's constructed exactly like the rest, or it gets pulled. It's like when they re-added the podium scoreboards after O Hurley took over. Someone in the back doesn't want to adapt to a small change, so the show has to fit into the mold of what's been done and what's "safe".

[TLEberle]

It is as if having a game is getting in the way of their producing a game show.

[JMFabiano]

It is as if having a game is getting in the way of their producing a game show.

It's not just a game, it's a show!  Sorry, wrong Fremantle production.

Seriously, I was just over at G-R and they explain it a little better.  Unless they came up with a SD question that the survey was unanimous in answering, the 0-scoring team would have no chance.  I see what you're talking about, on the other hand...them not wanting to do a double sudden death (which kind of negates the meaning of the words "sudden death" anyway) because of the "usual" format.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Seriously, I was just over at G-R and they explain it a little better.  Unless they came up with a SD question that the survey was unanimous in answering, the 0-scoring team would have no chance.

Umm....the 0 scoring team won't get to sudden death the way the show's points are structured.

[golden-road]

I was wondering where I could get the episode numbers for this season.

[WilliamPorygon]

Mark Goodson must be spinning in his grave.

While it's not technically rigging the game, the stuff they do to force every game to be 4 rounds and no more than 1 sudden death question is incredibly disingenuous.  And it's not that hard to fix:  Just change the double round back to a third single round.  (Or better yet, do like they did in the Dawson and Combs eras and just play the damn game, and have them hurry up/do some editing if it goes to a 5th or 6th round.)

[Hastin]

While it's not technically rigging the game, the stuff they do to force every game to be 4 rounds and no more than 1 sudden death question is incredibly disingenuous.  And it's not that hard to fix:  Just change the double round back to a third single round.  (Or better yet, do like they did in the Dawson and Combs eras and just play the damn game, and have them hurry up/do some editing if it goes to a 5th or 6th round.)

//"But OMG, she said 'Penis!', and then Steve was like falling on the floor laughing, so we can't cut that - that's funny! See Steve reacting to funny answers is funny, so we'll make all the questions have funny answers and ensure that we have plenty of time for Steve to do the OMG face and then mock the contestant for saying the answer, and then it will be up on the board and he'll act all shocked. It's just soooooo funny everytime, and we're getting like 11 billionty YouTube hits!"