LMAD Renewed for Season 4

[golden-road]

The Super Deal seems kind of...lame. $1,000 and $2,000 are, I believe, less than what was offered back in the 1970s version (and hence looks downright cheap today), and using envelopes instead of naturally-dramatic dropping doors seems...well, undramatic. And extremely boring.

Same amounts, but you're otherwise right.

[JakeT]

The Super Deal seems kind of...lame. $1,000 and $2,000 are, I believe, less than what was offered back in the 1970s version (and hence looks downright cheap today), and using envelopes instead of naturally-dramatic dropping doors seems...well, undramatic. And extremely boring.

Same amounts, but you're otherwise right.

Didn't they eventually add a $5,000 window in the 70's SUPER DEAL?

JakeT

[PYLdude]

The Super Deal seems kind of...lame. $1,000 and $2,000 are, I believe, less than what was offered back in the 1970s version (and hence looks downright cheap today), and using envelopes instead of naturally-dramatic dropping doors seems...well, undramatic. And extremely boring.

Same amounts, but you're otherwise right.

Didn't they eventually add a $5,000 window in the 70's SUPER DEAL?

JakeT

One was $1,000 always, one varied between $2,000 and $9,000, and the third of course was the Super Deal.

[TimK2003]

You should know better than anyone [except me] about WFRV being named for Brett Favre.

/ObOriginalPost: WFRV airs LMAD in the Green Bay market.

Sooo, John Madden buy a TV station?

Anyways, some college friends of mine back in the day had done a couple of pirate radio (10-20 watt AM) stations.  One of their stations was WAST "Waste Radio" and the other was WRPT "Warped Radio" a.k.a. "We Rock Parks Tower", the dorm that the latter was based out of.

[TLEberle]

The Super Deal seems kind of...lame. $1,000 and $2,000 are, I believe, less than what was offered back in the 1970s version (and hence looks downright cheap today).

Since you seem to know everything about drama and budgeting and prize money, please tell us, Dan Benefiber, how you'd structure the Super Deal.

[Steve Gavazzi]

One was $1,000 always, one varied between $2,000 and $9,000, and the third of course was the Super Deal.

Negative.  One of them was always $2,000, but the other one was at various points $1,000, a second $2,000, and varying amounts between 2K and 10K.  It seemed like they never decided for sure what they wanted to do with it.

[BrandonFG]

The Super Deal seems kind of...lame. $1,000 and $2,000 are, I believe, less than what was offered back in the 1970s version (and hence looks downright cheap today).

Since you seem to know everything about drama and budgeting and prize money, please tell us, Dan Benefiber, how you'd structure the Super Deal.

I will defend Benfield a bit. There's nothing exciting about playing for $50,000 when your two alternatives are $1,000 and $2,000. If I win the Big Deal, it's not even worth considering playing on. The minimum envelope should be somewhere around $5K IMO, esp. if it would save the show a good $20K in not having to pay out the Big Deal.

[TLEberle]

I will defend Benfield a bit. There's nothing exciting about playing for $50,000 when your two alternatives are $1,000 and $2,000. If I win the Big Deal, it's not even worth considering playing on. The minimum envelope should be somewhere around $5K IMO, esp. if it would save the show a good $20K in not having to pay out the Big Deal.

Since I have a history with and respect for the BFG, I'll be more friendly when interacting with him:

If you're betting $20,000-ish of stuff against $50,000, I do think you'll find people who will have a punt, especially if that's stuff you don't care much about. And if there are some people who don't want to play, you do the rabbit hunt and hope that it comes up empty.

The problem of pegging the money is that if you offer too much money for the middle prize is becomes a no-brainer to play. I forgot that the big deal is worth more than in the old days, so yes, winning Ten Thousand Dollars is a step down from the Big Deal, bizarrely. What does the worst of the three Doors pay these days? If I was budgeting, I'd be willing to do pocket money-third Deal-Jackpot.

[That Don Guy]

The Super Deal seems kind of...lame. $1,000 and $2,000 are, I believe, less than what was offered back in the 1970s version (and hence looks downright cheap today), and using envelopes instead of naturally-dramatic dropping doors seems...well, undramatic. And extremely boring.

Same amounts, but you're otherwise right.

Keep in mind that you are comparing syndicated vs. network.  Remember when Wheel offered $25,000 on the syndicated version and $5000 on the CBS version at the same time?

As for whether or not contestants will risk their Big Deals for an extra $50K, it may depend on what the Big Deal was.  If it's a couple of trips, I wouldn't be surprised to see it risked, especially by somebody who knows he/she can't get enough time off from work to go on both (if either) of them.  Also, a boat won by somebody who lives nowhere near the water might be a riskable item.

Now here's a strange question: are the contestants told in advance not to say things like "Well, I can't really use this prize, but I suppose I could always sell it"?  (You never hear anyone on TPIR ever say that they could/would sell a prize, either, which is why I have this feeling they're told not to for some reason - either that, or if a contestant does mention selling, they stop tape and tell the contestants not to do that.)

[clemon79]

Now here's a strange question: are the contestants told in advance not to say things like "Well, I can't really use this prize, but I suppose I could always sell it"?

Ideally part of the job of a contestant coordinator is to figure out the people who WOULD say something like that, and then NOT PICK THEM.

[Joe Mello]

What does the worst of the three Doors pay these days?

Around 1,000-3,000.  The average participant comes into the BD with about 4000-7000 themselves.

While I'm totally okay with the lower prizes being a grand or two in cash, I wouldn't mind them being a skosh higher.

[BrandonFG]

Since I have a history with and respect for the BFG, I'll be more friendly when interacting with him:

(tips hat) Very kind of you sir. ;-)

If you're betting $20,000-ish of stuff against $50,000, I do think you'll find people who will have a punt, especially if that's stuff you don't care much about. And if there are some people who don't want to play, you do the rabbit hunt and hope that it comes up empty.

The problem of pegging the money is that if you offer too much money for the middle prize is becomes a no-brainer to play. I forgot that the big deal is worth more than in the old days, so yes, winning Ten Thousand Dollars is a step down from the Big Deal, bizarrely. What does the worst of the three Doors pay these days? If I was budgeting, I'd be willing to do pocket money-third Deal-Jackpot.

I haven't watched in awhile, but I've seen a few Big Deals that I'd likely turn down, i.e. a boat or even a car, neither of which I have a use for (my Accord runs just fine, esp. with the brakes I just bought :-P).

Then again, I could just as easily sell the boat/car and still turn a tiny profit after taxes. For the smaller doors, I want to say I remember some contestants winning a room of furniture or appliances and that came to about $4,000 or so.

All the more reason the show should make the Big Deal between two contestants. I know that makes too much sense, but it also makes things a little more exciting. Have they figured out that having Wayne say "We'll see your door......after we check out Door #2!!!" makes more sense, or is the reveal still anticlimactic and boring?

[J.R.]

All the more reason the show should make the Big Deal between two contestants. I know that makes too much sense, but it also makes things a little more exciting. Have they figured out that having Wayne say "We'll see your door......after we check out Door #2!!!" makes more sense, or is the reveal still anticlimactic and boring?

I'll admit I haven't watched every day, but when I do see it, they still reveal the Big Deal last. So if the contestant picks a door and Brady reveals it second, it's not it.

Don't really like it and it kills the suspense, IMHO. (I have seen them deviate, just very rarely)

[PYLdude]

Now here's a strange question: are the contestants told in advance not to say things like "Well, I can't really use this prize, but I suppose I could always sell it"?

Ideally part of the job of a contestant coordinator is to figure out the people who WOULD say something like that, and then NOT PICK THEM.

...which is completely subjective and does not solve the problem because there's not a good way to tell who would say something like that just by sight.

[JakeT]

All the more reason the show should make the Big Deal between two contestants. I know that makes too much sense, but it also makes things a little more exciting. Have they figured out that having Wayne say "We'll see your door......after we check out Door #2!!!" makes more sense, or is the reveal still anticlimactic and boring?

I'll admit I haven't watched every day, but when I do see it, they still reveal the Big Deal last. So if the contestant picks a door and Brady reveals it second, it's not it.

Don't really like it and it kills the suspense, IMHO. (I have seen them deviate, just very rarely)

Oddly enough, my viewing experience has been just about the opposite of yours.  In nearly every episode I've seen, Wayne reveals the contestant's door choice second, whether it be the Big Deal or not.  This makes the reveal of the remaining door very awkward if the Big Deal has been won and already revealed.

If I'm not mistaken, 98+% of the time, Monty revealed the doors in the Big Deal in order of their value, always revealing the Big Deal last.  I think the only exceptions were when they were running short on time.  

And yes, having a two-contestant Big Deal is significantly more exciting than the current format, especially when one player chooses, say, door #1 and the other chooses door #3 and Monty starts out revealing door #2, building the anticipation that one of the lucky players is about to hit the jackpot.  And then he hits us with "Let's see what's behind door #3...AFTER we see door #1!!"  THAT, my friends, is what the Big Deal is all about.

JakeT