The Pyramid

[Matt Ottinger]

How long did it take for the show to go from that phase of blindly groping to figure out the best way to play the game, where 11 could be a winning score, to the days where the game became how often could you get all seven, and scores of 19, 20 or 21 were commonplace enough that a score of 17 wouldn't hold up?

It's hard to pick an exact moment, but why should that stop me?

An awfully good "turning point" we could cite is the now-infamous Sandy Duncan/Nipsey Russell slugfest of 6/12/78.  Even though that game was only 19-19 after regulation and didn't even feature a lot of sevens in the tiebreakers, it showed how consistent good players could be.

I'm old enough to remember that originally, they didn't make a point of mentioning how many subjects each category contained. You just played for thirty seconds and scored all the points you could.  Then one day, somebody got all eight (that's right, eight) and Dick shared with us, almost as an afterthought, that there were only eight subjects in each set.  I don't know (somebody probably does) at what precise point they decided that seven would be the number.

Here's a concern I have.  Right out of the gate, the star-power of this new version and the typical star-power of the CBS $25K version are pretty much the same.  Stewart's "big guns" were frequently supporting actors in middling sitcoms and dramas.  Network television was a bigger deal back then, so millions more people knew Mary Cadorette and Teresa Ganzel than who today know Dot Jones or Danny Pudi, but stay with me here.  The difference is that Stewart's crowd knew how to play the game, and even casual fans of the show at the time knew that.  The first instinct I'm getting is that the celebrities in the new version aren't great game players, they were just vaguely well-known people who were willing to do it.  Pyramid doesn't need star power, it needs stars who can play, and I'm concerned this new version will offer neither on a consistent basis.

[Jay Temple]

As someone who was the tender age of minus seven when the show debuted, I have this to ask:

How long did it take for the show to go from that phase of blindly groping to figure out the best way to play the game, where 11 could be a winning score, to the days where the game became how often could you get all seven, and scores of 19, 20 or 21 were commonplace enough that a score of 17 wouldn't hold up?

Two short answers: (1) They were still "groping" by the end of 1973 when they filmed three weeks of shows in Los Angeles, but the game play had improved by the time the Cullen 25 debuted the following fall. (2) 17 stopped holding up a few months into the CBS 25 run, partly because people were back up to speed, and partly because they used easier material. It was unusual in the L.A. years for an item to appear on two lines; it wasn't unusual in New York. (example of the latter: "keeps the doctor away")

[tvwxman]

Here's a concern I have.  Right out of the gate, the star-power of this new version and the typical star-power of the CBS $25K version are pretty much the same.  Stewart's "big guns" were frequently supporting actors in middling sitcoms and dramas.  Network television was a bigger deal back then, so millions more people knew Mary Cadorette and Teresa Ganzel than who today know Dot Jones or Danny Pudi, but stay with me here.  The difference is that Stewart's crowd knew how to play the game, and even casual fans of the show at the time knew that.  The first instinct I'm getting is that the celebrities in the new version aren't great game players, they were just vaguely well-known people who were willing to do it.  Pyramid doesn't need star power, it needs stars who can play, and I'm concerned this new version will offer neither on a consistent basis.

Bingo.

Average America hasn't heard of these D list celebs. If you look at 4 players on a show, and can't figure out who is the celebrity and who is the player, you have a problem.

[Jay Temple]

Then one day, somebody got all eight (that's right, eight) and Dick shared with us, almost as an afterthought, that there were only eight subjects in each set.  I don't know (somebody probably does) at what precise point they decided that seven would be the number.

Someone knowledgeable told me that it was eight in the original CBS run and seven when ABC revived it. (I want to say pyrfan, but I'm sure he'll correct me if it wasn't him.)

[gameshowcrazy]

I'm confused about how the pass rule is different. A word is "out of play" if you pass, but you can come back to it if time remains? Are they treating it like Alphabetics, then, or does the receiver have to guess it with no more help?
[/quote]

I would guess out of play means that in the old version if you passed on the word "salt", moved on to another word and said "salt" it would count; now it would not until you come back around to the word.

[Jay Temple]

I can only hope the new tiebreaker format doesn't bring back the problem of resuming the show on the next episode. One look at that Sandy Duncan & Nipsey Russell episode from 1978 says it all for me.

I agree with TLEberle that they'll probably edit out multiple tie-breakers. I also agree with clemon79 that I wouldn't consider it a problem if they did have spill-overs.

[Kevin Prather]

I would guess out of play means that in the old version if you passed on the word "salt", moved on to another word and said "salt" it would count; now it would not until you come back around to the word.

I think this is right. If you pass a word, you can't get credit for it until it comes back around.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Houston, we have video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe2WAgNun-g&feature=g-all-u

[Matt Ottinger]

OMG, they're making it for us.

/Well, the promo, anyway.

[clemon79]

The content between 23 and 24 seconds is the most encouraging tidbit I've seen yet.

[chris319]

The content between 23 and 24 seconds is the most encouraging tidbit I've seen yet.

You mean that bug-eyed contestant?

[clemon79]

You mean that bug-eyed contestant?

Yeah, that's exactly what I mean.

[Dbacksfan12]

The content between 23 and 24 seconds is the most encouraging tidbit I've seen yet.

You mean that bug-eyed contestant?

Unless I'm mistaken, that's a celebrity; she looks like someone that was on the H² April Fools episode.

[MikeK]

The content between 23 and 24 seconds is the most encouraging tidbit I've seen yet.

You mean that bug-eyed contestant?

You mean that bug-eyed celebrity.  That's Yvette Nicole Brown from Community.

[WarioBarker]

The difference is that Stewart's crowd knew how to play the game, and even casual fans of the show at the time knew that. The first instinct I'm getting is that the celebrities in the new version aren't great game players, they were just vaguely well-known people who were willing to do it. Pyramid doesn't need star power, it needs stars who can play, and I'm concerned this new version will offer neither on a consistent basis.

I'm pretty sure your concern is thanks to Donnymid, where very few "classic Pyramid" celebs turned up. Sure, some of the newbies were good, but others just couldn't grasp it. 'Course, that wasn't helped by the Winner's Circle...

The thing I can see going wrong is if The Pyramid does anything like the Osmond version did: weird taping schedule, briefing the clue-giving celeb on the Winner's Circle categories, cutting back and forth between celeb and player in the WC, using terrible WC categories, and having the supremely-anal judging ("Things in a Toolbox" not being accepted for "Tools"? GTFO).

It was unusual in the L.A. years for an item to appear on two lines; it wasn't unusual in New York. (example of the latter: "keeps the doctor away")

I know they were really groping in the beginning. Watching the opening segment of the third episode (or the entirety of the fifth) is sobering -- sure, it's the first week, but things improved within three months.

And as for long subjects, it was worse in the very beginning, with one category ("Famous Last Words", on the fifth show) using such things as "shall not perish from this earth" and "frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn".

Someone on Game Show Confessions (not me) was surprised that Pyramid didn't go out after 13 weeks.