The Pyramid

[TLEberle]

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

Lolwut. A "feast or famine" bonus round. Isn't that what they're supposed to be?

[catnap1972]

Wonder if they're still going to coach the celebrities before the Winners Circle (or is it thankfully gone)?

[BrandonFG]

When I first saw the picture of Mike Richards on the set, the one posted on Buzzerblog on July 12th, I thought it looked like part of the set from "Super Password." Maybe it's just me? Overall, I'm looking forward to hearing that wonderful 80's theme along with the original sounds. Hope we get to hear the cuckoo, too

Not just you...when I saw the pic of the warm-up guy, I immediately said the same thing. :-)

[TLEberle]

One thing that I think is worth considering is treating the show in the same way as a movie. When you see a new version of Batman or Star Trek or Total Recall, you're seeing the new vision of what the director thinks it should be. Sure, there will be people who say the original was great or better than the new, but so what. Judge the show on its own and let it stand by itself. After all, there were probably some viewers in 1982 who saw the new version and had some of those same questions.

[aaron sica]

After all, there were probably some viewers in 1982 who saw the new version and had some of those same questions.

Funny you mention that. I got to wondering today after reading this thread, what it would have been like had this forum existed in 1982...There would have been outcries of "they got rid of the solari readouts and replaced them with LEDs all across the board!"...

[trainman]

Wish I had some "inside" information, but the audience ticketing website hates me.

[jjman920]

After all, there were probably some viewers in 1982 who saw the new version and had some of those same questions.

Funny you mention that. I got to wondering today after reading this thread, what it would have been like had this forum existed in 1982...There would have been outcries of "they got rid of the solari readouts and replaced them with LEDs all across the board!"...

Those viewers might have had some questions, but with Dick Clark still at the helm there really wasn't too much complaining to be done.

[Jay Temple]

One little thing that worries me: We hear Mike saying, "For $15,000." If I were making the promo, my preference would be to hear him saying $20,000 or $25,000.

Are you less likely to watch the show as a result?

Do you think the average person might be less likely to watch the show as a result?

number of people who would be more likely to watch because they hear "twenty" rather than "fifteen": small but non-zero
number of people who would be less likely: zero

My point is only that you'd think they'd use such a sound bite if they had it. In fact, if I wanted to play up the variable bank, I'd edit it so you hear him say, "For ten ... fifteen ... twenty thousand dollars."

Unrelated to that, my favorite specific thing in the ad is the shot of the celebrity preparing to receive the clues.

[chad1m]

My point is only that you'd think they'd use such a sound bite if they had it. In fact, if I wanted to play up the variable bank, I'd edit it so you hear him say, "For ten ... fifteen ... twenty thousand dollars."

I'm pretty sure the promo is cobbled together from the pilots, so they don't have a ton to work with. And think about this: 19, a highly respectable score, can still only get you playing for $15,000 in the bonus. It's really not a big thing.

[clemon79]

number of people who would be more likely to watch because they hear "twenty" rather than "fifteen": small but non-zero
number of people who would be less likely: zero

And by "small" you mean "utterly statistically insignificant." As in, "not even worth the extra ten minutes of production time necessary to find such a clip."

My point is only that you'd think they'd use such a sound bite if they had it.

My point is that it really, REALLY doesn't matter as much as you seem to think it does.

In fact, if I wanted to play up the variable bank

Clearly they don't. In fact, the theme I got out of that promo was "It's the Pyramid, bitches." Which is exactly as it should be. The game sells itself.

[Dbacksfan12]

The thing I can see going wrong is if The Pyramid does anything like the Osmond version did: weird taping schedule

What the hell does this have to do with anything?

[bulldog_06]

Who is the announcer of this version? I know some episodes have been taped to figure this info.

[MSTieScott]

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.

Game-centric person that I am, I have less of a problem with not being able to identify the celebrity, so long as everybody involved is able to play the game competently. I've been watching the "Figure It Out" revival a lot -- I don't know who any of the celebrities are, but I've already been able to pick out ones I'd like to see return if there's another season. I can see the same thing happening with this show -- "I hadn't heard of this person before, but wow, they're really good at this game. I look forward to seeing them on a future show, regardless of their celebrity status."

Another way to make sure we know who the celebrity is would be to do like the original version did and always have the celebrity sitting camera left.


Having been in the audience for the pilots, and after seeing the above promo (which does appear to largely consist of footage from the pilots), here's my impression: GSN has been running episodes (and mini-marathons) of classic "Pyramid" for a long time -- long enough that even non-hardcore fans have some understanding of the game's intangibles. If a network is planning to mount a revival of a series it's been airing a lot -- a series that will likely still be rerun while the revival is also airing -- it would be a good idea to remain faithful to the original. Not a carbon-copy, of course, since you want the new version to be identifiable as being made in this decade, but play everything close enough so your audience (which apparently has made it one of the more popular classic series on the network) won't tune away because the new version is too different.

[WarioBarker]

The thing I can see going wrong is if The Pyramid does anything like the Osmond version did: weird taping schedule

What the hell does this have to do with anything?

According to someone on either ATGS (when it was good) or here, the Osmond version would do the front games all at once followed by all the Winner's Circle rounds. And I distinctly remember reading that it took hours for a single taping session and the warmup guy sucked.

Not like they showed the audience on-camera, anyway...

[Jay Temple]

I remember hearing that too. When GSN ran Donnymid in the $25K spot for a couple weeks earlier this year, I noticed something that I missed originally. Most of the time, in the second game, it appeared that Donny's job was added in post, which makes sense if they didn't know what happened in the Winner's Circle at the time they played the second game.