The Pyramid

[PYLdude]

I think Henry was more of a recurring guest star on Webster than a regular cast member.

And? Jane Lynch was a recurring guest star on Two and a Half Men before she went on Glee and I can remember seeing her a lot more than I ever saw Henry Polic II on Webster.

Admittedly, it's been about 15 years since I've seen an episode of Webster but my point is that recurring guest stars don't necessarily fade away.

[snowpeck]

I think Henry was more of a recurring guest star on Webster than a regular cast member.

And? Jane Lynch was a recurring guest star on Two and a Half Men before she went on Glee and I can remember seeing her a lot more than I ever saw Henry Polic II on Webster.

Admittedly, it's been about 15 years since I've seen an episode of Webster but my point is that recurring guest stars don't necessarily fade away.

Polic was a regular on Webster's first season (even credited in the main title) but after that, his appearances were much more sporadic-- usually only two or three a season.

[clemon79]

And? Jane Lynch was a recurring guest star on Two and a Half Men before she went on Glee and I can remember seeing her a lot more than I ever saw Henry Polic II on Webster.

What's funny is that I was considering getting all adversarial about this, considering the source, but then I actually did the research.

According to IMDB (yeah, yeah), HP2 appeared on 54 episodes of the 150 episodes produced. That's pretty much the textbook definition of a recurring character.

[PYLdude]

And? Jane Lynch was a recurring guest star on Two and a Half Men before she went on Glee and I can remember seeing her a lot more than I ever saw Henry Polic II on Webster.

What's funny is that I was considering getting all adversarial about this, considering the source, but then I actually did the research.

According to IMDB (yeah, yeah), HP2 appeared on 54 episodes of the 150 episodes produced. That's pretty much the textbook definition of a recurring character.

I don't think anybody's arguing whether or not he was a recurring character...my point, again, is that some are more memorable than others.

Hell, I watched Diff'rent Strokes every day for about five or six years when I was little and I didn't even know that there were two other maids after Mrs. Garrett until years later when I started watching the reruns again. (only one of those, technically, can be considered recurring I think)

[Jay Temple]

-I like the new tiebreaker format- never thought about doing it that way before.

I was thinking about this. I don't dislike the idea as a viewer, but I find it a little surprising. The old tie-breaker takes less time, which to a cost-conscious producer is an objectively good thing.

[bulldog_06]

I believe The Pyramid will have the biggest ratings in the history of GSN. Has any GSN original show gotten over a 1.0 rating?

[Marc412]

-I like the new tiebreaker format- never thought about doing it that way before.

I was thinking about this. I don't dislike the idea as a viewer, but I find it a little surprising. The old tie-breaker takes less time, which to a cost-conscious producer is an objectively good thing.

The new tiebreaker format also means more work for the writers.  I figure they had to come up with about 15 words for each letter in case a team is really good.

[aaron sica]

Hell, I watched Diff'rent Strokes every day for about five or six years when I was little and I didn't even know that there were two other maids after Mrs. Garrett until years later when I started watching the reruns again. (only one of those, technically, can be considered recurring I think)

I, too, was a DS fan when I was a child and you would be right. Nedra Volz (Adelaide) was the housekeeper for half of season 2 and all of season 3 and 4, however, I don't remember seeing her a whole lot and she never got billing in the opening credits. Mary Jo Catlett (Pearl) was the housekeeper for the rest of the run (seasons 5-8) and got billing in the opening credits from season 6 on. Had to YouTube the opening credits as I wasn't sure about ol' Pearl...

[Unrealtor]

-I like the new tiebreaker format- never thought about doing it that way before.

I was thinking about this. I don't dislike the idea as a viewer, but I find it a little surprising. The old tie-breaker takes less time, which to a cost-conscious producer is an objectively good thing.

I think it's only really going to take a substantial amount of additional studio time if they need multiple rounds of tiebreakers. It's certainly possible for that to happen, but I'd guess that it's somewhat less likely under this format than it was with the '70s tiebreaker format because it allows good teams to rack up 8+ points.

They could always take Old Man Stewart's approach and show all of the tiebreakers that end in ties so that they aren't wasting studio time on things that won't air, but since the show is one-and-done, that wouldn't be terribly fair once they ran out of time for the second game.

[Jay Temple]

-I like the new tiebreaker format- never thought about doing it that way before.

I was thinking about this. I don't dislike the idea as a viewer, but I find it a little surprising. The old tie-breaker takes less time, which to a cost-conscious producer is an objectively good thing.

The new tiebreaker format also means more work for the writers.  I figure they had to come up with about 15 words for each letter in case a team is really good.

This makes me wonder when the different categories were put together, because that's (by your quite reasonable estimate) 30 words they won't want to use again for a while if they're used.

[Jeremy Nelson]

-I like the new tiebreaker format- never thought about doing it that way before.

I was thinking about this. I don't dislike the idea as a viewer, but I find it a little surprising. The old tie-breaker takes less time, which to a cost-conscious producer is an objectively good thing.

The new tiebreaker format also means more work for the writers.  I figure they had to come up with about 15 words for each letter in case a team is really good.

One of the things I hope they do is throw in marginally tougher words after the first 5 or so...because what's really going to keep a giver from passing on a couple words that may take longer to get?

[TLEberle]

Easy fix: a pass/cuckoo either ends your round, costs you a point or costs you five seconds.

Fifteen words. R L Y.

[JasonA1]

Easy fix: a pass/cuckoo either ends your round, costs you a point or costs you five seconds

I think a quicker version of this that isn't such a drastic change midstream would be to not allow passing in the tiebreaker. Under the assumption this is the tiebreaker we have to live with, that change would help prevent multiple tiebreakers by throwing some strategic "stumper" words in one or both of the stacks at opportune moments.

-Jason

[TLEberle]

Easy fix: a pass/cuckoo either ends your round, costs you a point or costs you five seconds

I think a quicker version of this that isn't such a drastic change midstream would be to not allow passing in the tiebreaker. Under the assumption this is the tiebreaker we have to live with, that change would help prevent multiple tiebreakers by throwing some strategic "stumper" words in one or both of the stacks at opportune moments.

Then I just read aloud "quadratic" and move along to "quiet."

[JasonA1]

Then let's double back and throw out the new tiebreaker. Actually, so long as the writing is okay, the pass/cuckoo workaround shouldn't hinder things too much. They should be mindful of that potential flaw and try not to throw too many intimidating-looking words in the mix.

-Jason