Pyramid "sneak peek" on GSN

[daveromanjr]

Also, in the WC, on the subject of "Things you spread", you don't spread a "sandwich".  That IMO should have gotten an immediate buzz because the clue did not fit the subject.

I just put mayonnaise on my sandwich. The sandwich has been spread with mayonnaise. I have a spread sandwich. I'm sure that's not what the route were thinking, but it fits.

I am not sure if it is a Pittsburgh thing but we have a form of Ham Salad sold in stores labeled "Sandwich Spread" available at most delis and grocery stores. I was OK with them accepting that clue.

[catnap1972]

Did anyone see if the giver's chair in the W/C had straps?  Didn't look like it.  Might seem trivial, but if you remember, they added those in later on Donnymid for whatever reason (hand posts weren't sufficient I guess).

[BrandonFG]

I thought I noticed straps in the preview clip Chad uploaded, but then again I also watched on my phone.

I actually liked the zoom-in to the categories. Seemed like a nice nuance...one of those smaller things you just don't see anymore.

[Unrealtor]

Also, in the WC, on the subject of "Things you spread", you don't spread a "sandwich".  That IMO should have gotten an immediate buzz because the clue did not fit the subject.

I just put mayonnaise on my sandwich. The sandwich has been spread with mayonnaise. I have a spread sandwich. I'm sure that's not what the route were thinking, but it fits.

I am not sure if it is a Pittsburgh thing but we have a form of Ham Salad sold in stores labeled "Sandwich Spread" available at most delis and grocery stores. I was OK with them accepting that clue.

This sort of thing came to mind for me, although I'm not sure that it's specifically available around here. I believe that Miracle Whip is also described on its packaging as a "sandwich spread."

Anyway, when, in any version of the show, has saying one thing that doesn't totally fit the subject but is otherwise legal been an immediate buzz?

[Jay Temple]

Even though I've argued that some things shouldn't have been accepted, I grudgingly admit that it makes for better TV if you err a little on the side of accepting things. The "happy/happiness" incident makes me think of the occasional category of words with a specified number of letters, where Dick would give the special instruction that they have to give the exact word. This would have been a good place for such an instruction. Since they didn't have one, it's better to accept it.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Even if I was a Mitt Romney supporter, his speech would have gotten bypassed for this. That was great work.

Put me in the camp of people who like the redone theme.
The set cold use a little more color- maybe a couple blues here and there would do the trick.
I agree that the old sound effects and the new ones sound totally different (They even played the old win bells for a WC win), but that can be changed fairly easily.
For a first timer, Mike was pretty good. I see him filling this role quite nicely.
GSN has had a decent amount of commercial success with remakes rather than total originals.
Embassy Row Productions doesn't get as much work as they should, and if I were GSN, I would go to Michael Davies, hand him a list of shows they've considered remaking, and let him have at it.

[Jay Temple]

This isn't a complaint, just noting a sign of the times. They've gone from telling you what show the celebrity is on to having to tell you what network carries it. I guess having that many channels will do that.

[tvmitch]

I loved it. Smile on my face the whole time while watching it. I'm going to nitpick, though. And I'm going to nitpick about fonts. Because that's what I do. (Family Feud looks to be getting it right this season, staying far away from Arial.)

Let's get the score fonts right. The vane display-esque font on the main game score displays is not quite right. in terms of spacing When the display shows "11," the numerals shouldn't be immediately adjacent, they should stay in their fixed-width "container." Minor adjustment, but it would help with readability more than anything else. The old-school magnetic vane displays would not be too terribly hard to emulate on-screen with 10 minutes of work. Where's that game show font site when you need it?

Same font issue with the clocks on main game and WC, but it's more pronounced on the bigger monitors.

The main game words: Helvetica. Well done! Helvetica seems to be everywhere. I approve. I think Futura Bold may have been a better choice for some uses. At least it's not Arial.

I echo what someone said about the sound effects. The buzzer is particularly painful. Sounds like an MP3 I downloaded from Napster in 1998.

Mike will do just fine as host. I like the judging. I hated how Donnymid was so strict. I remember auditioning for Donnymid and they said, "you must give the answer exactly as we have written it or it doesn't count." Totally ridiculous.

Too bad the theme wasn't the '80s version. I think that would fit nicely. Maybe I will like the new theme if it's played louder and I can hear it. I am not a fan of the background music during the main game rounds. I don't think suspense needs to be added to the front game, save it for the WC. Minor though.

Somewhat random: I'm also tired of hosts giving the "dim the lights" direction. I caught the last 10 minutes of Beat The Chefs, and that direction was given by the host a couple times. Enough, really. This is not American Idol.

With "Here is your first subject" - I liked the little advantage that the clue-giver would get by seeing that category a half a second early. Reminds me of when Ludden/Kennedy would show the first word of Alphabetics to the clue-giver, let them get their clues, then start the game. We don't need it to that extent, but if Mike is giving the direction to show the category, then show the category.

[SteveR]

Loved it. Took the revival of my all-time favorite to get me back into the board.

Nitpicks are warranted but GSN got it right.

[NickS]

Let's get the score fonts right.

Call me neutral on this but this isn't what gets my goat about the fonts.

The main game words: Helvetica. Well done! Helvetica seems to be everywhere. I approve. I think Futura Bold may have been a better choice for some uses. At least it's not Arial.

See, Helvetica seems to be everywhere is the problem to me; if it was a condensed font for the categories (if you're going to go Helvetica, stay inside the family and go Helvetica Neue Condensed/Condensed Bold) and Helvetica for the words, ok, but it's overload to me.  Once again, yes, it's a nitpick but if you're going to upgrade certain things while keeping retro elements, here's a place where they could have spent a little bit of money.  

With "Here is your first subject" - I liked the little advantage that the clue-giver would get by seeing that category a half a second early. Reminds me of when Ludden/Kennedy would show the first word of Alphabetics to the clue-giver, let them get their clues, then start the game. We don't need it to that extent, but if Mike is giving the direction to show the category, then show the category.

I say give it time.  Hopefully, that will change.

One thing that I don't know was brought up but it's a nice addition in either post or live-to-tape - when a category is passed in the WC, it was immediately brought up on CG.  No taking of cameras.  Helped the flow, IMO.

[gamed121683]

Of course, Helvetica is everywhere...to the point where there's a documentary on the subject.

[CJBojangles]

Anyway, when, in any version of the show, has saying one thing that doesn't totally fit the subject but is otherwise legal been an immediate buzz?

In any "PEOPLE WHO/THAT ARE ______" category, giving a clue that isn't a person resulted in an insta-buzz.

[clemon79]

Let's get the score fonts right. The vane display-esque font on the main game score displays is not quite right. in terms of spacing When the display shows "11," the numerals shouldn't be immediately adjacent, they should stay in their fixed-width "container."

Seconded. I did a double-take when the kerning broke every time a number ended in "1", and it's a stupid easy fix. (Fixed-width fonts are a sensitive subject right now here at Chez Fred, as I am trying to get a countdown timer app through cert for Windows Phone.)

[stutzunoon]

I have to tell you that after watching the intro about 25 or 30 times do far, the new Pyramid theme has really grown on me.  The only side effect is feeling like I want to eat tacos after hearing it.

Also - after watching last night's 1st winner's circle with some audio enhancing equipment, I can confirm that they did not play the theme when he won the $20K.  I hope it was just a mistake of some sort, because the lack of it produced an sonic emptiness while the celebrating was going on.  

Other than that, everything else was fantastic - like seeing an old friend you have been in touch with for a long time.

[TimK2003]

Thoroughly enjoyed it, and it is miles ahead of any GSN remake attempted so far.  

Two little things that I noticed in the WC that never happened in any previous incarnation:

1) When switching/passing categories and they go to a wide shot of the pyramid board, the timer disappears.

2) When there is a Winners Circle win, you immediately hear the applause and the bells for a few seconds, yet it takes a while for the theme to slowly fade into the mix.