Author Topic: $ale of the Century to GSN. (Read 128812 times)

Don Howard · « **Reply #330 on:** April 29, 2013, 10:09:57 AM »

2 for 20 now in the WBMG airings of $otC on GSN. I had forgotten about all the futility in that round. Weak sauce, indeed. And disappointing.

If a champ is on his or her second day on a Monday, the car they went to the trouble of getting for the week doesn\'t have a chance of being won, does it?

Don Morrow: \"One of today\'s Sale of the Century contestants could win....\" No, man, that car\'s going back to the showroom.

Doug, will you send me a link to the PDFs you found? Thank you.

Vahan_Nisanian · « **Reply #331 on:** April 29, 2013, 10:12:52 AM »

Ryan Rinkerman\'s site indicates that the WBMG debuted on December 28, 1987, along with the new theme mix. Not sure if that\'s correct or not.

Don Howard · « **Reply #332 on:** April 29, 2013, 10:22:09 AM »

Ryan Rinkerman\'s site indicates that the WBMG debuted on December 28, 1987, along with the new theme mix. Not sure if that\'s correct or not.

That sounds right. At the same time, they got rid of the fee plug rattle at the end of the show.

MikeK · « **Reply #333 on:** April 29, 2013, 10:27:28 AM »

If a champ is on his or her second day on a Monday, the car they went to the trouble of getting for the week doesn\'t have a chance of being won, does it?
Don Morrow: \"One of today\'s Sale of the Century contestants could win....\" No, man, that car\'s going back to the showroom.

This. I had the exact same thought last week. At least with the Winner\'s Board, there was always a possibility (as remote as it was) that a champ could win the car on day 1.

Given the relative stinginess of Sale in \'88/\'89, I\'m surprised they didn\'t offer the same mid-level car until it was won.

Don Howard · « **Reply #334 on:** April 29, 2013, 10:34:23 AM »

What I wish they had done at the 7th level of the Winners Big Money Game was this:

If you lose the car, you\'re not kicked off the show. Should you win the next game, you try again for the car in that round and keep trying for the car as long as you continue winning your main games until you win the car. And then, same with the 50 thou. Lose that top level prize and you return to play again...trying once more for the $50K until it\'s won.

Instead, we have NBC and/or Reg Grundy Productions possibly saying, \"Whew! The champ didn\'t win the car and is off the show. That car and the 50 grand are safe. It\'ll be over a week before we have to sweat out someone having another crack at those. Nice work with those six-word puzzles, gang\".

Strikerz04 · « **Reply #335 on:** April 29, 2013, 11:05:42 AM »

Don Morrow: \"One of today\'s Sale of the Century contestants could win....\" No, man, that car\'s going back to the showroom.

+1. I nearly broke out into laughter.

On-topic: my frustration with this is that the first 5 years they\'ve had many players get the car or the cash within a certain amount of time. Yet, we get to the last year-and-a-quarter, we\'ve had (to my knowledge) four people get to Day 7 or better,(and the frequency of wins with WBMG are abysmal).

/Still a fan of WBMG, just not a fan of the amount of losses.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #336 on:** April 29, 2013, 06:32:18 PM »

2 for 20 now in the WBMG airings of $otC on GSN. I had forgotten about all the futility in that round. Weak sauce, indeed. And disappointing.
If a champ is on his or her second day on a Monday, the car they went to the trouble of getting for the week doesn\'t have a chance of being won, does it?

Don Morrow: \"One of today\'s Sale of the Century contestants could win....\" No, man, that car\'s going back to the showroom.

Doug, will you send me a link to the PDFs you found? Thank you.

Forget \"nearly.\" I chuckled.

The PDFs are from Casey Abell\'s site (he nukes them as soon as the dates pass). I think it\'s gameshowfollies.blogspot.com.

TLEberle · « **Reply #337 on:** April 29, 2013, 07:15:25 PM »

Are the contestants bumbling on easy puzzles or is the deck stacked against winning the money?

clemon79 · « **Reply #338 on:** April 29, 2013, 07:28:42 PM »

Are the contestants bumbling on easy puzzles or is the deck stacked against winning the money?

The deck\'s stacked. IIRC you had to get *at least* one of the puzzles on the third word in order to get four in time, and they almost never gave you enough information to be Cedric-sure-sure until the fourth. So you had to guess at least once - and if you guessed wrong you were doubly farked.

sotcfan2004 · « **Reply #339 on:** April 30, 2013, 12:16:21 AM »

Without spoiling the outcome of today\'s airing, that was definitely one of the more awesome speed rounds.

TheInquisitiveOne · « **Reply #340 on:** April 30, 2013, 12:17:12 AM »

Are the contestants bumbling on easy puzzles or is the deck stacked against winning the money?

The deck\'s stacked. IIRC you had to get *at least* one of the puzzles on the third word in order to get four in time, and they almost never gave you enough information to be Cedric-sure-sure until the fourth. So you had to guess at least once - and if you guessed wrong you were doubly farked.

So I\'m curious...why did they allow the contestant one wrong answer if they knew there was no coming back?

Would it have been fair to add five seconds to the clock, with the caveat of an incorrect answer ending the game? Would it even be better to stop the game outright on the first wrong answer without adding time?

The Inquisitive One

clemon79 · « **Reply #341 on:** April 30, 2013, 12:27:56 AM »

So I\'m curious...why did they allow the contestant one wrong answer if they knew there was no coming back?

We already know they consciously went to air with something imbalanced. Why do you think anyone here is going to know the answer to this?

Would it have been fair to add five seconds to the clock, with the caveat of an incorrect answer ending the game?

You\'d have a whole lot more winners doing it that way, which is pretty clearly the opposite of what they were going for.

TheInquisitiveOne · « **Reply #342 on:** April 30, 2013, 12:39:06 AM »

So I\'m curious...why did they allow the contestant one wrong answer if they knew there was no coming back?

We already know they consciously went to air with something imbalanced. Why do you think anyone here is going to know the answer to this?

Would it have been fair to add five seconds to the clock, with the caveat of an incorrect answer ending the game?

You\'d have a whole lot more winners doing it that way, which is pretty clearly the opposite of what they were going for.

That question was a little more of thought than seeking a definitive answer.

I just think this: missing one answer effectively ends the game. Why not just literally end the game outright instead of providing false hope? That was my biggest hangup of the Winner\'s Big Money Game.

The Inquisitive One

TLEberle · « **Reply #343 on:** April 30, 2013, 12:42:50 AM »

I just think this: missing one answer effectively ends the game. Why not just literally end the game outright instead of providing false hope?

Because they\'ve budgeted a particular amount of time for the game, and most people having goofed once will get gunshy, use up more time and get close to that amount of time carved out for the bonus game.

TheInquisitiveOne · « **Reply #344 on:** April 30, 2013, 01:24:01 AM »

I just think this: missing one answer effectively ends the game. Why not just literally end the game outright instead of providing false hope?

Because they\'ve budgeted a particular amount of time for the game, and most people having goofed once will get gunshy, use up more time and get close to that amount of time carved out for the bonus game.

Touche. From a blocking standpoint, that makes perfect sense.

The Inquisitive One