Author Topic: 'Pyramid' vs. 'The Pyramid' (Read 12748 times)

The Pyramids · « **on:** April 05, 2013, 06:52:11 PM »

Do you think that the 40 episodes of \'The Pyramid\' were better than two seasons of Donnymid? I do, and I think its a real shame that the show didn\'t do better for GSN.

TLEberle · « **Reply #1 on:** April 05, 2013, 06:58:25 PM »

Both had things I liked and things I didn\'t like.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #2 on:** April 05, 2013, 08:07:00 PM »

Pyramid was okay, but the tournament format sucked, and I could\'ve done without the cutesy categories or efforts to make it about the celebs. However, it was an inoffensive enough way to spend 22 minutes. I liked that you had to win two Winners Circles to qualify for the tournament, and Donny was actually a pretty solid host. However, the tournament and inconsistent judging really don\'t sit right with me, and I would\'ve liked to have had a theme and set that didn\'t have such a rave-y feel to it.

The Pyramid corrected the judging and writing issues, but the celebrities were entirely hit or miss. When you can\'t even air an episode because the game play is so atrocious, there\'s a problem. Even though they were coached, at least Donnymid had some pretty decent celebrity players.

Still, advantage goes to the 2012 version, which stayed closer to the roots. Give me Donny\'s hosting and celebs, Mike\'s set/music, format, and judging. Both deserved at least another season with tweaks.

BillCullen1 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2013, 11:23:50 PM »

What Brandon said above.

TLEberle · « **Reply #4 on:** April 06, 2013, 02:37:25 AM »

My name, unlike yours, is in every one of my posts. Please use it.

Game Show Man · « **Reply #5 on:** April 06, 2013, 03:59:24 AM »

With the help of some friends, blog viewers and individuals on Facebook, 100 people were surveyed from what went wrong with the GSN revival of Pyramid. The results are here.

With all due respect, the people who took your survey are insane, stupid or on drugs, or any combination of those. The thing that made The Pyramid worth watching at all was the fact that it WAS like the classic version. I can\'t possibly conceive what changes they would make (beyond getting celebrity players actually capable of playing the game) that could\'ve deviated from the classic format to improve the show.

J.R. · « **Reply #6 on:** April 06, 2013, 04:10:01 AM »

With all due respect, the people who took your survey are insane, stupid or on drugs, or any combination of those.

Is it wrong that I lol\'d hard at this?

Loogaroo · « **Reply #7 on:** April 06, 2013, 04:27:26 AM »

While GSN\'s version was certainly more accurate to the source material than Donnymid, it just didn\'t feel right. Like a cover version of a classic song that gets a few of the notes wrong. I liked how perfect 7s boosted the Winner\'s Circle jackpot (and I\'m probably in the minority on that opinion), but everything else felt awkward and forced. I was not fond of Mike Richards as host; he looked so ill at ease behind the podium; he looked like Pauly Shore in a suit.

But I\'d still take the 2012 version over Donnymid. That version had way too many problems: the overly-strict judging coupled with the bad writing, the 6-in-20 format that completely erased any margin for error, the need to win two games and two WCs to even get a sniff at the $100K, and the worst celebrity casting job the show has ever seen. (Pro-Tip: avoid casting celebrities for whom English is a second language for a game where being able to understand language at high-velocity is so critical.)

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #8 on:** April 06, 2013, 10:47:27 AM »

Neither was good. Give me Clark/Cullen.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #9 on:** April 06, 2013, 11:08:35 AM »

While GSN\'s version was certainly more accurate to the source material than Donnymid, it just didn\'t feel right. Like a cover version of a classic song that gets a few of the notes wrong. I liked how perfect 7s boosted the Winner\'s Circle jackpot (and I\'m probably in the minority on that opinion)

You\'re not...I liked that as well.

Nice analogy, by the way!

TLEberle · « **Reply #10 on:** April 06, 2013, 12:31:35 PM »

[quote name=\"Jimmy Owen\" post=\"306966\" timestamp=\"1365259647\"]Neither was good. Give me Clark/Cullen.[/quote]0/10.

Jay Temple · « **Reply #11 on:** April 06, 2013, 03:33:59 PM »

I liked how perfect 7s boosted the Winner\'s Circle jackpot (and I\'m probably in the minority on that opinion)

You\'re not...I liked that as well.

I\'m in that minority, too. (When I was imagining my own production, I had the idea to play for $1,000 times their main-game score, with a perfect score bumping it up to $25,000.)

Adding to what Loogaroo said, even the strict requirement for getting into the tournament wouldn\'t have been so bad if they had returning champions: If you don\'t get in today, just win the day and try again tomorrow.

WarioBarker · « **Reply #12 on:** April 06, 2013, 04:45:51 PM »

Same here about 7-out-of-7 boosting the Winner\'s Circle payout. It rewarded doing very well in the front game.

the need to win two games and two WCs to even get a sniff at the $100K

Assuming 1) there wasn\'t a really bad celebrity booked that week (Estelle Harris comes immediately to mind) and 2) the Winner\'s Circle writers were feeling generous and using categories that actually had a chance to be guessed.

and the worst celebrity casting job the show has ever seen. (Pro-Tip: avoid casting celebrities for whom English is a second language for a game where being able to understand language at high-velocity is so critical.)

Lenny Krayzelburg comes immediately to mind. From what I gather (someone else could very likely fill in the details better than I), he did fine giving clues but had a very difficult time while receiving them and lost all ten games that week. Given everything I\'ve read and/or seen about Donnymid, I get the impression he was booked solely to keep anybody that taping day from getting into the tournament.

While GSN\'s version was certainly more accurate to the source material than Donnymid, it just didn\'t feel right. Like a cover version of a classic song that gets a few of the notes wrong.

I know it\'s an analogy, but they did that too...for the airings, whereas the actual tapings used the far superior 1982-91 theme. That kinda irked me because it felt like change for change\'s sake.

The thing that made The Pyramid worth watching at all was the fact that it WAS like the classic version.

...which may, in turn, have been the problem -- GSN was airing the 1980s Pyramid on the schedule for a good while before the 2012 version debuted, and it might have been overexposure to the franchise as a whole (and especially to what was arguably the high point of it) that resulted in low viewer turnout after a while.

I know of the celebrity issues and the like, I\'m not saying that (in fact, it\'s understandable that their skills wouldn\'t be up to par with the 1980s run, mainly since the last good version ended in 1991) -- what I\'m saying is that it might have been too much of a good thing, especially since having the 1980s Pyramid on the schedule resulted in an easier way to compare and contrast between the two shows.

tl;dr -- Give me 2012 over 2002-04 any day.

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 06, 2013, 05:11:37 PM »

I know of the celebrity issues and the like, I\'m not saying that (in fact, it\'s understandable that their skills wouldn\'t be up to par with the 1980s run, mainly since the last good version ended in 1991)

I believe it lasted until 1992.

MikeK · « **Reply #14 on:** April 06, 2013, 05:44:55 PM »

Lenny Krayzelburg comes immediately to mind. From what I gather (someone else could very likely fill in the details better than I), he did fine giving clues but had a very difficult time while receiving them and lost all ten games that week. Given everything I\'ve read and/or seen about Donnymid, I get the impression he was booked solely to keep anybody that taping day from getting into the tournament.

Or because that week was an Olympic champs week and the other celebrity was skier Picabo Street.