Change for the better?

[BrandonFG]

One of the recent threads brought up the format change Millionaire made a few years ago, and how it (in some people\'s opinions) improved the show. I don\'t disagree with that, as I realize the familiar Q&A that was used for 11 years needed a refresh, and they\'d done all they could (categories, the countdown clock). In a case like that, switching the presentation of the trivia didn\'t hurt the show, even if it was a bit of a departure.

 

Anyway, that thread got me to thinking what shows (in your opinion) underwent a pretty major change, and it made the show equally, if not more, enjoyable? Off the top of my head, I\'d go with three Goodson-Todman games in the 70s: TPIR adding pricing games, MG7x going for a more riddle-based format, and Password+ adding puzzles to the show. All three successfully integrated new elements to make the shows enjoyable for a new audience in a different time.

 

Any others? I don\'t mean a change like offering more money for winning a round, or only requiring 6 words in :20. A true radical change that sounded like a WTF move on paper, but really worked out for the better. 

 

ETA: It could be a revival, like the aforementioned G-T shows, or a change during the run, i.e. Millionaire.

[GrandGame1440]

I suppose Wheel eliminating shopping would fit that category, as it allowed for more time for puzzles.

[The Pyramids]

\'Wheel Of Fortune\' for going from shopping to cash. Also \'Hollywood Squares\' for finally finding an end game that works in 2002 - 2004.

[clemon79]

TJW\'90...

 

...going from \"on the air\" to \"off.\"

[Matt Ottinger]

Brandon\'s examples were all remakes that made radical changes for the better.  I think the best example of a show that made pretty major changes to its structure and game play during the run and came out the better for it was Scrabble.

[BrandonFG]

I\'ll clarify to say that remakes or shows that altered the rules during the run are fine in my book. 

[Jay Temple]

I think Matt\'s example is the best one during a continuous run, but I would have described it oppositely: The structure changed, but the game play itself hardly changed at all.

 

I want to credit the modern Family Feud for fixing the \"bank\'s too small, so the game\'s over\" problem, but the problem wouldn\'t have happened if they\'d kept any version of the original format.

[TLEberle]

I disagree with the idea that Millionaire and Scrabble changed mid-stream and for the better. The first case I can think of where a show changed, fixed what I thought was awful and came out really damn good was Red or Black.

[aaron sica]

One rule that comes to mind is the \"push\" rule during the Money Cards on Card Sharks. It never seemed fair to me that if the card was neither higher nor lower, that money would be lost for a guess that couldn\'t be right either way...

[TLEberle]

One rule that comes to mind is the \"push\" rule during the Money Cards on Card Sharks. It never seemed fair to me that if the card was neither higher nor lower, that money would be lost for a guess that couldn\'t be right either way...

It makes sense in that you did not correctly predict whether the next card was higher or lower than the one that preceded it. That said it was a rule I was happy to see go for the reason you described.

[clemon79]

It makes sense in that you did not correctly predict whether the next card was higher or lower than the one that preceded it.

 

Insofar as it made any sense for a game show to present you with an impossible task (within the actual bounds of the game), sure.

[TLEberle]

And when you compare it to the treatment of prize cards (which I also liked) doubly weird. You get to rerack your choice if a TV/VCR combo is revealed, but on a pair you get dicked. What sense does that make, I ask you. (And then you have the issue of a pair causes a loss of turn in one part of the game and it causes a re-do in the other. I guess they figured audiences in the 1980s could keep track of at least that rule in their head.) It\'s one of those cases where I like the game and show in spite of those choices.

I still maintain that Millionaire was a terrific game that didn\'t need to be retooled every year, and also that it really doesn\'t work as a daily show in the original form--I say this as a fan of the shuffle format.

The thing that I like about the original rules of Scrabble, and I say it because it is worth repeating, you never had to go into the fast forward format when it was a 1-1 tie.

[JMFabiano]

 

One rule that comes to mind is the \"push\" rule during the Money Cards on Card Sharks. It never seemed fair to me that if the card was neither higher nor lower, that money would be lost for a guess that couldn\'t be right either way...

It makes sense in that you did not correctly predict whether the next card was higher or lower than the one that preceded it. That said it was a rule I was happy to see go for the reason you described

 

Yes.  As Jim Perry would put it frequently early on, \"If it\'s another [card] you lose...it must be higher/lower than a(n) [card].\"  And yes, that being said, the push rule in the Money Cards was welcome.  Unless you liked drama on every turn of the cards, and know that an Ace or two means there\'s no risks. 

 

As far as general formats with radical positive changes...I\'d say that Password (from 1979-1989, that is)  and TPIR are the best two examples.  The other best revivals I grew up with were pretty much the same show with new wrinkles here and there.  That said, if we are to count rule changes/tweaks/misc. little changes, I\'d name:

 

- Illegal clue = no jackpot of any kind in Super Password

- A well-done tournament format added to Pyramid

- H2 coming up with a bonus game that has the best of both previous standalone incarnations (agree/disagree questions, which then better your chances at picking the correct key)

- Star Wheel on Match Game (but I know your mileage may vary...hey, it was the MG I saw the most of as a kid, so it is partially a sentimental pick...)

- The double buzz for illegal clues in Davidson Pyramid\'s Winner\'s Circle.

- 100 Mexicanos Dijeron/Que Dice La Gente presenting possibilities on Fast Money\'s outcome with the Lollipop Game, and offering a bonus for finding all five number one answers. 

- And of course Joker\'s Wild finding its true calling as a game of definitions....j/k....

[aaron sica]

- Star Wheel on Match Game (but I know your mileage may vary...hey, it was the MG I saw the most of as a kid, so it is partially a sentimental pick...)

 

Same here....I had only seen random clips here and there of the \'70s MG (almost all of it the new set/Star Wheel era) so I assumed the wheel was there all along in that version. When I was finally able to gain access to some GSN not long after its launch and see my first episode of MG (\'73), I was disappointed to see that there was no Star Wheel. Pick a star, do the Head-to-Head Match. Seemed almost anticlimactic!

[TimK2003]

I\'ll go with Dick Clark\'s Pyramid, when they finally let both contestants play for the full show and whoever won the most Winners Circle money at the end of the day got to come back.  If it was a tie, they BOTH came back.