"Anticlimactic" game show moments...

[PYLdude]

so I thought recently about some stuff in game shows that might come across as sort of anti-climactic- like when someone on Sale of the Century had the game locked away before the introduction of the speed round (and even some after that, perhaps), a champion on Jeopardy! who puts together a decent winning streak loses their last game in a runaway, stuff like that. (The quotes are meant to be a sign that your mileage may vary when it comes to what you might consider an anti-climax.)

So, perhaps against my better judgment considering the ability to discern of some posters such as those who like to compare companies' desire to protect their intellectual property to the tactics employed by the Gestapo, the KGB, or the Securitate, I'm going to ask a question...what are some moments that have occurred in game shows that to you seemed anticlimactic?

One of my favorites (if that really is the right word to use) is the way Stan Newman's reign as champion ended on The Challengers- sets the program's all time record for most money won by winning the Ultimate Challenge, wins the tournament of champions, and doesn't even make it to the Final Challenge on his last day.

Another, although my opinion of it has sort of changed since I got to view it, is Michael Friedman's loss to Alice Conkwright on Sale. He still had a shot to get close at the end but I think that once he missed the $25 money card in the final Fame Game, it was pretty much over from there. (I had been under the impression that he never had a chance to win and got his ass handed to him- granted, Alice did win by a fair amount but that was I think more based on her ability to pull away in the speed round. Keep in mind I never saw what happened in first run or on USA.)

Where do you stand?

[Jay Temple]

I mentioned, some time ago, that the second Final Jeopardy in the ToC that included Bob Harris was completely moot. No combination of wager and outcome would change first, second or third, or even the amount that they won (because of the guaranteed minima). But the entire second game of the IBM challenge seemed anticlimactic.

On 1982-91 Pyramid, if the same player won both games and gave/got an illegal clue in the second WC, the rest of it was anticlimactic because you knew there wasn't going to be a big win, but you also knew that it wouldn't change who got to come back.

[aaron sica]

Wheel of Fortune, if the player in the lead is up by a very large margin, and the final spin is NOT for $6,000/letter...

[BrandonFG]

Fast Money...anytime the family has fewer than say, 130 points going into the last two questions. Ray would mention that they're clearly playing for $5/point, and the hosts post-Louie often ribbed about how it would take a miracle. But still...anticlimactic.

[DoorNumberFour]

Any version of Sale Of The Century with the final three questions rather than the speed round.

[aaron sica]

During the showcases, one contestant bids $1 because it's so painfully obvious that the other contestant overbid.....Although that has been known to backfire in a BIG way (for example...check out the ending on the 4/20/82 episode..available on YouTube)..

[TLEberle]

Where do you stand?

Today? Under an overhang. It is raining outside. A lot.

Just like the most recent Super Bowl, you're going to have blowouts. Every game show can't be a Kentucky Derby where somebody beats the other by a nose to wrest the championship. It is wonderful when that happens but doesn't always. Here's a thing I thought of while driving down to the office. In the later series of American Gladiators (by this time the treadmill was at the end and the contenders would rope swing into a paper barrier) one female contender led the other by a tally of 61-1, for a lead of thirty seconds in the Eliminator (she was on the cargo net when the second whistle blew.) We (almost certainly) know the outcome at that point, but Mike Adamle was so good at his job that he handled it well. On the other hand the rollerblading version of AG had a show-ending obstacle course that awarded 35 points to the winner.  This meant that either the first (however many) events were worthless, or the Race to the Finish was for show.

Was the Final Challenge situation you mentioned anticlimactic? Yeah and no. We knew who the champion couldn't possibly be (but who cares, his final total was over $112,000) but there's still a championship to fight for (as well as the money). It helps that the Final Challenge is a gloriously awesome final act.

Now yesterday's Valentine's Day overbid? That was an anticlimax.

[PYLdude]

I would argue that the real anticlimax moments on AG would be easier found in the first two seasons when you saw somebody needing to win the Eliminator by a crapton of seconds and basically knew that it was impossible without a few strokes of dumb luck. But the 61-1 match certainly qualifies.

And IIRC the 1 was a courtesy point so she wouldn't enter the Eliminator scoreless.

[WarioBarker]

There's an episode of Super Pay Cards! (Martin vs. Jeannette) which ended up at $500-$40 after Round 2. Since the max payout in Round 3 was $350 ($300 for five-of-a-kind + $50 for having the better hand), the game was already decided. They still played Round 3, but Art noted that the outcome was already known.

[TLEberle]

I thought of another: when The Price is Right does Big Money or Dream Car Week: whether or not the big massive prize is won or not it lets the air out of the rest of the show. Sure, people can still win lots of stuff, but the whole point of calling it a special week has already been done.

[J.R.]

I remember watching an episode of UK Countdown that had a score of something like 120 to 25. The loser only scored on ties.

Honestly, I'm not wild about their scoring system, which rarely makes the Conundrum "crucial". Maybe it's the American in me.

[TheInquisitiveOne]

I'll mention $ale, but much later in the NBC run.

The recently posted clip of Rani White's big $50,000 win at the Winner's Big Money Game. It's not necessarily the win that was anticlimactic, but the reaction. It all felt underwhelming, from the music cue to Perry's muted excitement (by no means a rip on Perry himself).

As for the WBMG itself, the fun is gone after the first missed/passed puzzle. They're merely playing to fill time at that point.

The Inquisitive One

[Thunder]

For me, it was the "Find The Car Card" game after the Money Cards on Card Sharks.

The odds were set for the player to lose well over 75% of the time so "You just won $14,000 at the Money Cards, but you lose that car!" made it feel wah-wah to me.

[gameshowcrazy]

I can see your point about Michael Friedman's loss to Alice Conkwright on Sale, but watching it recently I didn't really find it too anticlimactic since Michael was so good on speed rounds throughout his run I thought it was still possible for him to win.  Alice was just so good from day one of figuring out when to buzz in to get enough extra information from the question on Jim Perry's reaction time to stop his reading.

I always hated the end game of Lingo for being so anticlimactic.  There was that great two minutes of puzzles, followed by a very slow pick out some balls and see what you win, oh and by the way you can only win the big prize on the first pull.  That meant that as bad as the slowdown already was, it slowed down even further.

My wife, who doesn't care for game shows put it best after watching the Bingo game revival end game on GSN---bonus rounds are supposed to be fast and exciting, that was neither.

[whewfan]

Many of the Louie Anderson/early Karn episodes were anticlimactic when a family got enough points after three rounds to "throw" the final one strike round, so the other family cannot overtake them. Why it took the entire Louie run and part of the Karn run to realize the broken scoring system, I don't know.