Lingo New Year's marathon

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Jan 6 2004, 07:30 PM\'] Maybe on this one point, GSN and Phil Gurin had the revolutionary idea of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". [/quote]
 "But it IS broke," he muttered weakly...

[SplitSecond]

I meant broke as a relative term.

And since when did you start referring to yourself in the third person?

[Brandon Brooks]

[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Jan 6 2004, 07:54 PM\'] I meant broke as a relative term.

And since when did you start referring to yourself in the third person? [/quote]
 I think he knew what you meant.  I thought he was referring to Phil...

Brandon Brooks

[J.R.]

[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Jan 6 2004, 06:30 PM\']
I'm not aware of any "the format must stay the same" clauses in international game format sales.  Maybe on this one point, GSN and Phil Gurin had the revolutionary idea of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". [/quote]
 Actually, Celador requires that any country that buys the rights of "Millionaire" MUST do it in the same format, same music, same answer colors (Orange/Green), and (basically) the same set design.

Their reason ? "Because it works" (According to a short special Good Morning America did on the international verison years back)

-Joe R.

[gameshowguy2000]

But that didn't apply to Weakest Link, right?

Each version of that show has the same thing that Millionaire had, except the fact that there were different rules, but the set, format and colors stayed the same.

[Brandon Brooks]

[quote name=\'gameshowguy2000\' date=\'Jan 6 2004, 10:54 PM\'] Each version of that show has the same thing that Millionaire had, except the fact that there were different rules, but the set, format and colors stayed the same. [/quote]
 Care to explain what you are talking about?

Brandon Brooks

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' date=\'Jan 7 2004, 01:36 AM\'] [quote name=\'gameshowguy2000\' date=\'Jan 6 2004, 10:54 PM\'] Each version of that show has the same thing that Millionaire had, except the fact that there were different rules, but the set, format and colors stayed the same. [/quote]
Care to explain what you are talking about?
 [/quote]
 I think gameshowguy2000's referring to JRaygor's comment that Millionaire's set must stay the same in other countries. He was then asking whether international versions of Weakest Link follow that rule as well. As for the different rules thing...(shrugs)

[gameshowguy2000]

Here's what I mean by the different rules thing:

There are different amounts for each chain, and a different number of contestants on each version. Some versions have the double (US)/triple (UK) final banking round. Others just lose them, like the Syndie version did in Season 2.

In addition, there are different rules for the First Round of each version. While the US version has the first round begin with the player in the first position, the UK version has the first round begin with the player whose name is first ALPHABETICALLY.

[uncamark]

The short answer is that everything's negotiable.

The contract for each country probably states what has to be in each country's version.  But in most cases anything regarding the show's bible can be changed by each individual country--it's just that in most cases, the people doing the licensing must approve the changes.

I would guess that Celador is more protective of "WWTBAM" than some other packagers, but you can be assured that the changes made for the U.S. daily version were done with their approval.  Likewise, any changes made in "TWL" ion the U.S. version were made with the BBC's approval and were considered so minor as to not need approval.  Any good format provider knows that formats need to be tweaked to adapt for the customs and mores--and the regulations--of each individual country.