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Author Topic: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary  (Read 13465 times)

TLEberle

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #30 on: August 17, 2014, 11:24:05 PM »
Something to think about:

With the diffusion of the viewing audience since Millionaire was on, considering the larger prevalence of cable and Internet platforms, is it likely that there will ever be another game show that would be as popular and as far-reaching of a cultural phenomenon as Millionaire and $64,000 Question were?
Likely is one of those words like always or never. You're right, the balkanization means that we probably won't get to levels of $64k where four out of five people are watching the same thing, but I think that every decade or so there will be the Next Big Deal that grabs the public consciousness. (Even Deal/No Deal was a Big Deal for two years.)
If you didn’t create it, it isn’t your content.

BrandonFG

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #31 on: August 17, 2014, 11:51:32 PM »
Something to think about:

With the diffusion of the viewing audience since Millionaire was on, considering the larger prevalence of cable and Internet platforms, is it likely that there will ever be another game show that would be as popular and as far-reaching of a cultural phenomenon as Millionaire and $64,000 Question were?
Likely is one of those words like always or never. You're right, the balkanization means that we probably won't get to levels of $64k where four out of five people are watching the same thing, but I think that every decade or so there will be the Next Big Deal that grabs the public consciousness. (Even Deal/No Deal was a Big Deal for two years.)
Agreed. Something will take off and spawn a few imitators...the genre works in circles. Much as I hate to admit it, I'd possibly argue that Feud has become that show, with Steve Harvey boosting popularity.

/And the damn penis jokes
//Would love to see another (competently produced) show take Feud's place
"They're both Norman Jewison movies, Troy, but we did think of one Jew more famous than Tevye."

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JakeT

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #32 on: August 19, 2014, 02:47:01 AM »
(Even Deal/No Deal was a Big Deal for two years.)

And yet "Big Deal" was a ZONK...how ironic...:)

JakeT

TLEberle

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #33 on: August 19, 2014, 01:10:09 PM »
And yet "Big Deal" was a ZONK...how ironic...:)
Is it really?
If you didn’t create it, it isn’t your content.

clemon79

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #34 on: August 19, 2014, 03:34:05 PM »
And yet "Big Deal" was a ZONK...how ironic...:)
Is it really?

Don't you think?
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TLEberle

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #35 on: August 19, 2014, 03:50:30 PM »
No, Big Deal! was a ZONK! [his words, not mine] because it was a dog of an idea.

/hating fun continuously since 1993.
//obvious reference is obvious

Actual question: there was that period when every question was timed and the first plateau was $5,000; did anyone ever stop with between $500 and $3,000?
« Last Edit: August 19, 2014, 04:12:36 PM by TLEberle »
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Kevin Prather

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #36 on: August 19, 2014, 04:22:14 PM »
Actual question: there was that period when every question was timed and the first plateau was $5,000; did anyone ever stop with between $500 and $3,000?
Yes. One person tried to use Ask The Expert, which he didn't have yet, got flustered and lost his time.

« Last Edit: August 19, 2014, 04:25:46 PM by Kevin Prather »

TLEberle

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #37 on: August 19, 2014, 04:26:22 PM »
Right, he was knocked out of the game (I remember using that as one reason why the clock was such a dreadful idea in the first place), but did anyone say "I don't know and I'm out of lifelines so I'll quit" like that gal from the Walk In and Win week who stood pat on $300?

I also remember when the shuffle format came up, thinking "hey, the clock is gone, so that's nice," which is five years ago now.
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Kevin Prather

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #38 on: August 19, 2014, 05:46:08 PM »
Right, he was knocked out of the game (I remember using that as one reason why the clock was such a dreadful idea in the first place), but did anyone say "I don't know and I'm out of lifelines so I'll quit" like that gal from the Walk In and Win week who stood pat on $300?
Not that I remember seeing. Then again, I've never seen the $300 walker either (though I've heard about it). Kind of surprised that never made it to YouTube.

Quote
I also remember when the shuffle format came up, thinking "hey, the clock is gone, so that's nice," which is five years ago now.
Four years ago. September 2010.

BrandonFG

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #39 on: August 19, 2014, 06:23:42 PM »
Quote
I also remember when the shuffle format came up, thinking "hey, the clock is gone, so that's nice," which is five years ago now.
Four years ago. September 2010.
And they said it wouldn't last!

/No, really...they did
"They're both Norman Jewison movies, Troy, but we did think of one Jew more famous than Tevye."

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PYLdude

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #40 on: August 19, 2014, 06:26:55 PM »
Quote
I also remember when the shuffle format came up, thinking "hey, the clock is gone, so that's nice," which is five years ago now.
Four years ago. September 2010.
And they said it wouldn't last!

/No, really...they did

And thanks to the shuffle format, we have an off-topic forum. :)
I suppose you can still learn stuff on TLC, though it would be more in the Goofus & Gallant sense, that is (don't do what these parents did)"- Travis Eberle, 2012

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TLEberle

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #41 on: August 19, 2014, 06:28:08 PM »
And thanks to the shuffle format, we have an off-topic forum. :)
And for your services to our merry group, you shall forever more be known as...

Rando-Quiz.
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colonial

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Re: Huffington Post: WWTBaM 15th Anniversary
« Reply #42 on: August 21, 2014, 09:48:49 PM »
Speaking as an ex-contestant and phone-a-friend lifeline, what made WWTBAM unique was that it was one of the first shows I can remember where, as long as you were at least 18 and met all eligibility requirements, you could audition for the show from the comfort of your own home via telephone.

I've been a fan of game show for as long as I can remember but, until WWTBAM, I couldn't audition for anything because pretty much every show required you to go to Los Angeles and meet with contestant coordinators, producers, etc.  Every once in a while, a show would travel across the country (J!, WOF, TJW/TTD), but you had to hope they were near your hometown.  And just because they were didn't mean you would get a looksee.  I auditioned for the J! College Tournament in NYC in 1992, and I remember having to write a letter to the show to request an audition, then wait to see if I'd get a response in the mail.

WWTBAM changed the game -- just call the 900 (later 800) number, answer a few Fastest Finger questions and see if you make the next round of phone auditions.  If you do, play another round of FFs and wait to see if you get "the call".  I probably played the phone game at least 80 times before finally getting through and winning a spot in the "Ring of Fire."

As far as I know, just about every show that wasn't WWTBAM required its contestants to pay their own way to audition or play.  Nighttime WWTBAM took care of everything for you -- flight, hotel, meal money, ride to and from the airport, etc.  How refreshing it was to not worry about planning a trip on your own, although asking work for a few days off was another story :)

The show, IMO, also changed the way the major TV networks programmed during the summer.  When I was a child, the only shows on the "Big 3/4" networks on the summer were reruns, busted pilots and more reruns.  ABC premiered WWTBAM in August 1999 and showed that audiences could flock to TV during the summer.  The next summer, CBS unveiled "Survivor".  FOX would launch "American Idol" during the summer, and ABC would do the same with "Dancing with the Stars."   Each and every time, critics expressed huge doubts that these shows would garner a strong, consistent audience.  Each and every time, they were proven wrong.   


JD