"$100,000 Pyramid" primetime this summer on ABC

[TLEberle]

For the sake of comparison I recall precisely zero people here making an issue over the fact that a team can pull up just short in the Hollywood Game Night end game and win $9,000. [If I'm remembering things right, The Hollywood Game from 1992 or '93 also offered a $25,000 grand prize but also had $1,000 per picture if some were left unsolved. So that's a little fun synergy there.]

I don't particularly care too much because it isn't my money but I do think there's a threshold where you say "Yup, that's acceptable consolation money" and then you jump over into "Nope, that's just too darn much," and I think five figures falls into the latter. On the other side of the ledger is the fact that there's no main game money on lots of these shows--what would be thought of as the bonus game is where you get paid at all.

[chad1m]

Social media posts have revealed that in addition to Ice-T and Peri Gilpin, other known celebrity combinations include Rachel Dratch/Ana Gasteyer, Rosie O'Donnell/Pyramid vet Kathy Najimy and Shark Tank's Daymond John/Barbara Corcoran.

EDIT: Added the Shark Tank players above as well.

Speaking of social media, enjoy a look into the control room as posted by the show's technical director on Instagram.

[TLEberle]

Social media posts have revealed that in addition to (...) Peri Gilpin,

Full realization that I'm most certainly no average casual viewer, but this name is the one I'm most excited about. Rosie O'Donnell's name makes me glad I still have functioning volume control.

[Matt Ottinger]

Social media posts have revealed that in addition to (...) Peri Gilpin,

Full realization that I'm most certainly no average casual viewer, but this name is the one I'm most excited about.

At least I now have confirmation that's actually who that is in Ice-T's picture.  I guess she's on Scorpion these days?

[TLEberle]

At least I now have confirmation that's actually who that is in Ice-T's picture.  I guess she's on Scorpion these days?

At the very beginning of the second season she was some sort of liaison between Cabe and Homeland. After the midseason hiatus she seems to have disappeared.

[BrandonFG]

From what I can make out in the Instagram picture, I love the glass wall of pyramids. It's hard to tell, but on "Gary"'s monitor (lower left), is that Michael's lectern in the center?

[Unrealtor]

Wow. The top box is as much as the top prize was for the first successful try at the WC on $50K Pyramid.

Even I will allow that there's gonna be SOME inflation over 36 years, but yeah, the potential for walking away with $15,500 for losing (most of the time gonna be closer to $11,500, but stay with me here) seems a little high.

That said, if you look at it as a percentage, it's a little more interesting to play with the numbers. Consider on Password Plus they were playing for $5,000, and when they failed I'd say (conservatively) they got 7 right for $700. Ditto the daytime Dawson Family Feud: about $800-$850 vs. a $5,000 prize. So 14-17% of the top prize. $11,500 on a $50K payday is 23%.

Pyramid, Chain Reaction, and Go were all roughly the same...somewhere between $600-800 for a failed attempt at $10,000 (usually - keeping the situations basic here just because the chosen data is so cherrypicked in the first place because I don't really care to do the extensive study), so 6-8%.

So maybe Bob Stewart was just a cheap fark and this production is righting itself?

On the one hand, even if it was a lousy percentage, $600-$800 was more or less numerically in line with a lot of other shows in the 70s and 80s. On the other hand, a lot of those other shows were also keeping score in the front game in dollars, so the contestant ended up netting a little more.

I'm a little bit surprised that they didn't just add a zero to the CBS/$100K box values. It would be pretty generous without paying out quite as much, but having five-figure consolation prizes may be exactly why they went with something a little richer.

[BrandonFG]

I'm a little bit surprised that they didn't just add a zero to the CBS/$100K box values. It would be pretty generous without paying out quite as much, but having five-figure consolation prizes may be exactly why they went with something a little richer.

I might be misunderstanding, but multiply the consolation prize x10? The most that could be won in consolation money was $1,000. Multiply that x10 and you go home with the same amount you would on your first Winner's Circle attempt. Just the bottom three categories would be worth $3,000. That's a lotta coin in 1982*.

The average consolation (whatever that may be) was right in line with other games of the early-80s, as you mentioned. A lot of shows still paid out $100/correct answer.

*/I'll also take it in 2016

[TimK2003]

From what I can make out in the Instagram picture, I love the glass wall of pyramids. It's hard to tell, but on "Gary"'s monitor (lower left), is that Michael's lectern in the center?

I think that is a very safe assumption! 

[Steve Gavazzi]

I might be misunderstanding, but multiply the consolation prize x10? The most that could be won in consolation money was $1,000. Multiply that x10 and you go home with the same amount you would on your first Winner's Circle attempt.

I think he meant on the new version.

[BrandonFG]

I might be misunderstanding, but multiply the consolation prize x10? The most that could be won in consolation money was $1,000. Multiply that x10 and you go home with the same amount you would on your first Winner's Circle attempt.

I think he meant on the new version.

Okay, that clears things up perfectly, thanks.

To that point, even on a prime time game, a potential 10K "consolation prize" seems a bit much. I'm guessing this version doesn't take a page from the GSN book and offer a 7-for-7 bonus?

[jjman920]

Attended the afternoon taping with Rosie and Kathy and it was an absolute treat.

Great seats and thanks to the warm-up man Tom Kelly, I even got to walk onto a bit of the set (and get $20). Small which was to be expected, but a very warm feeling. They chose some great colors in my opinion.

As others have stated the show is very faithful to the Pyramid format, however there is one change they've made, which I'm unsure as to if it's been used before.

Michael was very good. Very personable both on and off camera. Not what I'd call polished, but I wasn't expecting the 2nd coming of Dick Clark when I walked into that studio. He was very cognizant of Pyramid history though and it was clear that he had a great memory of the show and watched some beforehand. He had a great sense of humor with Tom and even came out into the audience during a break to give a hug to an audience member.

The tapings were very quick. Very well done. We finally got into the studio by about 3:30 and they were done filming two 30 minutes shows by 6:30, which wasn't bad since there were pickups and a lengthy break between the first show and the next. I'm from Baltimore and if I had the time to make it to NYC again sometime in the next two weeks while they're still filming, I definitely would. Great experience.

[Unrealtor]

I might be misunderstanding, but multiply the consolation prize x10? The most that could be won in consolation money was $1,000. Multiply that x10 and you go home with the same amount you would on your first Winner's Circle attempt. Just the bottom three categories would be worth $3,000. That's a lotta coin in 1982*.

You were misunderstanding, in that I was proposing the 2016 values be 10x the 1982 values, not that the 1982 values be 10x what they were.

[calliaume]

At least I now have confirmation that's actually who that is in Ice-T's picture.  I guess she's on Scorpion these days?

At the very beginning of the second season she was some sort of liaison between Cabe and Homeland. After the midseason hiatus she seems to have disappeared.

She's listed on Wikipedia as recurring; there are seven regulars and 11 recurring characters listed overall - that's a lot of people to stuff into the show.

Regarding the celebrities issue, this may be a continuing issue for the show unless they get a regular time slot.  During the original runs of the show (let's say 1973-1991, with a few breaks), celebrities had different abilities and sometimes struggled with the format, but eventually they worked that out.  The bad news was, during the 1980s, the level of "celebrity" was debatable in order to ensure there weren't celebrity pairings of wildly varying abilities.

This would seem a natural for Neil Patrick Harris if they can get him to do the show.

[BrandonFG]

You were misunderstanding, in that I was proposing the 2016 values be 10x the 1982 values, not that the 1982 values be 10x what they were.

My sincere apologies there. Carry on.