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

[MSTieScott]

At the beginning of the show, the six pyramid symbols above the Winner's Circle dim and brighten as if they were backlit. In the correct pattern. Oh my gosh I want to see this show right now.

(So Snoop Dogg is appearing on both Pyramid and Family Feud?)

[Matt Ottinger]

Oh my gosh I want to see this show right now.

We know the set is beautiful, we know the established rules are being followed and we know the powers running the operation have a fondness for the original.  That fondness, however, does not extend so far as to bring back Teresa Ganzel and Charlie Siebert as celebrities.  Let us not forget that when we see teams struggle to get their 5's and 6's in a round.  I'm afraid a lot of us have so much pent-up excitement for this thing that anything short of perfect game play is going to come across as a disappointment.

[TLEberle]

We know the set is beautiful, we know the established rules are being followed and we know the powers running the operation have a fondness for the original.  That fondness, however, does not extend so far as to bring back Teresa Ganzel and Charlie Siebert as celebrities. 

I bet they're available, though Charlie is now 78 years young.

(Having watched more than a few painful exchanges on Celebrity Name Game I am going to point to what I said when the undertaking was first announced: cautiously optimistic.)

[Kevin Prather]

Obviously the quality of play we're used to only comes from the show being on the air for an uninterrupted 10 years. It'll take patience to get back into the swing. It would have been nice if Pyramid 12 had stayed in production, if only to provide a training ground for celebrities.

[TLEberle]

Obviously the quality of play we're used to only comes from the show being on the air for an uninterrupted 10 years. It'll take patience to get back into the swing. It would have been nice if Pyramid 12 had stayed in production, if only to provide a training ground for celebrities.

I promise there's a point to this even though it's out of the blue: When you were at Millionaire how long were you at the location? Did they have you practice the walk-on, where to stand, how to give your answers and what not, and how long was the down time? (I recall reading that The Chase had a whole lot of that.)

[Thunder]

Obviously the quality of play we're used to only comes from the show being on the air for an uninterrupted 10 years. It'll take patience to get back into the swing. It would have been nice if Pyramid 12 had stayed in production, if only to provide a training ground for celebrities.

There's no such thing as a "gameshow celebrity" anymore like in the past. Today's celebrities on game shows seem to want to hit it and get their paycheck.

[Kevin Prather]

I promise there's a point to this even though it's out of the blue: When you were at Millionaire how long were you at the location? Did they have you practice the walk-on, where to stand, how to give your answers and what not, and how long was the down time? (I recall reading that The Chase had a whole lot of that.)

We spent about a half hour or so on the set for rehearsal. This consisted of each of us (there were about eight of us) stepping up to the plate to answer one practice question, and the rest of it was us just listening to instructions. We were explained how the walk-on would work, but we didn't physically practice it. Other briefings, mainly on what not to do, were done in the green room.

Obviously all the briefings took place on the first day for my session, which started around 9am. I was turned away about 1pm when it was obvious I wouldn't get to the front of the line in time. I reported on day 2 about 11am, and was immediately ushered into the waiting room right outside the studio. Someone else was taping an episode before me. I don't remember what time I was finished. Probably 1pm or so.

I was not in the studio except for when it was my turn, so I can't speak to how much downtime happened between episodes or during other people's games. As far as I know, there was enough downtime to shuffle the audience around, and not much more, and my game was about as close to real-time as you can get.

[TLEberle]

So here's my point: if they're keeping you all day they could be doing practice rounds, or even showing episodes of the old show in the green room or at lunch. While the winner's circle is a tough nut to crack if you don't already think that way or play along, the front game is basically talking to another person. I think it was the "silent butler" thread where I said that they're not going to trick you--all of the answers will be stuff that you've heard of.

Watching the GSN episodes it is amazing that as good as Dick Cavett could be in the winner's circle he could also be horrendous in the main game because he was being too clever. I don't think we need to expect perfect (or even 95th percentile) play, nor should we hide our eyes at a 5 or 6 point round, but I do think that whoever is in charge of booking the contestants could do the show a favor by giving the potential players lots of opportunities to play the game on the day of before the event.

[jjman920]

Obviously the quality of play we're used to only comes from the show being on the air for an uninterrupted 10 years. It'll take patience to get back into the swing. It would have been nice if Pyramid 12 had stayed in production, if only to provide a training ground for celebrities.

There's no such thing as a "gameshow celebrity" anymore like in the past. Today's celebrities on game shows seem to want to hit it and get their paycheck.

There can't be anything like a "gameshow celebrity" because there wasn't really a daily or weekly game show that's celebrity or celeb/civilian and lasted more than one season since the end of Donnymid or Hollywood Squares until Hollywood Game Night and Celebrity Name Game premiered. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I think there are plenty of celebrities out there who probably would enjoy appearing on game shows, but since there was this drought of a regular game show that involves celebrities, no one has been able to really stretch out their game show limbs. Hopefully with the success of HGN, CNG and the potential success of ABC's Sunday Fun & Games and potentially Password, an era can return where there are celebs who, in addition to their work in the field of entertainment, are really good game players and love coming on shows to show it off.

[Kevin Prather]

So here's my point: if they're keeping you all day they could be doing practice rounds, or even showing episodes of the old show in the green room or at lunch.

I neglected to mention that. The remainder of the time in the green room was spent watching episodes.

What I noticed with Pyramid 12 was that getting players who are good wasn't an issue. Oftentimes the players were better than the celebs. Hopefully whatever practice they give the contestants, they can also give the celebs.

[Unrealtor]

I always think of two categories of game show celebrities: people whose main claim to being a celebrity was appearing as a celebrity on game shows (Brett and Charles come to mind, probably a few of the core group of Pyramid celebrities as well), and people whose acting careers would have given them a lasting measure of celebrity who also did a lot of game show appearances (Vicki Lawrence and Betty White come to mind.) Considering how often she appears on Hollywood Game Night and Celebrity Name Game as well as her performance on the GSN Pyramid, I think Yvette Nicole Brown is getting very close to the second category, despite the limited opportunities.

[Clay Zambo]

This is a weekly show, and the network likely wants to have new celebs to promote every week.  We hope that the guest stars will be well briefed and practiced, but some will be better than others.

Perfect games on a regular basis would be nice, but we have to remember that we can see a good game play without a perfect score.

[Pyramid20000]

What day is the show starting?

[BrandonFG]

Go back a page or so.

[tvmitch]

We know the set is beautiful, we know the established rules are being followed and we know the powers running the operation have a fondness for the original.  That fondness, however, does not extend so far as to bring back Teresa Ganzel and Charlie Siebert as celebrities.  Let us not forget that when we see teams struggle to get their 5's and 6's in a round.  I'm afraid a lot of us have so much pent-up excitement for this thing that anything short of perfect game play is going to come across as a disappointment.

But what if the clues are simple?

"Describe these colors. These...are colors. Ready, go."
"Describe these nicknames of your fingers. Ready, go."