Monty Hall BtC

[chrisholland03]

Does anyone know how Monty Hall was roped into the show?  There has to be a good story there...

[PYLdude]

Does anyone know how Monty Hall was roped into the show?  There has to be a good story there...

He could have just simply been doing a favor to G-T...just because he was hosting a show that he didn't have a hand in producing doesn't mean something bad.

[BrandonFG]

A quick search doesn't turn up too much, except for speculation that it could've been more of a CBS decision, and not so much Goodson. FWIW, I vaguely remember reading here that Monty was not very happy when TPiR premiered in 1972, and he noticed a set with three big doors. Perhaps Goodson decided to make it up to Monty, seven years later. 

The two posts speculating about it being CBS's call:
http://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic,18976.msg229232.html#msg229232
http://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic,23932.msg295895.html#msg295895

[SuperSweeper]

Was this version really that bad?  Sure, the addition of celebrities was a poor idea, but I thought that the shuffleboard face off was neat, you had a quality emcee, and there was a lot of cash to be won - for starters.   

[PYLdude]

Was this version really that bad?  Sure, the addition of celebrities was a poor idea, but I thought that the shuffleboard face off was neat, you had a quality emcee, and there was a lot of cash to be won - for starters.   

It wasn't bad, per se, but the Bonus Shuffle rendered the front half of the game irrelevant. To me, it's bad TV when a team completely dominates the stunt portion of the game (which, by the way, is what BTC was all about from the beginning) and then loses because they can't earn more than $400 on a shuffleboard.

[jimlangefan]

According to a 1987 interview Monty did, Goodson pitched BTC to him in the style of LMAD.  Meaning he would pick couples of out of the studio audience to play the stunts.  Monty wasn't too happy when it went to series the way we see it now.  It may have been Monty's memory, but he didn't make any mention of CBS wanting him to host.

[whewfan]

Isn't it true that Monty didn't actually select the contestants on LMAD? Weren't they chosen in advance by Stephen Hatos and Monty was simply told where each contestant or couple or sometimes trio was seated after the commercial break?

I do think CBS made the call for Monty to host, and Jack Narz really wanted the spot. They gave him the announcer/producer role instead. I wonder if Monty wanted to involve Jack more as Jay Stewart had a sidekick role on LMAD, and this way Jack could have a hosting role as well.

[Jimmy Owen]

I enjoyed the show, and Monty's hosting but BtC is the wrong kind of show for 10am in 1979.  The best daytime shows could be enjoyed by just listening while getting chores done, etc.  BtC required you to watch.

[Thunder]

You almost got me with that one.

[clemon79]

I do think CBS made the call for Monty to host,

Based on what evidence?

[knagl]

Was this version really that bad?

Yes.  It's like watching a trainwreck... in slow motion.

[clemon79]

Oh, see, I don't agree; I rather liked it.

Yeah, the front game is entirely a minigame to see who gets the hammer in the Bonus Shuffle. But who cares; it's Beat The Clock. If you're worried about game structure you are taking it entirely too seriously.

Put it this way: how is that any worse of a method of determining who plays the Bonus Stunt than sounding a bell and yelling "THE BONUS! YOU GET THE BONUS!"

[PYLdude]

I will once again point to the fact that you can dominate the stunt portion and lose because you can't throw a shuffleboard puck past one line. At least the celebrity portion of the run cut the stunt stakes in half, which made the Bonus Shuffle a little more sensible.

I don't care if it's the same idea behind the prior Beat the Clock series, and this one was pretty damn fun to watch. That's not an excuse for bringing in a game mechanic that breaks the entire thing.

[jimlangefan]

Isn't it true that Monty didn't actually select the contestants on LMAD? Weren't they chosen in advance by Stephen Hatos and Monty was simply told where each contestant or couple or sometimes trio was seated after the commercial break?

Yes that is true.  It wasn't done by STEFAN Hatos, it was done by producer Alan Gilbert.  I didn't mean to imply that Monty himself chose the contestants, but the selection process for BTC would have been done like LMAD.  They wouldn't know they were going to be contestants, until Monty pointed at them. 

[clemon79]

I don't care if it's the same idea behind the prior Beat the Clock series, and this one was pretty damn fun to watch. That's not an excuse for bringing in a game mechanic that breaks the entire thing.

So are you saying "awful game, entertaining half-hour of television?"