Prime time game shows the week of May 23

[BillCullen1]

Starting Monday, May 23, we have three nights of prime time TPIR episodes featuring people from CBS reality shows. Then on Thursday, May 26 we have the season premiere of 500 Questions on ABC with Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings. So there you go.

[TLEberle]

ABC managed to take what was a slow quiz death march and make it even slower and awkward-er. At least Dan Harris is a pleasant host. The lightning round comes at the conclusion of a 30-question round. The Reigning Monarch Atop the Hill has two minutes to answer as many questions as possible with the same three-strikes and you're dropped into an incinerator paradigm applying, winning a further $1,000 per right answer upon survival. (Really, a lightning round should top out at 60 seconds.)

[beatlefreak84]

A couple other changes with 500 Questions (and, yes; I completely agree that Dan Harris is a much better fit than Richard Quest was as host):

1.  The only "special" type of question is the Battle question, and it is explicitly stated there are six in each round.
2.  Only 3 questions per category instead of 5 (so, 30 questions clears the board).
3.  For normal questions, contestants get 5 seconds per answer, and get the $1,000 for a correct answer regardless of when they say the correct answer.

Overall, I like the changes (the Lightning Round was a nice way to break the game up from its standard format), and the game does move through more questions than last year, though Battle questions can greatly slow the game to a crawl.  That being said, there is much less for the challenger to do now, since he/she is only directly involved for six questions and a possible elimination category pick.

Also, was it just me, or did the questions seem much harder this time around?

Personally, I enjoyed watching and playing along, but I could see this getting old fast...two hours is a long time for a show like this.

Anthony

[TLEberle]

I thought the questions were wordier but not necessarily harder, and there's still too much "stuff that's not questions" that gets in the way of asking more questions. It's too bad that for all the Jeopardy and quiz players ending up here that they're not taking a cue from the original article and going a little more rat-a-tat and instead choosing a pace that's more like a Revolutionary War musket--put in the gunpowder, stick the ramrod in there, tamp it down, ok that looks good, I guess a bullet has to go in there someplace, find your target, ready and fire.

I'm not totally sure that we got through more questions per hour than before, it's just that the games were smaller this time 'round, and honestly the audible ticking of the clock is more annoying to this viewer at home than to the contestant. They could tighten up the host language and choice of topic, and for pete's sake we all know how to count red Xs on a screen. Watching Art Fleming mow down an episode of Jeopardy is a sight to behold: he asks for the questions, gives commentary and encouragement and even updates the scores and it doesn't feel so rushed that you get lost. One step forward, two steps back still leaves you in the minus column.

[BillCullen1]

I like the bonus round and the new host.
As for Ken Jennings - that turned into much ado about nothing.

[Clay Zambo]

The Reigning Monarch Atop the Hill has two minutes to answer as many questions as possible with the same three-strikes and you're dropped into an incinerator paradigm applying

Not quite. It's three strikes and the Lightning Round is over, but you get to go back to another molasses main game.

[Ian Wallis]

Forgive me if this has been answered elsewhere...I've only watched this past Thursday's episode and am wondering...some of those Battle questions only have a handful of answers (6 is the lowest I saw)...what happens if between the two contestants they answer all of them - do they just go back to regular play with no "loser", or is there some sort of follow-up until someone "loses"?

[TimK2003]

Forgive me if this has been answered elsewhere...I've only watched this past Thursday's episode and am wondering...some of those Battle questions only have a handful of answers (6 is the lowest I saw)...what happens if between the two contestants they answer all of them - do they just go back to regular play with no "loser", or is there some sort of follow-up until someone "loses"?

My guess is that they edit out the tie and replace the question, then add the usual "portions of the program not affecting the outcome of the game were edited" at the end of the show.

[snowpeck]

That happened on Friday's show. It's considered a draw. Everyone goes back to their spots and any wrongs the king of the hill had do not clear.

[Winkfan]

Forgive me if this has been answered elsewhere...I've only watched this past Thursday's episode and am wondering...some of those Battle questions only have a handful of answers (6 is the lowest I saw)...what happens if between the two contestants they answer all of them - do they just go back to regular play with no "loser", or is there some sort of follow-up until someone "loses"?

My guess is that they edit out the tie and replace the question, then add the usual "portions of the program not affecting the outcome of the game were edited" at the end of the show.

Darn, Snowpeck beat me to the punch.

Cordially,
Tammy