Game Show Disclaimers

[JasonA1]

I assume it would be even more likely to happen if the puzzle is fully exposed during the game, but neither contestant can solve it. I don't think Alex would talk out the symbols unless they're in speed-up mode, no?

-Jason

[Adam Nedeff]

Genuine question: What happens if, while Alex is breaking down the puzzle, a contestant buzzes in and gives an incorrect answer? I assume their opponent would get a guess, but do they have the option to let Alex continue explaining the rebus until he tells them, "Just say The Treasure of the Sierra Madre!"?

Thing that surprised me on a Buzzr rerun: Alex indicated that not only did he not know the puzzles, he didn't know what the symbols would be. He was doing the break-down for two contestants who stumped and he said something like, "I'm not really sure here. That's some kind of bird, and I hope it's supposed to be a..." And that's when a contestant rang in. The possibility that Alex might give the contestants bad information was on the table, which may be another reason that the puzzle was thrown out.

[JakeT]

Heard on recent Buzzr ep of Classic Concentration:

"Because neither contestant could correctly solve the puzzle in the second round, the rebus was replaced and the program edited."

How is that possible? Doesn't Alex usually break down the puzzle if neither solves it?

Genuine question: What happens if, while Alex is breaking down the puzzle, a contestant buzzes in and gives an incorrect answer? I assume their opponent would get a guess, but do they have the option to let Alex continue explaining the rebus until he tells them, "Just say The Treasure of the Sierra Madre!"?

Could easily be a faulty memory, but in the case of a game moving into "speed round" mode, if one contestant buzzed in and gave an incorrect answer, weren't the remaining puzzle pieces all revealed before the other player attempted a solution?

EDIT: Never mind...I now realize we are talking about what happens after the entire puzzle is revealed and Alex is now breaking it down out of desperation for a contestant to buzz and solve...my bad...

JakeT

[rjaguar3]

Genuine question: What happens if, while Alex is breaking down the puzzle, a contestant buzzes in and gives an incorrect answer? I assume their opponent would get a guess, but do they have the option to let Alex continue explaining the rebus until he tells them, "Just say The Treasure of the Sierra Madre!"?

In one of the first batch of Buzzr episodes, a contestant buzzed in in the middle of Alex breaking down the puzzle, but missolved "Environmental Protection Agency" (as "Environmental Production Agency"). Alex then asked the other contestant for a guess, and she guessed correctly. It's not clear what would have happened if she had missed as well.

[Otm Shank]

It's not clear what would have happened if she had missed as well.

I think that is a candidate for a rebus was discarded and the program edited. In that case, I assume that Alex did not resume assisting the solve for the solo player, which opens up the opportunity for a second wrong answer. Also, I think a stalemate could occur if the first contestant buzzes in on a speedup before all doors are open; as far as I know, they would reveal the whole puzzle without any additional assistance to the second contestant.

[rjaguar3]

I think that is a candidate for a rebus was discarded and the program edited. In that case, I assume that Alex did not resume assisting the solve for the solo player, which opens up the opportunity for a second wrong answer. Also, I think a stalemate could occur if the first contestant buzzes in on a speedup before all doors are open; as far as I know, they would reveal the whole puzzle without any additional assistance to the second contestant.

I was envisioning something along the lines of Now You See It's semifinal round: after the free guess following a wrong solution, Alex would begin (or continue) to break down the puzzle until someone got it (or until Alex had all but finished breaking down the puzzle without anyone solving it).

[rjaguar3]

On the 12/8/87 show (rerun this past Tuesday), the second game was interrupted, and Bill buzzed in with an incorrect guess ("For enchanted evening") while the numbers were being revealed. His opponent Denise missed when the entire puzzle was revealed ("Some enchanted night"). Then, as Alex began to explain the puzzle (but before identifying the first symbol as a sum), Bill buzzed again with the correct solution ("Some enchanted evening.")

[JMFabiano]

On one of the MGHS episodes that aired recently on Buzzr:
"Because an answer was heard from the audience, a question was discarded and the program edited."

And displayed in the closing credits:
"Portions Of The Stars' Deliberations in The Match Game Were Edited"
(That happens all the time now, yes??)

A verbal one heard a few times early on, from Jon Bauman (paraphrasing): "Although Gene hosts the Match Game, he has not seen any of these questions..."

[Mr. Matté]

On one of the MGHS episodes that aired recently on Buzzr:
"Because an answer was heard from the audience, a question was discarded and the program edited."

Similar to how NBC shows always give these detailed mentions of the show's edits in the credits, NBC must also have a specific rule about answers heard from the audience. The CBS version of MG always let them go or Gene just chiding them "We appreciate your enthusiasm but the answer you're giving her may be rotten."

[Kniwt]

A verbal one heard a few times early on, from Jon Bauman (paraphrasing): "Although Gene hosts the Match Game, he has not seen any of these questions..."

Also paraphrasing, Gene says on at least one of those early shows that the producers have told him not to say anything about Jon saying that disclaimer, and he appeared to be at least mildly annoyed about it, in a Dawson-esque sort of way.

[That Don Guy]

Mental Samurai has a "Portions of the program not affecting the outcome of the competition have been recreated"

[Dbacksfan12]

I didn't see it referenced upthread....watched an old episode of TPiR earlier today.  One of the prizes was gold bars...at the end of the script, Johnny made a reference to "Price accurate as of tape date".

[Kevin Prather]

I didn't see it referenced upthread....watched an old episode of TPiR earlier today.  One of the prizes was gold bars...at the end of the script, Johnny made a reference to "Price accurate as of tape date".

I figured a few years ago, they'd offer a few Bitcoins as an IUFB, and figured they'd use that disclaimer in that case.

[Scrabbleship]

I didn't see it referenced upthread....watched an old episode of TPiR earlier today.  One of the prizes was gold bars...at the end of the script, Johnny made a reference to "Price accurate as of tape date".

ISTR that in the early days of CBS $25K Pyramid when the Mystery 7 prizes often were of varying prices (gold bars, stock) that the tape date was called out on-air instead of a disclaimer.

[calliaume]

A verbal one heard a few times early on, from Jon Bauman (paraphrasing): "Although Gene hosts the Match Game, he has not seen any of these questions..."

Also paraphrasing, Gene says on at least one of those early shows that the producers have told him not to say anything about Jon saying that disclaimer, and he appeared to be at least mildly annoyed about it, in a Dawson-esque sort of way.

I get this - no other program to that point had someone who hosted also playing the game.  (And of course, Jon did the reverse, so theoretically he could have gotten the MG questions in advance.)

Example:  when I attended American University for a semester, I took advantage of their barely-attended cable television opportunities to write questions for their version of Match Game - eventually, I wrote most of the questions (even though I'm hardly a comedy writer). For one taping session, the "celebrities" didn't show up, so I was pressed into service as a celeb (I also had two radio shows running on their barely-there radio station), which meant I was writing answers to the questions I had written myself (and thus knew what the "definitive answers" would be).  I didn't get picked for the Super Match, however - the winning contestant thought my answers during the main game were too weird.