Intangibles that improved a show

[Dbacksfan12]

I'm not certain that intangibles is the right word for what I'm going to describe, but I'm positive that you'll get the gist of what I'm doing.  What are some little things that shows do that make it a better watching experience?

For example, I prefer the earlier episodes of STYD.  In the bonus game, they revealed the prizes in a different fashion than later episodes.  The first prize might have been $435, while the next was $289, the third was $350, and so on.  Doing so gave the bonus round slightly more suspense.  Later episodes were revealed from lowest price to highest price, leaving little doubt at the end.

Other examples that stick out?

[JasonA1]

The players on $ale of the Century not seeing their own scores or the speed round clock. Outside of extreme cases, it meant that the everybody would still keep earnestly trying for questions until the very end. And the players not knowing they were in the final seconds meant there weren't as many crazy hail mary tries from players in last place (i.e. buzzing in on just the words "Which U.S. state" in order to try to catch up). This wasn't something they changed during the run, AFAIK, but it's something I didn't appreciate until I played the game at home with everybody seeing everything.

More to your specific example, Password Plus took quite awhile to figure out how to order their words. Earlier episodes would do things like FELIX-OSCAR-MISMATCHED-PAIR-PLAY, instead of something more interesting like MISMATCHED-PAIR-OSCAR-FELIX-PLAY, which got better passwords out sooner, and kept the subject of the puzzle in doubt until later. Perhaps it was deliberate, but I preferred the latter to the former. Super Password perhaps OVER-corrected this, but I liked seeing more Password play with uncommon words over quick-and-obvious puzzle solves.

-Jason

[whewfan]

TJW using categories on the wheels instead of dollar figures, and jokers in each window, to incorporate some of the classic TJW IMO improved the game.

Going from 3 questions in the final round to a speed round in SOTC, for reasons discussed on here many times before.

Scrabble also kept changing things for the better, starting with both players playing different Sprint bonus puzzles to each playing the same words. Trying a spelling wrinkle and quickly getting rid of it. Two self contained rounds instead of straddling the game. The list goes on...

[Jimmy Owen]

"Second Chance" and "Press Your Luck" are essentially the same.  The little animated Whammies made PYL the beloved classic.

[Clay Zambo]

"Second Chance" and "Press Your Luck" are essentially the same.  The little animated Whammies made PYL the beloved classic.

PYL is, arguably, more colorful (and not just because of the Whammies). Also, using buzz-in questions rather than watching people write their answers on cards made the game more dynamic.

[aaron sica]

Card Sharks adding the "push" rule in Money Cards. I never found that rule fair as money would always be lost no matter if the card was higher or lower.

[Allstar87]

Also, using buzz-in questions rather than watching people write their answers on cards made the game more dynamic.

As did having a board where the spaces were constantly changing, as opposed to Second Chance's mostly static board.

[Mr. Armadillo]

And the lights moving *just* slowly enough to give the contestants (well, 99.9% of the contestants) just enough of an impression that they could control their fate.

[SRIV94]

Card Sharks adding the "push" rule in Money Cards. I never found that rule fair as money would always be lost no matter if the card was higher or lower.

And allowing you to change the base card on each level, which CS86 expanded upon with changing one card (base card or not) on each level.

[BrandonFG]

How about Pyramid allowing both contestants to play the entire game. If you’re a newcomer playing against a solid champion, you at least get a second chance if you had a bad celebrity partner in the first half.

[Chief-O]

While we're talking "Pyramid", I should submit this major change with the Strahan version: Contestants giving the clues in the Winners Circle. With $50K or $100K at stake with every playing, it only makes sense---at least to me---for the contestant to do the heavy lifting.

[Kevin Prather]

While we're talking "Pyramid", I should submit this major change with the Strahan version: Contestants giving the clues in the Winners Circle. With $50K or $100K at stake with every playing, it only makes sense---at least to me---for the contestant to do the heavy lifting.

That was always an option though, just rarely invoked.

I'd submit the tightening of the WC rules in the 80s as a change for the better.

[jcs290]

The Big Bank in Whammy’s 2nd season made the show borderline watchable.

[TLEberle]

I don't know where the line of intangibles begins or ends, but I start with Jeopardy moving from answer when the clue is exposed to waiting for the Go Lights and grade down from that. (This also helped Greed's Terminator showdowns as well.) Honorable mentions go to Wipeout realizing that a woman clomping back and forth from the board to the buzzer in heels was ungreat TV and at some point gave the contestants running shoes, and to Where...is Carmen Sandiego going from the little puzzle clues during the map chase to just "Carmen went to Croatia!" I think that Scrabble took a solid game and through shrewd choices and improvement in writing turned it from a base hit to a stand-up triple, but they're all things I can point to and say "Yeah, that was a good choice by all y'all."

[Mike Tennant]

How about the expansion of TPIR to an hour? It gave Bob more time to have fun with the contestants (though that time has eroded over the years) and eliminated the problem of a winning contestant's failing to make the Showcase because he got to play Double Prices for a recliner while another contestant won a car in Any Number. Yes, there's still the luck of the spin in the Showcase Showdown, but at least it gives everyone a roughly equal chance of advancing to the Showcase regardless of his previous winnings.