What's with PYL on ABC?

[DjohnsonCB]

Last Wednesday's show was a rerun and this week it's pre-empted for a special.  The Wednesday after that, ABC has Celebrity FF at that time (at least presumably; my local guide has some local Huskers special that night at 7 on KETV and "Feud" later in the evening; I may have read the latter wrong).  I wonder if ABC has grown disenchanted with PYL due to some players' potential "Michael Larsening" of the board patterns or the fact that no one has yet become a millionaire in the bonus round?

[BrandonFG]

The season finale aired August 7. It's now in reruns.

[SamJ93]

I wonder if ABC has grown disenchanted with PYL due to some players' potential "Michael Larsening" of the board patterns or the fact that no one has yet become a millionaire in the bonus round?

The board pattern is almost assuredly pseudo-random to a degree now that it would be completely impossible to do anything even resembling what Larsen did.

As for the latter statement...if Millionaire can go on for 15 more years after it last gave out its title prize, I doubt anyone is so concerned about PYL not delivering on its promises.

[tyshaun1]

Last Wednesday's show was a rerun and this week it's pre-empted for a special.  The Wednesday after that, ABC has Celebrity FF at that time (at least presumably; my local guide has some local Huskers special that night at 7 on KETV and "Feud" later in the evening; I may have read the latter wrong).  I wonder if ABC has grown disenchanted with PYL due to some players' potential "Michael Larsening" of the board patterns or the fact that no one has yet become a millionaire in the bonus round?

They aired a special "preview" episode the week of its premiere, so they finished airing all the originals a week before Card Sharks and Match Game. Based on the solid ratings it got on Wednesday, I feel comfortable saying it will return, likely with more episodes taped than 8.

[PYLdude]

If/when it comes back, they really need to retool that bonus round.

[Chief-O]

If/when it comes back, they really need to retool dump that bonus round.

Fixed that for you.

[SamJ93]

My proposed change: have two games each with three new contestants, with each game consisting of five questions and a Big Board round. The winners of each game then face each other in one final "Whammy-Off." Both players have seven spins total, alternating back-and-forth. Whammies from the main game carry over. The contestant with the higher score after each contestants' seven spins are completed, or the player left standing after their opponent hits his/her fourth Whammy, wins.

[TLEberle]

The problem is with their pacing you can’t really play two games.

[whewfan]

The problem with doing PYL in a half hour format is that it would be pretty much impossible to edit a full game to a half hour, with all the added spins hit on the board during game play. They already have one less question in round one to allow some more time. This is why they have the bonus game, so that a game that runs long could be done with less editing, and then the bonus game can be tailored to run long or be really fast, depending on how the front game goes. The bonus round may be anti-climactic at times, but I think it is necessary to have it so that the front game isn't so chopped up from edits.

Pacing isn't so much a problem with PYL, Card Sharks on the other hand, is too much of a crawl. I realize the card turning is deliberately slower to pad out a game that is only one round and five questions. One problem with Card Sharks is that every game has ended with sudden death. Nobody has gone through all 10 cards without making a mistake or going through less than 5 questions. I think they either need to add more questions or adjust the number of cards per line so that the outcome isn't the same for each game.

[TLEberle]

That’s no pot why they have th3 bonus game, Matt.