New Buzzr lineup effective 9/30

[gamed121683]

And I still find Jon's style incredibly annoying. It's like he was trying to make "you were right to agree" a catchphrase against its will.

Six words: "Good night, and grease for peace".

[jalman]

What's honestly surprised me most in watching MGHSH is how much I'm enjoying the Hollywood Squares portion of the game.  Awarding cash for every square captured? Love it, and feel it gives each question true meaning - and turning the game into a straight Q&A is a fun change as someone who generally loves quizzes. I'm also finding Bauman super enjoyable; he clearly wants to be there orders of magnitude more than Gene, with honestly his biggest sin as a host appearing to be "he isn't Peter Marshall"

I like Jon Bauman and isn't as bad as some think, but he had a goofy charisma, acted like one of the guys instead of an ersatz "Master of the Squares," and could've used more succinct verbiage (I remember watching one of the last MGHSH eps on YT where Gene was commending him on keeping the game moving). I don't think audiences in 1983-4 were ready for his hosting style.

My fave part is watch the mic handoff between Gene and Jon and how Jon throws to a commercial. Match Game w/Gene is almost always MG; Goodsonized HS is a fascinating thing.

[MSTieScott]

I'd like to take a moment to appreciate the set construction for the Hollywood Squares portion. In order for the nine little squares to form a straight-lined big square in the shot of the full grid, the squares in the back row have to be larger than the squares in the front row (and the squares in the middle row a size that's in between). It's something you don't realize they did until you think to look for the subtle differences.

[catnap1972]

Do they realize they're transmitting postage-stamp sized?

[snowpeck]

This evening, LMAD was still blocked on Pluto. They were playing an ep of Classic Concentration in its place. However, as far as I could tell, LMAD was playing on all other feeds, including STIRR this time.

So apparently they’re aware there’s an issue. (And CC isn’t a bad substitution.) But be it contractual or technical, it’s odd that the issue would be exclusive to Pluto.

Perhaps something to do with CBS, Viacom, and the current LMAD. Just thinking of possible dots to connect.

It's definitely intentional, but not implemented perfectly. Just out of curiosity I had the Pluto Buzzr stream playing tonight. I started it during Press Your Luck and it continued into Let's Make a Deal. I stopped and restarted the stream and Classic Concentration came up already in progress.

[bwood]

To answer the question buried above, I am using a Fire TV Stick 4K in one room and a newer Roku Player in another.

For the last 2 nights, LMaD has aired on both devices, on both apps. The guide has it listed correctly. For those seeing CC, I am extremely intrigued. I have not once seen CC in place of LMaD on either service. I went from all commercials to the correct programming albeit the size of a postage stamp at this time.

[BrandonFG]

Do they realize they're transmitting postage-stamp sized?

So it's not just me?

[bwood]

According to Buzzr Facebook (after weeding through the rambling), they are aware of the aspect ratio issues. It is coming from the stream provider that they use to send out the master feed. They are supposedly addressing.

[Sodboy13]

This thing is never going to reach the heights, but the Friday MGHSH is a marked improvement over the Monday one. The comfort level of the panelists is clearly much higher, and we've got some good jokes out of it!

[beatlefreak84]

Having watched the "new old" shows on Buzzr this week, and seeing multiple episodes of MGHS, I can say that both Split Second and MGHS are perfectly fine ways to spend some game show time, but I can see MGHS getting old fast.

I naturally like trivia games, so it's fun to see Split Second back.  I know the show was originally created by Monty Hall, but he really seems out of place on a straight trivia show.  He's certainly competent and can throw a good quip or two, but the fact that he's at his best with the bonus round and with contestant interviews says a lot.  But, that theme song...after hearing it again, I really think it may be one of the best original game show themes out there.

As for MGHS, while I know I was critical of it before, I've kind of mellowed a bit having watched it.  But, man, did they mess up what made HS a great show in making it more of a straight trivia game.  I think what's more disappointing to me is that Goodson knew that the MG part should not have been played as a straightforward "match the answer" show, and it's the humor in the answers that makes the show.  I'm just so surprised he didn't get that with HS.

One other point:  Bauman wasn't terrible, but that was the wrong show for him.  He tried to be charming and entertaining, but I think he just had trouble reining in the celebs and trying to balance whether it was a comedy game or a trivia game show played for big money (even Goodson didn't really seem to figure it out).  He was much better suited for his other show, The Pop n Rocker Game, since it revolved around music.  Maybe someone here knows the answer to this, but why not just have Rayburn host both parts?  Did there actually need to be another host for the HS part?

That said, I actually don't mind the consolation bucks for winning squares, especially since each game was being played for low stakes.  It virtually guarantees each contestant takes home some cash.  And, as we've discussed before, the "you can win by default" rule here actually doesn't bother me too much, since (1) game theory doesn't really suggest you do anything differently than with the classic rules, and (2) the simple way to avoid losing is to just get the question right.

All that rambling to say, while MGHS absolutely shouldn't have lasted more than one season, it's interesting to watch, and I'll be interested to see the evolution of Bauman's hosting.  But, I'd much rather watch Split Second.

Oh, and the less Fred Travalena, the better...

Anthony

[BrandonFG]

Oh, and the less Fred Travalena, the better...

This was one thing that didn't change in the 16 years since I first watched. The impressions got old quick.

[JMFabiano]

As for MGHS, while I know I was critical of it before, I've kind of mellowed a bit having watched it.  But, man, did they mess up what made HS a great show in making it more of a straight trivia game.  I think what's more disappointing to me is that Goodson knew that the MG part should not have been played as a straightforward "match the answer" show, and it's the humor in the answers that makes the show.  I'm just so surprised he didn't get that with HS.

One other point:  Bauman wasn't terrible, but that was the wrong show for him.  He tried to be charming and entertaining, but I think he just had trouble reining in the celebs and trying to balance whether it was a comedy game or a trivia game show played for big money (even Goodson didn't really seem to figure it out).  He was much better suited for his other show, The Pop n Rocker Game, since it revolved around music.  Maybe someone here knows the answer to this, but why not just have Rayburn host both parts?  Did there actually need to be another host for the HS part?

Another question is and given the format of the ABC version now, maybe a Match Game Challenge type one-hour program? 

Amongst his other tweets about the show and it being the "only honest Squares," Bauman defended Goodson's approach as "live-to-tape joke construction."  Claiming that most questions were meant to coax jokes out of the celebrities, and it was up to them to figure it out rather than "have the punch lines right in front of them." 

[tyshaun1]

As for MGHS, while I know I was critical of it before, I've kind of mellowed a bit having watched it.  But, man, did they mess up what made HS a great show in making it more of a straight trivia game.  I think what's more disappointing to me is that Goodson knew that the MG part should not have been played as a straightforward "match the answer" show, and it's the humor in the answers that makes the show.  I'm just so surprised he didn't get that with HS.

One other point:  Bauman wasn't terrible, but that was the wrong show for him.  He tried to be charming and entertaining, but I think he just had trouble reining in the celebs and trying to balance whether it was a comedy game or a trivia game show played for big money (even Goodson didn't really seem to figure it out).  He was much better suited for his other show, The Pop n Rocker Game, since it revolved around music.  Maybe someone here knows the answer to this, but why not just have Rayburn host both parts?  Did there actually need to be another host for the HS part?

All that rambling to say, while MGHS absolutely shouldn't have lasted more than one season, it's interesting to watch, and I'll be interested to see the evolution of Bauman's hosting.  But, I'd much rather watch Split Second.

Oh, and the less Fred Travalena, the better...

Anthony

From what I've read on the interwebs, NBC insisted on having a 2nd host for the format AND that host being Jon Bauman. Apparently Peter Marshall did something with the rights to Squares that pissed the suits off, which is why he wasn't considered. And as I recall, didn't Goodson always have issues with how Match Game 7x evolved into a comedy game? Perhaps he was trying to over-correct this with HS...... I think that too many of the pre-production hands in the pot is what helped to ruin the potential of MGHSH working.

[aaron sica]

And I still find Jon's style incredibly annoying. It's like he was trying to make "you were right to agree" a catchphrase against its will.

I lol'd a lot harder at this than I probably should have. You couldn't be more right! 9 year old me enjoyed this show immensely....44 year old me found three rounds of MG too long and the HS segment falling flat on its face with not being played for laughs.

It's on too late for me to see it in the evening, and football wins out on the weekends, at least during football season...Did catch, thanks to Imad Khuri, the "Lost and Found" episode with Howie Mandel. To say Howie's shtick with the first few (I turned it off after) HS questions was too long would be an understatement.

[JMFabiano]

And I still find Jon's style incredibly annoying. It's like he was trying to make "you were right to agree" a catchphrase against its will.

I lol'd a lot harder at this than I probably should have. You couldn't be more right! 9 year old me enjoyed this show immensely....44 year old me found three rounds of MG too long and the HS segment falling flat on its face with not being played for laughs.

It's on too late for me to see it in the evening, and football wins out on the weekends, at least during football season...Did catch, thanks to Imad Khuri, the "Lost and Found" episode with Howie Mandel. To say Howie's shtick with the first few (I turned it off after) HS questions was too long would be an understatement.

Time to build a nightmare MG/HS panel:

I'll start with a row 1 of : Howie Mandel, Fred Travalena, Jimmie Walker.