"Slow where it should be fast, and fast where it should be slow"

[Jeremy Nelson]

One of our fellow posters recently mentioned that McHale Card Sharks is "slow where it should be fast, and fast where it should be slow." Do you have any instances of shows that suffer from pacing issues, or where you'd like to see things sped up or slowed down?

I know Wheel does everything it can to stuff as many puzzles into the game as possible, but sometimes it feels like it comes at the expense of the actual wheel spins. By the time the contestant has finished their spinning motion, the wheel has almost stopped, and I miss the anticipation of watching top dollar or a penalty space slowly approach the pointer.

[TLEberle]

Watching a string of Match Game '90 and I can't help but shake the feeling that if the first Match-up round was gone we could have gotten a little more mileage out of the reason MG exists as a format. Heck, if you have Fred Travelena, Betty White and Charles Nelson Daggone Reilly all on the top line give them something to do besides flip a card and vamp for a couple of seconds.

[Casey Buck]

Bullseye. Between Jim Lange's constant vamping, the drawn-out Barry & Enright question style, and a bonus round that could take up to 10 minutes to play, I swear that show was designed to be as slow as possible.

[doctorwho]

I can only judge it so much because I've only seen the couple of episodes floating around on YouTube, but Rodeo Drive. Seven or eight minutes straight of "is this statement true or false" gets excruciating quickly -- there's just not enough there to make that such a big part, and the show suffers for it.

[BrandonFG]

I know Wheel does everything it can to stuff as many puzzles into the game as possible, but sometimes it feels like it comes at the expense of the actual wheel spins. By the time the contestant has finished their spinning motion, the wheel has almost stopped, and I miss the anticipation of watching top dollar or a penalty space slowly approach the pointer.

I haven't sat through a full episode in two or three years. Never thought I'd see the day where there was too much game in a game show. A few Toss-Ups, actual puzzle. Lather, rinse, repeat. As a result the show's been on cruise control for 20 years. They need something to break up the monotony. Shopping, longer puzzles, something. There's no breathing room.

Bullseye. Between Jim Lange's constant vamping, the drawn-out Barry & Enright question style, and a bonus round that could take up to 10 minutes to play, I swear that show was designed to be as slow as possible.

I watched one of the Celebrity episodes in 2003. They never made it to the bonus round. For me to have been so fascinated by this show as a teen, that killed a lot of the allure for me.

---

Temptation USA's ending the front game near the midway point of the show made an already lukewarm effort an absolute chore to sit through. I realize this allowed them to get all the prize plugs in, but you would think that a show that gave its contestants a five-day maximum to Buy Something or GTFO would add in at least one more round to give the players a chance to win more shopping money.

[Loogaroo]

I know Wheel does everything it can to stuff as many puzzles into the game as possible, but sometimes it feels like it comes at the expense of the actual wheel spins.

I'll keep saying it until it sticks: No television show resents its title more than Wheel of Fortune.

[mystery7]

Bullseye. Between Jim Lange's constant vamping, the drawn-out Barry & Enright question style, and a bonus round that could take up to 10 minutes to play, I swear that show was designed to be as slow as possible.

And then you had bonus rounds that straddled into the next episode after 2 or 3 spins. I don't remember if that ever happened on Joker's Wild and I'm pretty sure it never happened on Tic Tac Dough.

Speaking of Joker's Wild, the audience game really slowed things down. It took up just about half the show. Adding a phone player to it when Bill Cullen took over didn't help any more than celebrity players helped Bullseye or Hot Potato.

[vtown7]

I'd like to see Monopoly slowed down because it felt that it was a train going over a hill without brakes but I feel that pacing may not have been the only concern with that show

Ryan

[JMFabiano]

Being the trope namer in this thread, I'll explain why McHale CS is my choice. 

In the previous classic incarnations of the show, more time is spent with the questions, and the card calling is generally a fast-paced deal.  This is an almost perfect reverse on the current version, as they breeze through the questions, then drag- out- the- card- calling- segments.  For the crap some people give the PYL bonus game, any part where they call cards on McHale's version is more DOND than anything to do with the current PYL. 

This is one of the reasons why Joel is wasted as host.  He has so little to do, and not having the rapport during the questions that Jim/Bob/Bill did doesn't help.

I know Wheel does everything it can to stuff as many puzzles into the game as possible, but sometimes it feels like it comes at the expense of the actual wheel spins.

I'll keep saying it until it sticks: No television show resents its title more than Wheel of Fortune.

Totally off-topic, and I know some people aren't fans of references to it, but World WRESTLING Entertainment would like a word.  (the words being , "It's SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT!") 

[nowhammies10]

I'll keep saying it until it sticks: No television show resents its title more than Wheel of Fortune.

Wheel is totally and completely a product of the 1980s that feels really, really clunky today.  It is the warm, glitzy, over-the-top counterpart to Jeopardy!'s cold, fast-paced, understated style.  Somewhere around the middle of the 2000s, TPTB at Wheel decided that their show needed to be more like Millionaire and Deal or No Deal.  Gone is the gold, the glamour, the '80s schmaltz, and in comes the dark set, the neon everywhere, and the "zOMG TEH MILLION DOLLARZ" that you need to jump through 17 hoops to win.  I genuinely don't know anymore if Pat's "beleaguered game show host" bit is only a bit, or if he's really that disinterested in the proceedings.

All that having been said, Celebrity WOF gets things right. Pare back the gimmicks, give Vanna a hot mic to interact with the contestants too, and suddenly the show becomes a lot more interesting.

[Neumms]

Wheel is totally and completely a product of the 1980s that feels really, really clunky today.

Except that it's a product of the 1970s.

With all the commercials and sponsored crap, Wheel is almost as bad as a baseball game. Maybe soon the players will wear logos.

[Neumms]

Bullseye. Between Jim Lange's constant vamping, the drawn-out Barry & Enright question style, and a bonus round that could take up to 10 minutes to play, I swear that show was designed to be as slow as possible.

I found that made the bonus round better than the devil and dragon ones. At least the pace might vary from time to time.

Gambit and High Rollers had an odd pace. There was a lot of chit-chat including Elaine speaking to us at home as if she were the Romper Room lady, and High Rollers had minutes of prize descriptions, but once play started, Wink and Alex would really motor. Not that that's a bad thing.

[nowhammies10]

Wheel is totally and completely a product of the 1980s that feels really, really clunky today.

Except that it's a product of the 1970s.

*pushes glasses up bridge of nose* Wheel's popularity was solidified with the debut of the syndicated version in 1983. There's a reason there was no such thing as "Susan-mania".  Hell, even We Didn't Start The Fire puts Wheel next to Sally Ride, not with Begin and Reagan.

Match Game is a product of the '70s. Price is a product of the '70s. Wheel not so much.

[BrandonFG]

Wheel is totally and completely a product of the 1980s that feels really, really clunky today.

Except that it's a product of the 1970s.

I think he's referring to how glamorous the show became in the mid-80s, in part due to Vannamania. It's a huge difference between the 1985-88 era and what they were doing in 1979.

ETA: Never mind. He offered his rebuttal.

[BillCullen1]

Syndie Match Game had to get six games in every week, so most of the banter between the celebs was edited out. But that's what made the show fun to watch. Three secs after reading the question, Rayburn was prompting the contestant for an answer.