Which do you prefer? (Inspired by another thread)

[wdm1219inpenna]

Do you prefer game shows where episodes straddle such as the original Card Sharks, High Rollers, The Joker's Wild (non Snoop Dogg version) and many others, or do you prefer game shows that are self contained such as Price is Right, Let's Make a Deal, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud?

On the one hand I do like self contained episodes as they are tidier and you know the outcome.  On the other hand, if a game is interrupted and it is at a very pivotal moment, there is a certain charm and excitement to that also.

I suppose I am torn just about down the middle as to which I prefer.  I know when I was hosting games online, I always tried to have self contained episodes.  Was wondering if all of you had a preference one way or the other.

[SuperMatch93]

I've always preferred self-contained ones. I don't really like starting a show where I hadn't seen the start of a game and, having not seen the previous episode, I'm lost as to what had happened earlier.

[TLEberle]

No difference. I just want good content that doesn’t dally.

[Dbacksfan12]

I prefer shows that straddle.  I feel shows that insist on being self-contained can result in lazy game play to decide a winner…such as HS ‘86 or certain parts of Classic Concentration’s run.

[BrandonFG]

Doesn’t matter as long as the pacing doesn’t drag. “Celebrity Bullseye” is a perfect example. Self-contained works, but there are also shows that would benefit more from a Best-of-3 rather than playing to the bell.

That said, I’m watching “Classic Concentration” on Buzzr and the Best-of-3 to play the Car Game is a bit of a slog to sit through.

[chrisholland03]

That said, I’m watching “Classic Concentration” on Buzzr and the Best-of-3 to play the Car Game is a bit of a slog to sit through.

I disagree - I didn't like the perpetual speed-up rounds to jam in a second car game.  Likewise with Scrabble - they overused Speedword when they moved to the self-contained eps. 

[calliaume]

Do you prefer game shows where episodes straddle such as the original Card Sharks, High Rollers, The Joker's Wild (non Snoop Dogg version) and many others, or do you prefer game shows that are self contained such as Price is Right, Let's Make a Deal, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud?

Two different answers, since we've gotten a little bit away from the original intent of the question.

1) I prefer self-contained programs. If I can't tune in tomorrow for whatever reason (I'm back at school or at work), I'm not left hanging.

2) That said, there are some programs that work considerably better if they straddle. Adam Nedeff said a while back (and I can't find the thread) that he thought daytime Squares worked much better than the '70s evening syndie version because there was time to let the jokes and the show breathe. In the evening version, the time constraint meant the stars (and sometimes Peter Marshall) had to rush through questions, in order to allow both players a fair chance at a win. A star may be getting big laughs with a joke and have a topper, but that couldn't happen if each player had won two games and there were two circles and two Xs on the board late in the game.

[TimK2003]

There are some great shows whose gameplay was designed to fill a 30 minute program seamlessly ($10-$100,000 Pyramid was a near perfect example), while there are other shows that suffer for keeping the show self-contained.  I'd prefer shows whose natural flow does that.

That being said, if a show's gameplay is meant to straddle, let it straddle.  If it's meant to fill a 30 or 60-minute timeslot, so be it.  Just as long as you don't post-production the hell out of it to make it fit a set time frame or to stretch out pauses or tension-filled reveals to kill time.

[Casey Buck]

In an ideal world (perhaps a streaming world), game shows would have a variable runtime so that you get the best of both worlds: a self-contained show AND gameplay that doesn't have to resort to kludges like a times-up bell.

Even TPiR would benefit immensely by not having to resort to 2 or 3 quickie games per show to shoehorn in everything to a 38 minute (without commercials) runtime.

[Kevin Prather]

What I don't like is when I can tell someone is not going to win the game just by looking at the clock.

[The Ol' Guy]

Don't mind straddles at all. Favorite example is Blockbusters. I'm usually watching to beat the contestants to the answer and not to keep track of wins. I lose nothing if I miss a show or two. As TimK noted, shows that can handle a fill smoothly are fine. Add Every Second Counts to shows that are paced to have a complete game with no carryover. But shows like Joker, TTDough, Bullseye...no prob with straddles as long as the game pace stays good up to the "time's up" signal. Besides...whose world will end if they miss an episode? The problem with the question of "prefer" depends on the show and why you watch it.

[Strikerz04]

I was introduced to self-contained "Scrabble" episodes until I found out later that they straddled. I preferred the straddling, since they kept playing until that "time's up" bell. Same with "High Rollers" and "Squares"


My preference of the two: as long as quality and pace of play [this isn't baseball] doesn't suffer, I don't mind either.

[Unrealtor]

Another "depends on the show." The only strong preference I have is against self-containing two full games when they're variable enough in length that a long first game means that there isn't time to play a second in full (as in the Concentration and Scrabble examples.) That said, if they'd had as much time as it needed, I think I preferred the daily tournament standalone Scrabble format to the one that straddled.

On the other side, if the individual pieces of a game are short enough, I think it's fine to play until time runs out even when straddling is possible. I didn't mind the Davidson/Bergeron Hollywood Squares method of doing as many full games as possible and paying out per square if time ran out mid-game. I don't think Password Plus or Super Password would have suffered from playing as many puzzles as time allowed and then a single Alphabetics/endgame. Present-day Wheel of Fortune is kind of weird for always having a speed-up round even on the occasions when it seems fairly obvious that, in years gone by, the show would have ended after the last full puzzle, but it's worked for them for decades.

[Neumms]

That said, I’m watching “Classic Concentration” on Buzzr and the Best-of-3 to play the Car Game is a bit of a slog to sit through.

I didn't mind the tie breaker puzzle, though I always wondered why they didn't open the doors at random.

At the time it seemed cheap to ditch one car game, but I think they upped the value of prizes in the front game.

[Neumms]

Tic Tac Dough--as we saw in Bergeron's pilot--needs to straddle.

Joker's Wild does, too, because three jokers winning the game was far more exciting than Snoop's work around.

Chuck's Lingo would have been helped by straddling so they could have played it as first team with two Lingos wins, thus ditching points.