Which do you prefer? (Inspired by another thread)

[wdm1219inpenna]

I concur about Scrabble having to rely far too much on Speedword during the self-contained episodes.

Certain shows that straddle lend to potentially great excitement.  One example, when the klaxxon sound effect would go off during Millionaire and they were about to play for a huge sum.

Whew! could straddle but it was always rather tidy.  By that I mean a front game round never stopped with like 37 seconds to play.  Whew always started off either with a new front game round or with the bonus game.

I agree with what one poster wrote, about not liking certain games where the time's up bell determines the winner and you can tell by the clock if one player has no shot (Lingo and MG/HS Squares round leap readily to mind.)

Indeed, so long as the content of the show is good, and it doesn't slug along, either format is good (straddling vs self-contained).

By the way, I agree about the tie-breaking puzzle for Classic Concentration, I always wished the squares would have been randomized, rather than starting with #1.  That was one good and fun element of Scrabble's Speedword, the letters popped in at random rather than in order from left to right.

[TimK2003]

I agree about the tie-breaking puzzle for Classic Concentration, I always wished the squares would have been randomized, rather than starting with #1.  That was one good and fun element of Scrabble's Speedword, the letters popped in at random rather than in order from left to right.

With available computer capabilities in the mid-late 80s, was it even physically and/or economically possible to write a computer program that could randomly open up spaces on the tie-breaker puzzle?


I was in college at the time CC premiered (get off my lawn) and I remember how much a pain im the ass it was (compared to today) to type up papers in DOS that included special text, like italics, bold text and underlining.

[Mike Tennant]

With available computer capabilities in the mid-late 80s, was it even physically and/or economically possible to write a computer program that could randomly open up spaces on the tie-breaker puzzle?

Speaking as someone who was coding on a low-end computer (Commodore 64) at the time, I can state with certainty that having a computer generate a (pseudo)random number was quite easy and common even then.

[nowhammies10]

Hell, I wrote a program in C64 BASIC that could reliably spit out (pseudo)random lists of numbers for patterns on the Press Your Luck board. It's a fairly simple modification of the code to select from 1-25 inclusive instead of 1-18.

[Card Shark]

How did you see the Begeron TTD pilot? Was it on youtube or something? I didn't see it on there.

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



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.

[BrandonFG]

It was leaked late last year, then quickly taken offline.

[wdm1219inpenna]

I agree about the tie-breaking puzzle for Classic Concentration, I always wished the squares would have been randomized, rather than starting with #1.  That was one good and fun element of Scrabble's Speedword, the letters popped in at random rather than in order from left to right.

With available computer capabilities in the mid-late 80s, was it even physically and/or economically possible to write a computer program that could randomly open up spaces on the tie-breaker puzzle?


I was in college at the time CC premiered (get off my lawn) and I remember how much a pain im the ass it was (compared to today) to type up papers in DOS that included special text, like italics, bold text and underlining.

I would say absolutely possible, especially considering the opening of the show when they revealed the first sample puzzle had the doors opening up not in 1 to 25 order.

[TLEberle]

That would indicate that it was a deliberate choice on the part of the show.

[ChrisLambert!]

Bryce still has his copy of the Tic Tac Dough pilot in a google drive. Link’s on this page:

http://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic,33560.15.html

[Mr. Armadillo]

I agree about the tie-breaking puzzle for Classic Concentration, I always wished the squares would have been randomized, rather than starting with #1.  That was one good and fun element of Scrabble's Speedword, the letters popped in at random rather than in order from left to right.

With available computer capabilities in the mid-late 80s, was it even physically and/or economically possible to write a computer program that could randomly open up spaces on the tie-breaker puzzle?

Honestly, it wouldn't even need to be random, just programmed in a different order than 1-2-3-4-5-.... 

Nobody would care what the actual sequence is, just that it provides information from different places instead of straight through from beginning to end.

Of course, saying that out loud, it makes sense they'd want the contestants to start at the beginning, since that makes it easier and the whole point is that they're out of time and need someone to solve the damn thing as fast as possible.

[chrisholland03]

the whole point is that they're out of time and need someone to solve the damn thing as fast as possible.

I love it when a plan comes together!

[Sodboy13]

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.

I finally got around to watching the TPIR 50th special this week, and agree completely. Just give everything a little more space to breathe, and it makes the show so much better.

I don't know if the economics are there yet, but seeing something like Days of Our Lives pushed onto Peacock, and so many departing daytime shows getting replaced with local news or pasteurized process local news-adjacent product, makes me wonder if it would be viable to move Price to Paramount+ and bump that 38-minute runtime back up to 42 or 45.

[Neumms]

...seeing something like Days of Our Lives pushed onto Peacock...

Will Days not be on free TV anymore?

Not that I wouldn't like a longer air time, but TPIR had quicker games since the get-go, even back when Bob had time to chat with players. The pace might lag without them.

[aaron sica]

Will Days not be on free TV anymore?

Nope. Its last episode OTA on NBC will be Friday, September 9, replaced by "NBC News Daily" the following Monday.

[Jeremy Nelson]

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. 

I think, with both shows when they were contained, Game 1 of an episode was the show in its natural state, followed by a turn in form so drastic that we got whiplash. Could that inconsistency in pace have been fixed by including a timer for Game 1, too?

I don't know if the economics are there yet, but seeing something like Days of Our Lives pushed onto Peacock, and so many departing daytime shows getting replaced with local news or pasteurized process local news-adjacent product, makes me wonder if it would be viable to move Price to Paramount+ and bump that 38-minute runtime back up to 42 or 45.

It's still pulling in great ratings for daytime. It won't be moving to streaming anytime soon. That said, while removing two pricing games might be a bridge too far, I wouldn't mind seeing them remove one and have one SCSD at the end- top two spinners go to the Showcase.