From a host/production standpoint: the tosses to breaks.
Back in the day, hosts would tells us what’s coming up next on the other side of the commercial, or give a little joke or anecdote before the standard “We’ll be right back.” To be fair, I’m speaking more on the bigger shows, and I’m sure not every show does it, but two immediately come to mind.
Every toss to break, with maybe the exception of the very last one, Wayne or Drew simply says “More ‘Let’s Make a Deal/The Price is Right’ right after this!” I know what show I’m watching; a simple look at the set or press of the info button on my remote gives me an indication of which show it is. Just tell me what to expect; I like when I hear something along the lines of “We’re gonna give someone a chance to win thousands of dollars right after this” (Wayne used to do this in the early days of his LMAD run), or “We’re gonna see if we can get another winner right after this” (at least Drew mentions when we’ve reached the Showcase Showdowns or the Showcases themselves). The hosts should have a little fun with it before going to break. I wonder if that has to do with saving time.
Difficulty-based rewards: this is just a quirk of mine, but I miss when (for the most part) major expensive prizes were won by accomplishing seemingly difficult feats. For example, winning games while accumulating $750 or more or putting the 10 major prizes on the line to play the optional 11th game for $50,000 or more on $ale of the Century (depending on which version of the show the champion is playing at the time). Adding a car to the litany of prizes for reaching major championship milestones (any long-running B&E production or Jeopardy for a while). Playing Pay the Rent on a day when the producers don’t feel like tempering the difficulty. Answering 15 questions of increasing difficulty to win $1 million.
I bring that part up because that seems to be the go-to prize when trying to get viewers to tune in, but the luster is LONG gone because the difficulty to win said prize varies wildly from show to show (or in TPIR’s case, day to day). For me, there’s no fun in seeing one contestant play for that prize by simply playing Grand Game with extra zeroes, while seeing another play for the prize on the next show by playing something completely luck based (Plinko).
I just liked shows with hosts keeping the pace in check while seeing logical progression in prizes offered/won. That’s just me.
The Inquisitive One
