Twenty One photo

[Kevin Prather]

OTOH, given that there were no real winnings on the line, the contestant may have been more willing to make all-or-nothing bets on the potentially iffy 5 and 10.

I think this is the more pertinent part. Generally speaking, we have more data on the side of Goodson not rigging pilots. While it may have happened here and there, my gut tells me no.

-Jason

I wonder how many 28,800s we had in Palace. I'm sure it was a few.

[Blanquepage]

For the life of me I can't remember the name (plus I'm eating dinner right now so I'm not in the mood for tearing through notes), but the G-T/Barry rigged game was from 1969.  It was one of those "we got filmed answers from kids, so you'll answer these questions based on that".  The host was Gene Rayburn and featured what would eventually be The Better Sex end game, with just 13 people rather than 30.

Well now I'm certainly curious. This sounds exactly like It's Predictable, although the taped answers were of adults and it was taped June '70. Is this what you're recalling or was there in fact a previous attempt with the same format? 

[TLEberle]

Related to Scott & Kevin's comments: to this day, I've probably only watched the original Twenty One for a minute or two at a time -- same goes for the Jim Lange pilot. Knowing the episodes were rigged, I didn't feel a desire to watch the choreography play out in real time. That's why I've always been curious how the game would go played under its original rules, legitimately.

Going in with the knowledge that the longest a champion ran on Maury’s run was six games, I think it would have fallen flat. The game as played legit lends itself to blowouts as much as it does nailbiters. Charging players for wrong answers also runs the risk of trying to play catch-up and if you’re in another weak spot you’re going for ten and wrong again, and your opponent wins, unless the same calculus is happening in the other booth.

Tic Tac Dough and Jokers Wild desperately need easy material to put crosses and circles on the board or cash in the bank. The problem 21 runs into is players winning eleven points on a fairly elementary question is likely to turn off people looking for difficulty, and you’re back to the original dilemma.

[chris319]

OTOH, given that there were no real winnings on the line, the contestant may have been more willing to make all-or-nothing bets on the potentially iffy 5 and 10.

I think this is the more pertinent part. Generally speaking, we have more data on the side of Goodson not rigging pilots. While it may have happened here and there, my gut tells me no.

-Jason

That pilot show may indeed have been rigged at the insistence of the network, knowing full well that the show could never see air with NBC Compliance and Practices making damn sure it never did.

I've never seen that show. How do the contestants' reactions look? Does he look genuinely surprised or fake surprised?

[Blanquepage]

Disclaimer: I have no proof or hard evidence backing up this opinion, just trusting my instincts.

The Money Cards in both pilots seemed to be very, very obviously staged. Pilot #1 had Jack Campion, a fine pilot actor, busting after wagering $8K on the Big Bet.
Pilot #2 had the max win. Without being an expert, it seemed that they staged both to show what "big bust" and "breaking the bank" outcomes looked like.

[chris319]

I watched Johnny on CS pilot #2.

He appears to have been instructed to bet his entire wad on each bet. He doesn't agonize or deliberate over any of his bets. He's too cocksure. When he wins the jackpot, he's actor enough to act triumphant even though there was no real money at stake.

[Blanquepage]

Coincidentally, I also just rewatched the bonus round to Spellbinders pilot #1.
The contestant handily won the $5K after blazing through the Bar Drinks category immediately guessing some with just the first letter; Pilot #2 still on Winc's channel had the player choke on "Hearts" in the Card Games category.
This also feels like a staged bonus win/loss pilot pair scenario to me. But...maybe the fellow in pilot #1 was just a well-versed drinker
Initial impulse though: staged.

[BrandonFG]

I watched Johnny on CS pilot #2.

He appears to have been instructed to bet his entire wad on each bet. He doesn't agonize or deliberate over any of his bets. He's too cocksure. When he wins the jackpot, he's actor enough to act triumphant even though there was no real money at stake.

I always got a kick out of him Hi/Low-Fiving Jim as they went to break. Definitely more chummy than usual.

[chris319]

I'm on a tear.

I watched the pilots of "On a Roll", "Star Words" and "Top Secret".

Conclusion: I left the game-show business just in time.

[Mr. Matté]

Pilot #2 still on Winc's channel had the player choke on "Hearts" in the Card Games category.
This also feels like a staged bonus win/loss pilot pair scenario to me.

The "meat sauce" as the first answer given on "Things you eat with spaghetti" seems a little out there too to be genuine.

[narzo]

Has anyone watched the "Vingt-et-un" series from Canada?  I'm wondering how that fared as a "normal" version of the game show, compared to what we've discussed. I've never seen one episode so I've no idea.   

[BrandonFG]

Has anyone watched the "Vingt-et-un" series from Canada?  I'm wondering how that fared as a "normal" version of the game show, compared to what we've discussed. I've never seen one episode so I've no idea.

Ryan Vickers to the white courtesy phone.

[vtown7]

Has anyone watched the "Vingt-et-un" series from Canada?  I'm wondering how that fared as a "normal" version of the game show, compared to what we've discussed. I've never seen one episode so I've no idea.

Ryan Vickers to the white courtesy phone.

You rang? 

Long story short... one season in 2004-05.  As a daily show it worked fine... win one was 250$ with win seven being 20 000$ (then back to the start).  Bonus game was same as NBC primetime just with two zeroes dropped (ie. 100$ instead of 10 000$).  Second chance was in play.  If memory serves there were two full games in each show.  Points for employing legendary Quebec game show host Guy Mongrain as the moderator.

I had honestly forgotten until recently that I had an audition for this - emailed a test and with x amount of time to complete it (m/c if memory serves... I have a copy of it somewhere but can't find it).  Didn't get it but blaq did get on... and as such... blaq to the white courtesy phone