Shows you fell out of love with

[TLEberle]

After that, my #1 pet peeve was the contestant on a low level question saying, "I think I know the answer but just to be safe I'll ask the audience."  Well, that guy's not making it past $64,000...what else is on?

This is certainly a thing that when I see on stream I want to pull my hair out or bite my fist, but I also understand knowledge holes. I know I have them, I imagine you do as well? That's the point of the lifeline--since you're ostensibly getting fifteen questions from all realms of knowledge that you can't be expected to know everything.

To the point of overexposure, I get the point of "there's nothing else they can do," so even long running shows such as Dancing With the Stars, The Amazing Race, The Voice and such are constantly refining their final product. Millionaire really can't do that other than hitting the accelerator on the prize money.

[SuperMatch93]

Millionaire really can't do that other than hitting the accelerator on the prize money.

I don't have the ratings on hand, but I wonder if implementing the progressive jackpot had a noticeable effect on viewership (my guess is no, since it was still so overexposed at the time).

I think we've talked about this on here before, but a million dollars doesn't have the same oomph that it did as a top prize 25 years ago so that draw isn't quite there anymore. I remember thinking a while back that they could take a page from the 50s Break the Bank and increase the top prize by any money forfeited with a wrong answer (e.g. if a contestant got question 15 wrong, the next contestant would be playing for $1,468,000).

[Kevin Prather]

After that, my #1 pet peeve was the contestant on a low level question saying, "I think I know the answer but just to be safe I'll ask the audience."  Well, that guy's not making it past $64,000...what else is on?

This is certainly a thing that when I see on stream I want to pull my hair out or bite my fist, but I also understand knowledge holes.

The one that always got me pulling my hair out was "I'm pretty sure it's A, but let me ask the audience." Twenty five years later, people are still doing that.

[TimK2003]

Add me to the list of most shows that Barry/Enright cranked out.

As a kid, the sets, colors, computer graphics, rainbow swirls and sound effects were what drew me into the games. 

But when I started watching the shows as an adult, Joker's Wild was the biggest disappointment as the years went on, and it really came to light for me after GSN started airing the original CBS episodes.  In the beginning, the show's difficulty level for questions was on par with Fleming Jeopardy and the Who What & Where Game.  It really started going down the dumbing down trail when Tic Tac Dough caught fire in syndication and Bullseye soon after and when TJW added the audience and home games which took away time from the real game play.  This was also around the time that B&E was regularly doing the "Reach $xxxx before hitting the ______" bonus round variant on nearly all their shows.

Break The Bank was one of their exceptions to the rule, despite the "$2000 or Bust" end game used on the syndicated version.

After that, my #1 pet peeve was the contestant on a low level question saying, "I think I know the answer but just to be safe I'll ask the audience."  Well, that guy's not making it past $64,000...what else is on?

This is certainly a thing that when I see on stream I want to pull my hair out or bite my fist, but I also understand knowledge holes.

The one that always got me pulling my hair out was "I'm pretty sure it's A, but let me ask the audience." Twenty five years later, people are still doing that.

And that's the #1 no-no if you go to Ask The Audience -- DON'T give the audience any hint as to what choices you are torn between until AFTER the audience is polled.  Otherwise, with rare exception, the popular answer skews more towards your initial choice and may push you in the wrong direction.

[TLEberle]

Disagree, telling the audience that you think the answer is D if you have already ruled it out means you'll get all of the people who don't have any idea and are just following the hot seat player, who will now have way more signal than noise.

[Hastin]

I still wonder what might have been if they didn't decide to make WWTBAM a series, and stuck with the "Event TV" model.

One big aspect I still like about UK Millionaire. Still feels special, especially with Fastest Finger and contestants that generally qualified in some way. There's a dryness that still works for Millionaire over there.

I find that I'm a little Jeopardy!ed out right now. After all the tournaments, even with regular players, it still just feels like a lot. I think also too that everyone playing the Holzhauer "start at bottom, try to block or get DD" strategy just makes the game not as fun to play along with, and there's been a monotony to the presentation without the Clue Crew and company. It feels like everything is fast-based and text clues, and the game has no room to breathe at all.

25 Words or Less was a lot of fun when it first aired, and I was fine with the COVID zoom-cubes for a couple of years, but man, it feels like it's just being phoned in now by everyone. Needs a rule change, a real set/gathering or something to spice it up.

[clemon79]

WWTBAM, but not for lack of a changing perspective, but because they've sunk my enthusiasm with relying on celebrities. As for a show I used to love but now no more, surprisingly, Bullseye. The bonus round could just drag way too long, especially if the player was going for the 10-spin win. Front game really a TJW category on a niftier set. Anyone out there know who else other than Jim Lange had a shot at the job? Anyhow, I'll always appreciate the cosmetic elements just as much as always, though 

I like Bullseye, but when I think of fast-paced hosts, Jim Lange does not pop up at the top of the list. I'm sure someone will pop up to correct me, but for God's sake, the only show he hosted with a clock was Name That Tune, and that one stops for long periods of time every three seconds or so. It's the longest thirty seconds in television. I've seen NFL games at the two-minute warning end faster.

(I'm already wrong: Chance Of A Lifetime, but all he had to do was read letters as they appeared.)

[aaron sica]

As for a show I used to love but now no more, surprisingly, Bullseye.

I was never really a fan of the show. It premiered when I was around 6, and I remember cheering against a 5-question contract because I found having to wait for the contestant to answer 5 questions extremely boring. I had the same reaction when I watched the show as an adult. You're right about the bonus round too.

[clemon79]

I think also too that everyone playing the Holzhauer "start at bottom, try to block or get DD" strategy just makes the game not as fun to play along with

So lessee. Forrest Bounce, pisses people off.

Fishing for Daily Doubles (arguably the best strategy for a strong player, by removing the element of chance from the game as much as possible) pisses people off.

So anything but a comforting, predictable, repeatable "take one category from top to bottom and then move to another one" is gonna raise hackles.

Definitely something to ponder here. Definitely.

and there's been a monotony to the presentation without the Clue Crew and company.

Fewer unnecessary video clues = more content making it to air instead of time running out. I'm down with that.

25 Words or Less was a lot of fun when it first aired, and I was fine with the COVID zoom-cubes for a couple of years, but man, it feels like it's just being phoned in now by everyone. Needs a rule change, a real set/gathering or something to spice it up.

I don't watch this (I'm not even sure when it's on here)....are they still playing it over Zoom, even today?

[SuperMatch93]

I don't watch this (I'm not even sure when it's on here)....are they still playing it over Zoom, even today?

They are indeed. My theory is that they want to keep it that way because if they went back to the in-studio setup, they wouldn't be able to mix in repeats as easily because they would seem dated.

[clemon79]

My theory is that they want to keep it that way because if they went back to the in-studio setup, they wouldn't be able to mix in repeats as easily because they would seem dated.

Isn't that a feature? I honestly would rather not turn on new episodes and be reminded of why they went to playing over Zoom in the FIRST place.

I get that we're still dealing with COVID and it's likely we will be in some form or fashion for the rest of our lives. But TV (especially game shows) is supposed to be an escape and most production has gone back to "normal" or whatever passes for it these days. Take the "W" where you can get it, I say.

[BrandonFG]

I thought I read that it's back to the original setup, now that the show tapes in Atlanta. Could be wrong there.

[TLEberle]

Chris: I think early-midday on channel 13. GSN pairs it with Person, Place or Thing from 0900 to 1000.

[JasonA1]

I don't watch this (I'm not even sure when it's on here)....are they still playing it over Zoom, even today?

They are indeed.

FWIW, it's not Zoom. The contestants and celebrities have always been in the same studio, but in socially distanced "pods" where they can hear with earbuds and watch the others on monitors. Meredith herself was broadcasting from out east until things got better, at which time her pod moved to the SoCal studio with everyone else.

-Jason

[SuperSweeper]

I thought I read that it's back to the original setup, now that the show tapes in Atlanta. Could be wrong there.

Nope, it's still the pods.