TVA (Canada) airing promos for '21'

[Kniwt]

TVA, one of Canada's private French networks, is running announcements saying that their version of '21' will begin Sept. 6. The promo has lots of scenes from the show -- the set and typography look virtually identical to the Maury version, and I swear I even saw "On The Air" in English on the podiums.

They showed someone trying to answer an 11-point question, and there were many shots of happy contestants -- now, I might be dreaming or something, but I could swear I saw contestants from the U.S. run in there, including Mr. Legler himself.

If I hadn't been halfway across the room at the time, I'd have lunged for the VCR so I could have captured this more accurately.  I'll keep my eyes open for it, though.

[SplitSecond]

It is possible that they're using footage from the US version.

It's not an uncommon practice for a station or network to use pre-existing footage for the first batch of promos in cases where footage from actual episodes to be aired isn't available.  Shows as recent as Whammy! and as far back as Showoffs did this - though the Showoffs promos had to be creatively edited around then-recently-deceased Larry Blyden.

[Kniwt]

It's not an uncommon practice for a station or network to use pre-existing footage for the first batch of promos in cases where footage from actual episodes to be aired isn't available

Yeah, and that's why I wish I had captured the promo on tape. I'm highly curious to see how deftly they managed the inclusion of that Nasty Evil English in their delightfully French production.

And ol' Dave surely wouldn't have been quite as excited if he had won only that Cdn$60,000 or whatever the top jackpot is going to be.  Why, that's all of about US$42.50!

[SplitSecond]

You seriously underestimate your Canadian dollar.  $47, easy.

[vtown7]

Re: footage

I can see why they're doing this... they're currently sorting through applications and I would imagine that they haven't started taping yet - but it will be soon as they're scheduled to start on the 6th of September.

Another show to add to the list - Winning Lines US showed the UK version in early clips (I remember recognizing a contestant from an episode from the early Simon Mayo days).

Should be good in anycase - 7 straight wins nets you over $40,000 Canadian: a far cry from $200 in a bonus win during "Definition"!

Cheers,

Ryan

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'vtown7\' date=\'Aug 11 2004, 07:02 AM\'] Should be good in anycase - 7 straight wins nets you over $40,000 Canadian: [/quote]
 Whereas 7 wins on the US show won you something like eleventy BILLION dollars.

(I'm not suggesting one is any better than the other.

[Ian Wallis]

Should be good in anycase - 7 straight wins nets you over $40,000 Canadian: 


Whereas 7 wins on the US show won you something like eleventy BILLION dollars.

Hmmm....eleventy billion dollars.  We've used this a lot now - is it a real word yet??!!

$40,000 for a Canadian show isn't bad.  I believe the highest total ever on a Canadian show was a $64,000 win on the Canadian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire".  I believe $64,000 Canadian would be about $48,000 US.

[sshuffield70]

If "Lingo" counts, it's $78,250.  And don't ask me why in the hell I remember that.  I sure don't want to sound like Horan.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Aug 14 2004, 11:11 AM\'] I believe the highest total ever on a Canadian show was a $64,000 win on the Canadian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire".  I believe $64,000 Canadian would be about $48,000 US. [/quote]
 What about the $128K wins that might have occurred on the Canuck-based second season of $128K Question.

[Blaq]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Aug 14 2004, 11:11 AM\']I believe the highest total ever on a Canadian show was a $64,000 win on the Canadian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire".  I believe $64,000 Canadian would be about $48,000 US.[/quote]
Actually, my first game show, Charivari, had a 13-week tournament format where both winning team members would each receive a house and furniture, valued at $100,000 CDN! That's six houses a year... As far as I know, that's the record for highest-paying Canadian game show.

Now, regarding the commercial: Ryan Vickers told me he'd seen it, so I TiVo'd an hour of TVA the next morning and, of course, found the ad amond the many house promos for the new season. Here's my (albeit detailed) reaction:

First reaction: wow, they've done a perfect duplicate of the US set!
(Except, obviously, for the large "Vingt et un" sign centered above the
isolation booths) I wasn't as impressed as I would've been a few years ago,
since Ultimatum pretty much changed our expectations regarding expensive
sets for TVA prime time game shows...

Second reaction: the same theme. Phew! No Jeopardy!-style disappointment.
(House arrangement, of course, to minimize the royalty budget)

Three: looks relaxed enough, what with contestants allowing themselves
reactions usually only seen on US TV... B^) And the short-sleeved shirt guy,
sweat stains and all, doesn't that spell "casual"?

Four: the guy's name is Tim Helms. Huh. West Island anglo, or
out-of-province player? B^) B^)

Five: what the #@$&%? Contestant displays showing ON THE AIR? But, but...
didn't the June ad show "EN ONDES" floating among the computer-generated
flotsam? ON THE AIR, my ass. Couldn't they do it right, in French s'il vous
plaît? I immediately came up with possible reasons: they used the actual
Twenty One set, stored away since 2000, along with the computer system...
and didn't have time (or made the effort, or spent the money) to translate
the display. I toy with the idea of emailing TVA a complaint...

Six: I'm all excited! When I show Michael the ad, however, with
freeze-frames aplenty, I discover that...



HEY! WHAT THE...? There's a shot where we see Tim in his isolation booth, on
the left, and the host on the right, facing away from us, standing behind a
podium proudly bearing the logo... TWENT!

Well I'll be darned. They're serving us clips from Twenty One with the Vingt
Et Un logo strategically added! (Pretty well done, BTW -- I'm usually the
first one to gleefully scream "Blue screen!" They matched the camera moves
to perfection)

So anyway, we still haven't seen actual shots from Vingt Et Un...