TPiR question...

[Kevin Prather]

Say you and a bunch of your friends all go to a taping of TPiR. You decide to try and trick the contestant coordinators by coming in at different times, and acting as if you're not actually a group, in an effort to get more than one of you called down to play.

You sneak it past them long enough to get called down and play the game. They, however, catch on to your little trick when one of you wins the showcase, and the rest of you file up on stage from all corners of the audience.

Would you get in trouble? Is there an S&P rule against this sort of thing happening?

It's a ridiculously hypothetical question, but I think it's worth discussing.

[CarShark]

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Feb 1 2005, 10:10 PM\']They, however, catch on to your little trick when one of you wins the showcase, and the rest of you file up on stage from all corners of the audience.

[snapback]73918[/snapback]

[/quote]
I think that's a little late to be catching on to someone's trick.

I almost wish that this would happen, and that they would repeal the "groups get in fer sure" rule that they have now. I feel sorry for the husband/wife combo that traveled from Smalltown, USA in the midwest to see their idol in action, only to be surrounded by the 50 stoners from San Diego State that hopped in their vans for a road trip.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Feb 1 2005, 08:10 PM\']Would you get in trouble? Is there an S&P rule against this sort of thing happening?

It's a ridiculously hypothetical question, but I think it's worth discussing.

[snapback]73918[/snapback]

[/quote]
Well, one, you're going about it all wrong, we all know that you have a better chance of getting picked if you ARE in a group, but that's another issue for another day.

(Yes, I know what you're getting at. Still, 1 in 20 is more likely to happen than 2 in 200, ya know?)

Would there be an S&P rule? No. Although I think you would be obligated to let it be known if you knew one of the fellow contestants on The Row.

Would there be a CBS rule, if you acquired the tickets through some kind of a group program? Maybe.

[Frank15]

I don't know why they'd get in trouble.  There's no rule against having more than one person from a group being called to come on down.  Heck, it's happened on at least one occasion before--January 17, 2003.  This may not be an encouraged practice, and one I doubt most people would ever even dream up, but I see nothing legally wrong with it.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Frank15\' date=\'Feb 1 2005, 08:36 PM\']Heck, it's happened on at least one occasion before--January 17, 2003.
[/quote]
Ah. I didn't know there was precedent, because I, like, get outside occasionally. That said, I agree with Frank, save for any requirements by CBS to remain as a group if the tickets were issued as a group (because I would assume the production people have prolly blocked you off seats as a group as well), there can't be a problem with it that I can think of.

[Kevin Prather]

I thought I heard that if two people are more than casual acquaintances, they cannot compete against each other, or something like that. Is that just crazy talk?

[ClockGameJohn]

There is no rule of any kind prohibiting ANYONE in the audience from eligibility unless they have been called before.

While I follow the same reasoning as Chris that you'll stand a better shot of getting picked FROM a group, if you were to all split up, so be it.  There are many times that friends, relatives, and other group members have returned on later shows and been called down.  

Those who remember Michael Marlow (Buy or Sell), you could take notice a few weeks after he was on the show, he returned to the audience, and his aquantance won a car playing Any Number.

The last time I flew to LA, my flight attendant played 5 Price Tags in 1974!  Her son was a contestant in 2002.  Her daughter in 2003.

Again, there's no rule about having people from the same group being chosen.  The Producers enjoy picking a cross section from the audience, but you will most often see group members get chosen rather than not.  I have however, seen shows where there were a minimum of 5 groups, and only 1 had a contestant chosen.

Like it or not, the personality and smile is what's gonna get you to the row.  So split up, stick together, do backflips...just be sure to have a good time in that interview!

[MSTieScott]

If you gain admission to the show through the group booking system (i.e., a group of 20-25 people that made reservations months in advance and received a letter telling them to arrive at a later time to slip in ahead of the standbys), then you will all be placed together, both in the interviews and in the audience.

If your "group" is just 10 or so people who mailed in for tickets and got in line in the middle of the night to get into the audience, then you could, in theory, try that. It would require you to all enter the middle-of-the-night line at staggered times, though. And unless your "group" represented a good cross-section of America, it probably wouldn't help. You'd risk some of your friends jumping in line too late to get into the show, as well.

--
Scott Robinson

[starcade]

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Feb 1 2005, 10:10 PM\']Say you and a bunch of your friends all go to a taping of TPiR. You decide to try and trick the contestant coordinators by coming in at different times, and acting as if you're not actually a group, in an effort to get more than one of you called down to play.

You sneak it past them long enough to get called down and play the game. They, however, catch on to your little trick when one of you wins the showcase, and the rest of you file up on stage from all corners of the audience.

Would you get in trouble? Is there an S&P rule against this sort of thing happening?

It's a ridiculously hypothetical question, but I think it's worth discussing.

[snapback]73918[/snapback]

[/quote]

It wouldn't be a problem per se with respect to the game, which is where I think S&P should have all their problems, but I think that they would have a problem with trying to jerryrig the producers (and, MSTieScott, such a scheme would probably be organized enough NOT to use the group theory -- as the producers would believe it would be better for television for all similar "PICK ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" shirts to be together).

[Don Howard]

How about this one? I considered it briefly last summer while waiting for The Interview but chickened out. Would it help if I said my Uncle Mike was a contestant on a 1958 episode? It would be a lie. I don't even have an uncle by that name. But how are they to know? Would it help my chances by claiming to have that TPIR history with a relative?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Feb 3 2005, 07:21 PM\']How about this one? I considered it briefly last summer while waiting for The Interview but chickened out. Would it help if I said my Uncle Mike was a contestant on a 1958 episode? It would be a lie. I don't even have an uncle by that name. But how are they to know? Would it help my chances by claiming to have that TPIR history with a relative?

[snapback]74227[/snapback]

[/quote]
If you are so desperate to get on a game show so as to be willing to tell a bald-faced lie to do it, I highly suggest you reexamine your priorities, moral and otherwise.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 3 2005, 09:25 PM\'][quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Feb 3 2005, 07:21 PM\']How about this one? I considered it briefly last summer while waiting for The Interview but chickened out. Would it help if I said my Uncle Mike was a contestant on a 1958 episode? It would be a lie. I don't even have an uncle by that name. But how are they to know? Would it help my chances by claiming to have that TPIR history with a relative?

[snapback]74227[/snapback]

[/quote]
If you are so desperate to get on a game show so as to be willing to tell a bald-faced lie to do it, I highly suggest you reexamine your priorities, moral and otherwise.

[snapback]74228[/snapback]

[/quote]
So....it's a bad idea?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Feb 3 2005, 11:24 PM\']So....it's a bad idea?

[snapback]74247[/snapback]

[/quote]
How do I put this delicately:

Let's say one day I have a stand-up comedy act, and I was headlining some chic club, and you wanted to try to sneak in by representing that you were on the VIP list. It would be a slightly BETTER idea to claim you were Zach Horan.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 4 2005, 01:52 AM\'][quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Feb 3 2005, 11:24 PM\']So....it's a bad idea?

[snapback]74247[/snapback]

[/quote]
How do I put this delicately:
Let's say one day I have a stand-up comedy act, and I was headlining some chic club, and you wanted to try to sneak in by representing that you were on the VIP list. It would be a slightly BETTER idea to claim you were Zach Horan.

[snapback]74252[/snapback]

[/quote]
Looks like I'll be spending the weekend locked in a room watching a loop of the best of Blake Emmons.

[starcade]

Taking the individual out for a second:

This is one of my real gripes with TPiR, which will almost certainly spill over into other shows if the economy collapses soon (as I expect it to)...

The desperation for people to get on game shows is taking away from the shows themselves.  As just one example, it's so obvious when you see at least half of almost every TPiR audience in these ridiculous "PICK ME!!!!!!!!!!" shirts and they don't know how to play half the damn games on the show!!  (or even rudimentary bidding strategies)

It's clear that you are getting a whole bunch of people who, quite frankly, might only ever get a good car if they win one on TPiR (and can somehow kludge the tax situation thereon).  But it really does take away from it when it's clear that there's a circus atmosphere (and, in Vegas, a riot!) surrounding one of the few game shows left.