Monitors or game boards?

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'CarShark\' date=\'Apr 8 2005, 09:22 AM\'][quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Apr 7 2005, 11:46 PM\']2.)  They've left things basically the same, aside from the color changes in Season 31, and their ratings have gone up.  Obviously, they're improving already.[/quote]But who's to say that they wouldn't improve more if they implemented some changes. That's the problem. TPiR fans can be way too...complacent. Set in their ways.

3.)  If the audience, as you suggested, doesn't know the show is still on, making it less recognizable won't keep them from flipping by it while they're channelsurfing.

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If they don't know it's still on, then the don't know which parts are 10 years old or 15 years old...just that they're old. It's probably not recognizable to them now. But a more modern set will help it stand out.

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Your first point, I admit, is valid...we're just not going to agree on that one.

Your second point, though...no.  If Price suddenly looked more like every other game show on the air, it would stand out a lot less.

(And Travis pointed out to me last night that my first statement sounded kinda angry.  I should point out that I don't want to be called "Steven" because my name is Stephen. :-)

[CarShark]

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Apr 8 2005, 09:32 AM\']Your second point, though...no.  If Price suddenly looked more like every other game show on the air, it would stand out a lot less.

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I messed up that point. TPiR stands out now, but not in a good way. With J! and WoF using video walls and computers, and even GSN's Originals were pretty modern with their graphics. Price is Right probably looks behind in times, and modernizing would be like catching up.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'CarShark\' date=\'Apr 8 2005, 10:56 AM\']I messed up that point. TPiR stands out now, but not in a good way. With J! and WoF using video walls and computers, and even GSN's Originals were pretty modern with their graphics. Price is Right probably looks behind in times, and modernizing would be like catching up.[/quote]
Except that for whatever reason, part of the appeal of TPIR seems to be its throwback look.  Remember, it really wasn't all that long ago that they tried to give us a version of TPIR that had cool, modern, high-tech touches and frankly, it was "laughed out of syndication".

What you're defending is the fact that you personally like shows to look more high tech and your opinion that a lot of other people share your view.  I tend to feel that beyond a minimum level of competence, the height of the tech really isn't much of a factor for viewers.  I don't think either attitude can be conclusively proven; there are lots of examples on either side.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Apr 8 2005, 07:57 AM\']

I don't watch as many soaps as I used to, but I think they embrace the familiar as well. Susan Lucci has been on AMC longer than Bob's been on TPIR. Susan Flannery is still on B&B and Doug Davidson still toils on Y&R.

I think one thing that bugged me about soaps is that games always came and went (with the possible exception of "Price is Right"), but most soaps seemed to go on forever.

I was always surprised - and a little delighted - when I saw the next week's TV Guide and "Last show of the series" was listed under a soap.  Didn't happen very often.

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Part of it is that Conventional Wisdom states that a soap needs at least a year to determine if it's drawing an audience.  The opinion is that viewers make their minds up on game shows faster.

It also should be noted that while a game show could be put on the air weeks after a pitch is made, it usually takes a year from the network's commitment to a soap to get the show on the air (and who knows how long from an initial pitch), due to bible and storyline development, casting, etc.  It just happens that soaps are a bigger investment in time and money and the networks act more conservatively and are more likely to make changes than drop the hook, unless the ratings are hovering towards slash marks.  (It's also more difficult to make changes in storylines drawn up weeks, if not months, in advance.)

Meanwhile, if a game show's tanking, they may have changes made a few weeks in.  If not, it's gone--and back in the day, there were more shows out there ready to replace it.

[Particleman]

On the subject of modernizing game shows and of Price is Right, wasn't there an interview made with Bob Barker several years ago in which he said the show was going to get an updated look and feel?  And wasn't there an outcry from fans for them to leave the show the way it was?  The interview may have been an E! True Hollywood Story.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Jimmy Owen]

Think of the kind of programming that appeals to the youth market. "Survivor," "Fear Factor," "Trading Spaces," "Amazing Race," "Pimp My Ride."  Not only are there no fancy giant screens on set, there's no set at all.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Apr 8 2005, 10:25 AM\']I tend to feel that beyond a minimum level of competence, the height of the tech really isn't much of a factor for viewers.
[/quote]

Save for us, of course.  We care deeply beyond measure.  

Isn't it very much a matter of what we're used to?  In an alternate universe, where the "original" $10K Pyramid set was comprised of monitors, think of the hoopla there'd be when a revival brought in a board with trilons.

There's no reason that "Millionaire" couldn't have a Very Large Display on stage showing a contestant's progress up the ladder...and there'd probably be (among us) outcry if a redesign put one on stage.

And my wife says *I'm* unwilling to accept change...

[uncamark]

Well, I watched the MDS Saturday night with a view at looking to see at which of the stage games could be electronically updated.

Decision?  2 out of 6--One Away could be played with one monitor and the numbers Chyronned (Barker doesn't have to turn the blocks).  That's Too Much! could work with the prices on the monitors (and Barker could still hit the buttons to "activate" the monitors).

Also, yeah, you could put a monitor on Push Over for the ARP.  But Push Over's main visual punch is those blocks falling into the trash can.  And the other games on the show that night don't really need to be punched up (Coming or Going, in particular, is a great use of gravity as a display technique and shouldn't be changed at all).

Yeah, Clock Game needs an update bad--and I could buy a CG Hans for Cliff Hangers (let's not make his death graphic, though).  I could also see Credit Card redone to look like a 2004 ATM (complete with one of the models doing a computer voice "your limit is--Two-thousand-four-hundred dollars"--of course, they'd have to pay the model more for speaking).  And there are other boards that need a refurbishing.  But there are other areas of "TPIR" that I'd fool around with more before the game boards.

(In fact, I'd rather do It's in the Bag with *real* bags, with the prices painted on them.  Of course, unless all of the items are the same weight, it may be difficult for Barker to feign heaviness--but I think they'd look better than the fake bags and be one less mechanical thing to worry about.)

[Desperado]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Apr 11 2005, 04:19 PM\'](Coming or Going, in particular, is a great use of gravity as a display technique and shouldn't be changed at all)[/quote]
That poses an interesting side question:  How would TPIR be affected if it were played on the moon???

1.  Bob could sprint out of the big doors like he used to.
2.  Hans the Cliffhanger guy wouldn't fall off the cliff - he'd simply float away.
3.  Money Game cards would float out of their slots, resulting in easy wins.
4.  Plinko and Let 'em Roll would have to be retired.
5.  Each Showcase Showdown would take 13 hours.
6.  Enthusiastic contestants who jump risk busting their skulls on studio lights.
7.  New car prizes would be replaced with lunar rovers.

These are the kinds of things I think about in my spare time.

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'Desperado\' date=\'Apr 11 2005, 05:08 PM\']These are the kinds of things I think about in my spare time.

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And that explains more about you than your idiotic post.

[Desperado]

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Apr 11 2005, 05:18 PM\']And that explains more about you than your idiotic post.

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Let's see you do better, Copernicus.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Desperado\' date=\'Apr 11 2005, 05:23 PM\']Let's see you do better, Copernicus.
[/quote]
I assure you, Matt has a long history of intelligent and useful posts to this forum.

You have rather a long way to go.

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'Desperado\' date=\'Apr 11 2005, 05:08 PM\']2.  Hans the Cliffhanger guy wouldn't fall off the cliff - he'd simply float away.
3.  Money Game cards would float out of their slots, resulting in easy wins.
4.  Plinko and Let 'em Roll would have to be retired.[/quote]

"The moon" != "outer space"

[Desperado]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Apr 11 2005, 08:09 PM\'][quote name=\'Desperado\' date=\'Apr 11 2005, 05:08 PM\']2.  Hans the Cliffhanger guy wouldn't fall off the cliff - he'd simply float away.
3.  Money Game cards would float out of their slots, resulting in easy wins.
4.  Plinko and Let 'em Roll would have to be retired.[/quote]

"The moon" != "outer space"

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Good to know  you folks have a sense of humor.  Let's get back to a far more important discussion...like WHAT STUDIO WAS USED TO TAPE CARD SHARKS EP.#423.

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'Desperado\' date=\'Apr 11 2005, 08:35 PM\'][quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Apr 11 2005, 08:09 PM\'][quote name=\'Desperado\' date=\'Apr 11 2005, 05:08 PM\']2.  Hans the Cliffhanger guy wouldn't fall off the cliff - he'd simply float away.
3.  Money Game cards would float out of their slots, resulting in easy wins.
4.  Plinko and Let 'em Roll would have to be retired.[/quote]

"The moon" != "outer space"

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Good to know  you folks have a sense of humor.

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Well, if your post had been remotely funny, maybe we would have laughed.