'Whammy!'

[JMFabiano]

As far as Fremantle's "handiwork" goes, I'd say Whammy! was below....um....well I'd say FF by default as it is/was the closest to the original.  But it's above The Thing That Pat Bullard Hosted That Shall Not Be Called Card Sharks.  You do the math here...

Basically, it WAS essentially the same game, but did seem watered down in many ways.  Kind of like Osmond Pyramid, or Anderson/Karn FF.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'JMFabiano\' date=\'Apr 16 2005, 06:20 PM\']I'd say FF by default as it is/was the closest to the original. [/quote]
I'd have to give that award to TTTT.

I think some of you are being just a bit too harsh on it because it didn't mimic the orginal PYL detail-for-detail.

No one said it had to be PYL detail for detail. It's a multitude of things that made Whammy....bad.

[Sonic Whammy]

[quote name=\'urbanpreppie05\' date=\'Apr 16 2005, 04:37 PM\']Sure Whammy had its problems: The horrible commercial timing, the sucky theme music, and that ghastly Giant whammy, all in all it was a respectable revival, and frankly, I think some of you are being just a bit too harsh on it because it didn't mimic the orginal PYL detail-for-detail.

[snapback]82162[/snapback]

[/quote]
Ah, YOU see the points I was trying to make. While I gave Whammy a lower grade, it was not because it wasn't a complete copy of the original. It still worked, just took a little while to get there. Overall, the show worked for its age and time just as PYL worked for its time.

The prizes thing... I understand that with GSN we had to expect lower payouts, I should've noted that. It just really messed with gameplay and strategy in the beginning because, as was said, it DID lead to more anti-climatic moments than what was wanted. Season 2 helped a lot with that, and I'm sure Season 3 may have done a tiny notch better, who knows. But payout level notwithstanding, it just surprised a lot of us, I think, how many prizes were on the board at one time compared to PYL. That dramatic shift just caught us off guard a bit, you know?

I'll give all of you the timing on the commercials in Round 3. I never saw the point to that either, but I paid it no mind. Never bothered me that much.

Todd being loud... OK, so? Peter wasn't at times? Look at some of the early days of PYL, he had his moments.

And I STILL don't see the Millionaire lighting that everyone's talking about, unless you're looking at the ones behind the board, which just are not in the same category at all. Roulette and FOF did the Millionaire lighting trick right, but not Whammy (assuming the intention was there at all).

*sigh* Once again, looks like some of us will just agree to disagree. Likelihood says some of us here that hated Whammy hated PYL, too. But that's the fun of this whole conversation. We know what we like, and we're not afraid to explain why.

(Note that I said SOME of us, and not ALL of us before you jump on me about it.)

[JMFabiano]

[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Apr 16 2005, 07:46 PM\']
[quote name=\'JMFabiano\' date=\'Apr 16 2005, 06:20 PM\']I'd say FF by default as it is/was the closest to the original. [/quote]
I'd have to give that award to TTTT.

Well, on the earlier TTTT's, they had panel members who actually, you know, cared about the game instead of just getting themselves over.  So I guess we'll call this one a draw so to say.

Now if 100MD can be attributed to Fremantle (rather than Televisa), the decision would have been obvious.

[jdhernandez]

100MD is probably one of those shows that, I think, most closely goes back to its roots. Then again, it's very easy for me to get past the language barrier. =)

Maybe you guys who speak Spanish well should give "Mega Match Sensational" a chance, which is also on Televisa! (Even though it's gone through MAJOR changes in the past few months) For those of you who don't know....let's just say it's the Mexican version of College Mad House. ;-P

-----

Back to the topic, once you get past all of the season one anomalies and weirdness, Whammy was a very good, dare I say, great show in the second season. After that first season, I thought the show was dead in the waters. But Todd became more comfortable with his role, the board was improved 10-fold (yellow background whammies, less double whammies, more cash+spin squares, slightly less prizes, and better graphics), and the action was great all-around. It was certainly no `PYL' though, and that's where the show suffers, I think. Nothing beats an original, just ask Gene Rayburn, Dick Clark, and Wink Martindale...

[urbanpreppie05]

No one said it had to be PYL detail for detail. It's a multitude of things that made Whammy....bad.

Really now? See, from what most people seem to be saying (The original was this, and Whammy wasn't...") That's exactly what I'm hearing.

And as for it being bad-It's all in the eye of the beholder. Some of us enjoyed the show. Some didn't. I really wish that some people would stop speaking for everyone.

[Jimmy Owen]

The one thing on which I think we can all agree is that no one should presume to speak for everyone.

[CoreyArcher]

I thought the "pick a prize" space was inspired, even though the prizes stunk, and the changes made for the second batch of episodes, particularly the Big Bank, were steps in the right direction.

Even setting aside all the other little things that added up to a feeling of "I can't watch this," Whammy's biggest offense was mucking up the game play with the abundance of whammies and lack of + 1 spin spaces that killed the potential for spin battles -- the kind of seesaw matches that defined round two of PYL.

I tried to give Whammy a chance, though, unlike my friends who are more casual PYL fans than I am: They instantly thought it was a steaming pile of crap and refused to watch it.

- ca -

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Apr 17 2005, 06:34 PM\']The one thing on which I think we can all agree is that no one should presume to speak for everyone.[/quote]

Hey, don't put words in my mouth. I've never said that.