Millionaire Directing Issues

[TLEberle]

I truly do love "Millionaire," it's appointment viewing for me. But there's one thing that goes on with the show that I really despise:

Typically, when the game proceeds to the $16,000 question or more, the second the player says "I think I'm going to go for it..." the audience roars with approval.  And then we watch as the contestant makes a wild guess, misses, and falls back to $1,000.

Yeah, it's nice to see people go for it; it makes for an exciting game.  But I don't like it when the audience reacts like that.  Almost as if they're willing the contestant to play when he or she otherwise might not want to.  I know that last part sounds dumb, but it's been happening quite a bit recently.

Any other regular viewers want to weigh in on this?

[sshuffield70]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'May 11 2005, 07:58 PM\']I truly do love "Millionaire," it's appointment viewing for me. But there's one thing that goes on with the show that I really despise:

Typically, when the game proceeds to the $16,000 question or more, the second the player says "I think I'm going to go for it..." the audience roars with approval.  And then we watch as the contestant makes a wild guess, misses, and falls back to $1,000.

Yeah, it's nice to see people go for it; it makes for an exciting game.  But I don't like it when the audience reacts like that.  Almost as if they're willing the contestant to play when he or she otherwise might not want to.  I know that last part sounds dumb, but it's been happening quite a bit recently.

Any other regular viewers want to weigh in on this?

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Matthew Cohen......Paging Matthew Cohen.......

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'May 11 2005, 05:58 PM\']Typically, when the game proceeds to the $16,000 question or more, the second the player says "I think I'm going to go for it..." the audience roars with approval.  And then we watch as the contestant makes a wild guess, misses, and falls back to $1,000.

Yeah, it's nice to see people go for it; it makes for an exciting game.  But I don't like it when the audience reacts like that.  Almost as if they're willing the contestant to play when he or she otherwise might not want to.  I know that last part sounds dumb, but it's been happening quite a bit recently.
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If a player is letting the audience, who does not have a single dollar on the line, sway their decision whether to answer a question or not in ANY way (save, of course, for an Ask The Audience lifeline), then they completely and totally deserve whatever they get.

You are NEVER going to hear the audience say "No! Stop! Take the money!" They are there for one reason and one reason alone: to see someone win a million dollars. They are going to hoot and holler everytime a player indicates that they are Going For It, because that is how the million gets won.

[tomobrien]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'May 12 2005, 01:50 AM\']If a player is letting the audience, who does not have a single dollar on the line, sway their decision whether to answer a question or not in ANY way (save, of course, for an Ask The Audience lifeline), then they completely and totally deserve whatever they get.

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Chris' point is exactly right.  The audience has also been known to audibly (at least in the studio, anyway) gasp when an answer is given that they don't think is correct.  If you let that sway you in your response--or let them sway you into answering a question you're not sure of--you deserve whatever you get...or don't get.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'tomobrien\' date=\'May 12 2005, 09:57 AM\'][quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'May 12 2005, 01:50 AM\']If a player is letting the audience, who does not have a single dollar on the line, sway their decision whether to answer a question or not in ANY way (save, of course, for an Ask The Audience lifeline), then they completely and totally deserve whatever they get.

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Chris' point is exactly right.  The audience has also been known to audibly (at least in the studio, anyway) gasp when an answer is given that they don't think is correct.  If you let that sway you in your response--or let them sway you into answering a question you're not sure of--you deserve whatever you get...or don't get.

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And as Mr. Warmup Guy says, "Don't bottle it up!  Let it out!  Laugh big!  HA HA!"

I will just say that the day I saw "WWTBAM" being taped, I didn't see Mr. Warmup Guy cuing the audience for any sort of response other than applause--he was standing in the overflow area in front of a tech platform and the Technocrane out of vision if anyone was watching the Hot Seat, anyway.

[inturnaround]

Amen, Chris. It's like those yahoos in the peanut gallery on Celebrity Poker Showdown who yell "ALL IN" on seemingly every hand.

No more free booze for the audience...

[tvrandywest]

No matter what the show, the audience always favors saying "go for it". After all, as Barker has been known to say on occasion, "they have nothing to lose". Generally the only people saying "stop" or "freeze" are the contestants' family members!

To the topic of directing, the Emmy will go to either JEOPARDY!'s KEVIN MCCARTHY, or MILLIONAIRE's MATTHEW COHEN on Saturday. It's scheduled as the 21st of 41 awards - about halfway through the evening.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

[Fedya]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'May 12 2005, 11:33 PM\']To the topic of directing, the Emmy will go to either JEOPARDY!'s KEVIN MCCARTHY, or MILLIONAIRE's MATTHEW COHEN on Saturday. It's scheduled as the 21st of 41 awards - about halfway through the evening.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

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Does this come before or after the dance number set to the themes of the nominated game shows?  :-)

[That Don Guy]

[quote name=\'Fedya\' date=\'May 13 2005, 08:29 PM\'][quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'May 12 2005, 11:33 PM\']To the topic of directing, the Emmy will go to either JEOPARDY!'s KEVIN MCCARTHY, or MILLIONAIRE's MATTHEW COHEN on Saturday. It's scheduled as the 21st of 41 awards - about halfway through the evening.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

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Does this come before or after the dance number set to the themes of the nominated game shows?  :-)

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Face it - do you really think that whatever network is airing the Daytime Emmys isn't going to consider game show directing as one of the who cares ER, UH, Creative Arts categories?  I'm surprised they're not divided into "soap opera" (shown on network TV) and "non-soap opera" (shown, er, nowhere, although GSN could always do a severely shortened version (by replacing the reading of long list of names in nominations with just the names of the shows) and showing maybe five seconds of each acceptance speech) awards shows.

-- Don

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'Fedya\' date=\'May 13 2005, 05:29 PM\']Does this come before or after the dance number set to the themes of the nominated game shows?  :-)

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It's a great number. The dancers are dressed like the villans on that Wolpert show!

Actually, this particular award will be presented in a unique way. I'm on stage talking about how game shows give regular people the chance to win once-in-a-lifetime prizes. And I demonstrate the point by having Brandy and/or Rachel come out with a fishbowl full of names of audience members. We pick one and I call them to "Come On Down". We chat, and then I describe a showcase of prizes they've won that concludes with...  the exciting chance to be the presenter of the directing award! I rehearse the contestant with a funny practice award envelope, and then introduce him/her with a big flourish and fanfare from the live band.

While that's the basic sequence of events, it's sweetened with a fair amount of funny schtick. Well, we'll see just HOW funny later today!


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[tvrandywest]

It played very funny! JD Roth turned out to be the winner who became the guest Emmy presenter. We did some on-stage schtick and he read the wiiner for game show director.... Mathew Cohen for WWTBAM.

Roger Dobkowitz and many of the Price family were there. While we shared some good laughs, sadly not a single one of the several deserving Price nominees won a Daytime Creative Arts Emmy this year.


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[chris319]

not a single one of the several deserving Price nominees won a Daytime Creative Arts Emmy this year.

Who did win?

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'May 14 2005, 09:01 PM\']Who did win?

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Rachel and Brandi... they were hot as ever!

I'm working in the studio today, but will try to recap tomorrow.

In most of the areas where Price was nominated, the Emmys were captured by the soaps. Hair, wardrobe and audio mixing among the categories that went that way. I think the mistaken perception may be that because Price appears to be pretty much the same show everyday it happens with less thought or expertise. The soaps have more varied challenges in many of these technical areas that capture more attention.


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'May 15 2005, 10:31 AM\'][quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'May 14 2005, 09:01 PM\']Who did win?

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Rachel and Brandi... they were hot as ever!

I'm working in the studio today, but will try to recap tomorrow.

In most of the areas where Price was nominated, the Emmys were captured by the soaps. Hair, wardrobe and audio mixing among the categories that went that way. I think the mistaken perception may be that because Price appears to be pretty much the same show everyday it happens with less thought or expertise. The soaps have more varied challenges in many of these technical areas that capture more attention.

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Without going to the Emmy web site to check, I thought that the soaps have their own tech categories, so the game shows are competing against everything else.

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'May 16 2005, 02:49 PM\'][quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'May 15 2005, 10:31 AM\'][quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'May 14 2005, 09:01 PM\']Who did win?

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Rachel and Brandi... they were hot as ever!

I'm working in the studio today, but will try to recap tomorrow....

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Without going to the Emmy web site to check, I thought that the soaps have their own tech categories, so the game shows are competing against everything else.

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Whoops. In my haste out the door I confused the soaps with the talkers. There are indeed separate categories for drama. In wardrobe, hair, sound and set design Price was up against shows including Ellen (a big winner in many categories), Oprah, Live with Regis and Kelly, and Sesame Street. And the winners were:

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW and SESAME STREET

Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design/Styling SCOTT HAMILTON & FRIENDS WITH MICHAEL FEINSTEIN

Outstanding Achievement in Live & Direct To Tape Sound Mixing THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW

Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling LIVE WITH REGIS & KELLY

Outstanding Directing In A Game/Audience Participation Show WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE

Best game show and best game show host are this coming weekend.


Randy
tvrandywest.com