Lingo's 4th Season

[SteveRep]

[quote name=\'TonicBH\' date=\'Sep 1 2005, 01:25 PM\']I got a suggestion for the Bonus Lingo board: Add a red ball. Just one. For those who complain how the bonus gets anticlimatic after a team gets five (or more) words in the first half, this adds tension. You could be a shoe-in for a win, then draw that pesky Red Ball.[/quote]
Would that then trigger discussion of one ? ball to counter the stopper -- with the stipulation that a ? on the first pull does not win the $10K. The team can cover any other number.

Right now, the chance of winning $10K is 7.7 percent (1/13). Adding the red ball lowers that to 7.1 (1/14). That's not a bad idea.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'TonicBH\' date=\'Sep 1 2005, 10:25 AM\']I got a suggestion for the Bonus Lingo board: Add a red ball. Just one. For those who complain how the bonus gets anticlimatic after a team gets five (or more) words in the first half, this adds tension. [/quote] Wow.  I didn't think it would be possible to make the bonus game worse, but there you go.  If you get ten words in the first half, the $5,000 should be a foregone conclusion.  I still like the original board setup.

You could be a shoe-in for a win, then draw that pesky Red Ball.

Yeah, that's a complete and total hack.  Take away time in the first half, put up fewer covered numbers on the board, anything but a red ball.

Here's another way to look at it: does anyone complain when the "Big Bet" card on Card Sharks turns out to be a two or an Ace?  No, we're glad for their good fortune.  We don't wish an 8 on someone, just for there to be a manufactured climax.  

[quote name=\'SteveRep\' date=\'Sep 1 2005, 10:41 AM\']Would that then trigger discussion of one ? ball to counter the stopper -- with the stipulation that a ? on the first pull does not win the $10K. The team can cover any other number.[/quote]If you need an exception to the rule, chuck the rule.

Right now, the chance of winning $10K is 7.7 percent (1/13). Adding the red ball lowers that to 7.1 (1/14). That's not a bad idea.

[snapback]95616[/snapback]

Sure it is.  Instead of giving the team a free run at $5,000, and an outside shot at $10,000, you're making it possible for a team that cleaned up in the first half to lose on account of nothing more than an unlucky pull.  Not on only solving one or two words.  A red ball.

[SteveRep]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Sep 1 2005, 03:54 PM\']Sure it is.  Instead of giving the team a free run at $5,000, and an outside shot at $10,000, you're making it possible for a team that cleaned up in the first half to lose on account of nothing more than an unlucky pull.  Not on only solving one or two words.  A red ball.
[/quote]
I read my post and didn't make one thing clear. In my thinking, the red ball is NOT a total loss of the bonus round, just a loss of that pull and the penalty is that no number gets covered.

[JasonA1]

I dunno if this is true all of the time, but I have noticed the show is picking their bonus words better the last few times I tuned in. That's all they need to do. Amp the difficulty just a bit to lower the average number solved - a decent team can wrangle enough for it to be pretty possible, but not foul up so bad it's a slim chance...

-Jason

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'SteveRep\' date=\'Sep 1 2005, 02:03 PM\']I read my post and didn't make one thing clear. In my thinking, the red ball is NOT a total loss of the bonus round, just a loss of that pull and the penalty is that no number gets covered.

[snapback]95625[/snapback]

[/quote]
OK, I didn't think of that.  Even so, it's still a hack; you're only putting off the inevitable.  With ten draws, red ball or no, there is still a good chance (is it 100%) that you'll cover a line.  It doesn't solve the problem.

For that matter, I don't think the problem can be solved when you have a set period of time for the final act, but we can only work with what we have.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Sep 1 2005, 07:11 PM\']
With ten draws, red ball or no, there is still a good chance (is it 100%) that you'll cover a line. 

[snapback]95632[/snapback]

[/quote]

A lingo will be gotten by the ninth covered number no matter what the pattern of the 12 covered balls is. Ergo, even with a red ball in there, the lingo will be made by the tenth draw. AFAIK, they've always covered at least one number on one of the diagonals at the outset, making the maximum number of draws needed to get a lingo less than that.

[Fedya]

Zach:

If you meant the middle number is covered at the outset, it's possible to have 20 numbers covered, including the middle number, and not have a bingo:

0****
**0**
****0
*0***
***0*

The *'s are the filled numbers; the 0's are empties.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'SteveRep\' date=\'Sep 1 2005, 08:27 PM\']That's what you could have with 12 covered and 8 pulls. Pretty much locks that 9=money.
[/quote]
Pretty much? Considering that would leave 4 empty spots on a 5x5 grid, yeah, it doesn't take much of a mental leap to figure that one out.

...back with more Masters Of The Obvious after this!

[Ian Wallis]

THere are no fee plugs on this year's shows.

I've also noticed they're squeezing back the closing credits this year.  As far as I can remember, this is the first time they've done this with a GSN original series.

[Speedy G]

Given the pattern Fedya showed, there's no rotation of that pattern which allows it to match five empty spaces in the current bonus round setup.

There's still yet another pattern which DOES require a ninth pull to make the Lingo:

OOOO.     .O...
O.OOO     O.OOO
.OOOO     ..OOO
OOO.O     O.O.O
OO.OO     O....

Given the bonus board configuration on the right (which is always used in one rotation/reflection or another), you might need nine draws if the first eight leave the pattern on the left.  I don't see another possible pattern to do that.  My calculator says that's a 1287 to 1 longshot.  Conversely, that means that 1286 times out of 1287, they'll have won by the 8th pull.

The problem with the bonus round is that great teams always win, decent teams almost always win, and bad teams still sometimes win.  I would be up for a return to the season 1 pattern... if you can't get TWO in two whole minutes, WITH the bonus letters, you don't deserve any chance to win.

THAT'S IT... it's those bonus letters!  Those turn two/three/four time-consuming words into two/three/four quick words.  Make them work for the money!  If you're going to have them, give them just one per Lingo.  Or just one.

[Dbacksfan12]

I know someone who, when they play, use 6 letter words as an added challenge.

If the producers want to make it that simple, why not just give a team a couple grand for winning the game, and skip the bonus round?  Straddle the eps...and have more commercial time.  How could they lose?

That said, what was the last show that didn't utilize a bonus round (not counting shows currently on the air in first run)?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Sep 2 2005, 10:52 AM\']That said, what was the last show that didn't utilize a bonus round (not counting shows currently on the air in first run)?
[/quote]
Prolly the rehash of Three's A Crowd, huh? Or Whammy. Are they still making new Street Smarts? (If so, gawd why?)

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Sep 2 2005, 01:30 PM\'][quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Sep 2 2005, 10:52 AM\']That said, what was the last show that didn't utilize a bonus round (not counting shows currently on the air in first run)?
[/quote]
Prolly the rehash of Three's A Crowd, huh? Or Whammy. Are they still making new Street Smarts? (If so, gawd why?)

[snapback]95674[/snapback]

[/quote]

"Street Smarts" is dead.  You could only dodge the bullet so many times.

And GSN original credits have been squeezed back for some time now, going back before the rebrand.  It's more noticeable because this season on "Lingo" the contractual full-screen credits are placed over Chuck and Shandi's wrapup rather than as the music and applause start up.  All of the GSN originals now have contractual full-screen credits at the top of the roll--however, it still seems to me unusual that GSN squeezes back the logos, since I thought those were contractual, as well.

(For the record, the only GSN show now outside B&W Overnight where the credits air as executed is "Kenny vs. Spenny," since the kicker scene plays out during the credits, with the crawl on the right-hand side and the action on the left-hand side.  I'm still flabbergated that they squeeze back on "Street Smarts," considering the outtakes that play under the credits.)

[Gromit]

Well, I actually caught a couple of episodes of the latest season. Incredibly, I find the new co-host actually makes me long for the old one. And I *hated* Stacey. Yeah, she was totally superfluous, but at least she realised it. This new one seems to think she's some sort of vital cog in the proceedings, and is constantly adding unneeded discussions, and spends more time talking about inane things with Chuck than in playing the game.

My wife and I faithfully watched the first seasons. We watched only a few episodes last season, when absolutely nothing else was on tv.

We won't watch another episode this year.

[Jimmy Owen]

Shandi is delightful.  I think you should give her another chance, that is, if your wife will let you.