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Author Topic: Set Overhauls  (Read 7829 times)

mystery7

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Set Overhauls
« on: September 09, 2005, 06:08:01 PM »
We've been talking about TPiR set pieces that haven't changed in over 30 years, and Family Feud's revamped set for the '06 season, and all that talk is making me wonder: what's the motive for new or revised game show sets? Is it the wear and tear of transport and storage that takes its toll? Do the producers feel it's good to freshen things up once in a while? Or is it strictly eye candy for the hell of it?

Now that I've asked that, here's another question: what are some of the most extreme makeovers you remember for game show sets? Changes from one version of the show to another don't count, of course. First one I can think of is the 1985 TTD set, which was so radical even the host was replaced. And to a lesser extent, the Joker's Wild set with the mirrored "Face The Devil" audience section.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2005, 06:08:50 PM by mystery7 »
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jmangin

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2005, 06:18:44 PM »
Jeopardy definitely has had drastic changes made to it's set.  I hated that sushi bar motif; it really shrunk the set.
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Jimmy Owen

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2005, 06:20:48 PM »
When I was a kid, I took a set change as a hint that the show wouldn't be there much longer.  Marshall Squares, Password '75, ABC Pyramid, Blyden WML, Garagiola $ale, etc.  

Maybe the intent was to stir up interest in an old show, but it usually ended up as a precursor to cancellation.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2005, 06:24:17 PM by Jimmy Owen »
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BrandonFG

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2005, 06:30:25 PM »
[quote name=\'jmangin\' date=\'Sep 9 2005, 05:18 PM\']Jeopardy definitely has had drastic changes made to it's set.  I hated that sushi bar motif; it really shrunk the set.
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And I hate the current set. A whole bunch of random squares hanging from the rafters doesn't cut it for me, esp. on a show like Jeopardy...wish they'd go back to something like the checkerboard set (91-96).

Most drastic...to a lesser extent, I'd say Wheel, with the new puzzleboard, and video wall replacing the red/yellow/blue backdrops.

Honorable mention: Wheel going from the disco tiles to the sunshine backdrops.
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musicman

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2005, 07:30:54 PM »
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Sep 9 2005, 05:30 PM\'][quote name=\'jmangin\' date=\'Sep 9 2005, 05:18 PM\']Jeopardy definitely has had drastic changes made to it's set.  I hated that sushi bar motif; it really shrunk the set.
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And I hate the current set. A whole bunch of random squares hanging from the rafters doesn't cut it for me, esp. on a show like Jeopardy...wish they'd go back to something like the checkerboard set (91-96).

Most drastic...to a lesser extent, I'd say Wheel, with the new puzzleboard, and video wall replacing the red/yellow/blue backdrops.

Honorable mention: Wheel going from the disco tiles to the sunshine backdrops.
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JEOPARDY's '80s set looked good in a wide-angle shot, but not in close-ups.  The "Sushi bar" set looked bland, as for the present-day set...WHAT THE %^@&!!  The '91-'96 set is THE definative JEOPARDY set of the Trebek era.

If you saw WHEEL OF FORTUNE's Las Vegas set, you've seen the show's best set since the mid-'90s.
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calliaume

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2005, 10:46:35 PM »
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Sep 9 2005, 05:20 PM\']When I was a kid, I took a set change as a hint that the show wouldn't be there much longer.  Marshall Squares, Password '75, ABC Pyramid, Blyden WML, Garagiola $ale, etc. 

Maybe the intent was to stir up interest in an old show, but it usually ended up as a precursor to cancellation.
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That's pretty much what I was thinking (although the Password change was necessary when the format of the show changed).  Pyramid's change was gradual and lasted awhile (it's almost as if Bob Stewart said one day, "Oh my God, I forgot all my sets have to be blue!").

The Garagiola Sale set change also came from a format change (three solo players to two couples, a la Gambit), but it was pretty radical.  I remember tuning in one day and wondering what the hell had happened.
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William_S.

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2005, 12:26:45 AM »
OH GOD I hate me tooing but I'll also agree on too many changes can lead to cancelation. as I've seen in many gameshows . But with this era's "So 5 minutes ago " lifestyle, it maybe make or break.
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Don Howard

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2005, 12:37:48 AM »
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Sep 9 2005, 05:20 PM\']Marshall Squares
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Oh, goodness yes, that was an ugly one.
The Family Feud overhaul for the vintage season of 1994-95 when Richard retook the hosting job stands out as well.
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geno57

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2005, 06:42:50 PM »
I remember a set change on the original (NBC) "Match Game". The original set was almost entirely wood and (what was it?) burlap ... a very beautiful set, but made for black-and-white. So in '67 or '68, a brand-new set, which functioned like the old one, was introduced. All pastels and bright colors.

There are lots of pics out there of the original MG6x set ... but haven't seen the color set since it was broadcast.
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The Pyramids

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2005, 07:14:48 PM »
Set changes on revivals seem to want to stress how 'we are new & improved.' Good examples are the late Sixties syndicated 'To Tell the Truth' and 'What's My Line.'

From what you can gather on the 'E!' special, the the '99 'Feud' set was meant to convey this. All I saw was how 'we are cheaper and inferior' the original.
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MikeK

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #10 on: September 10, 2005, 07:44:44 PM »
[quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Sep 10 2005, 07:14 PM\']Set changes on revivals seem to want to stress how 'we are new & improved.' Good examples are the late Sixties syndicated 'To Tell the Truth' and 'What's My Line.'[/quote]
If you read the post directly above yours, you'll find a real good reason why TTTT and WML had such different sets.  It likely had to do with more people having color TVs than each show trying to appear "new and improved".  Look how basic the sets of TTTT and WML looked from premiere until the end of each of their respective first runs, both of which happened around 1967-8.  Compare those sets with the vibrant sets of the revivals a year or two later.
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From what you can gather on the 'E!' special, the the '99 'Feud' set was meant to convey this. All I saw was how 'we are cheaper and inferior' the original.
Uh-huh.

IMO, the 1999 Feud set was incorporating technology that wasn't available 20 years earlier, plus I couldn't see the Hatfield/McCoy-type set working well nowadays unless there was some pizzazz incorporated, even if it means tons of glass block like in 1994.

After seeing 100 Mexicanos Dijeron for the first time, I told Jason Hernandez that 100MD's set would be perfect for our Feud--current technology, incorporating some facets of previous versions of Feud, but the set as a whole isn't a monstrosity in shades of yellow, brown, and blue.  (The best pix I could find of the 100 Mexicanos Dijeron set are here.)
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Monarx

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #11 on: September 10, 2005, 08:09:20 PM »
[quote name=\'hmtriplecrown\' date=\'Sep 10 2005, 06:44 PM\'](The best pix I could find of the 100 Mexicanos Dijeron set are here.)
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The second picture is, in my opinion, one of the best set pictures I've seen.
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MCArroyo1

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #12 on: September 10, 2005, 10:50:22 PM »
I agree about the second picture, but I'd say that any color scheme is better than no color scheme at all.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2005, 10:53:59 PM by MCArroyo1 »
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clemon79

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #13 on: September 10, 2005, 11:13:58 PM »
[quote name=\'Monarx\' date=\'Sep 10 2005, 05:09 PM\']The second picture is, in my opinion, one of the best set pictures I've seen.
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I have some questions for someone who has seen this thing (we don't get Telefutura in Seattle):

1) Do they use the same gameboard software we do? I see no reason why they wouldn't, but there's no game-in-progress picture to confirm it.

2) Do the lights surrounding the board just flash in a single pattern, or are they used as "who buzzed in" / "who won the bank/game" indicators, as they were on the Dawson and Combs versions?
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sshuffield70

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Set Overhauls
« Reply #14 on: September 10, 2005, 11:23:13 PM »
I have seen it.  Boardwise, it looks like "Fortunes", in that it uses that program's version of the Ferranti-Packer instead of the board we see.
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