The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: LA the DJ on October 10, 2003, 09:08:08 AM
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Well, we all know by now that the decision to take TPiR to an hour was a brilliant move...
But...
What shows don't or didn't work for an hour? This also includes double runs.
The one that comes to my mind first is Pyramid. While we all have our gripes with the show, I certainly don't find it unwatchable. However, UPN Detroit gives an hour at 9 AM (Followed by Feud at 10). I generally find myself tired of the show after a half hour, and flip to something else, or get online at 9:30. Possibly it doesn't help that they're using a lot of country musicians (blech) this week in the second ep, and the games are just turning into a Jeff Foxworthy joke.
However, I can sit and watch an hour of Feud (just the same way I did on CBS back in 1990). Then again, I don't mind Richard Karn, and Feud is one of my all time favorite games.
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[quote name=\'nWo_Whammy\' date=\'Oct 10 2003, 08:08 AM\']
What shows don't or didn't work for an hour? This also includes double runs.
[/quote]
TPIR and Millionaire are pretty much the only ones that had any long term success as an hour show. No other hour long game show had a run of more than 15 months.
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The only other shows that I can remember expanding from 30 to 60 in daytime are the Feud and WoF. The concept of having two new families face each other with the winner facing the champion from the previous day was interesting, but the changes in the game itself ruined it. (The only good change is that they added the value of a steal answer to the bank. Since they were now playing for points, this made since. It didn't cost them that whopping $2.)
When Wheel did it, they didn't have a bonus round at the time. They played the equivalent of two games minus a little bit of time to bring the two winners back for a play-off puzzle.
My only problem with the double-run of Pyramid this season is that they didn't wait long enough to start the second-season reruns. To make matters worse, ABC Family's first airing of a Season 2 show used one that had been the double-run show earlier in the same week.
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I never saw them, but \"Let's Make a Deal\" and \"Hollywood Squares\" both went for an hour and failed. And of course, there's the \"Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour.\"
\"Greed\" failed, but not because it was an hour long.
It must be that to hold your interest, the show has to build to something. Four rounds of Pyramid starts to be overkill, because they're all sort of the same. \"Millionaire\" has drama that builds over time. TPIR structures the show to have a climax.
I think \"Weakest Link\" worked much better over an hour. You get to know the contestants, there are enough of them to see voting patterns develop, and the game is big enough to hold interest until the conclusion. If only it wasn't former child stars playing.
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I thought the hour-long 70's HS worked well. Never saw the hour LMAD7x.
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 10 2003, 10:08 AM\']No other hour long game show had a run of more than 15 months.[/quote]
Family Feud Challenge?
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Never saw the hour LMAD7x.
I think Neumms was talking about the new LMAD with Billy Bush.
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[quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'Oct 10 2003, 06:12 PM\']
Never saw the hour LMAD7x.
I think Neumms was talking about the new LMAD with Billy Bush. [/quote]
I don't think so, for the fact that he referenced HS [only Marshall HS ever did hour shows unless you count MG/HS] and Monty LMAD did do some hour shows around the same time.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Oct 10 2003, 04:45 PM\'] [quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 10 2003, 10:08 AM\']No other hour long game show had a run of more than 15 months.[/quote]
Family Feud Challenge? [/quote]
FF Challenge lasted 15 months(counting reruns, which comprised the final five or six months of the run). NBC Link lasted around the same length of time(despite sports preemptions keeping many of the later episodes from being seen)
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Well, more what I was gunning for was opinion of what was fun to watch, as opposed to what lasted long or didn't.
We all know that hour long games haven't had much commercial success.
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Pretty Much anything that repeats itself gets stale after a while. LMAD didn't even work at an hour. TPiR really is the exception to the rule. Personally, I can't think of anything that I could stand for a whole hour (even TPiR starts to drag by then)
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When Wheel did it, they didn't have a bonus round at the time. They played the equivalent of two games minus a little bit of time to bring the two winners back for a play-off puzzle.
IIRC, wasn't this the time they did put in a bonus round? Something like Easy/Medium/Hard level of difficulty to determine the value of your prize?
Cheers,
Ryan :)
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I think the key for a show to be entertaining in an hour is a good format. TPiR made a logical and - most importantly - wanted change. I can't imagine people were sitting around one day saying \"y'know, \"Family Feud\" would be good if it were double as long and the front game questions meant little.\"
A game like \"Hollywood Squares,\" to me, doesn't say hour format. It would drag. Tic-tac-toe...more tic-tac-toe...etc. Can anyone think of a logical way to expand a game show for an entertaining hour?
-Jason
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[quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'Oct 12 2003, 10:53 AM\']
A game like "Hollywood Squares," to me, doesn't say hour format. It would drag. Tic-tac-toe...more tic-tac-toe...etc. Can anyone think of a logical way to expand a game show for an entertaining hour?
-Jason [/quote]
I actually think Match Game for an hour could be a success. No Hollywood Squares. Just The Match Game Hour. It's a strong game that is fun to watch. I think it could stand on it's own two legs for 60 Minutes A Day.
John
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[quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'Oct 12 2003, 09:53 AM\'] I think the key for a show to be entertaining in an hour is a good format. TPiR made a logical and - most importantly - wanted change. I can't imagine people were sitting around one day saying "y'know, "Family Feud" would be good if it were double as long and the front game questions meant little."
A game like "Hollywood Squares," to me, doesn't say hour format. It would drag. Tic-tac-toe...more tic-tac-toe...etc. Can anyone think of a logical way to expand a game show for an entertaining hour?
-Jason [/quote]
You can always insert more "Behind the Scenes"....:)
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In his book, Peter Marshall suggested that the "Storybook Squares" version of HS could have worked as an hour show, if only because after all the introductions, longer business during questions, and so on, there was very little time for game play.