The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Matt Ottinger on November 06, 2003, 11:08:32 PM
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No Chuck Woolery, no John O'Hurley, but the pink and blue squares will still be worth more when the 2003 Scrabble All-Star Championship airs on ESPN Sunday, November 9th at 3:30pm.
God, I love my TiVo.
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No Chuck Woolery, no John O'Hurley, but the pink and blue squares will still be worth more when the 2003 Scrabble All-Star Championship airs on ESPN Sunday, November 9th at 3:30pm.
Filling TV time with games of Scrabble...and yet, somehow, they feel that a SECOND ESPN is necessary. Astonishing.
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[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Nov 6 2003, 11:16 PM\']
No Chuck Woolery, no John O'Hurley, but the pink and blue squares will still be worth more when the 2003 Scrabble All-Star Championship airs on ESPN Sunday, November 9th at 3:30pm.
Filling TV time with games of Scrabble...and yet, somehow, they feel that a SECOND ESPN is necessary. Astonishing. [/quote]
I for one applaud them for airing it. They already do the Scripps-Howard Annual Spelling Bee and I think it's great to see some non-physical competitions being shown on ESPN. (I think ESPN2 has show some Magic: The Gathering tournaments)
With Poker being a big cable hit for channels like Travel, I'm not surprised to see ESPN airing this special. It's only an hour against the NFL, not like their core audience is watching them anyway.
As for ESPN2, it may not be needed 24 hours a day, but it sure does come in handy for College Gameday and when baseball and hockey season overlap.
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Yes they do air Magic: The Gathering Tourneys (and until two years ago the National Geographic Geo Bee) on ESPN 2, also rember that ESPN stands for Entertainment & Sports Playing Network. The scrabble games can get quite interesting (unless your a five year old looking at the racks live :-) )
-Joe Kavanagh
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[quote name=\'cyberjoek\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 12:22 AM\'] also rember that ESPN stands for Entertainment & Sports Playing Network.
[/quote]
Does this mean that Fox Sports Net will show footage of foxes?
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For those curious, here's the answer to the question, What does ESPN stand for, from the ESPN FAQ:
http://espn.go.com/sitetools/s/help/espn-faq.html#espn (http://\"http://espn.go.com/sitetools/s/help/espn-faq.html#espn\")
WHAT DOES ESPN STAND FOR?
It doesn't stand for anything, but the story is this...When ESPN started in 1979 we were the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (thus, ESPN). However, the full name was dropped in February 1985 when the company adopted a new corporate name --ESPN, Inc.--and a new logo. We are a subsidiary of ABC, Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co. The Hearst Corporation has a 20 percent interest in ESPN.
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 12:44 AM\'] [quote name=\'cyberjoek\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 12:22 AM\'] also rember that ESPN stands for Entertainment & Sports Playing Network.
[/quote]
Does this mean that Fox Sports Net will show footage of foxes? [/quote]
If you take it as slang, they already do, in their opinion at least.
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"It's the game you've played all your life....quite like this....Scrabble!"
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As a much bigger fan of the board game than I ever was of the game show, I'm eagerly waiting to see exactly how they're going to present this. I imagine it's going to be done much like the poker shows, heavily edited with detailed explanations for the uninitiated and profiles of the more colorful players.
Can Monopoly be far behind?
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 08:05 AM\'] As a much bigger fan of the board game than I ever was of the game show, I'm eagerly waiting to see exactly how they're going to present this. I imagine it's going to be done much like the poker shows, heavily edited with detailed explanations for the uninitiated and profiles of the more colorful players.
Can Monopoly be far behind? [/quote]
This actually does sound interesting. WHere is this championship held(they have one annual tournament near me in Atlantic City).
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Things like Scrabble, Magic and Miniature Golf on ESPN are time buys. This (besides cable fees) is what makes ESPN their money. Many of the fishing shows, billiards and cheerleading championships are that way as well. Notice that these air against programming on broadcast networks that would be siphoning off most sports fans.
--Mike
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 08:05 AM\'] As a much bigger fan of the board game than I ever was of the game show, I'm eagerly waiting to see exactly how they're going to present this. I imagine it's going to be done much like the poker shows, heavily edited with detailed explanations for the uninitiated and profiles of the more colorful players.
Can Monopoly be far behind? [/quote]
I can just see some other parlor games with tournaments being aired for TV...
"Live, from the beautiful Mandalay Bay, it's........Connect Four!"
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 09:10 AM\'] [quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 08:05 AM\'] As a much bigger fan of the board game than I ever was of the game show, I'm eagerly waiting to see exactly how they're going to present this. I imagine it's going to be done much like the poker shows, heavily edited with detailed explanations for the uninitiated and profiles of the more colorful players.
Can Monopoly be far behind? [/quote]
This actually does sound interesting. WHere is this championship held(they have one annual tournament near me in Atlantic City). [/quote]
This tournament was in Providence, Rhode Island and was taped back in August. Here are some links for anyone interested:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/pop...pop-candy_x.htm (http://\"http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/popcandy/2003-11-04-pop-candy_x.htm\")
http://www.scrabble-assoc.com/news/pr/2003/pr000011.html (http://\"http://www.scrabble-assoc.com/news/pr/2003/pr000011.html\")
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[quote name=\'DrBear\' date=\'Nov 6 2003, 11:44 PM\'] [quote name=\'cyberjoek\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 12:22 AM\'] also rember that ESPN stands for Entertainment & Sports Playing Network.
[/quote]
Does this mean that Fox Sports Net will show footage of foxes? [/quote]
Lisa Guerrero
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[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 09:33 AM\'] Lisa Guerrero [/quote]
No longer...she's an ABC property now, as I found to my dismay when I tuned in Monday Night Football for pretty much the first time this season a week or so ago. (This is what happens when yer a Seahawks fan. :))
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 06:05 AM\'] As a much bigger fan of the board game than I ever was of the game show, I'm eagerly waiting to see exactly how they're going to present this. [/quote]
Having seen ESPN do both chess and Magic, I have a feeling it will be your straight overhead shot of the board, and you might get windows or graphics showing a player's rack when considering their move. If they're feeing particularly jaunty they might throw a scorebox in the corner.
I meant to ask, did you find this yourself or did your Tivo hook it up as a Suggestion?
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So, basically, the same way they cover poker.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 11:58 AM\'] No longer...she's an ABC property now, as I found to my dismay when I tuned in Monday Night Football for pretty much the first time this season a week or so ago. (This is what happens when yer a Seahawks fan. :)) [/quote]
Didn't believe me when I first told you, Lemon? But try being a Lions fan. No Monday night or even Sunday nights games this year. No Lisa Guerrero, no Suzy Kolber...not even Pam Oliver (sideline report on Fox's A-team). It's usually either Chris (as in Christopher) Myers or no reporter at all (given that choice, I'd take none).
BTW, shouldn't Fox Sports Net give equal time for nets?
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With just one hour to cover an entire tournament, I would expect the majority of the coverage to be personality-driven and interview-based. I'd expect them to give pretty detailed play-by-play coverage of one of the games of the final, but it would be unlikely that they would spend more than about ten minutes on one game.
I fear this may be veering a little too far from the topic for there has not yet been a game show called Chess, but if you like this news, then you may be interested to know that ESPN are scheduled to be showing 17½ hours of chess between Tuesday 11th November and Tuesday 18th November - the "man-versus-machine world championship match" (the purists will note the recent spate of draws and suggest that the championship has been held by a computer since 1997, though perhaps Deep Blue's - ahem - retirement has vacated the title again) between Garry Kasparov and a version of the Fritz computer chess software designed to produce pretty 3-D board graphics.
The schedule is supposedly 1-6 on Tuesday and Thursday, 1-3:30 on Sunday and 1-6 on Tuesday 18th; it may not actually appear in the official ESPN schedules yet but apparently "ESPN just hasn't officially put it in the slot yet. Don't panic." (http://\"http://www.chessninja.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=9&t=000344#000008\")
Again, I am convinced that made-for-TV Scrabble (and poker, and chess, and Spelling Bees, and...) are closer to game shows than e.g. programs about video games, but I ranted about this last week (http://\"http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1791\").
Slightly grouchily due to kicking off the tail end of a cold,
Chris
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I meant to ask, did you find this yourself or did your Tivo hook it up as a Suggestion?
It was a Suggestion, one of my first indications of just how creepy-good THAT feature can be. On the other hand, it was one of about a hundred options, so the odds were pretty good SOMETHING on that list would be a pleasant surprise. Do those filters eventually start narrowing the choices to some degree?
Again, I am convinced that made-for-TV Scrabble (and poker, and chess, and Spelling Bees, and...) are closer to game shows than e.g. programs about video games, but I ranted about this last week.
Hey, why do you think I started the thread?
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 01:31 PM\'] Do those filters eventually start narrowing the choices to some degree?
[/quote]
The best and fastest way to fine-tune that would be to go through the Suggestions lists once every few weeks and thumb-up and thumb-down the shows appropriately. (I tend never to give anything more than a single thumb down, unless I want to make a point about that entire genre of programming, like Paid Programming and religious fodder. Then it gets three. Same thing for thumb-ups, unless it's West Wing, The Practice, or TPiR.) That way it gets the picture of what you don't like, given what it thinks you DO like, and it will quickly figure out that you like game shows, but not Newleywed Game, and stuff like that.
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I can just see some other parlor games with tournaments being aired for TV...
"Live, from the beautiful Mandalay Bay, it's........Connect Four!"
Just as long as ESPN doesn't send a crew to cover the 3rd annual Rock, Paper Scissors championship, there's hope for all civilization.
Don't laugh, it really exists. I read a story about the results from the 2nd annual competition on the air during my radio show. The overall winner's paper covered his opponents rock and won $3750.
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[quote name=\'dmota104\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 07:13 PM\']
I can just see some other parlor games with tournaments being aired for TV...
"Live, from the beautiful Mandalay Bay, it's........Connect Four!"
Just as long as ESPN doesn't send a crew to cover the 3rd annual Rock, Paper Scissors championship, there's hope for all civilization.
Don't laugh, it really exists. I read a story about the results from the 2nd annual competition on the air during my radio show. The overall winner's paper covered his opponents rock and won $3750. [/quote]
They made a big deal about the "Rock, Paper Scissors" championship on ESPNews. Bleah.
And Chris, much of the daytime coverage next week is taken up with the Tennis Masters from Houston. Heaven forbid ESPN miss a chance to show A-Dick.
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Anyone semi-interested in Scrabble might want to pick up the book =Word Freak=. Apparently, a Wall Street Journal reporter decided to take a year off of work and try to become a professional Scrabble player. The book is his story.
Reading it got me hooked on Scrabble Blitz (an excellent online game), and almost got me searching for a local Scrabble club. I don't really like the memorization of stupid words though, so Go and Bridge are currently higher on my social games list.
ObGameShows: Anyone remember what the clues on CrossWits were like? I'm wondering if they all came back, which show I would like best: Scrabble, CrossWits, or Monopoly.
Mike / reason
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[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Nov 6 2003, 11:16 PM\']
No Chuck Woolery, no John O'Hurley, but the pink and blue squares will still be worth more when the 2003 Scrabble All-Star Championship airs on ESPN Sunday, November 9th at 3:30pm.
Filling TV time with games of Scrabble...and yet, somehow, they feel that a SECOND ESPN is necessary. Astonishing. [/quote]
Not to sound funny, but there was an article in our local paper this past week which did a story on "The Deuce" and their new morning show, "Cold Pizza".
The story also touched on ESPN2's other programming throughout the day, and what plans it has for the future...
A game show in development IS part of that future!!!
Any additional info on this?
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[quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Nov 8 2003, 02:50 AM\'] ObGameShows: Anyone remember what the clues on CrossWits were like? I'm wondering if they all came back, which show I would like best: Scrabble, CrossWits, or Monopoly.
[/quote]
IIRC, they were Scrabble-like, but fairly short and not _quite_ as punny.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Nov 8 2003, 05:24 PM\'] [quote name=\'reason1024\' date=\'Nov 8 2003, 02:50 AM\'] ObGameShows: Anyone remember what the clues on CrossWits were like? I'm wondering if they all came back, which show I would like best: Scrabble, CrossWits, or Monopoly.
[/quote]
IIRC, they were Scrabble-like, but fairly short and not _quite_ as punny. [/quote]
The Jack Clark version was really addictive....if you thought you could get hooked on Lingo, you ain't seen nothing until you've seen the original Cross-Wits.
The 1986 version was terrible.
ObESPNGameShow: New Sports Challenge, anyone?
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With ESPN IMHO producing not one, not two, but three better Sports themed game shows (Boardwalk and Baseball, Dream League and 2 Minute Drill) I couldnt really see them doing a new sports challenge when they already tried 3 shows with them all leaving early, especally since most good sports properties making too much to care about winning a bunch of voit athletic equipment, i dunno would probs just be a lot of C and D list athletes/former athletes which of course is what doomed Dream League (Tom Neidenfuer, anyone?)...although they did get peyton manning for 2 minuite drill and admittely he was the only athlete panelist there who could read a Question straight (anyone remember the Stammering disaster better known as rebecca lobo, makes me shudder just remembering it)
Fact is if there was a new sports challenge wed probs see more Rebecca Lobos, Tiffany Robertses, Relief Pitchers, Old obscure players (Bring back john naber!!! ;) ) and other D list people (wonder if they even could get the olympians from pyramid lol)...Part of the charm of the Enberg sports challenge was they were able to get good B list athletes (and some A list ones) to play...also knowing the IQ of some athletes these days (Points to athlete's edition of millionare) some of the Qs probs would make TJW look like J! ;)
If they did do a new game show id bet on some sort of celeb play along game (anyone remember the Taboo knock off they did on SC?) or a 2 Min Drill revival.
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I was reminded about this by Chris Dickson, but had forgotten to set the VCR before I left for my church job this morning. I remembered, in a bit of a panic, at 3:25 this afternoon, and called home. "Honey, I know you'll think aliens have abducted your husband, but really: start taping ESPN!"
Haven't watched yet, but am looking forward to it.
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I saw the Scrabble thing, and I have one comment...
Could Boggle be next??? There was a "King of the Hill" episode in which Peggy competed in the state Boggle championships and won.
Jonathan Allen, hoping a Simon or Jenga tournament won't be in the horizon.
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[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' date=\'Nov 10 2003, 12:45 AM\'] I saw the Scrabble thing, and I have one comment...
Could Boggle be next??? There was a "King of the Hill" episode in which Peggy competed in the state Boggle championships and won.
Jonathan Allen, hoping a Simon or Jenga tournament won't be in the horizon. [/quote]
I've seen the KOTH episode where Peggy played Boggle.
Now on to Scrabble. Get this everybody...Scrabble is a Chris Berman Top 10 Play of the Week on SportsCenter! Someone should have told Boomer that this tournament was taped in August, according to the National Scrabble Association. (Game 3 of the finals was not telecast, but you can see how it was played at My Webpage (http://\"http://www.scrabble-assoc.com\").
You may not know this, but I have played Scrabble under those conditions (the 25-minute chess clock, the different tiles from regular game, etc.). I have not yet entered a tournament (but I did go to one at the Drake Center in the early 90s).
I have played Scrabble Blitz on Games.com, as well. One time I got AALII with my first tiles, and knowing that it makes an acceptable word, used it as my first word while every other player was stumped!
Brian
Wary blue waters?
We want some more pro wrestling (STILL) and NASCAR questions!
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I thought the show was a pleasant enough diversion. I'd read the book "Word Freak", in which Stefan Fatsis (co-host of the ESPN show) so colorfully described many of the top players, so it was fun to see them and match them to the written descriptions. Still, the way it was structured and edited, there was almost no chance to play along the way the other champs in the "stadium room" could, and way too much time was spent explaining the game to non-players, who probably weren't watching in the first place.
I don't ever see it rivaling the poker shows that are becoming so popular because you don't have the instant drama and of course the prize money is so much lower. But as an annual novelty program on a football Sunday, it'll probably do just fine.
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I saw the show as well and thought it was ok. It did a good job of explaining the nauances of tournament Scrabble (the analysts they had were good), but they spent too much time on player profiles, etc. (much like the Olympics), instead of actual gameplay.
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[quote name=\'brianhenke\' date=\'Nov 10 2003, 12:52 AM\'] I've seen the KOTH episode where Peggy played Boggle.
[/quote]
Congratulations.
You may not know this, but I have played Scrabble under those conditions (the 25-minute chess clock, the different tiles from regular game, etc.).
And last night I found that any Scrabble-diehards interested in purchasing a set of those tournament plastic tiles (designed to frustrate the practice known as "brailling) may do so at http://www.protiles.net (http://\"http://www.protiles.net\"). I think the ones they used on the show were the "Green Tile With White Letter, item S32W.
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[quote name=\'wxfrcaster\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 12:53 AM\'] For those curious, here's the answer to the question, What does ESPN stand for, from the ESPN FAQ:
[ESPN is] a subsidiary of ABC, Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co. The Hearst Corporation has a 20 percent interest in ESPN. [/quote]
Which really gets my goat whenever someone in the newspaper or whereever says, "ESPN is owned by the Walt Disney Company" when in actuality they are only majority owned by Disney; Hearst owns the minority stake.
And I still maintain that the National Spelling Bee was done a hundred times better when C-SPAN covered it live. None of this "fit for time" taped business, and no commentators either.
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[quote name=\'Brakus\' date=\'Nov 11 2003, 01:02 AM\']
And I still maintain that the National Spelling Bee was done a hundred times better when C-SPAN covered it live. None of this "fit for time" taped business, and no commentators either. [/quote]
WHat years did C-Span run live coverage of the Bee(not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I was there in 1985)?
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[quote name=\'cyberjoek\' date=\'Nov 7 2003, 12:22 AM\'] Yes they do air Magic: The Gathering Tourneys (and until two years ago the National Geographic Geo Bee) on ESPN 2, [/quote]
PBS ran the last hour or two of the Geography Bee in its early years(it began in 1989 IIRC)
Obgameshow: Alex Trebek has hosted the Geography Bee for all 15 years of its existence.
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Nov 11 2003, 09:43 AM\'] WHat years did C-Span run live coverage of the Bee(not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I was there in 1985)? [/quote]
IIRC it was during the early '90s, because I distinctly remember it in 1993 and 1994. I also remember CNN covering the final round of the Bee live one afternoon.