The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Game Show Man on August 11, 2012, 03:30:47 AM
-
I posted to this to my Facebook already, but not everyone is on my Facebook friends list, so I thought I'd repost it here.
First things first: there are NO SPOILERS here. Ya gotta watch the show yourself.
Today I drove all the way up to Sylmar, CA (in 110 degree plus weather...horrors) to finally check out in person a taping of The Hub's flagship series, Family Game Night, and I am pleased to report that I had a marvelous time. In addition to a couple of new games, the show has a new format.
Previously, two prechosen families (always a mom, a dad, and two siblings) played for the entire hour, culminating in the Crazy Cash Round. Fortunately, someone noticed that one family always seemed to run away with the whole thing, and so now multiple families - as many as eight different families - are chosen to play FGN's oversized game show versions of Hasbro's various games. In addition, the families (which can now be two, three or four people and don't necessarily have to have both a mom and a dad, as long as there's one adult) are now chosen straight from the studio audience, a la a certain 40-year old CBS game show a certain Emmy-winning host of FGN was supposed to become the host of. Now, four different games are played in each hour-long show. Some games are played head-to-head by two different families, and others are played by a single family. If the game is played head-to-head, the winners receive the prize for that game, as in previous seasons. If the game features a lone family, they win a prize (and likely some cash, too) if they win the game.
Regardless of the outcome, every family then walks to the back alcove to pick out a "combination" card held by the statue of Mr. Monopoly (aka Rich Uncle Pennybags). The combinations card have three color boxes, which each family will use in the new Community Chest game. It features a big blue trunk (not unlike the ones seen in Monopoly) with three color-dials on the front, and a big red arcade button. Each family in turn dials in their combination, and if it opens the Chest, they advance to the revised Crazy Cash game. Sixteen Crazy Cash Cards are arranged on a 4x4 grid; only one line of four cards going from the bottom to the top are used in each of as many as four rounds. Each family member picks one card from a line of four cards; the first level's worth of cards all have money, the second level has three cards with money and one "Go-to-Jail" card (which ends the game WITHOUT costing the family any money they win in the Crazy Cash game), the third level has two money cards and two Go-to-Jail cards, and the top level has three Go-to-Jail cards and one "win" card. If the family reaches the top level and finds the win card, they win a new CAR (yep, bigger prize budget this time out).
Eight different games populate the show's lineup. All of the Cranium games have been thankfully dumped. Four previously played games have survived unscathed into the show's new lineup: Connect 4 Basketball, Yahtzee Bowling, Twister Lights Out and Simon Flash. Bop-It Boptagon is here, too, but its win condition has been changed. The Operation Skee-ball game is also back, but it's now a solo family game, patterned after Plinko; a family earns rolls on the Operation Skee-ball ramp by playing Operation, but one member of the family is now "transformed" into Cavity Sam by having them lie underneath the game board and sticking their head and hands through holes in the platform. Rolls on the Skee-ball ramp are now worth money, ranging from $100 (earned by missing the board completely) to $1000 (earned by ringing the bell). The family keeps any money they earn.
Sorry Sliders has also been jettisoned in favor of its parent, Sorry!, which is also a solo family game. One adult is dressed in a costume, transforming them into a Sorry! pawn. The kids then pick from a board containing ten Sorry! cards, each in a different color (the board and the cards are clearly and no doubt intentionally evocative of Card Sharks; Newton even turns the cards over the same way Jim Perry, Bob Eubanks and Bill Rafferty did). Two of the cards are 1's, two cards are 2's, two cards are 3's, two cards are 4's and the two remaining cards are "Sorry!"s. The kids pick a card; if it's a number, the parent/pawn hops (yes, they actually have to hop) forward that many spaces towards "Home." In addition, each space has a dollar amount; the first space is worth $100, the second space is worth $200, etc. Whatever space the pawn/parent lands on, the family has that much money deposited into their bank. If they draw a "Sorry!" card, they lose all of the money in the bank, and the pawn/parent has to hop all the way back to the beginning. If they draw both "Sorry!" cards, the game is over, and the family gets bupkus (naturally, a family can stop and keep and cash they win along the way before they get Sorried Out). But if the pawn/parent reaches "Home," they keep the money and win a prize.
The one completely new game is Battleship. Two familes compete against one another. A 5x5 grid of squares is used to hide six ships: three two-square cruisers, two three-square submarines and one four-square battleship. The familes take turns picking squares to launch a peg missile at. The audience then counts down "3, 2, 1, LAUNCH!" The family (usually one of the kids) presses a big plunger, launching a CGI-peg at the square. If it hits a ship, it sinks IMMEDIATELY. The first family to sink three ships wins the game and a prize.
I have to say that I REALLY like the new overall format. Watching one family get shellacked for a whole hour was a big downer, and then watching them possibly winning anyways with the BIG Crazy Card (the "Golden Snitch," as my colleagues like to refer to it) was a big flaw, so having more families over the hour alleviates all of that. On top of that, it very clearly puts the needle to CBS and FremantleMedia for passing over Todd Newton for the TPIR hosting gig.
Which brings me to El Todd-o himself. Newton is as goofy, lovable, energetic, self-depricating and utterly brilliant as ever. Clearly feeling his oats after his Best Game Show Host Emmy win, he sailed through the taping, sneaking in a Barker Fakeout (ONLY ONE!) in the Sorry! game, and absconding with a dice-hat one of the families wore to the taping (anticipating Yahtzee Bowling, no doubt, but which wasn't played), for the express purpose of getting a cheap laugh. He made the families the stars of the show, setting them up to get cheap laughs of their own. He built suspense, kept the games moving, hit his marks (both on the set floor and in the host language) like Manny Pacquiao hitting Freddie Roach's focus mitts. As is often said about the best, he made it look effortless. Really...there's no one better right now.
The show does have a new announcer and warm-up person...a funny (and really HOT) woman named...oh dear, I can't remember her name. That's how cute and funny she was. :D Unfortunately, that means no Burton Richardson...but hopefully that means he's working with Arsenio Hall to get his revived talk show off the ground.
I am mildly concerned that the show will degenerate into people wearing things to get attention, such as the aforementioned family with the dice-hats; the producers have seem to have thought of this, as everyone was issued a colored t-shirt (either red, blue, yellow, green or orange; naturally, I picked red) with the show's logo and a name tag.
All-in-all, I can't help but feel like this might be the real blasting-off point for FGN, like TPIR switching to a one-hour format: it was good before, but it's awesome now.
And no, they didn't make us do any dumb-ass reaction shots. They did have Todd do some promos, and let all the kids appear in a few with him. Seriously, the whole thing went as smooth as silk, and no doubt, it'll come off that way when the show airs. FGN FTW!
-
The only question remains is this: When will its new season start?
I'm glad they're inviting more families to participste whether they're 2 or 4 members from a team. It certainly looks like they did some reworking of the format in order to make the experience "more competetive". I'll be anxious to see how Todd Newton hosts this new season.
-
I posted to this to my Facebook already, but not everyone is on my Facebook friends list, so I thought I'd repost it here.
Many thanks for doing so. :) (There's also the fact that not everyone has a Facebook account for one reason or another.)
Regardless of the outcome, every family then walks to the back alcove to pick out a "combination" card held by the statue of Mr. Monopoly (aka Rich Uncle Pennybags). The combinations card have three color boxes, which each family will use in the new Community Chest game. It features a big blue trunk (not unlike the ones seen in Monopoly) with three color-dials on the front, and a big red arcade button. Each family in turn dials in their combination, and if it opens the Chest, they advance to the revised Crazy Cash game.
Question: is the Crazy Cash game guaranteed to be played, or will some episodes end at the Community Chest?
Bop-It Boptagon is here, too, but its win condition has been changed.
Just curious: what would that be?
The one completely new game is Battleship. ... The family (usually one of the kids) presses a big plunger, launching a CGI-peg at the square. If it hits a ship, it sinks IMMEDIATELY.
Sounds great, but "CGI peg" reminded me of the Battleship movie (yes, there's a Battleship movie) and makes me think it's a sort of "tie-in game".
On top of that, it very clearly puts the needle to CBS and FremantleMedia for passing over Todd Newton for the TPIR hosting gig.
I don't think it would've mattered. Even now, and I mean absolutely no offense to Todd because he's a great emcee across TV, but he's not really a "name" celebrity.
Overall, the new rules are much more fair than the original format and seems a bit more fast-paced. There's going to be some dissenters, but in the end the on-air execution and audience's reception are what matters.
-
The new Crazy Cash bonus game is similar to Movin' On Up on "Let's Make a Deal" & the Bingo Bonus Round from the second season of "Bingo America".
-
Thanks for filling us in. I'm anxious to see the new season. One thing I liked about this show was the different games they played. From what you've told us, a few games were jettisoned. I liked the newer games like Green Screen and Spelling Bee. I was hoping they would do games like Outburst and Taboo.
As for the families, it did seem like one family usually "ran away with it" despite playing games on each show that required different skills, like Boggle, Guesstures and Bop It. Glad to see that this show is getting a deserved third season.
-
but in the end the on-air execution and audience's reception are what matters.
You feel the same way about The Pyramid, correct?
-
The new announcer on FAMILY GAME NIGHT is definitely cute and funny....I know, for I've seen her on the hotel TV at Walt Disney World. Her name is Stacey J. Aswad.
Stacey has been on resort TV at WDW since 2005. Everybody who stays at a WDW resort hotel sees Stacey and her show about the must-see and must-do attractions at the theme parks at least once during their stay. Some folks watch nothing but Stacey over and over again and wind up remembering much of what she says. She is cute and perky and she scampers around all four parks saying such memorable lines as....
"I'm gonna ride that puppy!"
"Whoo we're four-wheeling now baby!"
"Mickey's my boy."
"Pretzels...und beer."
"...and it's a lot like going to the real Africa, but without all the malaria shots and stuff..."
"Are you dizzy yet?"
"Test Track baby!"
If you go on YouTube, you can find clips of Stacey from her original TOP 7 MUST-SEES show and it's successor, MUST-DO DISNEY. I ususally search "must do disney" to find these.
-
The new announcer on FAMILY GAME NIGHT is definitely cute and funny....I know, for I've seen her on the hotel TV at Walt Disney World. Her name is Stacey J. Aswad.
Stacey has been on resort TV at WDW since 2005. Everybody who stays at a WDW resort hotel sees Stacey and her show about the must-see and must-do attractions at the theme parks at least once during their stay. Some folks watch nothing but Stacey over and over again and wind up remembering much of what she says. She is cute and perky and she scampers around all four parks saying such memorable lines as....
"I'm gonna ride that puppy!"
"Whoo we're four-wheeling now baby!"
"Mickey's my boy."
"Pretzels...und beer."
"...and it's a lot like going to the real Africa, but without all the malaria shots and stuff..."
"Are you dizzy yet?"
"Test Track baby!"
If you go on YouTube, you can find clips of Stacey from her original TOP 7 MUST-SEES show and it's successor, MUST-DO DISNEY. I ususally search "must do disney" to find these.
Yikes, that's a little obsessive/creepy.
-
Good to hear that about Stacey! When you're at Disney World, the TV defaults to that channel, so Stacey is a constant presence. Great enthusiasm and fun to watch!
-
The jokes. They write themselves.
-
I am watching the vids right now and Stacey is a bit hyper.
-
I am watching the vids right now and Stacey is a bit hyper.
That's just Stacey being Stacey.
-
Season starts Sept. 23rd (http://"http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2012/08/29/the-hub-tv-network-hits-go-on-third-season-of-family-game-night-with-all-new-format-sunday-september-23-697300/20120829hub01/")
-
The jokes. They write themselves.
We talking about the last name, or the fact that people obsessively watch the Disney default channel vids on Youtube (and someone actually posts these?
-
Season starts Sept. 23rd (http://"http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2012/08/29/the-hub-tv-network-hits-go-on-third-season-of-family-game-night-with-all-new-format-sunday-september-23-697300/20120829hub01/")
So set your Tivos or do what you have to do. 9/23 has arrived - FGB season premiere - 7 pm EST on The Hub.
-
Saw the season premiere of Season 3 last night. They now play four games that involve six families. I like the new Battleship game and they've reworked the Sorry Sliders game to include cash. Simon Flash and Yahtzee Bowling are pretty much the same. The bonus round is interesting and fun. It's going to take a while for me to get used to Stacey as the announcer, but it doesn't take away from the show. Rich DiPirro is still the director.
-
Yahtzee Bowling is a little different. It's just a family of three against the house. Each player rolls once. Just like video poker, the better your hand after the third roll, the more valuable your prize--$300 for three of a kind up to $5,000 for Yahtzee. There's nothing for a small straight or anything lower than trips.
-
Which is good, because frankly if you can't do better than 1-2-3-4-6 or a pair, you really shouldn't win a prize. As much as I liked the old format where two families competed for the whole hour, I think that the show is done really well now and the format works. The bonus round is just like the old Mac shareware game Ebola Monkey Bingo, but that's OK too. On the con side I thought Battleship was reduced to stank-ass-luck and silliness.
-
I do wish Stacey would announce the spiel and intro Todd.
-
stank-ass-luck and silliness.
Isn't that the whole point of the show in the first place?
-
I know it's the whole point of Battleship, at least.
-
Sorry! and the Crazy Cash bonus are games of chance too. They wouldn't be out of place on "Let's Make a Deal"--especially Sorry! Change the Sorry! cards to Zonks and you're there.
-
"Operation" is different too. A family of four--a mom, a dad and 2 kids--plays. The two kids and one parent will each try to remove one of the 5 Funatomy parts from the other parent. Each time they're successful, they earn a ball to use in Sam Dunk in addition to the ball they get just for playing. Each ball is worth money--from $100 if it doesn't land in a Funatomy cavity to $1,000 if it rings the bell by Sam's ear.
-
So as of 9/30, we've seen six of the eight games that this season reportedly has. I thought FGN had a nice roster of rotating games, like Guesstures, Boggle, Trouble, Green Scream, Spelling Bee and that card game I can't remember the name of. I think other Hasbro games like Scattergories. Outburst and Taboo would work on FGN as well.
-
Ratuki, you mean. I've noticed that Guesstures, Boggle and Scrabble are gone from that thing that hangs from the studio's ceiling. I liked those games a lot.
-
Ratuki, you mean.
As Geoff Edwards would say, "Right you are."
-
To round out the roster, we saw Bop It and Twister Lights Out played on this past Sunday's episode.
In Bop It, two family pairs compete. The kid from one family will have 30 seconds inside the Boptagon to follow as many of Todd's commands as possible. Each one is worth a point, and there's no penalty for a mistake. Then it'll be the other kid's turn, then the parents will each have a go. The family with the higher combined score wins.
Twister is played similarly to how it was played before, except for two things: 1) Todd could spin "Air" as a color, in which case players will have to raise the appropriate limb into the air. 2) Instead of one dot at a time, the dots will disappear from the board one level at a time, from the outside in, every few spins. As before, if you see that your limb is on a dot that's about to disappear, move it to avoid elimination.
So all the games this season reward luck or physical ability, but not knowledge or intelligence. Fun to watch, but a bit disappointing.
-
So all the games this season reward luck or physical ability, but not knowledge or intelligence.
I'd argue with you on the latter, but FGN never was big on the book smarts to begin with.
-
Guess Who?, Scrabble Flash, Boggle, Guesstures, Cranium, Green Scream and Spelling Bee all test what you know or what you can figure out. All those are gone now.
/Scrabble Showdown deserved a better fate. Kids these days, eh?