Author Topic: Password Plus (Read 5102 times)

pyrfan · « **on:** April 18, 2008, 09:19:32 PM »

Does anyone else feel as if we've entered the Era of the Unsolved Puzzle on "Password Plus"? I know there'd be an occasional missed puzzle when Allen hosted the show, but it seems like there's at least one a day now. Either the fifth words are getting harder or the answers are getting more obscure...or both. Thoughts?

Brendan

Jay Temple · « **Reply #1 on:** April 21, 2008, 02:01:33 PM »

[quote name=\'pyrfan\' post=\'184387\' date=\'Apr 18 2008, 08:19 PM\']
Does anyone else feel as if we've entered the Era of the Unsolved Puzzle on "Password Plus"? I know there'd be an occasional missed puzzle when Allen hosted the show, but it seems like there's at least one a day now. Either the fifth words are getting harder or the answers are getting more obscure...or both. Thoughts?

Brendan
[/quote]
Or the players aren't as knowledgeable? I hadn't paid that close attention to it, but it seems like they're mostly non-solves after getting the 5th, rather than missed 5ths.

ChuckNet · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2008, 01:12:04 AM »

Yeah, it def seemed like there was an increase in unsolved puzzles during the Kennedy era...w/e the reason for it, those late 81 rule changes didn't help things @ all...how many times a week did Alphabetics go unplayed during those last few months? The week w/Jayne Meadows and Steve Allen was prolly the worst example (*12* puzzles to complete a single game??).

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

Eric Paddon · « **Reply #3 on:** April 23, 2008, 12:02:24 PM »

You'd think they'd have tried to quicken the pace by just editing out some unsolved puzzle gameplay, which I think they did do a couple times in the Ludden period, if I heard the disclaimer right a few times, "Because a puzzle was not solved, the program was edited" in addition to the more usual disclaimers about an incorrect clue being accepted or something like that.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #4 on:** April 23, 2008, 12:54:09 PM »

Editing out unsolved puzzles would not only add to taping time, but eliminate budget savings realized by not giving away the money. Post-production costs increase, Gene Wood brought in to do a pick-up on voice over, etc.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 23, 2008, 01:17:13 PM »

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'184545\' date=\'Apr 21 2008, 01:01 PM\']
Or the players aren't as knowledgeable? I hadn't paid that close attention to it, but it seems like they're mostly non-solves after getting the 5th, rather than missed 5ths.
[/quote]
Which was one flaw SP fixed (at least later in their run)--a non-solve meant the other team could get a crack at it. Missed 5ths--so be it.

JasonA1 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 23, 2008, 04:03:02 PM »

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'184667\' date=\'Apr 23 2008, 01:17 PM\']
Which was one flaw SP fixed (at least later in their run)
[/quote]

I believe this was in place very early on, if not from the very beginning. One contestant on a recent GSN repeat (as they're now a few weeks into the series, having restarted about two months ago) asked when they'd get a crack at it, and Bert reminded them "not until the fifth."

-Jason

SRIV94 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 23, 2008, 04:07:50 PM »

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' post=\'184674\' date=\'Apr 23 2008, 03:03 PM\']
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'184667\' date=\'Apr 23 2008, 01:17 PM\']
Which was one flaw SP fixed (at least later in their run)
[/quote]

I believe this was in place very early on, if not from the very beginning. One contestant on a recent GSN repeat (as they're now a few weeks into the series, having restarted about two months ago) asked when they'd get a crack at it, and Bert reminded them "not until the fifth."
[/quote]
I don't think it was in place from the very beginning, but I do believe you're correct that it was fairly early on.

ChuckNet · « **Reply #8 on:** April 23, 2008, 05:35:46 PM »

Quote

Which was one flaw SP fixed (at least later in their run)--a non-solve meant the other team could get a crack at it. Missed 5ths--so be it.

Def liked that change, which resulted in fewer unsolved puzzles...that and the endgame rule change where an illegal clue forefited the jackpot, instead of reducing it by 1/5 its value like on P+.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

davemackey · « **Reply #9 on:** April 28, 2008, 04:22:46 PM »

[quote name=\'Eric Paddon\' post=\'184660\' date=\'Apr 23 2008, 12:02 PM\']
You'd think they'd have tried to quicken the pace by just editing out some unsolved puzzle gameplay, which I think they did do a couple times in the Ludden period, if I heard the disclaimer right a few times, "Because a puzzle was not solved, the program was edited" in addition to the more usual disclaimers about an incorrect clue being accepted or something like that.
[/quote]
The production would be more likely to edit out a unsolved puzzle if the gameplay therein was deadly dull. Except for that one time on Password Plus... where it got to be downright entertaining.

Steve Gavazzi · « **Reply #10 on:** May 01, 2008, 11:07:39 PM »

[quote name=\'davemackey\' post=\'184995\' date=\'Apr 28 2008, 04:22 PM\'][quote name=\'Eric Paddon\' post=\'184660\' date=\'Apr 23 2008, 12:02 PM\']You'd think they'd have tried to quicken the pace by just editing out some unsolved puzzle gameplay, which I think they did do a couple times in the Ludden period, if I heard the disclaimer right a few times, "Because a puzzle was not solved, the program was edited" in addition to the more usual disclaimers about an incorrect clue being accepted or something like that.
[/quote]The production would be more likely to edit out a unsolved puzzle if the gameplay therein was deadly dull. Except for that one time on Password Plus... where it got to be downright entertaining.[/quote]
You know, there's one thing I've never understood about this: Why was the puzzle thrown out? As screwed up as the whole thing was, it did get solved.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 01, 2008, 11:32:46 PM »

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'185209\' date=\'May 1 2008, 10:07 PM\']
[quote name=\'davemackey\' post=\'184995\' date=\'Apr 28 2008, 04:22 PM\'][quote name=\'Eric Paddon\' post=\'184660\' date=\'Apr 23 2008, 12:02 PM\']You'd think they'd have tried to quicken the pace by just editing out some unsolved puzzle gameplay, which I think they did do a couple times in the Ludden period, if I heard the disclaimer right a few times, "Because a puzzle was not solved, the program was edited" in addition to the more usual disclaimers about an incorrect clue being accepted or something like that.
[/quote]The production would be more likely to edit out a unsolved puzzle if the gameplay therein was deadly dull. Except for that one time on Password Plus... where it got to be downright entertaining.[/quote]
You know, there's one thing I've never understood about this: Why was the puzzle thrown out? As screwed up as the whole thing was, it did get solved.
[/quote]
I don't think it ever was thrown out. In the next puzzle, the score was $100 to $0 in favor of Betty White's team (White was the one who solved the puzzle).

The "mistake " Kennedy probably was referring to were the botched reasons why "France" was not an acceptable clue for "French" and the multitude of pick-ups Kennedy tried to do (not to mention Kennedy tried to throw the puzzle away once--before being reminded that the other team got a free guess).