Author Topic: If Pyramid were to come back again... (Read 9786 times)

BMaurice06 · « **on:** July 17, 2006, 03:12:01 PM »

Recently I've been toying with my own idea for another possible Pyramid revival. Basically I would revert the entire show back to the classic 100K format with two minor changes:

1. In the main game, to give the contestants a little bit of a challenge, I'd make it 7-out-of-7 in 25 seconds. Even back then, I thought it looked too easy to get 7 words in 30 seconds.

2. I would make the top prize in the tournament a growing jackpot, starting at the traditional $100,000 and adding $25,000 a day until somebody wins it.

JasonA1 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 17, 2006, 03:28:55 PM »

Uh...yeah. If somebody knocks off a tough $100,000-level endgame in day 1, you're going to penalize them for not losing for five days straight, where a win would've been worth $225,000? Bzzt. Gong. Wrong answer.

-Jason

aaron sica · « **Reply #2 on:** July 17, 2006, 03:37:26 PM »

I wish people would stop posting with ways of enhancing a show if it were to come back.

clemon79 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2006, 03:51:19 PM »

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'124369\' date=\'Jul 17 2006, 12:37 PM\']
I wish people would stop posting with ways of enhancing a show if it were to come back.
[/quote]
Especially this one, which WAS NEVER BROKEN.

Really. Every single "enhancement" to this show, from the day that Dick Clark stepped away from the podium, has made the show poorer. Davidson. "Double Trouble". "Gamble For A Grand". 6-in-20. Briefed celebrities. Hell, ALL of Donnymid. I haven't seen ONE SINGLE THING that made me say "wow, that would have been rad to see on the Clark show."

Now, I haven't seen a single thing in BMaurice06's nine posts to suggest that he's worthy of even a second of my time or consideration, but maybe someone else can take something useful out of this.

jrjgames · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2006, 03:53:53 PM »

[quote name=\'BMaurice06\' post=\'124362\' date=\'Jul 17 2006, 03:12 PM\']
2. I would make the top prize in the tournament a growing jackpot, starting at the traditional $100,000 and adding $25,000 a day until somebody wins it.
[/quote]

You'd go broke

John

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2006, 06:16:31 PM »

[quote name=\'jrjgames\' post=\'124372\' date=\'Jul 17 2006, 03:53 PM\']You'd go broke[/quote]
. . . or learn in a hurry the importance of putting "Things That Are Red" in the top box around day 10.

I find progressive jackpots to range from "mildly irritating" to "oh god why". "Because you happened to come onto the show after the last 10 contestants stunk up the joint, you're playing for $50,000!"

Equal time moment: I was neutral on 6-in-20, considering the increased ad time. If Donnymid had had a better caliber of players overall, I think it would have annoyed fewer people.

clemon79 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2006, 06:18:41 PM »

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'124381\' date=\'Jul 17 2006, 03:16 PM\']
Equal time moment: I was neutral on 6-in-20, considering the increased ad time. If Donnymid had had a better caliber of players overall, I think it would have annoyed fewer people.
[/quote]
Honestly? Wouldn't change the fact that they freakin' broke the Winner's Circle. That's always been the corker for me.

Sonic Whammy · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2006, 06:30:30 PM »

I fully agree with not using a progressive jackpot. That's about the only thing I DIDN'T like about the $20K version, since it practically begged a champ to throw the first two Winner's Circles so that they could really cash in later.

I will side with the 6-in-20 rule not being a great killer to the show. It was a new challenge for the hardcores like us, and hey, a good number of us went to try out, just like they probably knew we would.

But that notwithstanding, you also have to consider that the quality of the players they DID get in the beginning cannot be faulted, either. Remember that this was the first new version of Pyramid in 10 years, so anyone that's not a hardcore like us has probably lost touch with it a little bit. Even if they watch it on GSN, it's only on a casual basis, so their playing skills were still not going to be as sharp. That problem started to correct itself in season 2, thankfully. But otherwise, it was as if we were back to 1973 all over again. That's what happens when a classic sits on the shelf for too long.

I would hope and pray that if anyone ever decides to give Password another go in almost any fashion, THOSE skills would not be lost. Then again... *shrug*

BrandonFG · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2006, 06:46:03 PM »

From BMaurice's post, I didn't see anything that would've made Donnymid better...just changes just to make changes. Why are so many posters so pressed about getting 6 or 7 words in :20 or :30? Honestly, other than being a purist, it has no lasting effect on the show, and the average viewer prolly didn't even notice that it was one fewer word. As long as I see two people trying to convey words back-and-forth, I'm cool with it.

That being said, it was still an unnecessary change. I'm not fully convinced that 7/:30 couldn't have been done on Donnymid. Twelve :30 rounds makes up 6 minutes of show time, add two minutes for the Winners Circles, and we're up to eight minutes. I still find at least 11 or 12 more minutes that could've been burned up for show time. To me, it seems like the producers just wanted to spend more time pimping the celebrities, and with the celebs changing everyday, it's understood, but stupid. Just have the same two for the whole week. That way, Donny's not rushing to cater to the celebs, and you could even squeeze in some returning champions. However, that was the least of my problems with Donnymid.

Let's see:
-Half-ass tournament where if no one got to the top of the Pyramid by a certain day, the fastest time would be the winner. Anti-climatic. Yeah, you might not want a tournament to go three weeks, but at the same time, it could also make decent ratings.
-"What Donny's Pants Zipper Might Say"
-Constant focusing on celebrities. I don't watch game shows for the celebrities, except for maybe HSq or Match Game.
-That damn set

The one thing Donnymid did a good job on was the tournament qualification. I felt that was actually kinda clever, but I still would've rather seen returning champs, and a week of celebs. That way, if you have a bad day, you could possibly come back the next day and redeem yourself.

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2006, 07:28:28 PM »

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'124384\' date=\'Jul 17 2006, 03:46 PM\']
-"What Donny's Pants Zipper Might Say"
[/quote]
"I come down at the sight of Kristy McNichol."

Unrealtor · « **Reply #10 on:** July 17, 2006, 11:26:38 PM »

I know it wasn't the most popular thing with this group, but one of the Donnymid changes I actually kind of liked was not giving away the (cumulative) $25,000 in the second trip unless the contestant won the $10,000 in the first. It didn't reward failure like the 20K format, and it wasn't based entirely on frontgame success like $25K/$100K was. Although, with the one-day-and-out format, it was rather a cheap way to do it.

PYLdude · « **Reply #11 on:** July 18, 2006, 12:06:51 AM »

[quote name=\'whoserman\' post=\'124387\' date=\'Jul 17 2006, 07:28 PM\']
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'124384\' date=\'Jul 17 2006, 03:46 PM\']
-"What Donny's Pants Zipper Might Say"
[/quote]
"I come down at the sight of Kristy McNichol."

[/quote]

*cuckoo* No prepositional phrases!

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #12 on:** July 18, 2006, 12:22:36 AM »

[quote name=\'Unrealtor\' post=\'124405\' date=\'Jul 17 2006, 11:26 PM\']I know it wasn't the most popular thing with this group, but one of the Donnymid changes I actually kind of liked was not giving away the (cumulative) $25,000 in the second trip unless the contestant won the $10,000 in the first. It didn't reward failure like the 20K format, and it wasn't based entirely on frontgame success like $25K/$100K was. Although, with the one-day-and-out format, it was rather a cheap way to do it.[/quote]
I appreciated this somewhat, even though Donny would usually explain it incorrectly on-air. My ideal payouts there would be $10K for the first trip and, win or lose, $15K more for the second trip.

Neumms · « **Reply #13 on:** July 18, 2006, 10:32:56 AM »

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'124413\' date=\'Jul 17 2006, 11:22 PM\']
I appreciated this somewhat, even though Donny would usually explain it incorrectly on-air. My ideal payouts there would be $10K for the first trip and, win or lose, $15K more for the second trip.
[/quote]

I've always thought that the whole "on your second trip it's worth _________" is a complication not worth having. It was goofy back on the $20,000 version--where it just seemed cheap that most of the time they weren't playing for $20,000--and it was goofy on Donny's. At least when the jump is from 10 to 25,000 it's significant, but still, I say figure out the prize budget and offer the same amount every time. (Except for tournaments, of course.)

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #14 on:** July 18, 2006, 11:36:44 AM »

Cullen Pyramid was total perfection. It's too bad it is not being shown anywhere. To anyone in charge of a revival-watch one of the Cullen shows and copy everything.