Let's Play Crosswords

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'toddyo\' post=\'144443\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 10:15 AM\']
Not seeing anything in print or video, when I heard about this show, the first thing that popped into my head was "they're bringing back Crosswits".

Is this a cross between Crosswits and Scrabble???

On a side note: Now that Ralph Edwards has gone over the rainbow to see Judy and Toto, any clue to whether the Edwards library will be opened? Who owns the rights?
[/quote]

Ralph Edwards Productions is still in business, run by his son Gary--they still do "People's Court" with Stu Billett.  They seem to own most of what they produced that is intact, but since for all intents and purposes they were out of the game show business after 1980 (and the reality they did was not competition), GSN wouldn't be interested.

As for the formats, they sold "NTT" to Sandy Frank a long time ago and it would seem to me that someone else holds the "Cross-Wits" format.  Of what's remaining (outside, of course, of non-game show "This is Your Life"), "T or C" is the most well-known property.  They licensed it out to Fremantle a couple of years ago, but it didn't go anywhere.  And personally, I'm not sure if "T or C" could fly in today's market, even if done like the Brits did it in the early 80s as "Game For a Laugh," which was more like "Real People" than "T or C."

[Jimmy Owen]

I wonder if GSN would be interested in "Bzzz!" from the Ralph Edwards portfolio?  "Let's Play Crosswords" sounds like something that might have been said at one point to Deney Terio.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'144445\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 11:27 AM\']
But goddamn if that podium-splitting thing isn't cool.
[/quote]

Well, potentially cool.  After all, you could see the "score displays" on the tops of the left and right sections when the whole deal was folded together--which made me think, "Why do they have players facing away from each other?"

Now, if the real deal--not a virtual version thereof--actually shows the podia move into its new positions, rather than having stagehands move it during a stopdown that lasts 22 minutes, then, yeah, I'll go with you that it's cool.  

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' post=\'144463\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 11:26 AM\']
Well, potentially cool.  After all, you could see the "score displays" on the tops of the left and right sections when the whole deal was folded together--which made me think, "Why do they have players facing away from each other?"
[/quote]
This is why I have the "virtual studio" fear. I'm almost certain that would have the three of them looking down at a game monitor.

actually shows the podia move into its new positions, rather than having stagehands move it during a stopdown that lasts 22 minutes, then, yeah, I'll go with you that it's cool.  

Well, that's what I'm banking on. If it's an over-the-break thing, then, yes, idiotic.

[Matt Ottinger]

Odd that I provided the link, but didn't even watch the video myself until now.

There are a lot of things to like.  Cruciverbalists will like the fact that they work off a real, symmetrical grid.  The clues in the example weren't particularly clever (good writers could fix that), but they certainly were crossword-style, IMO an underused form of question writing in our genre.  I'm not thrilled with the way-easy bonus game (the mistake they included was laughable) but that could be adjusted with more words to solve or less time to do it in.

Also, when they refer to "hard quiz", I think what they mean is that it's a straight-quiz format, not that it's necessarily "difficult".  On a difficulty level, this would fit somewhere between Wheel and Jeopardy.  You need to be sharp, and a sharp player will usually win, but you don't need to have encyclopedic knowledge.  The good news there is that an average viewer will find it more accessible than Jeopardy.

Hope it gets picked up.

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'144421\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 01:59 AM\']
It's a little hard to take anything seriously when presented in that form . . . but give that show a good writing staff (actual crossword constructors wouldn't hurt, if just for the clues) and smart contestants, and I'm probably watching it faithfully. The first round is pointless gameplay-wise, but maybe it's there as a nod to crossword solving often being a collaborative activity?
[/quote]
But it's been going on for years. "Honey, what's a four letter word for 'low digits'?"

The idea of people working together as teammates first, then as opponents, has been done before ("Now You See It").

I'd like to see first if it goes to series. Then, thoughts about how to go about getting the material will materialize.

[Neumms]

Not to be a naysayer, but am I the only one who didn't see anything clever here except for the lecturns splitting apart?

The clues here don't seem much different than the ones on "Monopoly." Where, as the network guy once famously said, are the jeopardies? At least they could ditch the CGI and play on a lit-up dry-erase board and let a hot model write the clues in with magic marker (as in the TPIR crossword showcase).

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Neumms\' post=\'144482\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 03:19 PM\']
Where, as the network guy once famously said, are the jeopardies?
[/quote]
The show isn't called Jeopardy.

At least they could ditch the CGI and play on a lit-up dry-erase board and let a hot model write the clues in with magic marker (as in the TPIR crossword showcase).

You're not serious.

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'davemackey\' post=\'144472\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 04:07 PM\']But it's been going on for years. "Honey, what's a four letter word for 'low digits'?"[/quote]
Well, yes. I'm confused as to what the "but" is a reaction to--I meant that collaborating on a crossword seems like an unlikely explanation for the first round format, not that the collaboration itself is unlikely.

The idea of people working together as teammates first, then as opponents, has been done before ("Now You See It").

Again, yes. But on NYSI, the teammates were all trying to eliminate their opponents so they could move on. In the first round of Crosswords, the players are not accomplishing anything towards their ultimate goal--a tie at $0 is almost always the same strategically as a tie at $700, and they're playing for a lot more money than that by the time they're through.

I also wondered if it might be a strategy to acclimate the players to the game, but I'm not sure someone who's not that good at this game is going to improve much after playing just a few words.

[BrandonFG]

Call me crazy (YOU'RE CRAZY!!!), but I actually like the fact that the material provided (gasp!) stumped me. Then again, one of the most popular game shows on now involves picking numbers for a million dollars, while jumping around yelling at the top of your lungs.

In other words, will this be too hard for Joe 6-pack?

" 'Operatic barber'? Aw, hell, lemme check out what's on Wheel...the puzzle is 'MY HAIRY AUNT'!"

I'm scared about this having the potential for a virtual set. Should it go to series, they could honestly use something similar to the big honkin video screen behind the Wheel contestants.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'144500\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 04:19 PM\']
but I'm not sure someone who's not that good at this game is going to improve much after playing just a few words.
[/quote]
It is my fervent hope that, coming from the man who invented Jeopardy, someone who's not good at the game is weeded out of the contestant selection process before they even get in front of a camera. This isn't Endemol we're talking about, here.

[Robert Hutchinson]

This seems to be my thread for minor misunderstandings. I wouldn't expect these folks to get Endemol-level contestants. That was just the hypothetical shooting down of my hypothetical justification.

Hypothetically.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'144502\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 07:29 PM\']
Call me crazy (YOU'RE CRAZY!!!), but I actually like the fact that the material provided (gasp!) stumped me.
[/quote]
The nice thing about well-written crossword clues is that even when you're stumped, the right answer makes sense to you when you see it (and think about it).  That's an edge something like this has over a pure question-answer game that just tests knowledge.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'144500\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 07:19 PM\']
In the first round of Crosswords, the players are not accomplishing anything towards their ultimate goal[/quote]

Which, sadly, could be said of the first round of lots of games: cf. Family Feud, or even the early part of Jeopardy.

I have to think that Merv and company will make this round count for more than a time-filler, but I don't know how it will be.  Still, I'm looking forward to this: seems much more to my liking than Cross-Wits was.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'144500\' date=\'Jan 25 2007, 07:19 PM\']
In the first round of Crosswords, the players are not accomplishing anything towards their ultimate goal[/quote]

Which, sadly, could be said of the first round of lots of games: cf. Family Feud, or even the early part of Jeopardy.

I have to think that Merv and company will make this round count for more than a time-filler, but I don't know how it will be.  Still, I'm looking forward to this: seems much more to my liking than Cross-Wits was.