Canada: Pyramid comes to French-Canadian airwaves

[Blaq]

The news is out: yummy Sébastien Benoit will helm Radio-Canada's 2008 spring/summer game-show offering -- our beloved Pyramid!

Though details are sketchy, it's the celebrity/contestant, 2-team $25K Pyramid format. First crack at the pyramid is worth $1,000, second shot is $2,000; prizes are also awarded. Winner comes back, up to 5 days total. I'm excited! Although Québec has a great track record for well-made, clever game shows (most of them homegrown concepts), what's largely been missing is the stress of timed rounds. Apart from the occasional collection of mini-games (Les Mordus, L'Union Fait la Force), our game shows have mostly been turn-based. For someone who grew up on a steady stream of American 30-second rounds and 60-seconds bonus games, I always felt something was missing. Pyramide will fill this void.

Sheesh, I haven't even taped Paquet Voleur yet (taping this Friday, and hopefully Saturday's million-dollar champions' show, fingers crossed) and I'm already filling out my application form for the next one!

[tpirfan28]

Oh goodness....that's awesome.  Hopefully this show can be put somewhere on the Internet so I can see it.  Gotta put five years of French class to use somehow!

[rugrats1]

[quote name=\'Blaq\' post=\'174962\' date=\'Jan 15 2008, 11:56 AM\']
The news is out: yummy Sébastien Benoit will helm Radio-Canada's 2008 spring/summer game-show offering -- our beloved Pyramid![/quote]

How will this version play out -- like the "Pyramide" in France (seen in Canada on TV5 and RFO), or the more-familiar Dick Clark version? Or worse -- "Donnymid?"

[Fedya]

Blaq écrivait:

Though details are sketchy, it's the celebrity/contestant, 2-team $25K Pyramid format. First crack at the pyramid is worth $1,000, second shot is $2,000; prizes are also awarded.

Even with the appreciation of the Canadian dollar, and with the generally lower prize budges for Canadian game shows, isn't this a bit chintzy?

Of course, if I spoke French well and were famous in Quebec, I'd go on as a celeb just to help other people win money, but still....

[Footix]

[quote name=\'Fedya\' post=\'174993\' date=\'Jan 15 2008, 04:50 PM\']
Even with the appreciation of the Canadian dollar, and with the generally lower prize budges for Canadian game shows, isn't this a bit chintzy?
[/quote]

Put it this way: about 1/4 of Canada speaks French as a first language (from Wikipedia, but let's assume it's actually true). That's roughly 8 million people. The population of the United States is about 300 million, so Canada's French population is about 2.66% of the American population. 2.66% of $25000 is $666.67, so $1000 and $2000 prizes are actually pretty good, I'd think.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Footix\' post=\'175010\' date=\'Jan 15 2008, 02:43 PM\']
Put it this way: about 1/4 of Canada speaks French as a first language (from Wikipedia, but let's assume it's actually true). That's roughly 8 million people. The population of the United States is about 300 million, so Canada's French population is about 2.66% of the American population. 2.66% of $25000 is $666.67, so $1000 and $2000 prizes are actually pretty good, I'd think.
[/quote]
Correlating one to the other makes absolutely no sense.

[Robert Hutchinson]

It makes a tiny bit of sense, in that the overall population does affect how many viewers one can attract to one's show, and therefore how much money one can get from selling ads.

But it hardly justifies slapping an equals sign down, no.

[lobster]

[quote name=\'Footix\' post=\'175010\' date=\'Jan 15 2008, 04:43 PM\']
Put it this way: about 1/4 of Canada speaks French as a first language (from Wikipedia, but let's assume it's actually true). That's roughly 8 million people. The population of the United States is about 300 million, so Canada's French population is about 2.66% of the American population. 2.66% of $25000 is $666.67, so $1000 and $2000 prizes are actually pretty good, I'd think.
[/quote]

...so therefore $133 would be fair to give away on a Quebecois Lingo

..or perhaps just a watch band..