Author Topic: wwtbam questions (Read 8204 times)

toetyper · « **on:** March 03, 2008, 04:09:29 PM »

does meredith know the questions beforehand or is she reading them as we see them>;

how many million dollar questions do you think the writers have stored up

BrandonFG · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2008, 04:13:02 PM »

[quote name=\'toetyper\' post=\'179771\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 04:09 PM\']
does meredith know the questions beforehand or is she reading them as we see them>;
[/quote]
The latter. When the ABC show was burning up the Nielsens, IIRC, there was a special documentary that the process. IIRC, the questions are kept in a manila envelope until show time; when the question pops up on Meredith's monitor, it's their first time seeing it.

Quote

how many million dollar questions do you think the writers have stored up

From same docu, they write a 15-question set for each contestant, so however many stacks.

toetyper · « **Reply #2 on:** March 03, 2008, 04:20:33 PM »

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'179772\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 04:13 PM\']

Quote

how many million dollar questions do you think the writers have stored up

From same docu, they write a 15-question set for each contestant, so however many stacks.
[/quote]

you mean they write a different MDQ for each contestant-- i dont think so

lobster · « **Reply #3 on:** March 03, 2008, 04:20:44 PM »

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'179772\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 03:13 PM\']
[quote name=\'toetyper\' post=\'179771\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 04:09 PM\']
does meredith know the questions beforehand or is she reading them as we see them>;
[/quote]
The former. When the ABC show was burning up the Nielsens, IIRC, there was a special documentary that the process. IIRC, the questions are kept in a manila envelope until show time; when the question pops up on Meredith's monitor, it's their first time seeing it.
[/quote]

Shouldn't that be the latter then?

I had figured she's been briefed on some of the answers' pronunciations ahead of time since a lot of times she seems to fly through reading obscure proper names etc without stumbling, even on ones she admits never hearing of before

lobster · « **Reply #4 on:** March 03, 2008, 04:28:41 PM »

[quote name=\'toetyper\' post=\'179773\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 03:20 PM\']
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'179772\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 04:13 PM\']

Quote

how many million dollar questions do you think the writers have stored up

From same docu, they write a 15-question set for each contestant, so however many stacks.
[/quote]

you mean they write a different MDQ for each contestant-- i dont think so
[/quote]

I would agree that they probably don't toss out unused $1m questions in a stack if not used on a contestant..
but it is entirely possible that they would want to follow a $500k with a $1m question that has absolutely nothing to do with each other categorically, so it's possible the whole chain of questions given to a contestant is designed to not have any two questions that repeat similar areas of trivia...

but then you have the Switch the Question where the "computer" "randomly" swaps out current question with another one valued at bla bla along with times where they have to throw out a question for whatever reason so of course there's gotta be tons of extras of each value lyin' around

BrandonFG · « **Reply #5 on:** March 03, 2008, 04:29:25 PM »

[quote name=\'lobster\' post=\'179774\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 04:20 PM\']
Shouldn't that be the latter then?

[/quote]
You can tell when it's a Monday. :-P Will fix that, thanks.

tvmitch · « **Reply #6 on:** March 03, 2008, 04:34:09 PM »

I know for a fact that Regis went over question pronunciations prior to show tapings. Whether or not he was shown the entire question, I don't know. With Regis, it was more of a necessity to do go over pronunciation than with Meredith, and Regis would probably be the first to admit that.

I think that the question stacks are pulled "randomly" from the question bank prior to each show. So yes, unused questions get recycled, I'm sure. With as much scrutiny as each question receives through the writing process, any other method would be throwing money out the window.

EDIT: To clarify, I remember reading something about how each question is assigned some sort of category, and the stacks are built on a premise that categories don't get repeated. But I've seen contestants get question stacks that have two TV questions in them, so I don't know if this is true.

davemackey · « **Reply #7 on:** March 03, 2008, 05:00:43 PM »

[quote name=\'lobster\' post=\'179774\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 04:20 PM\']
I had figured she's been briefed on some of the answers' pronunciations ahead of time since a lot of times she seems to fly through reading obscure proper names etc without stumbling, even on ones she admits never hearing of before
[/quote]
We had to do a pickup on my final question at my taping because Meredith stumbled over the pronunciation of "Monegasque". So it may be that she's not briefed.

toetyper · « **Reply #8 on:** March 03, 2008, 05:12:37 PM »

[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' post=\'179779\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 04:34 PM\']
I think that the question stacks are pulled "randomly" from the question bank prior to each show. So yes, unused questions get recycled, I'm sure. With as much scrutiny as each question receives through the writing process, any other method would be throwing money out the window.

[/quote]/

that makes sense soooooooooooooooooooo back to the original question

how many MDQ do you think they have

tomobrien · « **Reply #9 on:** March 03, 2008, 06:08:00 PM »

[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' post=\'179779\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 03:34 PM\'] I know for a fact that Regis went over question pronunciations prior to show tapings. Whether or not he was shown the entire question, I don't know. [/quote] Right. If I recall correctly, there was a room offstage (and I think it was behind the side of the stage the contestant entered from) where they would take him a few minutes before taping and go over the questions with him. I can't believe they wouldn't show him the entire question...otherwise, they'd just be going over individual words out of context.

lobster · « **Reply #10 on:** March 03, 2008, 06:20:19 PM »

[quote name=\'toetyper\' post=\'179787\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 04:12 PM\']
[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' post=\'179779\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 04:34 PM\']
I think that the question stacks are pulled "randomly" from the question bank prior to each show. So yes, unused questions get recycled, I'm sure. With as much scrutiny as each question receives through the writing process, any other method would be throwing money out the window.

[/quote]/

that makes sense soooooooooooooooooooo back to the original question

how many MDQ do you think they have
[/quote]

precisely 81 on-hand.

clemon79 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 03, 2008, 06:29:18 PM »

[quote name=\'toetyper\' post=\'179771\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 01:09 PM\']
how many million dollar questions do you think the writers have stored up[/quote]
Two.

/you're kidding, right?

dale_grass · « **Reply #12 on:** March 03, 2008, 09:35:04 PM »

[quote name=\'toetyper\' post=\'179787\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 06:12 PM\']
how many MDQ do you think they have
[/quote]

They have precisely nine, kept in a hermetically-sealed mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnalls' porch until noon of the tape date.

\"Sis-boom-bah."
\\"What sound does a sheep make before it explodes?"

clemon79 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 03, 2008, 10:21:19 PM »

[quote name=\'dale_grass\' post=\'179823\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 06:35 PM\']
\"Sis-boom-bah."
\\"What sound does a sheep make before it explodes?"
[/quote]
http://img489.imageshack.us/img489/6015/24...40661bf7rl8.jpg

"YES! You are CORRECT sir!"

/approves

dale_grass · « **Reply #14 on:** March 04, 2008, 01:11:57 AM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'179834\' date=\'Mar 3 2008, 11:21 PM\']
"YES! You are CORRECT sir!"
[/quote]

"May your sister kiss a diseased yak."