Thanks for the info on the imports. I'll agree the Edwards version was dry, but it didn't help that the show looked like it was so done on the cheap, along with the rule changes and the lack of a studio audience. The only attraction was the basic game...what is the next linking word? So if you like that kind of game in general, you tolerate it. With the absence of the original bonus game, it just kinda stayed flat. As to GO, since we're still tossing opinions , I think Bob's original 1980 CR bonus was one of tv's cleverest and most demanding. Add that you were playing for $10,000, and you have an exciting 90 seconds. Just like Pyramid - you start with a simple game, then move on to an exciting, pulse-pounding bonus. GO was just too much of a good game idea, awkwardly played. I also found it hard to watch. An entire half-hour game based on the Pyramid winner's circle might be a bit much, too. Kinda like eating only desserts. Both bonus games were something you looked forward to as special moments in the overall game. But that's me...
And ya know, I hope Bob's friends and family hear and appreciate the love we're pouring on him and his shows....
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EDIT: Just happened to remember that one of my favorite Stewart pilots, CAUGHT IN THE ACT with Jim Peck was pretty much an elongated variation of the Pyramid end game. However, it wasn't played under a high-pressure time limit. It was more laid back and played for laughs as well. It can be done.
Watched a GO on You Tube to refresh my memory on exact rules. Another thing that bugged me about this game was: A team plays a list of words and comes up with a time score. Another team plays a totally different set of words in an attempt to beat the first team's time. I know it's a tossup as to which is possibly worse...the chance that you might draw a list of words that could be harder to communicate than a previous one (the writers assuming all words are equally easy to develop clues for), or the potential boredom that some people might get from watching two teams play the same list of words. A personal preference would be having both teams play the same list of words - having, say, team B in some sort of simple soundproof isolation until it's their turn to play the same word list. Part of the fun could come from seeing how different minds attack the same words, and if they do it more skillfully than the other team. It's a nit-pick, I know, but in this type of game, it's a preference.
