Intangibles that improved a show

[aaron sica]

How about the expansion of TPIR to an hour? It gave Bob more time to have fun with the contestants (though that time has eroded over the years) and eliminated the problem of a winning contestant's failing to make the Showcase because he got to play Double Prices for a recliner while another contestant won a car in Any Number. Yes, there's still the luck of the spin in the Showcase Showdown, but at least it gives everyone a roughly equal chance of advancing to the Showcase regardless of his previous winnings.

Along the same TPiR lines, it seemed very anticlimactic when they went right from showcase bids to showcase reveal with no commercial break.

[JasonA1]

Along the same TPiR lines, it seemed very anticlimactic when they went right from showcase bids to showcase reveal with no commercial break.

That's a good one in the spirit of what Mark was talking about...the show had lots more time back then, but rushing that portion of the show made the actual game they were playing feel like an afterthought.

-Jason

[SuperSweeper]

A really minor one: Wheel's shuffling of the commercial breaks at the start of Season 23 - eliminating the break after the Bonus Round and adding a break after Round 1 - helped improve the pace of the show. I find the Pat/Vanna chats charming at times, and it didn't make much sense to have those after a break when most viewers, especially those who watch the show on an affiliate that airs it in the second half of an hour, wouldn't stick around to see it.

In addition to Password Plus's improvements to the puzzle writing in the early months, the small rule changes - reducing the number of guesses for each Password from 6 to 4 and allowing the team that guessed the previous Password to remain in control - helped tighten up the game and make it more fair. I wasn't a huge fan of a third change - the elimination of opposites in clue-giving - but I know it has fans in this group.

[tpirfan28]

Card Sharks adding the "push" rule in Money Cards. I never found that rule fair as money would always be lost no matter if the card was higher or lower.

And allowing you to change the base card on each level, which CS86 expanded upon with changing one card (base card or not) on each level.

I am surprised Mark G. didn't add this to CS78 when he added the push rule.  It made the game much more climactic for the home viewer and slightly better for the contestant to win.

[Hastin]

Classic Concentration adding the puzzle text below after the reveal, and I think having the contestant explain it was more fun than Alex hauling over there for every puzzle.

[Neumms]

...there weren't as many crazy hail mary tries from players in last place (i.e. buzzing in on just the words "Which U.S. state" in order to try to catch up). This wasn't something they changed during the run, AFAIK, but it's something I didn't appreciate until I played the game at home with everybody seeing everything.

I haven’t played the $OTC home game in many moons, but I remember friends ringing in upon hearing only “true or false” and guessing one or the other. That was more for amusement than strategy, though.

[Dbacksfan12]

Thought of another one I wanted to throw out there--I liked how The Newlywed Game would change the order of answers on a multiple choice question, thus preventing a couple from ever saying "Just pick the third one".

[Neumms]

Thought of another one I wanted to throw out there--I liked how The Newlywed Game would change the order of answers on a multiple choice question, thus preventing a couple from ever saying "Just pick the third one".

I never noticed that. I don't know if it's an intangible that makes the show better, but it's a simple way to prevent cheating.

[JasonA1]

And not too long ago, I saw a bible for Match Game '90 that indicated the choices for Match-Up were sometimes displayed to the contestant in reverse order from how Ross would read them, so as to prevent the "pick the (first/second) one" hack.

-Jason

[Ian Wallis]

I kind of like it when you hear a good chunk of the theme song - especially in the rare times it was without applause.  As we know, some of the themes written for these shows were great - but you'd hardly hear the orchestration over the heavy applause and announcer at the end.  It almost seemed like an unimportant throwaway at times. 

It sometimes bugged me a bit when they had extra time to fill at the end of the show, and they spent the time small-talking, then when the closing theme played it didn't play for very long. I always thought - forget the talk and let me hear a longer cut of the theme!

I also liked it when you saw the audience.  There were numerous shows where this rarely (if ever) occurred.

[Jeremy Nelson]

While we're talking "Pyramid", I should submit this major change with the Strahan version: Contestants giving the clues in the Winners Circle. With $50K or $100K at stake with every playing, it only makes sense---at least to me---for the contestant to do the heavy lifting.

I was on Season 2. It was HIGHLY recommended that you give the clues, to the point that late round auditions focused heavily on WC gameplay.

Scrabble is probably the show that was the best at improving the intangibles- changing the letter shuffle in the Sprint round, playing the same sprint words, and moving to a daily tournament style were all good changes that had little bearing on the rules.

[Blanquepage]

In the era of the big money quizzes, I became a fan of when the correct answers are left to be suddenly revealed by the computer, rather than the host announcing whether it's right or wrong. Greed revealed the answers like this; this has also been seen on several international versions of WWTBAM where both the host and the contestant just sit there staring at the screen in suspense during the drumroll until the correct answer flashes.

[TimK2003]

I like when game shows award an extra bonus for excellent play -- more specifically, when a contestant sweeps a match.

One show comes to mind:

Celebrity Whew!  When episodes became self-contained and one team swept the best 2 out if 3 match, they got to play a 3rd round against the house for a chance to earn a couple of hundred dollars more, but more importantly, more time running the Gauntlet.

Go also had a extra bonus round vs the house for a swept match, but that was always part of the game and not added mid-stream.

[BrandonFG]

Not an addition per se, but I'm a fan of games that allow for a two-loss or best-of-three rule (Blockbusters, Classic Concentration). Gives new contestants a chance to shake off any dust, esp. if you're on a game like TTD and run into a dominant contestant like Thom McKee. Also, if you can win a game, you at least have some pocket change to take home.

[BillCullen1]

While we're talking "Pyramid", I should submit this major change with the Strahan version: Contestants giving the clues in the Winners Circle. With $50K or $100K at stake with every playing, it only makes sense---at least to me---for the contestant to do the heavy lifting.

I was on Season 2. It was HIGHLY recommended that you give the clues, to the point that late round auditions focused heavily on WC gameplay. 

I can understand that. Back in the Dick Clark era, they had a rolodex of celebs with experience giving clues at the WC. Not so with the Strahan version. Also, with the contestant giving, it's on him or her if they blow it with an illegal clue.