Your hottest game show takes

[Neumms]

TPiR:  I know it's strategic,  but I automatically pull against someone who does the $1 higher bid in Contestants Row.

I do, too, especially when people hoot and holler and seek applause when doing it. Also annoying: when someone does it and isn’t bidding last, then looks bummed when it happens to them.

[Loogaroo]

As much as I've been a Press Your Luck fan over the years, I'll admit that the "bonus round" on the current version drags on way too long and isn't all that interesting.  It's been discussed about these hour-long shows that are really two half-hours stitched together.  I think the current PYL could benefit from that - just have two games within the hour as the other shows do.  It would be a lot more interesting.

Can I replace my "Cash Cab is overrated" hot take and replace it with "The Press Your Luck bonus round is actually awesome and one of the few instances in the past 25 years where a change made to a legacy show actually made it better"?

I love everything about the PYL bonus round. The escalating values (and risks) of each subsequent round. The personalized prizes adding depth of character by giving the contestant a chance to win prizes that actually had sentimental value beyond just the typical cars and trips. And a million-dollar prize that was difficult but not impossible to win, with a goal that was so tantalizingly close and yet so far, enticing people to take their shot. (Sure that one guy went for it and hit a Whammy on his penultimate spin, but what are exciting wins without a couple of heartbreaking moments for contrast?)

Also, who's to say there's enough show time to play two full games of PYL in one hour without having to massively edit one or both games for time? Part of the reason the bonus round is useful is because it could allow an especially long main game to play out naturally without having to hack it to pieces, just to get it to 22 minutes.

The PYL bonus round was actually a chance to get to know the winner beyond just the interview they gave at the top of the show, and the personalized prizes were a brilliant way to add character depth to a show that would otherwise feel like an assembly line of people screaming BBNWS.

[Neumms]

…the personalized prizes were a brilliant way to add character depth to a show that would otherwise feel like an assembly line of people screaming BBNWS.

When I want depth of character, I put on HBO. If I turn on Press Your Luck, I want “television’s most competitive game,” as Peter would say. If the players feel like an assembly line, that’s poor selection and/or coaching.

As far as time restraints go, they could trim the first round to two questions or even just one.

[TimK2003]

…the personalized prizes were a brilliant way to add character depth to a show that would otherwise feel like an assembly line of people screaming BBNWS.

When I want depth of character, I put on HBO. If I turn on Press Your Luck, I want “television’s most competitive game,” as Peter would say. If the players feel like an assembly line, that’s poor selection and/or coaching.

As far as time restraints go, they could trim the first round to two questions or even just one.

I always thought that the CBS Daytime version did a great job at stretching or trimming episodes to fit the 30-minute time slot -- mostly by using built in bumpers going into and coming out of commercials, and the poems. 

There were the few occasions when Peter really had to stretch after shorter-than-expected games, reading 3+ poems at the end, and of course there was the Michael Larsen game...

I've always wondered if PYL could ever work back then (or today as a daily show) as a game which straddled matches between episodes, given that back then you still had a few shows that would stop the game mid-stream a d pick up where they left off the next episode.

You could kinda, sorta say it's plausible seeing how they had to straddle Larsen's game over a weekend, which just added more suspense to the match. 

I didn't even mind in the earlier days of Pyramid, when excessive tie-breakers led to just one Winners Circle in the show, and 3 WC's on the next show.  Although it may suck on a Friday show that a winner did not get to play the WC with the celebrity they won with, as there was a new celebrity duo on the Monday show.

[Nick]

I didn't even mind in the earlier days of Pyramid, when excessive tie-breakers led to just one Winners Circle in the show, and 3 WC's on the next show.  Although it may suck on a Friday show that a winner did not get to play the WC with the celebrity they won with, as there was a new celebrity duo on the Monday show.

Did this not happen (at least once) and the celebrity (Nipsey Russell, IIRC) did return just to play the Winners' Circle off the top on the Monday show and then left?

[Eric Paddon]

Yes.   I saw that happen and remember it clearly, and obviously the reason they could do that and "hold" Nipsey over was because they were doing two weeks of shows in one day of taping.   It happened around 1975-76 since that's my clearest memory of watching "lost" Pyramid in those days.

[TimK2003]

Yes.   I saw that happen and remember it clearly, and obviously the reason they could do that and "hold" Nipsey over was because they were doing two weeks of shows in one day of taping.   It happened around 1975-76 since that's my clearest memory of watching "lost" Pyramid in those days.

It's such a rare occurrence in the first place.  I thought Pyramid played it like Password+ or Super Password:  New Week...New Celebs...Coin toss determines which celeb pairs with champion in Alphabetics/Super Password.

[Eric Paddon]

I think the Nipsey incident may have been the genesis for what led to the rule we're more familiar with in the latter NY run where a tie game on Friday means the celebs play for $5000 to be split evenly among the contestants and they start over on Monday.   

[Loogaroo]

I've always wondered if PYL could ever work back then (or today as a daily show) as a game which straddled matches between episodes, given that back then you still had a few shows that would stop the game mid-stream a d pick up where they left off the next episode.

Has there ever been a show that straddled and also incorporated distinct rounds of play? Seems like straddling only works when you're playing with the same parameters throughout the game.

[TLEberle]

What do you mean by distinct rounds of play? Do you mean different like how AG had different events, or The Price is Right? Most game shows are like Blockbusters or Card Sharks where you’re doing the dpsame thing just broken up by an end game.

[Loogaroo]

Games where the main game is playing out the same process over and over again. The win condition generally involves either reaching a particular score threshold (like Joker's Wild being a race to $500) or playing a best of 3 match of smaller games (Card Sharks, High Rollers, etc.). Straddling works in these situations because it's easy to explain where the game state was when starting a new episode.

PYL probably doesn't work as a straddle because you're constantly jumping back and forth between question and spin rounds, and then having to carry over three players' scores, spin and Whammy counts from one day to the next would be a lot of info to debrief the audience on the following day.

[TLEberle]

Scrabble managed until 1986 or so, but it was the same goal for both the crossword and the Sprint.

[Neumms]

Your show is doomed if the title contains the word "Machine."

Not The George Michael Sports Machine.

[Loogaroo]

I always thought that touting your new series as "TV's ____est new game show" was a kiss of death.