Author Topic: TPIR: Thoughts about the Showcase Showdown (Read 8764 times)

TLEberle · « **on:** April 04, 2004, 05:16:20 AM »

I was watching TPIR earlier this week before work. Usually, I'll do something else during the Big Wheel segment, but for some reason, I stuck around to watch, and it was the show with an $11,000 win.

I watched the whole thing happen, and thought to myself that this guy just won $11,000, and he's clapping along like he won a Rascal scooter or something. It's no big deal that he's likely in a new tax bracket. Bob says congratulations, the fanfare dies down, and we're off to the second half of the show.

Did I miss the point where winning $11,000 (a 400:1 shot) suddenly became Not a Big Deal? No "what will you do with the money?" or getting excited about it, it's just move on to the next act.

I've always thought that the Big Wheel is a really dumb way to decide who moves on to the Showcase (even though it does fall into the whole "closest without going over") and it's not going to go away, but that episode cinched the deal for me.

Am I alone here?

Travis Eberle

chris319 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 04, 2004, 08:57:32 AM »

The Showcase Showdown exists as a time filler and not much more. It was introduced when the show went from 30 to 60 minutes. With a 1 in 10 chance per show of giving away $1,000 it probably works out to be cheaper than a seventh pricing game. It also makes it a little easier to plan shows as the amount of time allotted to the SS is constant. Perhaps SplitSecond can tell us the exact amount of time allotted.

The phenomenon you describe happened the last time I saw a $1 million win on WWTBAM, so TPIR is not alone in this regard (except that TPIR contestants are more likely to have metal plates in their heads). It was balloons, here's your check, now make your exit.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #2 on:** April 04, 2004, 12:13:59 PM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Apr 4 2004, 05:16 AM\'] I watched the whole thing happen, and thought to myself that this guy just won $11,000, and he's clapping along like he won a Rascal scooter or something. It's no big deal that he's likely in a new tax bracket. Bob says congratulations, the fanfare dies down, and we're off to the second half of the show.

Did I miss the point where winning $11,000 (a 400:1 shot) suddenly became Not a Big Deal? No "what will you do with the money?" or getting excited about it, it's just move on to the next act.

I've always thought that the Big Wheel is a really dumb way to decide who moves on to the Showcase (even though it does fall into the whole "closest without going over") and it's not going to go away, but that episode cinched the deal for me. [/quote]
Man, where to start...

1) Some people just aren't as demonstrative as others. Maybe he wanted to look "cool" on television. Besides, when you get right down to it, $11K is a lovely windfall, but for most people not a life-changing sum. It's also not about the money. Champs win at least that much just about every day on Jeopardy, and NONE of them jump up and down.

2) In almost 30 years, I can never remember Bob stopping the game after an $11K win and asking what the player will do with the money. It also doesn't surprise me at all that BOB doesn't get excited about it anymore. It's just a random thing, and he's seen hundreds of them.

3) All things considered, the Big Wheel was a *brilliant* addition to the game, probably the best single thing they ever came up with. It may have only been designed as time filler, but it was ingenious nonetheless.

Bottom line is that some contestants will show excitement, some won't. This one guy on this one episode didn't. Not that big a deal.

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 04, 2004, 12:59:11 PM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Apr 4 2004, 04:16 AM\'] I was watching TPIR earlier this week before work. Usually, I'll do something else during the Big Wheel segment, but for some reason, I stuck around to watch, and it was the show with an $11,000 win.

I watched the whole thing happen, and thought to myself that this guy just won $11,000, and he's clapping along like he won a Rascal scooter or something. It's no big deal that he's likely in a new tax bracket. Bob says congratulations, the fanfare dies down, and we're off to the second half of the show.

Did I miss the point where winning $11,000 (a 400:1 shot) suddenly became Not a Big Deal? No "what will you do with the money?" or getting excited about it, it's just move on to the next act.

I've always thought that the Big Wheel is a really dumb way to decide who moves on to the Showcase (even though it does fall into the whole "closest without going over") and it's not going to go away, but that episode cinched the deal for me.

Am I alone here?

Travis Eberle [/quote]
It's probably the same kind of person that posts on this board and says: "They only give away $25,000 on Pyramid. How cheap! They gave that much away in 1975."

$11,000 sure would go aways towards college....

BrandonFG · « **Reply #4 on:** April 04, 2004, 01:41:08 PM »

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Apr 4 2004, 11:59 AM\'] It's probably the same kind of person that posts on this board and says: "They only give away $25,000 on Pyramid. How cheap! They gave that much away in 1975."

$11,000 sure would go aways towards college.... [/quote]
And some of it would make a nice down payment on a new car.

The way I figure it, sure $11,000 isn't as much as when they initiated the bonus spin rule in the 70s (And no, I don't care to know the exact year it came about), but just how much $$$ did these contestants walk in with?

BTW, most unemotional contestant award goes to those on Pyramid, with the exception of Jeremy Soria. :-)

Don Howard · « **Reply #5 on:** April 04, 2004, 01:56:53 PM »

By the way, according to this weekend's page in the 2004 Jump The Shark calendar, the authors of the calendar pages determined that the fins started circling when the Showcase Showdown wheel was added in the mid-1980s (that's the decade they cited) but jumped officially when Bob allowed his gray hair to be shown.

SplitSecond · « **Reply #6 on:** April 04, 2004, 02:16:17 PM »

I've never seen a written account of how much time is allotted for the Showcase Showdown, but it occurs so late in each half-hour that it becomes the accordion act - that is, Barker tries to squeeze it tight or expand it in order to take up the proper amount of time on a show-by-show basis, to help the show end exactly at the half-hour break and at the end of the hour. That's why sometimes Barker will just come back and usher a contestant to the wheel in the first Showdown, and then give the full rules explanation and explain each contestant's handmade t-shirt in the second.

Other acts are slightly accordionized so that this "responsibility" doesn't totally fall on the wheel - pricing games 4 and 6, plus the showcases, for instance.

The Big Wheel may be dumb to you and me, Travis, but the genius of it is that it's an experience, like the Plinko board, that the average person cannot recreate at home. People go ga-ga over Plinko because they can't simulate the real thing in their living rooms, while you could ask the average person on the street to describe It's in the Bag - a far better game, in my opinion - and you're gonna get a lot of blank stares and maybe a few smart-aleck comments about Rolf Benirschke.

clemon79 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 04, 2004, 03:31:29 PM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Apr 4 2004, 02:16 AM\'] Did I miss the point where winning $11,000 (a 400:1 shot) suddenly became Not a Big Deal?
[/quote]
Two thoughts about the $10,000:

1) We have seen game shows where you take home $32,000 for LOSING (Millionaire), and we have seen game shows where you win $100K OR MORE for answering two only-moderately-difficult multiple-choice questions (21). This is the aftermath of Mo Money Syndrome. Enjoy it, folks.

2) I'm not saying TPiR is guilty of this, but this is the kind of behavior you should expect in the future when game show coordinators are casting Good-Looking Twentysomethings instead of people who genuinely would enjoy being on a game show.

Quote

I've always thought that the Big Wheel is a really dumb way to decide who moves on to the Showcase

Riddle me this, though: would you prefer a playoff system where each contestant gets an equal chance at the Showcase, or would you prefer the old system, where you can win your game and still have no chance of going because someone else won a game and had the good fortune to play for a bigger prize than you did?

zachhoran · « **Reply #8 on:** April 04, 2004, 07:30:08 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Apr 4 2004, 02:31 PM\']
Riddle me this, though: would you prefer a playoff system where each contestant gets an equal chance at the Showcase, or would you prefer the old system, where you can win your game and still have no chance of going because someone else won a game and had the good fortune to play for a bigger prize than you did? [/quote]

The pre-SCSD(and 70s and 80s syndie versions) system for who makes the showcase was flawed for that reason, at least when the total take in the third PG was less than what the first two players won for winning their PGs.

TLEberle · « **Reply #9 on:** April 04, 2004, 11:12:03 PM »

Chris, you present a dilemma: the more fair Big Wheel, or having the top winners move on. Frankly, neither of those is very appealing. I think that another one-bid, or one-bids until someone wins twice, would make sense, because it has more to do with the pricing of items than spinning a wheel.

But I know the wheel isn't going anywhere, so I'll continue to use the SS as "extra" time, like if I need to take a shower before work. I'm usually done by the time the fourth one-bid price is revealed.

Travis

clemon79 · « **Reply #10 on:** April 04, 2004, 11:36:04 PM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Apr 4 2004, 04:30 PM\'] [quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Apr 4 2004, 02:31 PM\']
Riddle me this, though: would you prefer a playoff system where each contestant gets an equal chance at the Showcase, or would you prefer the old system, where you can win your game and still have no chance of going because someone else won a game and had the good fortune to play for a bigger prize than you did? [/quote]

The pre-SCSD(and 70s and 80s syndie versions) system for who makes the showcase was flawed for that reason, at least when the total take in the third PG was less than what the first two players won for winning their PGs. [/quote]
PJTP. I just SAID that.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #11 on:** April 05, 2004, 11:50:34 AM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Apr 4 2004, 11:12 PM\'] Chris, you present a dilemma: the more fair Big Wheel, or having the top winners move on. Frankly, neither of those is very appealing. I think that another one-bid, or one-bids until someone wins twice, would make sense, because it has more to do with the pricing of items than spinning a wheel. [/quote]
I think the bigger question is: A *fairer* game or a *funner* game? (Pardon my grammar...) If all TPIR wanted to be was a test of people's pricing skills, a fairer game they could do in the allotted time would probably be a blind one-bid (everybody writes down bids for an item, closest without going over plays the showcase).

But TPIR is a game show. The Big Wheel is more entertaining, and it covers the whole fairness thing by giving a modest but not insurmountable advantage to the players with the higher totals. If the randomness of the wheel isn't your cup of tea, then sure, use that time in some other pursuit. But to most folks, it's fun.

Mike Tennant · « **Reply #12 on:** April 05, 2004, 01:42:16 PM »

Just to throw in my two cents:

I personally find the SCSD boring. Why? Because there's little to no play-along factor for the viewer. In every other game I can participate from home, yelling, "Pick the Little Debbies, you idiot! It's the only price that ends in zero, so there's sure to be a 10 back there." With the Big Wheel, all I get to do is watch a bunch of people spin a wheel. At best I can second-guess their decisions as to whether or not to spin again.

Nevertheless, I know that the Big Wheel is one of the most recognizable symbols of TPIR to the general public, most of whom don't even remember a time when there was no wheel (let alone when the show was only 30 minutes long). In playing the TPIR home games with people, invariably they've asked me where the Big Wheel is. No one has yet asked me where "It's in the Bag" is.

It's no coincidence that the MDS have used the Big Wheel as the vehicle to give away the million smackers. Face it: People know and like the wheel.

cmjb13 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 05, 2004, 01:53:15 PM »

[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' date=\'Apr 5 2004, 01:42 PM\'] It's no coincidence that the MDS have used the Big Wheel as the vehicle to give away the million smackers. Face it: People know and like the wheel. [/quote]
How else could they try to give away the million randomly?

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #14 on:** April 05, 2004, 04:16:31 PM »

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 5 2004, 12:53 PM\'] [quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' date=\'Apr 5 2004, 01:42 PM\'] It's no coincidence that the MDS have used the Big Wheel as the vehicle to give away the million smackers. Face it: People know and like the wheel. [/quote]
How else could they try to give away the million randomly? [/quote]
Big Bucks! Big Bucks! STOP!

(foghorn)