[quote name=\'urbanpreppie05\' date=\'Jun 24 2004, 03:11 PM\']
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1. Was Big Deal Really that bad? I remember watching it and not thinking it was that bad....
It's bad if you were expecting a faithful remake of LMAD, and the only parts of Big Deal that had any REAL resemblance to LMAD were the "zonks" and the "Big Deal" with 3 screens (instead of 3 big doors). Other than that, the contestants were put through stupid stunts (for example, an Elvis impersonator contest, complete with guest judge Wink Martindale, and the Big Deal opera lady was somehow involved in another stunt) Mark DeCarlo (SOTC champ and Studs host) was as much Monty Hall as Pat Finn was Jack Barry.
What are your thoughts on LMAD 90'?
I liked it! Bob Hilton gave Deal his best shot, but as Hilton told us at GSC9, Monty just wasn't happy with the way Bob was doing the show. Monty intended on auditioning other hosts, but against his will, ended up doing the show himself. Monty said he never intended to do Deal himself, but the O and O's basically told him that either he host it himself, or no more LMAD. Monty knew how to be the "big dealer", the guy that you see on the street and says "Hey bud... come 'ere!" and you just don't know if you can trust him. Hilton, to me, just went through the motions. I think the newest revival of LMAD did the "Monty handing over the mike" transition well. Billy Bush was the new host, but Monty definitely was not forgotten, as his face appeared during the show's intro, and Monty had intended to do guest spots (as opposed to an entire show) and I liked LMAD in an hourlong format.
3. Has anyone else started watching Wheel of Fortune more these days?
Not me, personally. Yeah, it can be a hoot to watch once in a while, but even with the new wrinkles they keep adding, it doesn't make me want to watch every day anymore. I think next time Wheel does a retro week, they should somehow get Chuck Woolery involved and let him guest host. If Lingo doesn't get renewed, Chuck just might be interested! After all, Monty returned to LMAD, Dawson returned to Feud, Peter Marshall did HS, Geoff Edwards returned to Jackpot, so I think it would be appropriate for Chuck to come back to Wheel, even if it's just for one show.
did anyone see the TNPIR94 pilot set with Mark Kriski? Was it more faithful to the traditional set, or more similar to the 94 set?
Based on the intro for Davidson's TPIR, the pilot probably had spotlights around the curtains (a la the TPIR Specials in 86) but for some reason those spotlights were not used for the series. I have a clip of Kriski doing funny bits during his weather forecasts, and also with him on the set of TPIR, and I think he would've made for a better host, based on what I saw. He obviously wanted the gig badly.
5. Was it true that Fremantle (or whatever they were then) wanted to bring back Feud in 97?
As mentioned before, Dolly Parton did a pilot, but the results were less than satisfactory. When we talked with Kevin (forget his last name) who produced MG 98 and other Wolpert shows at GSC9, he commented that set was still being designed, but the original set resembled a boxing arena and they were still deciding what to do with the theme music (whether to revive it with the familiar theme or do a remix that was reminiscent of the original theme). My guess on why they did a pilot with Dolly Parton was to give the show the "country twang" feel that the Dawson version had. Instead, they went with a cold silver and blue set and Louie Anderson.
