Author Topic: BB87 Recycling (Read 6811 times)

AZAndrewG · « **on:** May 12, 2005, 02:01:09 PM »

Watching today's episode of Blockbusters, it can now be said that the show recycled questions from the Cullen version. Case in point:

"What 'R' was first used on ships in 1241 and is what steers airplanes and boats?"

(Answer: "rudder")

That same question, word for word was used on the Cullen version and was featured on a game show clips website a couple years back. Cullen joked that 1241 was recent because (looks at watch) "it's only 1:10 now." That joke was met with crickets. Rafferty, the stand-up comic that he was, attempted no such joke.

See you at the Game Show Congress!

Andrew M. Greenstein

clemon79 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 12, 2005, 02:08:07 PM »

[quote name=\'AZAndrewG\' date=\'May 12 2005, 11:01 AM\'](Answer: "rutter")
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I only hope you check spelling better on the web sites you make for your clients than you do here.

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 12, 2005, 02:16:24 PM »

It's no secret that game shows reused material.

mystery7 · « **Reply #3 on:** May 12, 2005, 02:18:04 PM »

Well, it'd be better than "What R does household hints expert Mery Ellen suggest you use to scrape barnacles off of old boats, and can also be used to steer new boats?"

[more crickets]

Pyramid recycled a lot of their categories in the '80s as well.

- Mystery 7, who's just demonstrated why he's not a stand-up comic

SplitSecond · « **Reply #4 on:** May 12, 2005, 02:24:02 PM »

You'll also notice that some Gold Run board layouts are recycled, with only previously used sets of initials being replaced.

Don Howard · « **Reply #5 on:** May 12, 2005, 02:26:09 PM »

[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'May 12 2005, 01:24 PM\']You'll also notice that some Gold Run board layouts are recycled, with only previously used sets of initials being replaced.

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Actually, that's very wise. Why waste clues? Those poor writers on Whew! must've hated seeing the bulk of the fruits of their creative labors being flushed down the loo along with the Tidy Bowl Man because so few boxes on the board were exposed.

SplitSecond · « **Reply #6 on:** May 12, 2005, 04:09:57 PM »

It totally makes sense that they would re-book unused material, especially on a game where you get to a quarter, maybe half the material at most. However, it is a little surprising that they would do it in such a blatant fashion.

Does anybody know if the clues were placed in certain positions on the board because of their relative difficulty? It seems really easy to create a "budget-friendly" board simply by putting in one column of difficult clues -- and it would look far less obvious or blatant than booking "Things that are shabby" on Pyramid.

calliaume · « **Reply #7 on:** May 12, 2005, 04:15:19 PM »

[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'May 12 2005, 03:09 PM\']It totally makes sense that they would re-book unused material, especially on a game where you get to a quarter, maybe half the material at most. However, it is a little surprising that they would do it in such a blatant fashion.

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In an era where game show reruns were relatively rare, I'm pretty sure no one was sitting there saying, "Hey, we'd better not use this clue - the old version had it six years ago, and any contestant who taped the show in 1981 would know it instantly."

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #8 on:** May 12, 2005, 04:24:22 PM »

[quote name=\'AZAndrewG\' date=\'May 12 2005, 02:01 PM\']Watching today's episode of Blockbusters, it can now be said that the show recycled questions from the Cullen version. [/quote]
We've found lots of examples of material being re-used by the same show in different eras. My favorite was catching a $100K Pyramid and seeing three categories in one game that were exactly the same as three categories in a $20K game I had recently watched -- right down to their punning title cards.

Part of that discovery is a phenomenon that no producer in the seventies or eighties could possibly have considered or cared about: That all these years later, you could watch the two different versions virtually side by side. Back then, it had to have been a no-brainer. You've kept all this material from the 1980 version, it's been almost a decade later, why bother creating new material when those old files are just sitting there and nobody's really going to recall that the "rudder" question was used on episode 137 of Bill's version?

Don Howard · « **Reply #9 on:** May 12, 2005, 04:25:17 PM »

[quote name=\'calliaume\' date=\'May 12 2005, 03:15 PM\'][quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'May 12 2005, 03:09 PM\']It totally makes sense that they would re-book unused material, especially on a game where you get to a quarter, maybe half the material at most. However, it is a little surprising that they would do it in such a blatant fashion.

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In an era where game show reruns were relatively rare, I'm pretty sure no one was sitting there saying, "Hey, we'd better not use this clue - the old version had it six years ago, and any contestant who taped the show in 1981 would know it instantly."

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This I wonder. Has Wheel Of Fortune repeated a puzzle? Or Concentration a rebus? Match Game '7x a fill-in-the blank statement? Card Sharks a survey question? Family Feud a survey topic? The Joker's Wild a definition?

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #10 on:** May 12, 2005, 04:39:48 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'May 12 2005, 04:25 PM\']This I wonder. Has Wheel Of Fortune repeated a puzzle? Or Concentration a rebus? Match Game '7x a fill-in-the blank statement? Card Sharks a survey question? Family Feud a survey topic? The Joker's Wild a definition?[/quote]
Even if it's just a coincidence, there's no way Wheel has had unique puzzles every day for 738 years. Feud has definitely reused material, though I couldn't tell you whether they conducted new surveys with the same questions, or used the results of the original survey as well.

Steve McClellan · « **Reply #11 on:** May 12, 2005, 04:44:28 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'May 12 2005, 01:39 PM\']Feud has definitely reused material, though I couldn't tell you whether they conducted new surveys with the same questions, or used the results of the original survey as well.[/quote]
I know Jim Perry said that if they liked a Card Sharks question, they'd often re-poll it a couple of years later. I seem to recall Dawson saying something similar on a Feud ep, mentioning that it was interesting to see how the answers changed.

whewfan · « **Reply #12 on:** May 12, 2005, 05:59:20 PM »

Match Game has recycled many fill in the blanks. Some of them have also popped up on MG/HS hour.

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #13 on:** May 12, 2005, 06:31:26 PM »

Around 10 years ago, IIRC, Pat Sajak said that the producers strove to continue to not repeat a puzzle on Wheel, but that it was getting harder and harder. I'm almost positive I caught them repeating one a few years later (having seen it on a GSN airing not long before).

SRIV94 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 12, 2005, 09:32:26 PM »

[quote name=\'Steve McClellan\' date=\'May 12 2005, 03:44 PM\']I know Jim Perry said that if they liked a Card Sharks question, they'd often re-poll it a couple of years later.

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Well, I can confirm it's been done--on at least two occasions and possibly three, they used the question "We asked 100 married men, 'If you were walking in an alley with a beautiful girl on your arm, what would frighten you more--meeting a mugger. . .or meeting your wife?'"

Doug -- and the countdown to 1200 continues