Author Topic: Michael Larsen (Read 6072 times)

LA the DJ · « **on:** June 11, 2005, 10:44:21 PM »

As I was watching BB:TPYLS last night for the third time, I remembered something I noticed the first time I watched it years ago...

After Michael hits 60K or so the lights start doing the staggering blink that they do sometimes (9 squares switch, then a half-second later, the other 9 switch). Once he passes to Ed, the stagger stops.

My question is, though it appears on episodes where this happens at random, the crew wasn't always quick to fix the problem, is it possible they could have set the stagger on purpose in this situation, in an attempt to break Michael's concentration, as they probably had a good idea of what was going on, or could this just be the result of a long time of the board running, and they opted not to even attempt fixing the problem until Michael was done?

Anyone in here have insights into the workings of the board have an opinion on this?

wschmrdr · « **Reply #1 on:** June 11, 2005, 11:24:50 PM »

If my memory serves me right, the board slides are changed manually via slide projector, and was not done by machine (which is why on some spins in later episodes you'll see the slides not even switch at ALL. I don't remember the exact episode where this happened, I think it was towards the end of season 1.) Two different buttons are hit: One for the odd, one for the even. It is possible that the switchers get a bit out of sync, and sometimes they just miss the light when it's supposed to stop, which creates the "Just avoided the whammy" scenario.

NickintheATL · « **Reply #2 on:** June 12, 2005, 02:18:33 AM »

[quote name=\'wschmrdr\' date=\'Jun 11 2005, 11:24 PM\']If my memory serves me right, the board slides are changed manually via slide projector, and was not done by machine (which is why on some spins in later episodes you'll see the slides not even switch at ALL. I don't remember the exact episode where this happened, I think it was towards the end of season 1.) Two different buttons are hit: One for the odd, one for the even. It is possible that the switchers get a bit out of sync, and sometimes they just miss the light when it's supposed to stop, which creates the "Just avoided the whammy" scenario.
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I don't think they were operated manually, I think some machine had to handle the switching. You are right about the evens and the odds, but it's machines that got out of sync. But did you notice this: that they got back in sync most times AFTER a whammy was hit? Hmmm, interesting...

jmangin · « **Reply #3 on:** June 12, 2005, 10:16:27 AM »

Michael was watching the selection box move, not the actual values in each window.

Regardless of whether the pattern of the board values started to stagger, he was not paying attention to the actual value and still would have hit something which gives him an additional spin.

That is an interesting comment about waiting to fix the problem until after Michael was done or waiting until someone hit a Whammy. I had never noticed that.

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #4 on:** June 12, 2005, 02:40:52 PM »

[quote name=\'jmangin\' date=\'Jun 12 2005, 07:16 AM\']Michael was watching the selection box move, not the actual values in each window.

Regardless of whether the pattern of the board values started to stagger, he was not paying attention to the actual value and still would have hit something which gives him an additional spin.
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That said, it could've caught him offguard for a second there. After all, it can get a little phrenetic (I think that's the right word.) Sort of a "Whoa, what the hell?" moment. It probably wouldn't have taken him more than a couple seconds to shake it off though.

clemon79 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 12, 2005, 04:02:32 PM »

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Jun 12 2005, 11:40 AM\']That said, it could've caught him offguard for a second there. After all, it can get a little phrenetic (I think that's the right word.) Sort of a "Whoa, what the hell?" moment. It probably wouldn't have taken him more than a couple seconds to shake it off though.
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Point taken, but I gotta think he was so tunnel-visioned on the light (since he had to pay close attention to the patterns) that he didn't notice.

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #6 on:** June 12, 2005, 04:19:04 PM »

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But did you notice this: that they got back in sync most times AFTER a whammy was hit? Hmmm, interesting...

My guess is that they had to "reset" the device that switched the projectors and that took a few seconds. Usuallly a whammy gave them that extra time to reset it.

It's true that the windows were back in sync when Ed was spinning - but it happened on his second spin. His first spin was a whammy and they were out of sync then.

Also, I don't think it's something the just producers decided to do to try to distract a contestant. If you watch the Larsen episodes closely, you'll notice it slowly started going out of sync and progressively got more noticable. Sometimes when they board started up again (especially in the first year), half the squares would change, then the other half (rather than all at once). It was usually after this that they'd be a little out of sync for a while. Personally, I didn't mind it when they were out of sync....(come to think of it, niether did the producers of "Whammy"!)

wschmrdr · « **Reply #7 on:** June 12, 2005, 06:49:41 PM »

That would make the most sense if the slide changes were done by machine. If you notice choppy edits in the taping of the spin round, that may have also given them that precious few seconds.

I don't think it was only the first season, either. I seem to recall the alternating switch happening also during the second season, and maybe a couple times in the third season. With the 1980's technology, the machines probably did wear out, and maybe we'd usually see it during the 4th and 5th show that was taped on that day. IIRC, it wasn't an every show issue, just something that happened each week. Remember, Michael's 1st episode aired on a Friday, so it was probably a later in the day taping.

I think they intentionally added it to Whammy! in order to seem to give it more "randomness".

Steve Gavazzi · « **Reply #8 on:** June 12, 2005, 08:14:17 PM »

[quote name=\'wschmrdr\' date=\'Jun 12 2005, 06:49 PM\']Remember, Michael's 1st episode aired on a Friday, so it was probably a later in the day taping.

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Okay, does anyone know PYL's taping schedule, so we can figure out whether or not this claim has any credence?

tyshaun1 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 12, 2005, 08:42:47 PM »

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Jun 12 2005, 08:14 PM\']Okay, does anyone know PYL's taping schedule, so we can figure out whether or not this claim has any credence?

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PYL taped every other Saturday (5 episodes) and Sunday (6 episodes). Larson's game was the 4th show taped that Saturday, and despite what was said in the "scandal", they taped one more episode immediately after, as if everything was normal.

Tyshaun

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #10 on:** June 13, 2005, 07:35:21 PM »

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PYL taped every other Saturday (5 episodes) and Sunday (6 episodes). Larson's game was the 4th show taped that Saturday, and despite what was said in the "scandal", they taped one more episode immediately after, as if everything was normal.

Wow. It would have been a big interruption in continuity had CBS held firm in their original plan not to air that show. I guess Carruthers and the PYL staff figured out pretty quickly that it the win was legit and to just continue on.

Sonic Whammy · « **Reply #11 on:** June 13, 2005, 09:17:37 PM »

Well, I have two things on this one.

First, from what I've heard from several people in the past, Larson's taping was actually the FIRST from that May 19 weekend in '84. They actually taped 7 or 8 that weekend, this was proven during the last episode taped with Wes/Reva/Sandi, which was also the last ep to use the patterns. If you have the original broadcast, you'll actually hear toward the end of THAT exciting game that Peter was exhausted, and he even says in the midst of it all, "It's late in the day."

Getting back to Larson, there was actually ANOTHER glitch in the Press Your Luck game board that caught the attention of my friend Robert Brown last weekend. This second glitch was not around at the time Larson competed, but it WAS around in PYL's infancy.

In this glitch, the actual light itself was messed up. At times, the light would actually switch patterns MIDWAY. In other words, the light could be on the 14th square of Pattern A's sequence, and all of a sudden, jump to the 14th square of Pattern C's sequence, for instance. Visually, it was very obvious, and it took the first 2 tapings for the techinicians to make it stop that.

Now imagine if THAT glitch was still active when Larson competed. You can picture if he was about to stop the board when it was going to hit #4 in current pattern... only to suddenly glitch at that moment to the location in another pattern where a Whammy was lying in wait.

The possibilities are endless, one can only imagine.

tyshaun1 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 13, 2005, 10:38:13 PM »

[quote name=\'Sonic Whammy\' date=\'Jun 13 2005, 09:17 PM\']First, from what I've heard from several people in the past, Larson's taping was actually the FIRST from that May 19 weekend in '84. They actually taped 7 or 8 that weekend, this was proven during the last episode taped with Wes/Reva/Sandi, which was also the last ep to use the patterns. If you have the original broadcast, you'll actually hear toward the end of THAT exciting game that Peter was exhausted, and he even says in the midst of it all, "It's late in the day."

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Nope, it was the 4th. They switched back from Studio 41 back to 33 on the Tuesday before Larson (check your records, Brian

). And when I went to a PYL taping in '86, Roddy confirmed himself that they tape 11 shows usually every other weekend, Wes/Reva/Sandi would've been the 11th, and final, taping of the session.

Tyshaun

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #13 on:** June 14, 2005, 05:08:18 PM »

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And when I went to a PYL taping in '86, Roddy confirmed himself that they tape 11 shows usually every other weekend, Wes/Reva/Sandi would've been the 11th, and final, taping of the session.

Tyshaun, by chance do you know how much time they took between taping the last show with the old colors and the first show with the new colors? To me it seemed like a fair bit of time went by. Maybe by summer 1985 they taped several weeks ahead so they could take a break. I guess that was quite common as "Match Game" and "Hollywood Squares" also used to do that.

Anything interesting happen at your taping?

tyshaun1 · « **Reply #14 on:** June 14, 2005, 06:53:21 PM »

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jun 14 2005, 05:08 PM\']Tyshaun, by chance do you know how much time they took between taping the last show with the old colors and the first show with the new colors? To me it seemed like a fair bit of time went by. Maybe by summer 1985 they taped several weeks ahead so they could take a break. I guess that was quite common as "Match Game" and "Hollywood Squares" also used to do that.

Anything interesting happen at your taping?

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Not really sure Ian, but my educated guess is that the show at that point taped about a month out of airing, so it had to be around mid/late July, when, IIRC, Peter said something about being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame parade, and probably around when Carruthers was preparing to produce the Emmy Awards, so I'd say you'd be right that they probably took a break around that time; what a perfect time to update the board's color scheme.

As for the taping I went to, the biggest thing I remember (as I was fairly new to watching the show at the time) was a couple of stopdowns due to a couple of squares that burnt out and one of the contestants landed on one. We only got to see 2 shows, and we found out about the taping schedule when an audience member asked why the previous audience saw 3. Oh yeah, as you may have heard, Peter's pretty off-color (but a nice guy) when not on the air. :p

Tyshaun