The Best "Tweaked" Format...

[DJDustman]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Nov 2 2005, 03:35 PM\']Did anyone ever go on to an 11th game and lose? Did anyone ever stop after their 10th win? Yes, being a $otC megafan, I should know this answer. But I don't....yet.

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I have never seen a contestant play the 11th game and lose. There was a game where the contestant (Mark DeCarlo) was playing his 11th game and ended in a tie game, but he won by default on the tie breaker.

Yes, many contestants stopped on their 10th game and retired. This happened a lot in 1987.

There were also plenty o' games where the person was trying to clear the winner's board on the 10th show and lost.  There was a champ on the Syndicated version who was going for his 10th win and a car. He lost by $5.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Nov 2 2005, 07:08 AM\']The switching of the gameplay on "Tattletales" from buzz-ins to the "Newlywed Game" format was a good move, IMO.

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I must respectfully disagree.  I thought the buzz-in element and "One word or two?" was the only thing that kept Tattletales remotely interesting, and not just a carbon of TNG.  If I wanna watch TNG (and I don't), I'll watch Bob, not Bert.

I wonder if my opinion is a widely held one.  Certainly the producers of the show are in the other camp, because they changed the format.  But what about on the board here?

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Nov 2 2005, 06:47 PM\']But what about on the board here?
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I prefered the standard questions, as opposed to "Tattletale Quickies"--as you stated, they were what set the two shows apart.

Otherwise, it was Celebrity Newlywed Game.

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Nov 2 2005, 06:47 PM\']
I wonder if my opinion is a widely held one.  Certainly the producers of the show are in the other camp, because they changed the format.  But what about on the board here?

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Nope. Didn't care for the original version. Loved the NG-style, esp with the scoring that allowed the pot to be split by teams with correct answers....

Just mah two cents...

[Robert Hutchinson]

Despite never having seen pre-Trebek Jeopardy!, I believe the elimination of "everyone wins the cash on their podium" was a big positive tweak.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Nov 2 2005, 10:19 PM\']Despite never having seen pre-Trebek Jeopardy!, I believe the elimination of "everyone wins the cash on their podium" was a big positive tweak.

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Which reminds me, I like the fact that the second and third place contestants win $2000 and $1000, respectively. I'd rather take the cash over a set of encyclopedias anyday.

Oh no, have I just turned into cool245?

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Nov 2 2005, 09:35 PM\']Which reminds me, I like the fact that the second and third place contestants win $2000 and $1000, respectively. I'd rather take the cash over a set of encyclopedias anyday.

Oh no, have I just turned into cool245?

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Not yet.  You're not nearly as cool as him.  Yet.  :-P

Doug -- and the countdown to 1600 continues

[uncamark]

As a game player, I preferred the "He Said She Said" format on "TT."  Entertainment-wise, all-quickies was better--and the thing that distinguished "TT" from "TNG" was that the questions became more intelligent and thought-provoking, since they were often based on ethical and moral issues and not on "Where's your favorite place to make whoopee?"  Giving the viewers something to think about is not a bad idea.

[Ian Wallis]

As a game player, I preferred the "He Said She Said" format on "TT."

I'm glad you said that...for a while I've been thinking that I was the only one!

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Nov 3 2005, 01:08 PM\']

As a game player, I preferred the "He Said She Said" format on "TT."

I'm glad you said that...for a while I've been thinking that I was the only one!

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It was nifty in theory, but the problem I had was when someone would ring in, and retell the store more or less correctly, but with some key facts goofed up. At that point things started getting gray-area for me. Is it a match? They have the same IDEA, but it's not the same story. They would then have to make a judgement call as to whether they gave them credit (usually erring on the side of credit, which made sense), and I disliked that.

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Nov 3 2005, 04:08 PM\']

As a game player, I preferred the "He Said She Said" format on "TT."

I'm glad you said that...for a while I've been thinking that I was the only one!

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The TT buzz-in questions were fun, but there was one big flaw, IMO:

If a celebrity pair was quick enough on the buzzers, they could pretty much control the bulk of the game, whether or not their better halves would correctly buzz in off the clue word.  

At least in the HS/SS ep I have in my collection, they take more than just the first person that buzzes in.  Perhaps if they did that on TT, it might have been more interesting.  

However, I liked the quickies better, as all 3 couples had a shot to win a share of the pot, and unlike TNG's relationship questions, a lot of the celebs would consult with the audience members before giving their final answer.

[JasonA1]

Regardless of the format itself, I liked TT when it was all quickies. The questions were typically more thought provoking than NG's and even then it was celebrities answering them. The original format, when I first heard of it, sounded like some potboiler a poster would come up with here. In practice, when I finally saw it, it didn't look much better than it sounded.

-Jason

[Don Howard]

A positive tweak for The $xx,000 Pyramid came with the arrival of The New $25,000 Pyramid on CBS in 1982 when tie-breakers were based on time if all 7 clues were solved. It was also nice that all players got a second shot at the front game just in case their celebrity partner was a dud.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Nov 3 2005, 10:47 PM\']A positive tweak for The $xx,000 Pyramid came with the arrival of The New $25,000 Pyramid on CBS in 1982 when tie-breakers were based on time if all 7 clues were solved. It was also nice that all players got a second shot at the front game just in case their celebrity partner was a dud.

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The tiebreaker format was changed to avoid straddling Winner's Circle rounds into the next show, which still happened at the end of the ABC run back when it would take multiple tiebreakers to determine a winner. Although a 1983 Michael J. Fox episode had four tiebreakers in one show, as the teams had tied at less than seven in the first two tiebreakers of the first game.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Nov 3 2005, 10:47 PM\']A positive tweak for The $xx,000 Pyramid came with the arrival of The New $25,000 Pyramid on CBS in 1982 when tie-breakers were based on time if all 7 clues were solved. It was also nice that all players got a second shot at the front game just in case their celebrity partner was a dud.

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Oh, good catch.

For that matter, what about the tweak from 8-in-30 to 7-in-30 which, among other things, made the perfect score 21?