FULL RECAP - TPiR 01/12/2010

[Joe_Capitano]

Production #4992K - Taped Oct. 26, 2009 Drew: stage entrance First Four lineup: right to left Handoff: Gwen Models of the Day: Manuela Arbeláez, Gwendolyn Osborne-Smith and Rachel Reynolds Wearing: Scala 1   Honda CMS250 Rebel Motorcycle (M) HAYLEY 15000 TODD *1950 RANDALL 9000 DEBRA 1 ($3999) STUPID BID STUPID BID Todd plays SWITCH? FlyingCity Flight Simulator Package/HP Desktop Computer (R) $2829 $2829 Leather Armchair/Ottoman/British Marine Light Repro (G) $3970 SWITCH! $3970 LOSS 2   2 FujiFilm Digital Cameras (G&R) +Hayley *500 ANN SUE 1200 +Randall 400 +Debra 450 ($865) Hayley from Kansas plays COVER UP for a Ford Mustang (Std., 4.0l, Wheels, LIghts, Prot)(M) Setup    6 1st Try [2][2][8] 5 [9] 4 4 2nd Try [2][2][8] 7 [9] LOSS   ($22,839) 1 7 9 8 8 9 5 4 2 0 5 8   2 9 2 3 0 $3 0 5 2 1 3   2 Bronze Patio Heaters (M) ALEESHA 1500 Ann Sue 1000 +Randall 1150 +Debra *1 ($518) Debra from Cleveland, OH plays CLIFF HANGERS  for a Pergola, Patio Furniture & a Gas Barbecue (G)($3899) (Fred) Cassette Tote Bag $41   $15   WIPEOUT Men's USB Drive Watch Batter Dispenser SHOWDOWN #1 $ 518 Debra 45 + 65 OV 865 Haley 50 stay .50 3,999 Todd 95 stay .95 Through to Showcase Round 4   Blackberry Tour Smartphone (1 yr Service)(R-in the Row) Aleesha 1000 +Ann Sue *850 +Randall 1 PETE 800 ($3200) Aleesha plays MOST EXPENSIVE Canopied Popcorn Cart (G) $ 3018 Golden West Billiards Table (R) PICK 3595 LOSS Elmira Northstar Fridge/Freezer (M) 4195 5   L'Occitane Bath Products (G) REBECCA 700 Ann Sue 900 +Randall 500 Pete *501 ($659) Pete plays IT'S IN THE BAG $1,000 $ .59 * (Beech Nut) Pears 2,000 16.99 * (All) Detergent (96 loads) BAILOUT 3.49 * (Ore-Ida) Bagel Bites (9 pk) 4.49 * (PIllsbury) Chocolate Chip Dough 2.49 * (Kool AId) Busts  (6 pk)(worthless) (1) (The Boxables) Thumb Tacks ($2.49) Well, that bailout sent the skunk packing, but Randall's still looking for a rock to crawl under right now. He may need it for we're down to the last One-Bid and he's still in the Row. Unfortunately for him, Mimi's already waiting to escort him to the "First Four" Breakfast Club. There's only one escape route left - using his last bid aldvantage wisely. Will he? 6   Alpine Car Audio System (M) Rebecca 1200 Ann Sue *1300 +Randall 1 RAYMOND 1750 ($1430) Raymond heads off to the clubhouse while Ann Sue plays BALANCE GAME '06 for a Scion XB (Std., RKE, Tilt, Controls, Wheels)(R) [  370  ][ 8,000 ][10,000]  [9,000] [$17,370] LOSS SHOWDOWN #2 $ 1,430 Ann Sue   60 stay .60 2,659 Pete 100 1.00 (Puny 1st Spin)   *$1000*   Bonus 60   Through to SC Round 3,200 Alleesha   50 + 45 .95 SHOWCASE ROUND Todd has the honor. SC1-Pete Aico Tuscano Dining Group Noritake Aegean Mist Dinnerware Morano Art Glass Vases (G) Trip to Venice (6n @ Savoia)(M) BID $18,000 PRICE 21,841 DIFF –3,841 TOTAL $25,500 SC2-Todd Gladiator Garageworks Workshop Furniture Assorted Automotive Tools (LG) 32" LCD HDTV/DVD Combo Home Theater In A Box (R) Mini Cooper Conv. (Std., Susp, RKE, Tilt)(G) BID $31,250 PRICE 29,018 DIFF OVER Today's Pricing Games: 0 for 6 (with 1 Bailout) Total Winnings: $35,512 THIS IS THE ONLY OFFICIAL GOLDEN-ROAD.net SHOW RECAP. REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED WITHOUT AUTHOR PERMISSION.

[Grand_game2004]

CU (Cover Up): Man, that was a tough loss! I was yelling THREE! THREE! THREE! But nope! Didn't work! I had a strange feeling that the 4th number was going to be 3.

[Wayoshi]

^That would be because 22839 has been a constant for that car and color the past while.

Anyways, this was arguably worse than yesterday, overall. Lineup just had a poor selection of games, and the only easy game of the day, Cliffy, was where the worst contestant came up, IT'S PLASTIC. You shouldn't add a marine light to bump up a price in Switch, you shouldn't make a fridge more than a pool table, or make all 3 of them that high, you shouldn't have .49 ending the last three GPs, I will give 8/9/10k as a classic DOB setup though.

[pinball777]

Were there edits in today's Cover Up? It sounds like the music randomly jumps twice because she may have taken too long to pick a number and they edited it out.

[brtsimpson142]

Today's first IUFB:  a [flying, according to Drew] motorcycle.
Today's first bid:  $15,000.  Needless to say, THAT contestant didn't win their way up on stage this round.  Just think of what Bob would've said about that!

Today's first prize was a computer that included Microsoft Flight Simulator.  That was a SWEET package.  As for the chair and lamp...why a marine lamp replica?  It was probably one of the most random prizes I've ever seen on the show.  And DEFINITELY falls into the "impossible for a normal person to price" category.

IUFB #2...our old friend the $15,000 bidder actually won their way up on stage, and to play for a car no less.  I was surprised...FLOORED is more like it when she actually made a decent bid.  Then when the time came and I saw she was going to play Cover Up, I had visions of disaster.  And based on the jump in music, there was a less-than-subtle edit here.  But it was all worth it when she got 4/5 of the price right the first time; I actually felt sympathy when the right number turned out to be a 3.

I loved Drew's explanation of the Cliffhangers game:  something ending with the words "you fail" is always encouraging!!!  But then again, when she said "41" for a cassette-shaped tote bag I wondered if this game was about to get whacked on the first try.  And then...disaster struck!  A $15 tote bag.

CC Plug #1:  nice shot with the LCD screen by Door #3 unmasked.  And gotta love the cue cards with the show's phone number!

IUFB #4:  forger the showcases, this prize item up for bids was loaded!!!

Most Expensive:  the "fancypants" popcorn machine was definitely the coolest prize of the day (BETTER even than the flying motorcycle)

Folks, for those keeping score we're up to the fourth game of the day and still looking for a winner.

[It's] in the Bag ended with a $2,000 bailout.  That's not a win, but it's better than a loss!  So we're saved from a skunking!

Game #6:  Balance Game for...a car???  Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that a first?  First time I've seen it at least...too bad it wasn't a win.  But for the bailout in bag, this would have been a truly dismal show.

I was glad for Pete that he got the dollar on the wheel!

EDIT:  pinball777 caught an edit in Cover Up that I missed.  Definitely sounds like she took too long and they trimmed it for broadcast.

[Kev347]

Blah again. Basically, just quote Wayoshi's entire post and stick it here. Was nice to see the "ultimate garage" pop up at least. This week needs a spark, though.

And now to say something potentially controversial - as much as I love the game concept itself, we really need to do something about It's In The Bag. Today's show really made it obvious what kind of a time crunch we're under these days. The lineup apart from Bag was basically nonexistent (Balance for a car? seriously? and Cover the 2nd biggest game of the day?), and yet we still had rather obvious edits in Cover and Bag so we ran over time even on a short lineup. Bag itself took 5:50 even though there was a bailout at 2k, and 5:50 is only shorter than the very longest games of Temptation, 10 Chances, Hole, and 3 Strikes when it goes the distance. The critical difference here is that all four of those are car games, whereas Bag is not, and therefore creates even more of a scheduling crunch when you need to put two car games with it in the same lineup. Yet, somehow 10 Chances has been played only 3 times this season, whereas Bag gets played every other week. Throw in the fact that Bag is only won about once a year. This basically means that once every 2 weeks we see shows of mostly quickies, because the one long game in there is almost guaranteed to be lost. This is not exactly fun. Just gonna throw a suggestion out there that we 1) up the cash price in Bag a bit to add a bit of excitement to it (which isn't going to be a big hit on the budget anyway, so do it!)); 2) reduce its playing frequency - stop rotating it evenly with the other 4 cash games; or 3) both. Rant over.

Timings:
Switch? (3.5) - 3:02
Cover Up (5) - 4:54
Cliff Hangers (4.5) - 3:53
Most Expensive (3.5)- 3:32
It's In The Bag (6.5)- 5:50
Balance Game (4) - 3:50
Total time (27): 25:01

[brtsimpson142]

1)...2)...3)

You missed my favorite option, #4 and #5:

4.  Bury CBS in a mountain of fan letters demanding they give the show air time back and cut down on the number of commercials they cram in.
5.  Beg and plead with the right folks (be it TPTB or with Rich DiPirrio) to get rid of the commercial bumpers after every game.  That would give us at least a little time back.

This is the part where I point out that one of the reasons for the demise of the late Hollywood Squares was that Henry Winkler wouldn't stop demanding more time for commercial bumpers at the expense of gameplay, leading to the show feeling horribly rushed.  Sound like anything we know?

[rcbought]

There were definitely some edits in cover up.  you notice that some of the numbers moved magically.  Specifically the 8 in column 2 and the 4 in column 4

[RKO36]

Not a good show today.  That is all that needs to be said.

[rob79]

All things considered this wasn't that bad of a lineup--esp. w/ Cliffy AND Bag in it. But they definitely need to get rid of all the commercial bumpers--that might get us back about 30 seconds or so which would help immensely.

The only way the lineup could have possibly been improved was switching: a) Money Game and L7 for Cover and Balance respectively (or Dice Game); b) playing Squeeze Play for a car and subbing in One Away. I'm not sure the lineup really could have been improved on with the time constraints the way they are.

Speaking of which, I remember the good old days when it wasn't odd to see 3 Strikes AND Bag together in the lineup.

I guess the wipeout in Cliffy was the highlight for myself today. Cliffy wipeouts are always fun.

[leafsfan17]

Well, not much to say about this one. Tough setups everywhere and an awful Cliffhangers contestant. I hope things go much better tomorrow.

[PriceFanArmadillo]

The only way the lineup could have possibly been improved was switching: a) Money Game and L7 for Cover and Balance respectively (or Dice Game); b) playing Squeeze Play for a car and subbing in One Away. I'm not sure the lineup really could have been improved on with the time constraints the way they are.

Unfortunately (fortunately?), they can't play both Money and L7 every day.

[SteveGavazzi]

Does it bother anyone else that more prizes were offered in Switch? than in Most Expensive?

There were some pretty obvious edits in Cover Up -- the music was jumping all over the place.

Cliff Hangers was played horribly.  Fortunately, Cliff Hangers is one of the few games that it's fun to see played horribly.

It's in the Bag was not set up well.  It played out okay, but it could easily have been lost on the first bag.

I don't think Ann Sue quite understood how Balance Game worked.

[heelsrule1988]

BEST CONTESTANT OF THE DAY: Frank decides
SHOW GRADE: 2

[FPGWillyT]

Bury CBS in a mountain of fan letters demanding they give the show air time back and cut down on the number of commercials they cram in.

A letter writing campaign recommending changes?  Really?!?!?