TPiR Recap - 4/22/2011 (Earth Day Price 2011)

[notsoeasy]

Wow...what can I say about Lesa? Not only did she come from behind with two strikes to win the game, she actually knew what she was doing and stopped to think! Contestants like Lesa are the ones the staff should strive to pick every single day with no exceptions. An amazing win! I dare say Lesa is a prime candidate for Contestant of the Year.

And exactly why they don't.

[PriceFanArmadillo]

That $32K figure is after a ~$7,000 federal tax credit.

I can't say what I want to say about this due to this forum's ban on political discussions, so let's just leave it at 'that's stupid'.

[3StrikesFan]

Great 3 Strikes win today! The line-up wasn't the best, but if it means we'll see 3 Strikes or Golden Road then I'm all for it.

What the hell were Amber and Manuela wearing today? I usually don't care about what the models wear, but Amber looked like she was wearing pajamas and Manuela looked like the lost love child of Steven and Elyse Keaton. I know there are eco-friendly or "green" dresses out there. Vanna wore 5 really nice outfits about 2 weeks ago when Wheel had their Earth Week. She looked a hell of a lot better and she's probably double their age.

I wasn't sure the second game was going to be Clock Game. Everything was so jumbled up, I thought they were going to play Squeeze Play.

A turbine? I know they were giving away all green or eco-friendly type of prizes, but what the hell was anyone going to do with a turbine.

I have never seen a more jumbled up hot mess of places they offered up for vacations today. Golfing in Tennessee and Oregon??? A little bizarre.

I'm surprised they played Range Game for a car and not Any number or at the very least Dice Game. I'm interested to see how long 3 Strikes took and if they just played Range Game as a time saver or could Any Number, Dice Game, or even a GP game could have fit in the line up or not.

[Guint]

3 Strikes has been on fire this year.

And let me the first to say...I don't like the new "NO" graphic. It's nice they tried something "better", but that graphic was hard on my eyes.

Also, something interesting I've noted...on all its playings in S38 and its first S39 playing, 3 Strikes was played for "foreign" cars...and was lost every time. Then, in February and now today, it offered "American" cars...and has been won both times.

Not to mention, all this week, the PG lineups have been solid...Adam should be able to do this every week.

Great 3 Strikes win today! The line-up wasn't the best, but if it means we'll see 3 Strikes or Golden Road then I'm all for it.

What the hell were Amber and Manuela wearing today? I usually don't care about what the models wear, but Amber looked like she was wearing pajamas and Manuela looked like the lost love child of Steven and Elyse Keaton. I know there are eco-friendly or "green" dresses out there. Vanna wore 5 really nice outfits about 2 weeks ago when Wheel had their Earth Week. She looked a hell of a lot better and she's probably double their age.

I wasn't sure the second game was going to be Clock Game. Everything was so jumbled up, I thought they were going to play Squeeze Play.

A turbine? I know they were giving away all green or eco-friendly type of prizes, but what the hell was anyone going to do with a turbine.

I have never seen a more jumbled up hot mess of places they offered up for vacations today. Golfing in Tennessee and Oregon??? A little bizarre.

I'm surprised they played Range Game for a car and not Any number or at the very least Dice Game. I'm interested to see how long 3 Strikes took and if they just played Range Game as a time saver or could Any Number, Dice Game, or even a GP game could have fit in the line up or not.

Well, playing both 3 Strikes and Clock Game didn't help. 

And exactly why they don't.

So true.

[Kev347]

Wow, another show that places itself among the best of the season. I am pretty amused that in this fairly frustrating season, 3 Strikes is on a winning streak! This win was arguably even better than the last one, because we had a great contestant who obviously cared both a lot about the show and about Earth Day (see SCSD1 for more on that), and because her chances of winning looked so remote at one point when she had two strikes and zero numbers lit up. Does anyone know of any playing where the contestant came back from two strikes and zero numbers lit up to win? Because that was exciting and really great to see.

And then following it up with a surprise Clock Game! (I tell you, Adam gets an A+ for lineups for this entire week). And we even got a win there. That was nice to see.

Range Game for a car is actually cool to see when 1) the setup's fair like it was today; 2) there's a clear reason it's in there like there was today.

One thing I am in general getting tired of is showcase rounds that consist ONLY of trips and vehicles. Plinko SPs were a bit on the hard side today as well, but I like how there was a big win anyway.

I think shows like this prove that theme shows can work as long as there's winning going on and big prizes at stake. (Heck, even if 3 Strikes had been lost, if it still had a drawn-out playing and everything else had gone the same, this would have been a strong show still). This was definitely a strong note to end the week on.

Timings:
3 Strikes (7) - 7:29
Clock Game (4.5) - 4:39
Side By Side (3.5) - 3:26
Switch? (3.5) - 2:54
Plinko (5.5) - 4:14
Range Game (4) - 3:07
Total (28): 25:49

[spoon14]

-Clock Game was also amazing. I don't understand why people jump from one point to another and start randomly spouting numbers. Also, Drew sort of dodged a bullet after he said "Lower" when it was higher.

Yeah, in my opinion, luck was a big part of that win. I don't know how the contestant expects to remember his own guesses when he hops around to such weird numbers. I don't blame Drew for saying "lower" instead of "higher" because IIRC the contestant did something weird at the point, like covering a number/zone, he's already said before. However, if Drew does make a mistake like that on Clock Game, he should stop the clock to get things reoriented. That drained sometime.

-Side By Side was horrible. The audience RUINED a potential perfect show (even though Plinko showed up). Why would they think a trip like that was the lesser price after the prizes already featured? This game should have been won.

I got the price right, but I don't think it was a gimme. Because it was a domestic trip instead of a foreign one, the audience might have thought the lower price was a better guess.

Wow...what can I say about Lesa? Not only did she come from behind with two strikes to win the game, she actually knew what she was doing and stopped to think! Contestants like Lesa are the ones the staff should strive to pick every single day with no exceptions. An amazing win! I dare say Lesa is a prime candidate for Contestant of the Year.

That was an epic win! And she did show skill, but there definitely was a lot of luck involved. That two strike streak was amazing. It may have been wiser to keep her first two guesses in the third slot rather than jumping slots. It makes easy to keep track of guesses. But she seemed to remember things pretty well. She knew all the digits for sure after she got the thired one.

Rich DiPirro listens! A new "NO" graphic also showed up today that is much easier to read than the one used previously. It gets my seal of approval.

I liked that graphic too - very dynamic.

I really liked a lot of the prizes. It's cool to see the solar and wind show up.

[Guint]

Plinko SPs were a bit on the hard side today as well, but I like how there was a big win anyway.

Well, they had to save for that Chevy Volt somehow. 

[ClassicG]

You know, every time they have a theme show (Holidays, Halloween, April Fools, Earth Day), the staff gets it right. Plus a production of wins.

I call forth the man who does stat keeping. Is it true that we see more winners in a special themed episode like today versus a regular season episode?

[BRB_TheFireball]

Yay!  3 Strikes!  This game was totally unexpected for me because I didn't think that the Chevy Volt was hugely expensive.  And holy crap!  3 Strikes was won twice in a row!  BTW, did anybody else besides me notice that the Volt's price in today's game used the same five numbers as the Cadillac that was won the last time 3X was played?

Yay!  Clock Game!  Jared's bidding sucked in the beginning, but he got through in the end.  He was lucky that both of the prices ended in 0.

A personal wind turbine!  That has to be one of the most interesting prizes ever offered on the show.

Today's playing of Plinko had me wondering:  Has anybody ever completely wiped out on the SPs?  I think Tammie's $10,000 win would've been way more exciting if she had only one chip instead of two.

Range Game last for a car... I thought that Mike would force a loss by putting the correct price on the high side of the range.  But he went low instead.

Interesting collection of trips for Earth Day:  Memphis, Vermont, and Oregon.  Better than the usual fare.

My showcase bids:
Car--$25,107
--$40,107

[SteveGavazzi]

3 Strikes!  And an awesome, awesome playing, too.

And DAMN, did Drew ever sell 3 Strikes.  I wish he could act like this every day...it makes the show so much easier to watch.  In fact, there were some points in the second half where I'm pretty sure I could see him losing interest, but fighting it.

Getting back to the game, I love the new "NO" graphic for 3 Strikes.  It's very flashy, but it still hearkens back to the older graphics.  In fact, I dare say it may be the best graphic since the original one.

...you know, there's one bad thing about 3 Strikes showing up -- I'd bet a shiny nickel last Monday's episode had Golden Road.

What in God's name was that contestant doing during Clock Game?  That's got to be the worst successful playing of that game that I've ever seen.

Switch? was the easiest pricing game setup I've seen in a long, long time.  There is no way anyone with a brain was going to lose that.

The Plinko contestant probably should have ended up with more than two chips.  The small prizes weren't all that hard.

Neither Squeeze Play nor Double Prices was played this week!  Yay!

Wow...what can I say about Lesa? Not only did she come from behind with two strikes to win the game, she actually knew what she was doing and stopped to think! Contestants like Lesa are the ones the staff should strive to pick every single day with no exceptions. An amazing win! I dare say Lesa is a prime candidate for Contestant of the Year.

Lesa really stood out from most of the other contestants we've had recently.  She seemed to want to do everything as best as she possibly could.

Also, something interesting I've noted...on all its playings in S38 and its first S39 playing, 3 Strikes was played for "foreign" cars...and was lost every time. Then, in February and now today, it offered "American" cars...and has been won both times.

That means nothing, but it is funny.

[Flerbert419]

This show was honestly really, really, good.  It almost compensated for all of the negative shows that we had this whole week.

3X was nothing short of amazing.  Even if you knew where each number went and had two strikes, you would only win 17% of the time. It certainly helped that Lesa was a great contestant.  I saw nothing dull, boring, or tedious in this playing, and it only cemented my opinion that 3X is the best game on the show.

The new "NO" graphic also made its first appearance, and I like it.  Time to change that $1,000 graphic on the wheel, Rich.

It appeared like there was an edit in between the first and second prizes of Clock Game to check if Drew made a mistake that warranted more time put back on, but I guess the staff decided it wasn't necessary.  Although Jared's approach was unconventional, I think that he had a vague idea of what he was doing.

The Side By Side trip was very strange.  All I know is that I saw a man in a red coat leading a bunch of ducks as the "Duck Grandmaster" or something like that.

I was also shocked how fairly Range Game was set up.  If I was her, I would have let that range glide even higher.

Throwing in a year's supply of ice cream to the showcase did not make it feel like it had three prizes because it was connected to the trip.  Nice try, Mike.

Is it true that we see more winners in a special themed episode like today versus a regular season episode?

Taking only this season into account, we are averaging 1.91 wins per episode.  There were 4 wins today, 4 on April Fools, 1 on Valentine's Day, 3 on Christmas, 2 on Thanksgiving, 2 on the Military special, 2 on Halloween, and 2 on the Season Premiere, for an average of 2.50 wins per episode.  I'll leave that up to you to decide if it's statistically significant.

A personal wind turbine!  That has to be one of the most interesting prizes ever offered on the show.

If by interesting you mean "very strange and obviously going to be rejected by the contestant", then I agree.

Today's playing of Plinko had me wondering:  Has anybody ever completely wiped out on the SPs?

Last time it happened was February 15, 2010, and it was a super wipeout because the contestant hit the $0 slot with the free chip.

[Guint]

That means nothing, but it is funny.

I never said it meant anything, but I have to agree. 

[JohnHolder]

If by interesting you mean "very strange and obviously going to be rejected by the contestant", then I agree.

The original Let's Make a Deal once had a llama as a Zonk. It had been rented for the day from a local petting zoo, because it never occurred to them that they'd have to actually award it. It turned out that the contestant was a farmer. He wanted the llama, and since that one was only on loan, the show had to go to a great deal of trouble to import the guy his own llama from Central America. Never assume that a contestant will turn something down just because you wouldn't want it yourself.

[Macsen]

Recap posted.

Oh yeah, I remember seeing that on the main website too. That's actually some type of deal price, the MSRP is a more respectable $40280 (which you'll see if you try to build the car).

The $32k price includes the government's tax rebate for electric vehicles, which is $7,500. So it's really about $40k out-of-pocket.

[Guint]

Recap posted.

The $32k price includes the government's tax rebate for electric vehicles, which is $7,500. So it's really about $40k out-of-pocket.

Don't you mean "does not include" instead of "include"?

If the latter were true, that would mean the Volt is something like $25K at base price.