TPiR Recap - 5/25/2011

[clemsonfight]

½ Off: So they want contestants like Pierre now, huh? Dancing and moving around like a guy on maury who just found out he is NOT the father.

There've been excitable contestants on the show for years. I'm not really seeing the point.

[SuperSweeper]

Nope.  I distinctly remember a contestant from around 2000 who not only was named "Anitra" but was named after Anitra Ford.

Her name was actually Danitra, I believe.  The video of her playing Fortune Hunter is floating out there on YouTube.

[wink87]

There've been excitable contestants on the show for years. I'm not really seeing the point.

I think the point he was trying to make is something I've been noticing myself, is that the contestants seem to act a lot more excited than they did 5 years ago.  I mean, I find it good television when someone jumps up and down and screaming and stuff, but when they start rolling around the floor, that turns me off a little.

[Hag]

I think people feel more comfortable acting crazy around Drew than Bob. It's partly from excitement, partly trying to get a reaction from Drew IMO.

[BRB_TheFireball]

Her name was actually Danitra, I believe.

Correct.  X gets the square.

[Briguy]

For me, two reasons. First of all, Drew seems to say it just because he doesn't know what else to say, a crutch, one of his many, as has been pointed out. Second, all those other hosts said that in the end game, as you said, not multiple times per show and 15 to 20 times per week. Lately, with all the losses, Drew's been saying the exact same lethargic phrase 4 or 5 times per show, and by the end of the week, that adds up. I don't mind him saying it occasionally, but every time? C'mon. He's supposed to be good at improv. He should be able to improvise at least one or two other phrases he can utilize.

That said though, I think Drew has much worse crutches that he can work on. "We're playing a game called XX" and "uhhhhh" come to mind immediately.

Thank you for your response. I disagree on the grounds that we're setting a double-standard here -- that "it's OK if (so and so) does it," but not Drew Carey because it's a "crutch." Yes, he could say something else, but I always thought Dick Clark came off as condensending when someone didn't win the Winner's Circle on "Pyramid" (my opinion only); besides, he wound up using the "You've won $X" consolation phrase as many as three or four times per show, depending on how things went. (Not that he was a bad host; he is one of the all time greats, and Drew is a pauper compared to him.) If you want to hear Drew say the "you've won your IUFB" spiel less, then get smarter contestants or make the games at least a little more reasonable to win.

The "you've won this" to losing contestants is a standard basic phrase that all game show hosts have said, and should have in their repriotire. If you can think of a better way to say it, I'm all ears.

I will agree the far worse crutch is the "um, uhhhhs" that he does all the time. He's done this since the beginning of Season 36, and I have not seen much improvement here. A shame, since he does improv comedy and that public speaking (with his comedy and other background) should be second nature where "ummmm, uhhhhhh" should not even be part of his vocabulary.

Brian

[temptation1979ga]

The only issues I have with what you said are these: First of all, I wish Drew would just not say anything about the item up for bids won at all sometimes. Just leave it out altogether. Find the right time to use it, instead of turning it into a crutch after every loss. For example, it could be used as a consolation after a particularly painful loss.--"I'm sorry you didn't win the Corvette, but you did win the stereo to come up on stage, and we will see you in the Showcase Showdown a bit later..."-- To me, Drew thinking that he has to refer back to the IUFB prize won every single time is the real problem.

About Dick Clark mentioning the non-top prize winning money amount several times per show: I'd say that's a bit different, because that Winner's Circle money was how they kept score, determining which contestant won the overall game and would come back tomorrow. On that show, to not mention that money several times, would have been bad hosting, in my opinion. Not faulting your opinion of how Clark said it, but I think it was essential that he mention that pretty often.

[JohnHolder]

To me, Drew thinking that he has to refer back to the IUFB prize won every single time is the real problem.

Maybe he feels that he needs to make a losing contestant feel better "every single time."

[temptation1979ga]

While there certainly isn't anything wrong with that sentiment, that goes back to what I said earlier about someone supposedly being good at improv. ought to be able to think of various ways of making the contestant feel better pretty easily.