I'm probably going to be one of the few people to defend this show when I say what I'm about to say, but honestly...as a One Time thing (I Hope), it really wasn't That Bad. "SwingBata0" said it best that "Luck was not on the Contestant's side today", but just because that happened doesn't not mean the show itself was executed poorly today--Quite the contrary, especially once the prizes started to be revealed in the game (I thought it blended in rather seamlessly). At best, it was a "Noble Experiment" that I'm sure they will never do again, even if it's the 35th, 40th or 50th anniversary of the game (If the show lasts that long), and I think the biggest problem with today's show was that it was a "Too Much of a Good Thing" situation. Yes, we Love the game, but seeing it happen over and over without much of a change (aside from Prizes) can, in fact, make the situation tiresome in the end......
Having said that (and at the risk of going off-topic); for a long time, I have often fantasized about "What if "'Plinko' was it's own show?" Not to put any ideas into anybody's heads, but the game is certainly popular enough to be successful on its own--give or take a few additions to stretch it out to 30 minutes. Here's how I would like to do "Plinko: The Series" if it were to happen (and feel free to move this part to another part of the board if you wish)...
ROUND 1: Question Round - 2 minutes to answer as many questions correctly as possible. Value of the Question could be a set value per round, or it could change per 30 seconds. Afterwards, the players (3 of them) go to the Plinko Round winning 1 chip for every 1000 points the contestants score
ROUND 2: Plinko Round - Basic Plinko rules apply, including Instant Win Prizes.
Rounds 1 & 2 Repeat 2-3 times (depending on show pacing), whoever scores the most Cash & Prizes after the 3 rounds is the winner of the day.
OPTIONAL END GAME: Bonus Plinko - Winning player gets 5 Gold Plinko Chips (A La "MDS") & plays one last round. Only this time, instead of just playing for Cash, it's for a Car/Featured Prize. And instead of simply landing in a spot that says (*PRIZE*), the player has to Earn enough Money on the Plinko Board to "Buy" the featured Prize at the end. If the player does, they win the prize + the remaining Cash. If not, the player gets nothing extra.
That's all I can come up with for now, and I'm sure the details can be altered a little for it to be palatable.......but it's probably a foolish idea to begin with.