Author Topic: Why Were the S13-S29 Showcase Podiums Slanted Inward?  (Read 2943 times)

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Offline Mr. Weatherman

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Why Were the S13-S29 Showcase Podiums Slanted Inward?
« on: January 11, 2017, 02:24:44 AM »
As a kid watching the show, and really, all the way up until I joined the site a few years back, I never noticed the Showcase podiums used from the mid 80's through the end of Season 29 had an inward slant to them. The way they were presented on television, they always appeared vertical to me until I eventually came across side-view photos (such as the one in my avatar) that revealed the inward slant to them.

Does anyone happen to know if there was a specific reason as to why this was done other than to just be part of their design? Perhaps due to the convex nature of televisions at the time (this is probably a dumb guess, but I can think of no other reason)?

Would I be correct in assuming the reason for their all-vertical redesign had to do, at least somewhat, with flat screen televisions becoming prevalent in the early 2000's?
« Last Edit: January 11, 2017, 02:30:34 AM by PayingTheRent »
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Offline GameShowFan1987

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Re: Why Were the S13-S29 Showcase Podiums Slanted Inward?
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2017, 03:11:48 AM »
I think it's safe to assume it was simply a matter of "it's 1984 and this is cool right now."  Fast forward 17 years and they were likely starting to show their age and building new ones perfectly straight up and down was probably much easier.

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Offline Mr. Weatherman

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Re: Why Were the S13-S29 Showcase Podiums Slanted Inward?
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2017, 03:24:43 AM »
I think it's safe to assume it was simply a matter of "it's 1984 and this is cool right now."

That's my presumption, I'm just curious if there happened to be a different reason behind it, as doubtful as it seems.

Fast forward 17 years and they were likely starting to show their age and building new ones perfectly straight up and down was probably much easier.

This makes sense.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2017, 03:27:22 AM by PayingTheRent »
Pardon my language, but I do believe we all need to calm the f*** down.

“It’s an important stick — it’s my Plinko stick...I use it for A LOT of things!” - Bob Barker

Offline CJBojangles

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Re: Why Were the S13-S29 Showcase Podiums Slanted Inward?
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2017, 11:05:06 AM »
Lighting could've been a factor. With the depth of that bottom portion, a more vertical position could cause a greater shadow in that area.

Offline SteveGavazzi

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Re: Why Were the S13-S29 Showcase Podiums Slanted Inward?
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2017, 10:47:15 PM »
Lighting could've been a factor. With the depth of that bottom portion, a more vertical position could cause a greater shadow in that area.

I know they eventually swapped the placards and displays on the podiums because Bob was having trouble reading the displays.  I wonder if that would have been an issue had they kept the slanted podiums.
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Offline GameShowFan1987

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Re: Why Were the S13-S29 Showcase Podiums Slanted Inward?
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2017, 12:37:40 AM »
I think it would have been exactly the same given they appear to be the exact same height as their perfectly vertical replacements.  If you look closely, the actual readout itself on the slanted ones isn't slanted, it's perfectly vertical.  In fact, the placard portion slants back outward.  Seems it took adding boxes to the bases and switching the displays before Bob was completely satisfied.

Here's some comparisons with the last image to show what I was talking about with the angle of the display.


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