The $100,000 Pyramid with Michael Strahan - Season Three

[PGS25]

With only $33,000 won tonight, this show was an absolute train wreck. It gets a major F.

[JayC]

For Famous Songs, I would've started with "Happy Birthday" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and then said some well-known popular songs like "I Got You Babe" or "I Will Survive." Star Spangled Banner would've been a great clue too GameShowKid.

For Things That Are Bumpy I would've said rough skin, I assume rough wouldn't be buzzed.

Things You Practice- the piano, lines for a play, your scales

[GameShowKid]

For Famous Songs, I would've started with "Happy Birthday" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and then said some well-known popular songs like "I Got You Babe" or "I Will Survive." Star Spangled Banner would've been a great clue too GameShowKid.

Thanks. I didn't have time to think about it during the actual round, but a contestant could just name famous songs by one band, like the Beatles, to get the partner to simply say the word "Songs".

[mellongraig]

Here's the article that is talking about what may be the worst clue in the history of Pyramid:

https://www.tvweek.com/tvbizwire/2018/08/this-may-well-be-the-worst-clue-in-the-history-of-100000-pyramid/

[WilliamPorygon]

Here's the article that is talking about what may be the worst clue in the history of Pyramid:

https://www.tvweek.com/tvbizwire/2018/08/this-may-well-be-the-worst-clue-in-the-history-of-100000-pyramid/

Yeah, everyone's blowing his gaffe out of proportion. 

The real worst clue was that guy a couple seasons back who thought "your wife" was a good clue for "things you hit."

[goldroadfanatic]

The first half was amazing. We not only had the fourth $150,000 winner of the season, but we finally had a contestant max out the winnings for this version of Pyramid-he won the Mystery 7 trip in the front game to go along with that cash. He is one of the winningest contestants in the show's history, if not the winningest.

The second half of the episode was the first game of my taping session on May 5th.

As I said in my post after the July 29, 2018, episode, seeing the set up close was surreal. It was amazing to see it come alive in person. Also, it was a great treat to see someone win the Winner's Circle in person after watching episodes on television and YouTube for many years. The excitement and joy in the audience when those winning bells sounded was intoxicating.

In the second main game, after one subject was potentially about things in The White House, the audience let out a collective "Ohhhh," Michael turned to the audience and quipped, "Let's see if it is what you think it is," before revealing it was things in an igloo. This was edited out of the broadcast.

Also not mentioned during the taping was the fact that Andy Richter hosted a pilot for a version of the Pyramid in 2010.

As for the second Winner's Circle, the contestant fell into a trap by mentioning "Pizza Hut" for the second subject, which was about pizza restaurants. That was painful to watch. As for the fourth subject, types of light bulbs, during the taping, I was puzzled as to why the judges buzzed "LED"for that subject. I recalled this clip from the original version of The $100,000 Pyramid, where "UCLA" and "USC" were given for "Names of Colleges (University)."

The bells and sounded when the last subject was cleared, but Dick stopped the celebration because he thought those clues for the first subject should have been ruled illegal. During the break, the judges informed him that in the Winner's Circle, such clues are acceptable because they specifically asked for names of colleges and universities, while in the front game, those clues would be illegal. Happily, the contestant won $10,000. Also, perhaps because "universities" was in parentheses, it acted as a "close enough" guess to credit the contestant with the money, rather than the subject itself, so Terry Lester (the celebrity) was within his rights to use those clues.

I suppose that because, as Michael said, LED stands for "Light Emitting Diode," light is part of the answer, so they had to disqualify the contestant. Still, $62,000 plus the Mystery 7 trip is a good day's work.

Overall, the taping experience was fun (handling of the Mystery 7 in the second half notwithstanding, as that is debatable now that I think about it). I hope to be a contestant or attend another taping next season.

[PGS25]

Restaurants: Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Outback.
Monopoly: Boardwalk, Park Place, GO, Go To Jail.
Cartoons: The Smurfs, Bugs Bunny, The Flintstones, Scooby Doo.
Landlord: "I collect the rent", "You're late with the rent".
Ice Cream: Hagaen Daz, Bryers, Ben & Jerry's.
Ride: Bike, Merry Go Round, Horse, Train.
Pizza: Domino's, Little Caesar's, Papa John's
Light Bulb: GE, Sylvania, 60 Watt, 100 Watt.

$212,000 won tonight. Big improvement from the last 2 weeks.
So close to $300,000.
Perfect clue for spot, "X marks the ___".

[JayC]

The first three Winner's Circles were very very easy, especially the first one. The last one of the night had the traps of Pizza Hut for Pizza Restaurants and LED or anything else with the word light in it for Types of Light Bulbs. I would've said incandescent, energy efficient, and flood for light bulbs.

[GameShowKid]

The first three Winner's Circles were very very easy, especially the first one.

Couldn't agree with you more. And in my book, accepting "Things in Europe" for "European Cities" made things easier.

For "Types of Closets" I could only think of "walk-in" and "clothes". Hopefully those two clues would be enough.

Did you hear what Andy Richter said after the maingame subject "Achieving Wordgasm" was read? I wish I could thank him personally for saying "Always dirty.", even if he was joking. And to use "Getting The Clap" as the title for "People who might work on a stage" was lowbrow, tasteless, and very cheap attempt at humor. 

[GameShowKid]

On the August 26th episode: Since the second half-hour is a repeat, I’ll go ahead and make a few comments about the first half-hour, which featured EGOT winner Rita Moreno. I didn’t realize how many times she has appeared on different versions of the show: 110, according to Strahan, including tonight. Later, Ms. Moreno was asked if the show had changed a bit since her last visit.

“Oh yeah”. Even the 1982 clip shown was literally about “Sex”. I also noticed how the players commented at times on how “dirty” the show has become. Sigh & .

Chris was a good contestant, who came up with some great clues quickly under the pressure of time. For examples, “Oreo cookies” and “dry cookies” for “Things You Dunk”, and “a see-saw” and “a yo-yo” for “Things That Go Up and Down”. I came up with “a basketball” for the former and “an elevator” for the latter.

How about an excellent clue for “Circular Things”? Something to go along with “a ball”, “the sun”, and “a sphere”? (After taking too much time to think: Perhaps “The Lion King’s life”?)

[PGS25]

Beer: Miller, Budweiser, Michelob.
Egypt: Pyramids, Cairo, The Sphinx.
Wedding: Bride, Groom, Cake, Reception.
Circular: Ball, Sun, Meatball, Cookie.

I wish they had shown the clip of Rita winning the $25,000 from her 1st week in 1982.
Only $24,000 was won in that game.
Justine had her "Duh" moment when Michael said "Things you dunk".
How much money was won this season? Must be close to $1,000,000 or over.

[blozier2006]

I didn’t realize how many times she has appeared on different versions of the show: 110, according to Strahan, including tonight. Later, Ms. Moreno was asked if the show had changed a bit since her last visit.

That number seems a bit high to me, so let's do some fact-checking...
April 30 to May 4, 1973 (there's 5 appearances)
December 4 to 7/December 10, 1973 (brings us up to 10)
January 7 to 11, 1974 (15)
March 13 to 15/March 18 to 19, 1974 (20)
July 29 to August 2, 1974 (25)
[two appearances in the 1974-1975 season of The $25,000 Pyramid, bringing the count to 27]
February 17 to 21, 1975 (32)
[two appearances in the 1975-1976 season of The $25,000 Pyramid, bringing the count to 34]
August 11 to 15, 1975 (39)
January 26 to 30, 1976 (44)
May 31 to June 4, 1976 (49)
[two appearances in the 1976-1977 season of The $25,000 Pyramid, bringing the count to 51]
January 31 to February 4, 1977 (56)
[two appearances in the 1977-1978 season of The $25,000 Pyramid, bringing the count to 58]
October 24 to 28, 1977 (63)
September 4 to 8, 1978 (68)
November 13 to 17, 1978 (73)
February 23 to 27, 1981 (78)
November 29 to December 3, 1982 (83)
March 21 to 25, 1983 (88)
October 3 to 7, 1983 (93)
January 3 to 6, 1984 (97; only 4 shows that week)
May 28 to June 1, 1984 (102)
August 11 to 15, 1986 ($100K) (107)
September 1 to 5, 1986 ($25K) (112)
April 1 to 5, 1991 (117)

And this isn't even including the possibility of her having been on the 2002-2004 or 2012 versions.

OK, turns out they actually lowballed the number. Color me surprised.

[WilliamPorygon]

How about an excellent clue for “Circular Things”? Something to go along with “a ball”, “the sun”, and “a sphere”? (After taking too much time to think: Perhaps “The Lion King’s life”?)

When Rita got stuck on the synonymous "round" I was considering if it would be legal to get a bit cheeky and give "its diameter, its radius" as clues.  (A quick check of the Merriam-Webster website confirms that "of or relating to a circle or its mathematical properties" is another definition of "circular" which leads me to think it would be acceptable)

Also... "An electric saw" 

[GameShowKid]

Also... "An electric saw" 

I like.

[Casey]

When Rita got stuck on the synonymous "round" I was considering if it would be legal to get a bit cheeky and give "its diameter, its radius" as clues.  (A quick check of the Merriam-Webster website confirms that "of or relating to a circle or its mathematical properties" is another definition of "circular" which leads me to think it would be acceptable)

But those things are parts of a circle, not circular things.  I doubt they'd buzz you for it, but that's not exactly a list of things that fit the subject.  I would have said a hula hoop, a hub cap, a record, a compact disc (the electric saw blade would be good), things like that.  I don't know that I'd consider a ball, or the sun "circular", so if I was guessing, I'd keep saying "things that are round" rather than "circular".