Author Topic: Misconceptions you have had about game shows  (Read 9758 times)

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Offline tpir04

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Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« on: May 25, 2019, 09:00:51 PM »
I'd like to hear some of the intricacies (rules, sets, whatever)  of game shows that you had at first and were later disproven, debunked, or otherwise. A few of mine:

-I used to think that the $25,000 Pyramid logo (or whatever version) was part of the pyramid, not superimposed on the screen.
-TPIR drew the names for each taping out of a hat.
-Speaking of tapings, I thought all game shows were live. This dovetails with my misconception that PYL was a first-run show in 2006.
-The "Super Match" board was mechanical. It wasn't until Earl popped out from behind that my thoughts were debunked.

Let's hear yours!
CSS: Exacta, 6/3/2019
Lifetime earnings: $1,896,732
Season 18 cash earnings: $629,243
Season 19 cash earnings: $490,110
FPG: 2019-2020 Finals Champion
...............................

Live for the present.  Embrace the future.  Our favorite game show is still producing excellent, high quality, exciting, hour-long* shows every weekday throughout its traditional season window.  It’s as good as it’s been in a long, long time.  If the 1980s were the ‘good ole days’ for the Barker era, so is RIGHT NOW for the Carey era.  Don’t worry about what the future holds.  It will play out in due time.  Enjoy what we have right in front of us in the meantime!

Offline Superballer

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2019, 11:06:20 PM »
In my younger years, I was convinced that: 

-Mark Goodson was more than just the overall boss of his shows, but that he literally did everything, that he was in the director's chair offstage personally running each show from start to finish mostly by himself (same with the other big producing names for other shows)   

-the Dragon in fact lived inside the TTD board, and that in between tapings, Wink would have to risk life and limb feeding him 

-chroma key screens were actual physical sets; thus, for example, I believed that once a Scrabble Sprint round commenced, the contestant(s) had a large blue and pink frame with the word bar, clock, and letter generator moved into place around them; same with the Golden Medley clock around the head of the Lange NTT finalists

For Price specifically: 

-the Safe Crackers safe was an actual safe, and if they ever misplaced the combination before it was reset for the next playing, they'd be in big trouble, possibly having to resort to a drill or dynamite 

-Bob's warning that they couldn't start the Range Finder again for 37 hours after the Stop button was pressed was dead serious, that the board completely shut down and depower at that moment and would need a mechanic to recharge it in order for it to work again 

-they were affiliated with some big California bank who gave them the checks for Check Game, and that they would cash the checks there whether they'd been voided or not 

-3 Strikes numbers and strikes were gone forever once they were inserted into the slot to put them out of play 

-Poker Game's display was manually controlled by a stagehand sitting in a hydraulic chair behind the set that he raised or lowered to each level of the board as needed; he would shove playing cards into slots for the player's hand and the house's hand to generate the numbers, and had a large lever to throw to switch the hand to one side or the other 

-Gallery Game's artwork had been contracted out to a professional--in my mind he'd come over from France, since 8 year old me believed that was where all the great painters lived--who was on the payroll for that season, with a deal to sell them once they'd been played   


And speaking of the Super Match, anyone know how Earl the slider's doing today by any chance?  I have wondered for some time now. 

Offline ooboh

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2019, 12:08:00 AM »
- I thought that the Press Your Luck Big Board was actually a large TV screen surrounded by 18 smaller, square TV screens, when in actuality, the 18 screens were slide projectors and the large TV screen was just the show’s logo that was superimposed over whenever a contestant was spinning or a certain prize was being surprised. This ended up being mostly true for Whammy! (the center “screen” was just a picture of the Whammy) and entirely true for the 2019 Press Your Luck.
- I also thought the Whammies on Press Your Luck were real and the contestants could interact with them.
- I could’ve sworn that there was a sound effect played for a Lose-A-Turn on Wheel of Fortune similar to the one played for a Bankrupt.

Offline pricefan18

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2019, 02:36:25 AM »
- I thought that the Press Your Luck Big Board was actually a large TV screen surrounded by 18 smaller, square TV screens, when in actuality, the 18 screens were slide projectors and the large TV screen was just the show’s logo that was superimposed over whenever a contestant was spinning or a certain prize was being surprised. This ended up being mostly true for Whammy! (the center “screen” was just a picture of the Whammy) and entirely true for the 2019 Press Your Luck.
- I also thought the Whammies on Press Your Luck were real and the contestants could interact with them.
- I could’ve sworn that there was a sound effect played for a Lose-A-Turn on Wheel of Fortune similar to the one played for a Bankrupt.

On the first, did Jeopardy's set up have much to do with that, since they used TV screens in the early days of the Trebek era? And on the second.....funny enough in Australia they DID play that sound effect (and a music cue for Bankrupt as a replacement for that effect).

Offline b_masters8

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2019, 03:53:52 AM »
When I saw PYL for the first time on USA, I thought that Peter came out past the right side of the board when he was brought out, and then made a right turn to his podium. I discovered later that he came from the left, and made a left turn to his podium.

Offline tpir04

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2019, 08:40:33 AM »
-chroma key screens were actual physical sets

Same, but more with Clock Game than anything else.



For Price specifically:

-3 Strikes numbers and strikes were gone forever once they were inserted into the slot to put them out of play 

I had this as well, but with the cards from Perry Card Sharks. He would put the discards in the slot below the board and I really wanted to know where they went!

- I could’ve sworn that there was a sound effect played for a Lose-A-Turn on Wheel of Fortune similar to the one played for a Bankrupt.

I thought this (and still do). Was there ever a sound effect for Lose A Turn?
« Last Edit: May 26, 2019, 08:42:37 AM by tpir04 »
CSS: Exacta, 6/3/2019
Lifetime earnings: $1,896,732
Season 18 cash earnings: $629,243
Season 19 cash earnings: $490,110
FPG: 2019-2020 Finals Champion
...............................

Live for the present.  Embrace the future.  Our favorite game show is still producing excellent, high quality, exciting, hour-long* shows every weekday throughout its traditional season window.  It’s as good as it’s been in a long, long time.  If the 1980s were the ‘good ole days’ for the Barker era, so is RIGHT NOW for the Carey era.  Don’t worry about what the future holds.  It will play out in due time.  Enjoy what we have right in front of us in the meantime!

Offline Hag

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2019, 08:53:10 AM »
I used to think that TPIR had a live band that played the cues.
2nd place, 2011 CSS playoffs.     QSW, 3/27/17, 1/15/18. Exacta, 5/14/21.

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Offline LiteBulb88

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2019, 10:07:16 AM »
A live band or better yet, an orchestra playing the cues live? That's one TPiR special I would definitely tune in for.

Offline blozier2006

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2019, 01:10:05 PM »
I thought this (and still do). Was there ever a sound effect for Lose A Turn?
No. And Bankrupt didn't have one either before 1978.

Offline tpir04

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #9 on: May 26, 2019, 03:04:36 PM »
I used to think that TPIR had a live band that played the cues.

Trying to play that synthesized MG 7X ticket plug would be a disaster! (I know it's an entirely different show, but still...)
CSS: Exacta, 6/3/2019
Lifetime earnings: $1,896,732
Season 18 cash earnings: $629,243
Season 19 cash earnings: $490,110
FPG: 2019-2020 Finals Champion
...............................

Live for the present.  Embrace the future.  Our favorite game show is still producing excellent, high quality, exciting, hour-long* shows every weekday throughout its traditional season window.  It’s as good as it’s been in a long, long time.  If the 1980s were the ‘good ole days’ for the Barker era, so is RIGHT NOW for the Carey era.  Don’t worry about what the future holds.  It will play out in due time.  Enjoy what we have right in front of us in the meantime!

Offline ThomHuge

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #10 on: May 26, 2019, 04:18:33 PM »
A live band or better yet, an orchestra playing the cues live? That's one TPiR special I would definitely tune in for.

Didn't they have a band on the show a couple of years back? I can't remember when it was but I definitely remember them taking up space in Door #3 for the whole show.

Offline Hag

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #11 on: May 26, 2019, 05:29:39 PM »
Probably a Beatles tribute band called Rain. They were pretty good.
2nd place, 2011 CSS playoffs.     QSW, 3/27/17, 1/15/18. Exacta, 5/14/21.

"Four cents cost you 10,000 dollars."

Offline COINBOYNYC

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #12 on: May 26, 2019, 11:22:25 PM »
-TPIR drew the names for each taping out of a hat.

We've had this topic before, but it's always a fun one to revisit.

As far as contestant selection, I never gave any thought to how the first four were selected, but as far as the ones that came after: when they showed a shot of the audience as they went into commercial, I thought the producers, watching the shot, would pick out the one who cheered the best (that is, was the most enthusiastic - but "cheered the best" was how I described it to myself back then), and give that person the call to come on down.
Fun fact: Evelyn Wong, the 5th person to be called on the first show (9/4/72), was actually the very first contestant to directly be called to come on down!  The original first four (Sandy Flornor, Paul Levine, Connie Donnel, Myra Carter) were individually told to stand up, and then, as a group, were invited to come on down.

Offline SuperMatch93

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #13 on: June 03, 2019, 02:01:21 PM »
I always thought the 80s Pyramid board was mechanical instead of stagehands spinning the trilons.

Offline PIRfanSince72

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Re: Misconceptions you have had about game shows
« Reply #14 on: June 03, 2019, 05:51:03 PM »
I was 5 when "The Joker's Wild" debuted on CBS.  For years I thought Jack Barry lived there and had a room in the back where he stayed and slept.

For the first few years when "Wheel of Fortune" was on NBC, I thought Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford were husband and wife.