Author Topic: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]  (Read 51025 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline ThomHuge

  • Walking the Golden Road
  • ****
  • Posts: 340
PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« on: June 11, 2019, 10:29:24 PM »
So I'm tuned in to the preview episode that's airing tonight, and I thought I'd share thoughts on what I see and hear.

Overall: THIS is the show we should've gotten in 2002 when instead we got Whammy. THIS is recognizeable for what it is.

Set: familiar in all the ways that count. A contestant island that rotates through 180 degrees, instead of 90 like Whammy's. Even though some elements are updated, like the logo, overall it doesn't detract from the overall experience. I love their use of LEDs on the front of the contestant island to seamlessly go from the spin-round graphics to the question-round ones. The comparison is like the Celebrity Family Feud set with the Ray Combs set.

Music/SFX: sounds like a jazzy updated version of the classic music. I couldn't hear it all that clearly over the audience, but the classic melody was definitely present. All the classic sound effects return, except for the "boing" of the Whammy popping up (it's slightly more comedic than the classic one) and the sound of the board spinning, which sounds like it was recycled from Gameshow Marathon.

Hostess: I watched a few classic shows this afternoon, and while Elizabeth Banks is not Peter Tomarken, she obviously brings energy and enthusiasm to the show, and I think that once she gets a few shows under her belt and gets comfortable with the format, she'll make it her own just like Peter did. (His early episodes were really clunky compared to the later ones.)

Random Musings:

One thing that I found interesting is that during the question rounds we don't get the three answer choices above the players like we used to, even though the shot is still used exactly as it was in 1986.

The graphics on the screens around the board are very well done, during both the question and spin rounds (there's a "blank board" animation that they use).

The Whammies are obviously newly animated, but they might as well be straight from the classic show (which is a great thing to say about them). I don't know who they got to do the voices, but they even sound the same.

It felt like they were going too hard to milk the classic phrases like "Big Bucks" and "Press Your Luck."

I like that there are no longer commercial breaks between the question and spin rounds, with one break reserved for the second spin round (kind of like Whammy did).

Interesting that Elizabeth has to actually ask them to show the value of the prizes they land on, but it's kind of nice that the board is an actual screen this time that they can use for the purpose.

The shots they use are really nifty this time, including a nice high-angle shot behind the players as they spin, which shows a wide shot of the contestants, the board, and Elizabeth.

The buzzers aren't the familiar cupcake buzzers that we saw in 1984 and 2002, they're taller and more round.

We'll see what happens in the rest of the second spin round and the bonus round.

Offline ThomHuge

  • Walking the Golden Road
  • ****
  • Posts: 340
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2019, 10:50:59 PM »
Looks like their Twitter page (allegedly) shared a piece of music for us:


I'm looking at their Twitter feed to see if I can find the original download so we can hear it without YouTube's compression, but I'm not having any luck.

Offline ThomHuge

  • Walking the Golden Road
  • ****
  • Posts: 340
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2019, 10:54:42 PM »
Just saw a classic Whammy reappear: the jackhammer Whammy. Looks GREAT in HD!!!

Offline JayC

  • Double Showcase Winner
  • ******
  • Posts: 5913
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2019, 11:01:18 PM »
I really like it so far, the set, whammies, music, and graphics are very faithful to the original version while being updated to fit 2019. I find Elizabeth to be a bit robotic in her presentation, but as you said she brings enthusiasm and she should get better as the shows go on.

I'm not sure what I think of the bonus round. The way its formatted doesn't make it that exciting to me other than the large Big Bucks amounts.

Offline Archviler

  • Walking the Golden Road
  • ****
  • Posts: 329
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2019, 11:07:00 PM »
I liked everything but the bonus round. The main game seems like a faithful and reasonably modernized take on the original game, no objections at all. I think it's well done.

I did not like the bonus round - all the reaction/emotion and bringing in the contestant's husband didn't sit well with me. It feels like the sort of drama Deal or No Deal did and I never cared for it then, either. I'll see how it plays out a few more times before passing judgment, but the first run of it didn't impress me.

Offline ThomHuge

  • Walking the Golden Road
  • ****
  • Posts: 340
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2019, 11:13:55 PM »
The bonus round definitely feels tacked on...I get that they kind of have to add a million dollar gimmick, but it doesn't really feel like it belongs there. Honestly, I'd rather have seen another trio of contestants. I do like that they'll be customizing the prizes for the person playing instead of having generic prizes (actually kind of makes me think of TPiR's Temptation since it gives the contestant a more personal stake in the decision).

Also--was anyone else laughing at the design for the bench the guy was sitting on? It looked like a cheap park bench that didn't belong anywhere near a high-tech and obviously very expensive game show set.

Offline ThomHuge

  • Walking the Golden Road
  • ****
  • Posts: 340
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2019, 11:26:13 PM »
I'm listening to the snippet of the theme music that got posted, and it's not actually 60 seconds of music as much as it is (essentially) the same 14 seconds (an approximation of the classic opening theme) repeated four times. Unlike the original opening theme, this one actually has a definite end and doesn't just trail off.

Anyone having any luck with Twitter? I posted a comment on the YouTube video to see if they could provide an original link but no response yet. (For the record, I tried using JDownloader to pull any and all media from the Twitter feed, but while I did get a slew of MP4s none of them was the theme music. Not sure if that means anything though since I don't quite know how JDownloader interacts with Twitter.)

Offline ooboh

  • Taking a Bonus Spin
  • *****
  • Posts: 846
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2019, 11:35:58 PM »
I'm listening to the snippet of the theme music that got posted, and it's not actually 60 seconds of music as much as it is (essentially) the same 14 seconds (an approximation of the classic opening theme) repeated four times. Unlike the original opening theme, this one actually has a definite end and doesn't just trail off.

Anyone having any luck with Twitter? I posted a comment on the YouTube video to see if they could provide an original link but no response yet. (For the record, I tried using JDownloader to pull any and all media from the Twitter feed, but while I did get a slew of MP4s none of them was the theme music. Not sure if that means anything though since I don't quite know how JDownloader interacts with Twitter.)

I’m a little disappointed by the fact that the theme music appears to exclude the second “melody” in the original theme, the one that’s used to change the key of the song. I mean 0:30 to 0:56 here:


It was easily my favorite part and I had a hollowing feeling that they would leave it out.

Offline pricefan18

  • Double Showcase Winner
  • ******
  • Posts: 1916
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2019, 11:39:11 PM »
I liked everything but the bonus round. The main game seems like a faithful and reasonably modernized take on the original game, no objections at all. I think it's well done.

I did not like the bonus round - all the reaction/emotion and bringing in the contestant's husband didn't sit well with me. It feels like the sort of drama Deal or No Deal did and I never cared for it then, either. I'll see how it plays out a few more times before passing judgment, but the first run of it didn't impress me.

The bonus game didn't sit well with me either, too drawn out/anti-climatic especially in early rounds (you knew he wasn't gonna stop after round 1 with 18 minutes of show left for example), and also to me had a HUGE flaw in it in that if you earned additional spins you are forced to take them on top of the minimum number in the round you're in. I don't think that's at all fair. They should be treated like earned spins in the main game when you're dealing with any passed spins, giving an option to take them or just end the round at that point once you get to them. I imagine it's set up as it is for dramatic effect, but I don't like it given the premise of the bonus game is to survive x number of spins.

In general it seems tacked on honestly, I don't think they needed it. Woulda worked just as well as two half hour games like Match Game, Pyramid and Feud are. Comes off forced and shoehorned in just to offer big money.

The main game itself is decent enough, though the 3 questions in Round 1 threw me a bit. Guess it makes sense in a way building to Round 2, but didn't expect it.  I also didn't expect/really like that passed spins are dealt with immediately vs after each player has spun. It kinda made the end of the game a little anti-climatic again when you had the last spinner in the lead already in Round 2, before he ever spun with his opponents each having significantly less. He technically didn't even have to spin to win. Maybe they're address this later, I know they changed the bonus round spin numbers at some point to 3 at the end vs 1 from reports, but it didn't really sit well with me as it was tonight.

Offline pricefan18

  • Double Showcase Winner
  • ******
  • Posts: 1916
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2019, 03:31:26 AM »
I also didn't expect/really like that passed spins are dealt with immediately vs after each player has spun. It kinda made the end of the game a little anti-climatic again when you had the last spinner in the lead already in Round 2, before he ever spun with his opponents each having significantly less. He technically didn't even have to spin to win. Maybe they're address this later, I know they changed the bonus round spin numbers at some point to 3 at the end vs 1 from reports, but it didn't really sit well with me as it was tonight.

I just realized watching back a classic PYL episode, that I had this wrong. It only went into effect the way I thought, if it was to the player who would spin last in the round. So they had this right, assuming it isn't changed at all in other games. So mea culpa on this.

Offline b_masters8

  • Taking a Bonus Spin
  • *****
  • Posts: 593
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2019, 04:36:38 AM »
Hostess: I watched a few classic shows this afternoon, and while Elizabeth Banks is not Peter Tomarken, she obviously brings energy and enthusiasm to the show, and I think that once she gets a few shows under her belt and gets comfortable with the format, she'll make it her own just like Peter did. (His early episodes were really clunky compared to the later ones.)

So were Drew Carey's on TPIR, and look where Drew is now!

All that aside, back to the topic, I don't know why Liz Banks has to call on the board to show how much a prize is, when Peter had that information right at hand whenever a prize was hit.

Offline blozier2006

  • Double Showcase Winner
  • ******
  • Posts: 2020
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2019, 05:19:38 AM »
All that aside, back to the topic, I don't know why Liz Banks has to call on the board to show how much a prize is, when Peter had that information right at hand whenever a prize was hit.
Because padding, that's why.

Offline pricefan18

  • Double Showcase Winner
  • ******
  • Posts: 1916
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #12 on: June 12, 2019, 05:31:03 AM »
Because padding, that's why.

With the bonus game, how much padding do you exactly need otherwise I wonder? And besides that....if they were so worried about time....why not have an extra question in Round 1 to make it 4 and 4 like before? The time coulda been used for that + extra spins in turn from it.

Offline someguy23475

  • Double Showcase Winner
  • ******
  • Posts: 1839
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #13 on: June 12, 2019, 06:12:35 AM »
They made Press Your Luck boring. There is no reason to include a bonus round or stretch the show to 60 minutes.

As someone said, Banks is robotic. It appears as if she is here solely for the check. That’s what happens when you just pick a name without an audition (a la Drew Carey).

At least the set and whammy animations looked nice.

Maybe I will watch a future episode in a month or so and see if there is improvement, but dragging the game to an hour is hard to watch.

Offline ntpir

  • Walking the Golden Road
  • ****
  • Posts: 421
Re: PYL 2019 Discussion [Spoilers]
« Reply #14 on: June 12, 2019, 08:04:56 AM »
I have this sinking feeling that ABC wanted the bonus round to BE the main game. One contestant playing the board for a million dollars. Similar to Deal or No Deal’s one contestant playing the game for the majority of the show. Someone begged them to throw in the original game as the vehicle to play for a million. I was enjoying the show up until this half hour bonus round.

I also had a little Twitter argument with someone about the timing of the bonus round. What happens if someone whammies out during their first six spins of the bonus round? The show still had 20 minutes at that point. Someone argued with me that the chances of that are microscopic. Well it is well known that people have whammies out in the course of 4-6 straight spins in the original. It could certainly happen here.

There’s no crying in baseball and there definitely shouldn’t be any crying on Press Your Luck. Just play the game.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2019, 08:07:25 AM by ntpir »