FULL RECAP - TPiR 11/06/2008

[SteveGavazzi]

Drew needs to find a better way to have 1/2 Off contestants open the box.  The $10,000 wins just aren't exciting when they're slowly raising the lid like nothing special's even going to happen.  Bob always made a point of telling the contestant to open the box with a flourish, and I think Drew probably ought to add something like that to his instructions.

I hope they don't keep putting the right answer in That's Too Much! so close to the beginning of the line.  It just doesn't feel right.  It's not like it's even that hard to get a loss in the game without going out of your way to change how Roger did it.

Speaking of That's Too Much!, did anyone else think something weird was happening at the end of the game?  Drew waited a really long time for some reason to ask if Kan had won, and something after the reveal appeared to have been edited.

...okay, so they described money in the Showcase again.  That was funny the first time, and it even fit in with the silly theme of the showcase it happened in.  Today, it was just stupid, and it's not going to magically be funny again if it keeps happening.

Also, if they were going to go to as much trouble as they did to overuse the term "Monte Carlo" in the first showcase, why the hell did it end with a Jeep?!

Speaking of Monte Carlo, that image they had on the green screen of some building was nowhere near as interesting to look at as that neat casino collage on the trip skin.

Oh, and Cynthia and Ebony were really fun contestants.

Drew's intros from break are getting better, comparative to last year, when it was always "Welcome back to TPIR".

You know, I wish he'd just cut those altogether.  Bob never needed to do things like that -- they'd come back from the break, he'd say something like, "Rich, who will it be?" and they'd be off and running, perfectly naturally.

[Nick]

Drew needs to find a better way to have 1/2 Off contestants open the box.  The $10,000 wins just aren't exciting when they're slowly raising the lid like nothing special's even going to happen.  Bob always made a point of telling the contestant to open the box with a flourish, and I think Drew probably ought to add something like that to his instructions.

Yeah, yet another place where saying alakazam does nothing productive.

Speaking of That's Too Much!, did anyone else think something weird was happening at the end of the game?  Drew waited a really long time for some reason to ask if Kan had won, and something after the reveal appeared to have been edited.

Yeah, and I can't really figure what must have been cut there, which I have to say wasn't the cleanest edit I've seen.  There was a very noticeable jump in the theme.

Also, if they were going to go to as much trouble as they did to overuse the term "Monte Carlo" in the first showcase, why the hell did it end with a Jeep?!

Because Drew thinks it's funny.  You give something overkill on what you're thinking, and then change it to something totally unrelated, yet that's not funny in the slightest.

You know, I wish he'd just cut those altogether.  Bob never needed to do things like that -- they'd come back from the break, he'd say something like, "Rich, who will it be?" and they'd be off and running, perfectly naturally.

Steve is exactly right.

[rob79]

I hope they don't keep putting the right answer in That's Too Much! so close to the beginning of the line.  It just doesn't feel right.  It's not like it's even that hard to get a loss in the game without going out of your way to change how Roger did it.

Y'know what worries me? I'm worried that they'll attempt to make the right answer the 1st or 2nd price in the line. This was the 2nd straight playing the right answer was near the beginning (didn't the last playing which offered the Malibu Hybrid have the right answer in the 2nd spot?) We know Roger would never do anything like that, but with Roger gone who knows.... Anyone else get that feeling.

[heelsrule1988]

Is that the second or third win in a row for 1/2 Off? I know it's on a winning streak right now, which is always nice.

BEST CONTESTANT OF THE DAY: Ebony
SHOW GRADE: 2

[Teddy]

(Raises hand and waves it around like an idiot) I did! 

And that's because GM stopped manufacturing the Chevrolet Monte Carlo after 2007.

Brian

So that explains why they're racing Impalas in NASCAR now!

BTW, didn't GM also discontinue the Pontiac Grand Prix in 2007? It would be like a "Grand Prix"-themed Showcase with the car being something other than a Pontiac!

[Briguy]

I hope they don't keep putting the right answer in That's Too Much! so close to the beginning of the line.  It just doesn't feel right.  It's not like it's even that hard to get a loss in the game without going out of your way to change how Roger did it.

Not to dispute the point, but I don't think there's anything in the rules that says the first price can't be the correct answer — i.e., all of the prices are "Too Much!" By the same token, there also isn't anything really wrong with putting the answer at or near the end. Remember, the correct answer could be ANYWHERE on the board.

Just as long as they mix it up ... oh, and they don't forget to include at least one price "That's Too Much!" — i.e., all of the prices are below the ARP, thereby automatically ensuring a technical win.

Brian

[goldroadfanatic]

I wonder if they put the stopping point in That's Too Much close to the start just to get the game overwith.

[rob79]

I wonder if they put the stopping point in That's Too Much close to the start just to get the game overwith.

I was thinking about that myself, Goldroadfanatic. I was thinking they're doing it this way to try to save time--which really is a pitiful way when you think about it. What's going to happen if they keep this up is virtually assure that this game is very rarely gonna be won, I mean, how many people are actually gonna stop at the 2nd or 3rd price or by the same token how many are gonna patiently keep going to the 5th or 6th price? I can tell you not very many. So in their effort to save time they're actually going to be creating more losses--and I don't mean that in a good way. They really need to set this game up the way Roger did it instead of what they are doing now.

[goldroadfanatic]

One thing that I'm curious about is, if they really wanted to save time, they threw out the unwritten rule and placed the correct price in Pushover as the first one.

I don't want to give them ideas by any means, but one can't not think about the staff doing things like that.

[rob79]

I wouldn't put it past them. We know Roger never would have done that, but with the new regime who knows?I have a feeling that all the rules (even the unwritten) have been thrown out the window.

[Briguy]

I wonder if they put the stopping point in That's Too Much close to the start just to get the game overwith.

I wouldn't put it past them. We know Roger never would have done that, but with the new regime who knows?I have a feeling that all the rules (even the unwritten) have been thrown out the window.

Well, certainly I didn't want to give them any ideas — i.e., place the correct answer at or near the beginning to "get it the hell over with" — and yes, I am far more supportive with "mixing it up." Yes, once in a great while, place the answer at or near the first choice, or at or very near the very end; give the contestants a challenge. After all, if you always make the right answer the fifth or sixth choice, then there is also no challenge here.

But to make it No. 1 or 2 all the time, "just to get it over with" ... that I would never go for. I hope the producers keep this in mind.

Drew needs to find a better way to have 1/2 Off contestants open the box.  The $10,000 wins just aren't exciting when they're slowly raising the lid like nothing special's even going to happen.  Bob always made a point of telling the contestant to open the box with a flourish, and I think Drew probably ought to add something like that to his instructions.

Again, here is a situation where Drew could "mix things up." Maybe one time, open the box with a flourish. Another time, go for the slow, dramatic reveal. I'm not so much concerned about his saying "Alakazam!" as I am him make it interesting.

Brian

[catdogwheel]

Drew needs to find a better way to have 1/2 Off contestants open the box.  The $10,000 wins just aren't exciting when they're slowly raising the lid like nothing special's even going to happen.  Bob always made a point of telling the contestant to open the box with a flourish, and I think Drew probably ought to add something like that to his instructions.

The only thing I feel he needs to change in Half Off is the speed of his counting instead of going 123, he needs to go something like "1....................................2. ....................................... 3..................................... Now!

[SteveGavazzi]

Not to dispute the point, but I don't think there's anything in the rules that says the first price can't be the correct answer — i.e., all of the prices are "Too Much!"

No, there's really not, but I believe Roger's line of thought was that since most people's mentality would be that the right answer would never be that early, actually putting it there would be unfairly mean.  There are better ways than that to set the game up for a loss if you need the car not to be given away.

[TheBigAK]

No, there's really not, but I believe Roger's line of thought was that since most people's mentality would be that the right answer would never be that early, actually putting it there would be unfairly mean.  There are better ways than that to set the game up for a loss if you need the car not to be given away.

If this is a speed the game up thing, then they could reduce it from 10 total prices down to perhaps 7.

[Briguy]

No, there's really not, but I believe Roger's line of thought was that since most people's mentality would be that the right answer would never be that early, actually putting it there would be unfairly mean.  There are better ways than that to set the game up for a loss if you need the car not to be given away.

While I agree there are better ways to set up the game for a loss, I don't think it's necessarily "mean" for it to be the first price in the row of 10. It's just a way to keep contestants on their toes. Perhaps once in every 100-150 playings would this be approrpiate, however.

If this is a speed the game up thing, then they could reduce it from 10 total prices down to perhaps 7.

No, keep the That's Too Much game at 10 choices.

Brian