Yep, it's pretty much what I thought it was -- whether Roger chooses to admit it all or not.
Without any sort of idea of the reasons for what me and my family was subjected to from the previous day’s taping, after the taping was over I didn’t have a clue where to start looking for answers - Should I ask CBS guest relations? Perhaps try to contact someone from CBS Daytime Television? Or even higher than that my mom suggested we write a letter to the FCC but I knew that would be way too drastic and it was unlikely they’d do anything.
You're right -- they probably wouldn't. (I can say that from experience -- half of them probably don't even read what was actually said in half the complaints.)
An important point that someone brought up was that I was not actually barred from going to the show as of that point in time, and at the very least if they wanted to bar me from going that they would’ve done so already. With that, I went to bed after getting a grand total of zero sleep the night before with this issue still hanging over my head and my mom and aunt still demanding an answer as to why.
I can't blame you, given the circumstances. I think it's pretty clear that "word had gotten around" that you and your family were to be made as unwelcome as possible so that you never attend another TPiR taping again. (That's not a slam on you, Voltron -- it's a slam on
them.)
For today’s taping, I had priority tickets from Hollywood Tickets, meaning that I would not need to show up to the studio until 9 AM. ...
If there's one consolation, you might've gotten to meet Chuck...
I do hope that you were able to enjoy your visit to DWTS, though.
Roger Tells the Show’s Side of the Story: Karen Winchell, the head of Guest Relations pulled me out of the line and just outside of the overhang of the audience holding area so I could talk to Roger Dobkowitz himself. ...
Again, they want to make you, specifically, feel as unwelcome as possible so that you don't come back. (Again, I stress for emphasis, this is not against Voltron. This is on the show...)
While he did admit the way they handled the situation was wrong, I don’t think he formally apologized for what happened, because he pushed that aside to get to his point.
I think it's clear, for whatever reason, that he does not intend to apologize.
Roger explained that helping people I met in line was the important issue at hand. I had told him that I guessed this was an issue with the budget - since I wasn’t sure how their budget situation was (I thought it was bad), but he assured me that this was irrelevant to what he had to say.
Bull. I'll address more of that later, but do you mean to tell me that that means that Maddy and I are (at least semi-)"marked" for our little Lucky Seven soiree with Dennis a year ago?
(Since Dennis mentioned on the air that we met in line???) And how the freaking Hell are you going to enforce that in the first damnated place, short of bringing out extra security to case the line overnight? Or is the only reason that we are still allowed to attend the show that Dennis lost? (So if Dennis had taken my friend Maddy's advice and won both showcases, we'd have been treated the same way Voltron is now when we showed up in October or when I showed up for the MDS??)
The important thing was that the people I meet in line that get help from me could provide an unfair advantage for them on the show. The figure they could come up with was that I could potentially meet around 50-100 people in line before the show and that since they believed that I am someone that knows a lot about the prices that any contestants out of that 50-100 people are at an advantage over the other contestants in the 200-250 others that don’t know me.
That's something another poster came up with. Here's some problems I have with that:
- If that's the case, then one could make the same kind of case for any group attending the show who decides, long beforehand, that they are going to study the show, jot down some prices, but not bring the list onsite. (Basically, spend the time in line going over the prices, and then dispose of any such information back at the hotel before they get back to the show for processing. (The only real difference here is that Voltron doesn't have a physical list. What they are essentially charging, I am guessing, is that Voltron is a "Human Price List".))
- Semi-relatedly, that advantage could be asserted by any person or group with such a person in the group, whether the show knows about that person or not. So, similarly, you could gain an advantage by having a "Human Price List" in the group, and, as long as it's not a Known "Human Price List", the show is stuck.
- Short of going back to 1972 Rules and shutting everybody up for all the relevant decisions, how are you going to enforce it? I could see people doing that in line outside the venue, I could see them doing it in the line inside the venue, what have you.
Wow, Roger, you just opened up a can of worms that I'm not so sure you're prepared to close. I think it's time that, if someone from the show actually does read this forum, we're going to need some real answers.
While I hadn’t thought of that point of view, it kind of made sense, but I didn’t understand how they expect to run an audience participation show if they don’t want someone to participate – to which he responded that they believe they think I know “a lot” about prices and reiterated the point about unfair advantage for contestants who know who I am.
"It pays to watch 'The Price is Right'." Bob said that numerous times. So, basically, you've been essentially barred, with conditions, because you're too damn good.
Another issue that they had was that any of the contestants in the 50-100 people I meet will all look to me – and it looks bad on camera if all of those contestants look specifically to me, and he pointed out an example from the previous day’s taping (the 5/29/08 show) when Michael looked directly at me after each one-bid. He explained how it “takes away from the spirit of the show” that it’s the entire crowd that helps – and not just one person.
Well, sorry, Roger, but sometimes that can't be helped. I mean, think of this, guys: Those of you who've been on the show know that the screaming from the entire crowd makes it implausible to do anything! So why, then, is it irresponsible for a person to become the center of several people's attention if it's clear he knows his stuff?
I mean, if this is becoming that much of an issue, I reiterate my earlier positions and say that it's time (as an
IMMEDIATE rule change) to silence the audience during one-bids and gameplay. That's the only way you can nullify such an "advantage", because it can be exploited in numerous other ways.
I had asked him why are we running an audience participation show if they don’t want me to participate – and again he pointed back to the same reason of unfair advantage for contestants I meet in line. He mentioned that people on TV would wonder why is everyone looking at that one person for advice? While he didn’t specifically give me a reason for that, I had thought about it later and recognized that could be a pause for concern – as someone on TV may think I’m a ringer planted there by CBS that knows all the prices.
So they're silencing said "ringer", and for the opposite reason, as I'll get to in a bit.
God, they must really think American viewers are stupid (which would not be a surprise in the least, given the state of media these days). If it got to the point that that kind of person was in the audience, that would be illegal under Federal Law, and most game show fans, presumably, would know about this.
Roger then told me that because of these reasons, they would have to subject me to certain terms and conditions if I wanted to continue to attend tapings. ... If I did not comply with these terms and conditions, I would be asked to leave the lot and not be allowed back.
Barred, with conditions which would make it infeasible that you'd want to return.
I just don't understand, at that point, why they don't just ban you completely... I mean, they've been making it clear that they don't want you back -- they've set out what I see as an asinine set of restrictions (and probably have opened the proverbial Pandora's Box, which can probably only be closed by preventing all assistance during the show).
Roger used an analogy to compare what these terms and conditions were – he compared it to catching a card counter in Las Vegas – if they are caught, they have to either comply (which they likely won’t) or they will get banned from coming back.
This is why I called BS on the "It's not the budget." line.
The reason that the casinos implement that rule is that the card counters in Vegas destroy the "house advantage" and turn the game in their favor. It fouls up their budget. They don't want people to win! (Or, at the least, they don't want so many people to win that the "casino" loses money.)
Basically, it IS what I feared it might be: The beginnings of rigging the game on the basis of that they don't want anyone to be there who knows enough of their stuff that people in the line also know as such. As such, Price can count on situations where the contestants, hopelessly confused, make Stupid Bid after Stupid Bid so that the show doesn't have to give away so many prizes.
They are using this kind of situation to reduce the winnings given out by the show -- this is not necessarily an action for or against any particular contestant, but against all contestants, realistically, across the board.
Immediately, I wonder whether this would affect any possible contestant eligibility I have left – which I ask him next. He doesn’t give me a direct answer – ...
No, you're ineligible. You won't be walking around with the big black "
X" over your contestant number, but, suffice it to say, you're ineligible.
Think, people: You have a known "Human Price List" in the audience (declared a problem to the production), who will probably take you for everything that small bits of luck can allow for on the show, and you've already told him that he presents an unfair advantage to contestants in CR. Howinhell is he ever going to get picked? He'll take the show for every penny possible! And they've established that they only want a certain amount of winnings per show -- anyone who can skew that figure to a significant degree is not welcome in Studio 33.
The entire conversation between me and Roger was seen in plain view by the audience holding area – and I had been asked by several people I’d already met about what happened. I was basically forced to respond with “They told me I can’t talk to anyone in line or else I’ll get kicked out.” However, I did something else to make sure the people around me knew what was going on – I had called several of my contacts on my cell phone who I had gotten advice from about what happened and I knew that everyone around me overheard it.
You are a larger person than I -- I can only say that I probably would, at minimum, have been very roughly escorted from the premises if not arrested outright.
Waiting in line with no one to talk to: I was very fidgety during the next few hours in line – I was really bored since I couldn’t meet anyone in line, and four hours is a long time to kill when you’ve got nothing to do except sit on benches and stare at the parking lot. I had contemplated walking out about 3 times because I really felt unhappy with this turn of events, but I knew that walking out would be the same as not complying with the terms and conditions and I’ll end up barred anyway.
Fact is, you basically are. As I said on Friday's thread and a couple times here, they don't want you back. I'm actually shocked they allowed you to stay, because, as of this point, you probably are seen as some sort of security risk to the program (not necessarily with a physical incident, but, as disgruntled (and known to be to the production) as you are, "doing something stupid" (not knowing you personally) could not be considered out of the question.
I left this taping even more bitter than the day before – ... Fortunately, thanks to our favorite former page Chuck - Dancing With the Stars an hour after the taping made my folks happy and compensated for the way we were treated at TPIR – I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it had I not seen Usher, one of my favorite artists. After that, it was time to head home and forget about what it’s like seeing the magic of television in person for at least a while.
Good that you met Chuck.
I thought there was no way they’d ever ban an eligible contestant from going back to the studio, but I was very close at one point during this trip – and that’s not how I want to go see TPIR – silenced the entire wait time. It sucks that the only thing I did wrong was watch the show every day and pay attention to prizes they offer on the show.
Fact is, they can ban whoever they want for whatever reason they want -- they are a private entity. The problem is, if they ban you for the reason that I am reading that they did, that's walking down a road toward basically saying "we only want to give away a certain amount of prizes over the course of time, and anyone who can significantly skew that amount, in the opinion of the production, will not be welcome in Studio 33". And THAT is walking down the road toward rigging the show.
MOD NOTE: Excessive quoting edited. - JC
