The $100,000 Pyramid - General Discussion

[Irlandesa]

11 hours ago, TheGreenKnight said:

Jeong got on my nerves because he didn’t seem to care about the contestants—especially when he lost that one woman the 7-11 by going ridiculously slow.

I thought Jeong cared.  When he was receiving clues, he was sensational.  He just couldn't give them to save his life.  I found it to be really interesting because I can't recall ever seeing such a divide in skillsets between giving/receiving yet this season.

4 hours ago, Mama No Life said:

What the hell was up with the buzzer for "rubber ducks in the tub"?  The category was things that float, so I'm not sure why that was buzzed.  Strahan said something about how they can only list things but I didn't see that as a big difference??

I think I read on twitter that he could have said tub-based rubber ducky but rubber ducks in a tub was too far. Weird.

41 minutes ago, DasFlavorPup said:

Generally, using a prepositional phrase in any category except the "What XXXX would say" variety will get you buzzed.  It's deemed too descriptive, I think.  "Foods with paprika" would get you buzzed for "Spicy foods", but just "paprika" would not.  That seems to be the line that was drawn sometime around the $20-25K Pyramid era.

"Foods with paprika" would get you buzzed because you said the word "foods" for a "Spicy foods" category.  But I think I get what you're saying.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Irlandesa

[Racj82]

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I thought Jeong cared.  When he was receiving clues, he was sensational.  He just couldn't give them to save his life.  I found it to be really interesting because I can't recall ever seeing such a divide in skillsets between giving/receiving yet this season.

Yeah, I feel like there is a lot of projecting towards the show if anyone on it jokes around or isn't all the way keyed in. I never thought for a second Ken didn't care. He was just better at one aspect of the game than the other. But, generally really good. Not caring is not how I would label his performance.

[iMonrey]

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What the hell was up with the buzzer for "rubber ducks in the tub"?  The category was things that float, so I'm not sure why that was buzzed. 

Unfortunately Michael Strahan was remiss in not explaining the rules here. You can't use prepositional phrases in the winner's circle.

These two were painful to watch, especially Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog. They were OK receiving but horrible giving clues. Jeong wasn't much better - it seemed like he was trying to act them out rather than listing them. The only bright spot was that actress who managed to get "congested." That was a tough one.

[TAG42481]

I think what I've found frustrating so far are the "victory" celebrations.  When people won in the 80s, they LOST THEIR MINDS.  They would keep the bell ringing for about 30 seconds afterwards, the contestant and celebrity would both be jumping up and down, and there would be lots of screaming.  Now?  It almost seems like people politely get up and clap.  Is part of it the difference in the value of money, that 50K/100K aren't as enormous a prize as it was in the 80s?  Are the winning contestants now simply calmer people?  Are the winning celebrities now simply calmer people?  I go on Youtube every now and then just to watch THE RUSH of people winning the Pyramid back in the 80s.  It hasn't been anywhere near the same these past few weeks.

[sugarbaker design]

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Is part of it the difference in the value of money, that 50K/100K aren't as enormous a prize as it was in the 80s?  Are the winning contestants now simply calmer people?

I don't think they were giving away that much in the 80's.

[mtlchick]

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They would keep the bell ringing for about 30 seconds afterwards, the contestant and celebrity would both be jumping up and down, and there would be lots of screaming.  Now?  It almost seems like people politely get up and clap.  Is part of it the difference in the value of money, that 50K/100K aren't as enormous a prize as it was in the 80s?

I would simply chalk it up to "Yay, 100K! How much am I going to give up to the IRS as soon as I walk off the set?"  Who knows what the NY state tax law on winnings is, but I read a few articles about winners on the Price Is Right.  As soon as the show is over, they are whisked away to pay taxes on the amount they won on site. http://www.avclub.com/article/what-happens-when-you-win-ithe-price-is-righti-101445

 

The other thought being: it was the 80s and we were dealing with Reaganomics.

[starri]

3 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

Who knows what the NY state tax law on winnings is, but I read a few articles about winners on the Price Is Right. 

If it's like the lottery, the highest in the country.

My MVP was Tisha Campbell Martin.  Although getting "poles" from Snoop's gestures was kind of awesome.

[Mumbles]

I still laugh thinking of the look on Strahan's face when Snoop answered "pus" to the clue about white stuff coming off of your scalp.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Mumbles

[TheOtherOne]

Yeah, that buzzer for rubber duckie was bulls---, prepositional phrase or not.

Count me in as being unimpressed with Jeong. Not Martha and Snoop level bad, but still, annoying and semi-unengaged.

Thank goodness Tisha and the contestant won. She wasn't great at the game for a lot of it, but she pulled it off in the end. The only celebrity I liked last night.

On 6/27/2016 at 7:17 PM, Skyfall said:

I was talking Match Game, To Tell The Truth, and Pyramid. TTTT is already DSW and the two premieres last night will drop below a 1 quickly as well.

Nope. After three weeks the shows have all remained steady, and above a 1. In week one Pyramid received a 1.6; in week three a 1.5. Not a failure in the least.

[peeayebee]

Yeah, pus was a funny -- and appropriately icky -- answer.

I decided to give this show a shot because I watched Match Game last week and loved it. $20,000 Pyramid was my favorite game show back in the day.

I really like that both this and Match Game are keeping the same look and music. 

I get so tense when clue-givers (usually the celebs) are going sooooo sloooooow. Ken Jeong was excruciatingly slow, esp the very first time. I also get nervous when the players are hyper and talking fast. I want everyone to be somewhere in the middle.

I didn't think Martha had a better-than-thou attitude. That's just how she always comes across. I think she was enjoying herself. I also didn't think she was a bad player, except for taking too long.

I think Strahan is doing an OK job. 

[opus]

You know how in the main game you can use your hands and make gestures and such? Could anyone tell if Snoop was even looking at his partner when they gave clues?

Edited July 11, 2016 by opus

[Taeolas]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Unfortunately Michael Strahan was remiss in not explaining the rules here. You can't use prepositional phrases in the winner's circle.

These two were painful to watch, especially Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog. They were OK receiving but horrible giving clues. Jeong wasn't much better - it seemed like he was trying to act them out rather than listing them. The only bright spot was that actress who managed to get "congested." That was a tough one.

Actually he did explain why it was buzzed. 

For the category "Things that float", "Rubber ducks" was fine. On the other hand, "Rubber ducks in a tub" is NOT a thing that floats, since the tub probably doesn't float. 

For the most part, Snoop seemed good at receiving clues, but not so good at giving clues. But I almost think his Civilian was missing "Wings" intentionally just to keep watching Snoop do the chicken dance. :) 

Martha just didn't want to be there at all, but she was good at receiving clues and probably would have gotten the last winner circle clue if the civilian hadn't DQed himself. (There were 20-some seconds left by the time they got to the final category). 

Even Snoop's time in the circle wasn't really his fault IIRC; two categories missed and the civilian seemed to blank on more clues than the two he gave. (Granted "Things on a roof" should have been obvious after Shingles and Chimney; maybe also say Eaves, Santa Claus's reindeer, antennas.... )

[Actionmage]

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What the hell was up with the buzzer for "rubber ducks in the tub"?

Michael clarified that the phrase "in the tub", as Das FlavorPup mentioned, was too much for the list the contestant was supposed to give. If the gent had kept the clue to "rubber ducks", that would have been fine.

[iMonrey]

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Yeah, that buzzer for rubber duckie was bulls---, prepositional phrase or not.

Actually I prefer they stick to the original rules so I'm fine with that one getting the buzzer. In fact I thought they gave Martha Stewart a lot off leeway by just saying "Florida" instead of "things in Florida" etc. 

The part that really made me cringe was "Things you roll" and the contestant didn't say "Dice." Gah.

Edited July 12, 2016 by iMonrey

[dirtydi]

He could have said, your/a child's bathroom/tub toys.  You can't say, duckies in the tub (but say tub duckies).  He would have been dinged in the old version too.

[Violet Penner]

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You know how in the main game you can use your hands and make gestures and such? Could anyone tell if Snoop was even looking at his partner when they gave clues?

I was wondering the same thing. Especially in the first round, he seemed to be staring off into space. Look at your partner!!

[Lovecat]

On 7/11/2016 at 5:52 PM, opus said:

You know how in the main game you can use your hands and make gestures and such? Could anyone tell if Snoop was even looking at his partner when they gave clues?

If I were his partner, I would have found the sunglasses unnerving.  I play in a concert band, and we had a concert recently where one of the lights was aimed so it threw the conductor's face into shadow.  I never realized how much he used his face in his conducting until I couldn't actually see it!  It threw me off quite a bit, and I can imagine that not being able to see your partner's eyes on Pyramid would be similarly disorienting, whether you were receiving or giving clues.

Edited July 13, 2016 by Lovecat

[jhlipton]

20 hours ago, iMonrey said:

The part that really made me cringe was "Things you roll" and the contestant didn't say "Dice." Gah.

He really got stuck in "blunt", didn't he?  Even saying "ZigZag papers" would have helped.

[TheGreenKnight]

They re-aired the first episode that I missed. Rosie O’Donnell and Kathy Najimy were both fantastic. Anthony Anderson only bothered me when he made fun of the female contestant for wanting to give the clues when he was the problem. I thought it was funny how the male contestant basically did the same thing to him at the end, when he jerked the clue-giver back around.

[theatremouse]

On 7/11/2016 at 7:18 AM, DasFlavorPup said:

Generally, using a prepositional phrase in any category except the "What XXXX would say" variety will get you buzzed.  It's deemed too descriptive, I think.  "Foods with paprika" would get you buzzed for "Spicy foods", but just "paprika" would not.  That seems to be the line that was drawn sometime around the $20-25K Pyramid era.

I had been wondering about this from the first episode since ye olde pre-winners-circle spiel reminded them no prepositional phrases, but Strahan hadn't been including that. Still, it's not unusual for a show to have more specific rules on which the contestants are briefed offscreen, regardless of what onscreen spiel we hear. So I have zero doubts that dude had been told that type of thing is an illegal clue in advance. He just botched it. That's why in the second go round...man now I can't remember what a good example, but there were a couple where the guy would first just say a thing, and then he'd get more specific and say adjective+thing and those are better clues. Like for things you refill: an empty soda cup vs a soda. You can get pretty descriptive if you can think fast enough to use that format.

I still don't know why they retroactively gave that lady credit when they buzzed her for saying "memories" for "things you remember". That WAS an illegal clue and no one can convince me otherwise. Shenanigans.

[DasFlavorPup]

In addition to "too descriptive", one of Dick Clark's typical explanations for illegal clues was whether or not the clue gave the essence/was an essential part of the key word(s) in the category.  In one example I recall, LeVar Burton gave "34 Across" as a clue for "Things in a Crossword Puzzle" which got buzzed, although the contestant cleared the remaining categories.  Once back from commercial break, Dick Clark explained that there was some dispute with the judges whether the word "across" conveyed the essential part of the word/category and as a result the call was overturned and the contestant got $10K.  It was probably a similar situation with the "memories" clue you refer to - in both cases it seems to be a gray area and I don't think I side with the contestant, particularly in "memories" case, but there you go.

Another example of the essence/essential issue was from the $100K Pyramid here with Lauri Hendler, where the judges didn't buzz her for saying the word "part", most likely because "part" wasn't one of the essential words of the category.

Edited July 13, 2016 by DasFlavorPup

[Kromm]

On 7/11/2016 at 8:34 PM, iMonrey said:

The part that really made me cringe was "Things you roll" and the contestant didn't say "Dice." Gah.

Dice, yes. But also toy cars. Tires. "Barrel" (as in the phrase "barrel roll").

Oh. "Bowling Ball". "Bocce Ball".  That combo alone should seal it for most people. 

Another tact you could take?  "Toilet Paper". But only after all of these others.

[peeayebee]

Pie dough? Instead of "barrel", say "the barrel."

[theatremouse]

11 hours ago, Kromm said:

Dice, yes. But also toy cars. Tires. "Barrel" (as in the phrase "barrel roll").

Can't be sure the other person would've gotten it, but if I were trying to trigger the phrase "barrel roll" I'd have said "StarFox's plane". (ship? aircraft?)

The clue's I'd probably have given for things you roll are: a joint*, dice, maki sushi, Sisyphus' boulder.

 

*Even though I know "joint" and "blunt" are basically synonyms, I only associate the phrase "roll a" with joint, not blunt? I don't know if that's just me (and I've never done either, just talking word-association), but when they were getting stuck on that I wondered if he'd said it the other way if it might've helped.

Edited July 14, 2016 by theatremouse

[MarkHB]

He used sushi, didn't he?  And it turned out that Snoop doesn't eat it?  (And although I know he's far more intelligent than his image might imply,  there's something highly amusing to me about giving the clue "Sisyphus' boulder" to Snoop Dogg :) .

[peeayebee]

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but if I were trying to trigger the phrase "barrel roll" I'd have said "StarFox's plane". (ship? aircraft?

I didn't think of 'barrel roll.' I was thinking of 'roll out the barrel.'

[BW Manilowe]

On July 10, 2016 at 11:41 PM, TheGreenKnight said:

Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog were so bad. At least they were equally bad so one contestant didn’t have an unfair advantage over the other. Strahan looked like he was watching a trainwreck. Jeong got on my nerves because he didn’t seem to care about the contestants—especially when he lost that one woman the 7-11 by going ridiculously slow. The actress from My Wife and Kids/Martin wasn’t great, but she seemed to be invested in the contestants so I’m glad she was able to help one of them win in WC at the end.

The actress Ken Jeong played opposite also currently co-stars with him in Dr. Ken, an ABC Friday night sitcom based on Ken Jeong's real life, pre-fame, & about to go into its second season.

[theatremouse]

On 7/14/2016 at 9:43 AM, MarkHB said:

He used sushi, didn't he?  And it turned out that Snoop doesn't eat it?  (And although I know he's far more intelligent than his image might imply,  there's something highly amusing to me about giving the clue "Sisyphus' boulder" to Snoop Dogg :) .

He did use sushi, but I wasn't really positing what clues I'd use for Snoop, just the category in general. And the distinction being, if you say "sushi" and someone goes all...rice...fish...things from Japan...saying "maki sushi" specifically is the attempt to (if the person knows sushi) say "roll" instead.

21 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I didn't think of 'barrel roll.' I was thinking of 'roll out the barrel.'

I don't think I've ever heard the expression "roll out the barrel" before.

[sugarbaker design]

Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun.

[Kromm]

3 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun.

Depending on how verbose they allow you get, you could get to that from the side I suppose. 

Could you say "BLANK out the barrel"? Or are fill in the blank clues not allowed in that round?

It's also a full sentence too I suppose--and that may be forbidden all on it's own. I mean in general you have to present in a list form in that round, right?

I did notice that the judges tend to accept simplifications, so you don't literally have to say "things you _______".

On balance I do still think the single biggest miss was "bowling ball". I mean there's really nothing else you DO with a bowling ball other than roll it.

Edited July 15, 2016 by Kromm

[theatremouse]

That would be an illegal clue. Part of the reason why the names are in the format "things you X" or "things that X" is you're just supposed to list them. So adjective+noun (assuming you don't overlap a word from the answer) are OK, but no BLANK style clues.

[peeayebee]

3 hours ago, Kromm said:

Depending on how verbose they allow you get, you could get to that from the side I suppose. 

"Roll Out The Barrel" is a polka song. I'm not surprised that many people these days haven't heard of it. However, if your partner had heard of it, all you'd have to say is "the barrel," and if the person was perceptive, he would say "Things you roll" or "Things you roll out," which would also work.

[Jaded]

I felt bad for Weird Al and Bellamy Young tonight because it seemed like they were trying too hard which made them all flustered at times. I loved seeing Weird Al as a celeb on the first of the two "episodes" tonight. I also liked the second one with Justin Long and Tony Hale. All four celebs seemed to be genuinely interested in helping their civilian partners win instead of trying to ham it up and slack off on playing the actual game. 

[Irlandesa]

I have to admit I was as confused as the woman in the second game over "mom."  It is a different word from mother but what's the line?  Don't they accept non-plurals?  Didn't they accept "knowyouout" for "knockout?"  (Or maybe I missed her answer exactly.)  Don't they accept different verb forms?

I think all celebs were pretty decent partners but they each had areas where they just got stuck and couldn't get unstuck.  There wasn't enough thought process changing like Justin did with "fans" when the guy got stuck on it.

[opus]

It felt like we were literally yelling "Pancakes" for an hour before the guy said "Flapjacks".

[TheGreenKnight]

I really loved Justin Long here, hopefully he’ll return.

[Mama No Life]

Justin was totally into it.  You could see the frustration when he was not being understood.

That girl with the yellow dress, from NJ, was very good.  Great clues.  

[MarkHB]

I was glad to hear that, if they win the Winner's Circle both times, they actually get $150,000!  I believe in the older versions of the show, if you hit the $100,000 they just lumped everything together (trip value included, I think) and gave you enough cash to make the $100k.  Of course, that was daytime IIRC and they had much tighter limits on overall contestant winnings back then.  Come to think of it, ABC probably had to raise those limits for Millionaire years ago.

[TheOtherOne]

Yep, pancakes was so obvious, but I LOVE when they get it at the last second. So exciting. So much fun!

I really wanted her to say "Because I want to sit in a tub..." but after last week's "in the tub" fiasco I wasn't sure if that would be allowed.

Best episodes yet. Non-annoying celebrities. Good game play. That's what I'm here for.

Edited July 18, 2016 by TheOtherOne

[Blissfool]

4 hours ago, MarkHB said:

I was glad to hear that, if they win the Winner's Circle both times, they actually get $150,000!  I believe in the older versions of the show, if you hit the $100,000 they just lumped everything together (trip value included, I think) and gave you enough cash to make the $100k.  Of course, that was daytime IIRC and they had much tighter limits on overall contestant winnings back then.  Come to think of it, ABC probably had to raise those limits for Millionaire years ago.

I could save the show a lot of money with my rules. I think EACH round in the winner's circle should be a CHANCE  to win $50k. Of course,  if you win $50k the first time and you're good enough to make it to the winner's circle a second time and win $50k AGAIN, then you win a TOTAL  of $100k. I would find those rules acceptable and not call shenanigans, but if the show LIKES  to just give away money, then that's not my problem. ??

I was fine with them not accepting "mother", but i also didn't think they should have accepted "knock you out." I didn't like that contestant....to me, she gave off an air of arrogance. 

Edited July 18, 2016 by Blissfool
perfect excuse to use my kermit sipping tea emojis

[how55]

Things you flip.... "your lid" & "a coin" should have done it. 

[iMonrey]

The celebrities this week were all pretty good but not great. I think it took too long for Weird Al to get into the groove and by the time he did it was too late. That poor guy in the first round got stuck with some really tough categories. Names are always hard.

And yes, "because I like to relax in the tub" would have been the perfect clue for "why you take a bath." The thing I keep noticing is that the celebrities often don't get that the contestant is describing reasons for things. They keep shouting out one-word answers or saying things like "you're a skunk." If they could zero in on the fact that a lot of these categories are "reasons why you do this or that" it might be easier for them to guess, but I'm not sure all of them get that it's a different kind of round. They think it's like the first round where they're just trying to match a word.

It occurs to me that a lot of these celebrities weren't even born yet when the original version with Dick Clark aired. And now I feel old.

Michael Strahan should maybe keep his ideas to himself if he thought "because I prefer to shower" was a good clue for "why you take a bath." Oy. 

[sugarbaker design]

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 If they could zero in on the fact that a lot of these categories are "reasons why you do this or that" it might be easier for them to guess, but I'm not sure all of them get that it's a different kind of round. They think it's like the first round where they're just trying to match a word.

When the subject is 'reasons why...' the contestant almost invariably starts the clues with 'because', that should be a major hint it's a 'reasons why' clue.  And the same goes for 'What a blank might say'.  The clues almost always begin with 'I...'  The celebs have to listen, I think some might have a problem with that.

[iMonrey]

I think a lot of them just don't understand the game, period. I'm sure they've been briefed and had it explained to them but it's clear a lot of them are just playing it by ear and when they get to the winner's circle they think it's the same game as the one they just played in the "preliminary" round. That was especially obvious when Martha Stewart was on: the category was "things in Florida" and she'd just say "Florida" because she thought she was just supposed to get a word, like in the regular round. (I'm not sure what you call the Non-Winner's Circle Round.)

Edited July 18, 2016 by iMonrey

[seacliffsal]

I was really surprised that they allowed 'foot' as a clue for 'feet' in the preliminary round.  I, like many others, enjoyed the celebrities in this most recent episode.  Haven't seen Justin Long in anything for a while, so was pleased to see him and how well he basically did.

[Violet Penner]

Yeah, I was surprised about feet/foot too. I was also worried they would buzz things you "flip" and "flap"jacks for some reason. I could tell the contestants were trying to be really careful not to misspeak and get buzzed. 

Is it wrong that for "things you flip" the first thing that came to mind was "the bird! Your middle finger!"?

I liked that Bellamy and Weird Al did seem to care very much but were not obnoxious. 

[peeayebee]

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Michael Strahan should maybe keep his ideas to himself if he thought "because I prefer to shower" was a good clue for "why you take a bath." Oy. 

I think he just had a slip of the tongue and meant to say something like, "Because I prefer it to showering," though that's not a great clue. Although I thought the contestant, Alexandra, was very good, she started this one off badly by saying, "Because I'm filthy and have been working in the fields all day." That doesn't lead me to a bath. It's way too specific, for one thing. Something more like, "Because I need to get clean before bed," "Because I want a nice long soak," "Because I want to play with my rubber ducky."

Anyway, these were two good eps with good people, contestants and stars. I really like Justin Long and his sense of humor. 

[iMonrey]

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Haven't seen Justin Long in anything for a while, so was pleased to see him and how well he basically did.

Speaking of which . . . when he walked out with Tony Hale I was stunned to see how short he is. I never realized it before. 

[FilmTVGeek80]

16 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I think he just had a slip of the tongue and meant to say something like, "Because I prefer it to showering," though that's not a great clue.

I agree about Michael misspeaking. I think that would have been a great clue! Showering was the place my mind went, especially when she was getting stuck and didn't know what to say. I think as soon as Michael mentioned the word "shower" Tony got it. There's really no other place, at least my brain would have gone, if she said something like that. Though the other ones you mentioned - "needing a long soak" and "rubber ducky" - would be good clues, too.

One thing that frustrated me about the episode was how neither the contestant or celebrities seemed to understand the concept of passing. I think the Justin and Tony episode was especially bad. I kept screaming "pass it" whenever they spent countless seconds on one clue. I was stunned that Justin and that guy pulled off all seven when the contestant got stuck on fans.

[theatremouse]

On 7/17/2016 at 8:55 PM, Irlandesa said:

I have to admit I was as confused as the woman in the second game over "mom."  It is a different word from mother but what's the line?  Don't they accept non-plurals?  Didn't they accept "knowyouout" for "knockout?"  (Or maybe I missed her answer exactly.)  Don't they accept different verb forms?

The differences is if you're supposed to say "duck" and you say "ducks", that's ok because you still in the process said the word. Likewise, if you're supposed to say goose but you say geese or vice versa, that won't count. If you're supposed to say "mom" and you say "mother", you've not said the word. If you said "mommy" you would because you said the thing you were supposed to, even in the process of saying something else. If when he'd said mother she'd said "shorter" I bet they'd have gotten it.