The $100,000 Pyramid - General Discussion

[DasFlavorPup]

I thought Bridget was actually pretty good (she pulled a few correct answers out of nowhere) - it's just that her civilian partners were terrible.  And that is the main problem I had with this season, which I hope they correct for the next season (doubt it, though).  They need to cast people who are more player than character - too many of the contestants are more the latter, like the hockey dad and the over-40-dating-online woman last night, and it shows in their substandard play.  The upfront games have been kind of painful to watch - the win rate on the Mystery 7 has been abysmal compared to the Dick Clark era versions, and I missed a few episodes, but I don't recall if any contestant even scored a perfect 21 (hell, even a perfect 14 after the first two rounds) other than maybe the Kathy Najimy/Rosie O'Donnell episode.

For example Marvette, the lady who won the $50K last night, is the kind of contestant I'd like to see more of - she was sweet, engaging, and rootable, but she was also a very good player.  You cast people who are characters and we wind up watching people like the aforementioned hockey dad and over-40 woman flailing around which is NOT fun to watch.

[rubaco]

I liked Marvette too and was happy she won the $50,000. But to be honest, I thought she said too much in the winner's circle with the Reasons to Wear a Tuxedo clue. She said something like, "Because I am the groom and I need to put this on." I was expecting her to get buzzed for that ramble, but she wasn't. It's not clear to me what's allowed and what isn't when you're, quote, "giving lists."

[mtlchick]

Niecy Nash. Yvette Nicole Brown.  Rosie O'Donnell.  The category is "who are the three people who need to be on the ABC game show block more often next summer?" 

 

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I thought Rex Lee might be the worst Pyramid player ever, but then Bridget Moyhahan had her turn.

They were pretty bad.  We have seen a lot worse this season though.  (That said, I need Bridget's glasses and top immediately.)

[Mumbles]

Moynahan's intellectual capabilities are limited to not taking her birth control when her relationship with Tom Brady was petering out.

[iMonrey]

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She said something like, "Because I am the groom and I need to put this on." I was expecting her to get buzzed for that ramble, but she wasn't. It's not clear to me what's allowed and what isn't when you're, quote, "giving lists."

I thought they gave her an awful lot of leeway on that one too.

Overall the four celebrities weren't terrible, but the last two contestants were awful, especially Heather. She just could not shut up long enough for her partner to give an answer! She needed to take a chill pill and calm the eff down. 

[peeayebee]

7 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

I thought Rex Lee might be the worst Pyramid player ever, but then Bridget Moyhahan had her turn.

I didn't think Bridget was too bad. I give her a lot of credit for pulling answers out of thin air when John was giving her clues that were either confusing or just too thin. Like they pointed out on the show, "Chocolate..." was pretty bad for a clue for pudding.  

Rex was really bothering me right from the start. I never watched Entourage, but I liked him on Suburgatory. Here he was kind of rude, esp at the beginning. When John was struggling to come up with an answer, Rex says, "Never mind." He was often visibly annoyed with whoever his partner was. I was annoyed with them too, but I wouldn't show it like he did.

I wasn't too fond of either John or Heather. John particularly bugged. Also, his clue-giving was really rough. As far as Heather goes, I think she made a big mistake saying she was going to write a book about her dating experiences. Of course she may have gotten all her dating done before this show aired, but if not, then guys dating her might know she was going to write a book, and that would change how things went.

I don't see what was wrong with her clues for Why You Wear a Tuxedo. On the other hand, I didn't like the clues for Parts of a Refrigerator. Milk and OJ are not parts of a refrigerator. I also wondered about the category that was words found in Jennifer Lawrence movie titles. One was "American," but whoever received the clue -- and this may have been in the first game -- said "America." That's a different word. Same with "Bones" versus "Bone." I know I'm being picky.

BTW, I'd never noticed before how much Rex Lee looks like an old family friend of ours.

 

6 hours ago, DasFlavorPup said:

For example Marvette, the lady who won the $50K last night, is the kind of contestant I'd like to see more of - she was sweet, engaging, and rootable, but she was also a very good player. 

Yes, I liked her a lot. 

It was fun seeing how she and Niecy worked so well together on their first category, Things Associated with a Snake. Besides getting rattle from shaking its booty, there was the clue for skin: "You can get a real nice purse out of this."

I was worried that Kevin Pollak would bug me to death. I used to watch his Kevin Pollak Chat Show, and although he had really interesting and in-depth interviews, he was so tiresome to listen to on his own. Here, he wasn't so bad.

Edited August 29, 2016 by peeayebee

[Irlandesa]

I thought Rex and Bridget seemed to get better when they switched but overall they both weren't that great.  Neither were their partners.  The thing that bugged me about Heather is that she wasn't a hands talker.  I think she would have done so much better in the beginning rounds if she used her hands to act out the words.

I know using a preposition is a "no no" but I swear they let the preposition "under" go by beeped an "at."  And beeping the "ssss" before soda, which I didn't even hear, has gone unbeeped before, I believe.  I'm also confused about giving Kevin "turntable" because he said it within the round.  I don't recall that happening before.  Does it only count after it comes up as a word?

[peeayebee]

Which clue had "under" in it?

[BW Manilowe]

Just as an FYI, the Titan TV listings website had last night's ep listed as the Season Finale. Of course that might be wrong since they showed a repeat the first weekend of the Summer Olympics.

[theatremouse]

3 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I know using a preposition is a "no no" but I swear they let the preposition "under" go by beeped an "at."  And beeping the "ssss" before soda, which I didn't even hear, has gone unbeeped before, I believe.  I'm also confused about giving Kevin "turntable" because he said it within the round.  I don't recall that happening before.  Does it only count after it comes up as a word?

I think the difference is if you're doing "what a BLAH might say" prepositions are fine because BLAHs can say that. The prepositional phrase rule only applies in the winner's circle, not in the earlier rounds (when the sssss happened). I have noticed other occasions in earlier episodes where someone seemed to start to say the first letter of a word and then changed and it didn't get buzzed, but I think buzzing it is the correct call. So what we saw here was good, and it's the other people who were getting away with it.

I too was confused about the turntable thing but I think if the issue was he was saying it sort of...amidst the confusion of one guy saying pass, but the word hadn't change onscreen yet (indicating the pass) or if they thought it was too close timingwise and they hadn't moved on yet, I could see them giving it in that context, if he was sort of still talking as the other guy tried to move on. Although I don't recall hearing him say it at all so I don't quite know how they got credit for it at all.

[Irlandesa]

In the game with Kevin, Marvette said "I have exams at school" and that got buzzed.  But for the camping clue, she said "I like to go sleep outside...under the stars."  Perhaps it's different because one is a "why" and the other is more of a categoy where you have to list things.  But then I'm not sure why "I have an alarm on me" would pass for "what a clock would say" in her first game with Niecy.  

Basically, prepositional phrases seem to be okay for some types of clues and not for others and I'm mad at myself that I can't figure out the bloody rules of the game.

[Kromm]

20 minutes ago, BW Manilowe said:

Just as an FYI, the Titan TV listings website had last night's ep listed as the Season Finale. Of course that might be wrong since they showed a repeat the first weekend of the Summer Olympics.

The order was 10 episodes. So they would seem to still have one more, whatever Titan says, because last Sunday's episode appears to be #9.

By the way, if anyone feels cheated that it's still just the "$100,000 Pyramid" and not higher (because there's been a $100,000 top prize since the mid-80s), note that that 80s prize was only for winners of a Tournament of winners and not theoretically given each show like on the current version. Also, how cheated was the UK with their version?  Around the same time (the 80s) their version was called "The ₤1,000 Pyramid Game".  Then to double down the insult, their latest version was in 2007 and was called "Donny's Pyramid Game". Because Donny Osmond hosted it.  The horror! Poor Britain!

Edited August 30, 2016 by Kromm

[Irlandesa]

43 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

I think the difference is if you're doing "what a BLAH might say" prepositions are fine because BLAHs can say that. The prepositional phrase rule only applies in the winner's circle, not in the earlier rounds (when the sssss happened).

 I didn't see your reply before I submitted mine but I agree with a lot of this.  Except I still find it confusing. 

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I too was confused about the turntable thing but I think if the issue was he was saying it sort of...amidst the confusion of one guy saying pass, but the word hadn't change onscreen yet (indicating the pass) or if they thought it was too close timingwise and they hadn't moved on yet,

He said it when she was describing "wheel" and that word was up.  I'm not even sure how he leapt to turntable during those descriptions but he did.  The timer went off and he said "wheel" but they gave him turntable.

53 minutes ago, BW Manilowe said:

Just as an FYI, the Titan TV listings website had last night's ep listed as the Season Finale. Of course that might be wrong since they showed a repeat the first weekend of the Summer Olympics.

The finales are going to air on September 11th. 

[Violet Penner]

They seem pretty lenient on some of the winners circle clues. Accepting "parties" for political parties, "Spanish" for Spanish words, etc. I know there were others, but it seems like if you say one word, they'll give you credit. Marvette gave some good clues in the first winners circle.  

I thought it was unfair to buzz sssss for soda. What if he was going to say Sprite?

Things you cheat on: your exams, your taxes, your spouse, your diet. 

[Eolivet]

10 hours ago, Mumbles said:

Moynahan's intellectual capabilities are limited to not taking her birth control when her relationship with Tom Brady was petering out.

Snerk.

But I agree that she was utterly terrible. Rex Lee, who was subpar, got to the winner's circle twice because she was so bad. Her failure to get "a club" after her partner said "strip____" because she was focused on "mall" and then "strippers" was near incomprehensible. Even if the word was "mall," who's going to put "strip" in front of it as a clue? "Strip" and "mall" don't go together all the time. Her partners weren't great, Rex Lee wasn't great, but she was the worst of all of them.

[iMonrey]

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They seem pretty lenient on some of the winners circle clues. Accepting "parties" for political parties, "Spanish" for Spanish words, etc. I know there were others, but it seems like if you say one word, they'll give you credit.

This has been bugging me all season, and it speaks to the celebrity players not really understanding the game, especially how it's supposed to work in the winner's circle. There are obvious answers in the winners circle like "what a such-and-such would say" and the celebrity just says "flags" or "cheese" instead of "what a flag would say" or "what cheese would say." And the judges let it go because the dumb celebrities don't know how the game works, but hell, why penalize the poor contestant because of that? 

This was especially annoying when Joy Behar was in the winner's circle, because the contestant was saying "because you have such and such, because you need such and such," and Behar started saying "because you have this or that, because you need so and so" like she didn't get it, at all.

Maybe that's why they always make the contestant give the clues in the winner's circle rather than the celebrities. They're a lot stricter about what a clue-giver is allowed to say than what passes for an acceptable answer from the guesser.

Edited August 30, 2016 by iMonrey

[DasFlavorPup]

I also wonder if the reason they make the contestant give the clues is because this version of the show is a one-and-done, with no returning champions, so they may strongly encourage the contestant to be the clue-giver because they don't want the celebrity mucking up the winner's circle by giving an illegal clue and screwing the contestant out of their possible only shot at the big money.  The GSN version of Pyramid that was on back in 2012 was also a one-and-done, and it seemed that the contestants often gave the clues in the winner's circle there as well (certainly far more often than the 80s version) - I never watched the Osmond version so I don't know how frequently it happened there, if ever.

[Blissfool]

I must vent because I've been keeping it in for weeks and its driving me crazy:

- Pyramid is my least favorite of the new game shows, 

- i hate the way Michael pronounces "associated"---with an "sh". And he says it about 10x per episode! Color me surprised when I looked it up and found out it's an acceptable pronunciation. 

[Kromm]

47 minutes ago, Blissfool said:

I must vent because I've been keeping it in for weeks and its driving me crazy:

- Pyramid is my least favorite of the new game shows, 

- i hate the way Michael pronounces "associated"---with an "sh". And he says it about 10x per episode! Color me surprised when I looked it up and found out it's an acceptable pronunciation. 

Wait.  You're hating on the guy and the entire show because of one word?  I mean I can understand those kinds of nitpicks driving you buggy (there's a nice thread for it in the Misc TV Talk--Everything Else TV board) but it's like getting crazed over people saying "ex – set – err – uh" (instead of "ett – set – err – uh"). Probably not worth the sweat being upset.

[Blissfool]

6 hours ago, Kromm said:

Wait.  You're hating on the guy and the entire show because of one word?  I mean I can understand those kinds of nitpicks driving you buggy (there's a nice thread for it in the Misc TV Talk--Everything Else TV board) but it's like getting crazed over people saying "ex – set – err – uh" (instead of "ett – set – err – uh"). Probably not worth the sweat being upset.

I didn't say that. I listed 2 separate thoughts:

I  dislike the show (because I find it boring.)

AND

I hate the way he pronounces the word.

[peeayebee]

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i hate the way Michael pronounces "associated"---with an "sh".

You've made me say it to myself, and I came up with ah-SHOW-see-ated. Then I realized you meant ah-SO-she-ated, right?

[sugarbaker design]

ah-SO-she-ated is fairly common, no?

[iMonrey]

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but it's like getting crazed over people saying "ex – set – err – uh"

"Ex-cetera" drives me nuts. "Asso-she-ate" is an acceptable pronunciation for associate; "Ex-cetera" is not acceptable for et cetera.

[theatremouse]

8 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

ah-SO-she-ated is fairly common, no?

As opposed to ah-SO-see-ated? That's the distinction we're talking about here, right? (in terms of where the offending "sh" lands)

Edited August 31, 2016 by theatremouse

[Blissfool]

37 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

As opposed to ah-SO-see-ated? That's the distinction we're talking about here, right? (in terms of where the offending "sh" lands)

Yes, apparently "ah-so-she-ated" is acceptable. Where I live "ah-so-see-ated" is used more often, so the other pronunciation drives me batty. 

[starri]

I honestly think Strahan is a great host.

[BW Manilowe]

The Twitter for the show says there'll be a new episode of the show after Dancing with the Stars on September 12th.

Edited September 6, 2016 by BW Manilowe
Can't post well from my new phone--sigh.

[MarkHB]

Yes, that's the season finale.

[Irlandesa]

I really hate the preposition rule.  Really hate it. 

So it looks like the celeb can give clues in this version, they just haven't before.  Or I wonder if it's only if the contestant reaches the winners' circle the second time. 

Jon Lovitz was better than I expected him to be.  What I really liked when he was in the chair was how he kept trying different categories with a clue.  Deon Sanders was just awful.

[jumper sage]

I took to mean that the contestant has the option to have the celeb give the clues in the winner's circle but this is the first time we have seen when the contestant wanted the celeb to give the clue.

All the contestants were pretty bad.  New rule:  If a contestant says they have been watching since age 2 or whatever, they will suck like they've never seen the game.

Jon Lovitz and Deon Sanders both stunk.  I was surprised that Rosie got 1 wrong.

[iMonrey]

I knew the first game was going to be a train-wreck as soon as I saw who the celebrities were. Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to invite the football player who doesn't know any words? Honestly! He doesn't know "Oscars," "tiffany" or "safe." He had to pantomime every single clue because he couldn't think of words. The judges allowed him to get away with shortened forms of the words because he was lucky to get that far. The fact that one of his partners managed to get seven out of seven was nothing short of miraculous and a testament to the contestant's ability to guess clues despite having the worst partner imaginable. You know, this is a word game. Knowing words is kind of essential when choosing players.

Lovitz was too low energy, but next to Sanders he was positively brilliant. But then, that's damning with faint praise. I was astonished he managed to get the second partner to the top of the pyramid.

Rosie and Kathy are such pros it's too bad they can't be on every week. And what do you know? It turns out you can in fact choose to have the celeb give the clues in the winner's circle! It's just that every single player up to this point has elected to give rather than receive - the exact opposite of what usually happened back on the original Dick Clark version. Weird.

Then again, when you consider who most of the celebrity contestants have been this season, it's no wonder most of the contestants preferred to be in the driver's seat.

Next season: get better celebrities. 

[Arcadiasw]

13 hours ago, jumper sage said:

All the contestants were pretty bad.  New rule:  If a contestant says they have been watching since age 2 or whatever, they will suck like they've never seen the game.

I think whenever the contestants say that, they are lying or trying too hard to impress.

Deion was horrible! I didn't think anyone would be as bad as Terry Crews. For any celebrities playing these game in the future, I suggest they actually practice this game before embarrassing themselves on TV.

I'm with Michael. I never heard of that jingle for the lollipop either.

[peeayebee]

I thought Jon Lovitz was pretty good. You could tell he was keeping the category description in mind, and that sometimes helps, like with the Rags to Riches category. I really like him, too. Cracked me up when he got seven and he turns to Deon and says, "Touch. Down!" Then the next time that happens, "Home. Run!" 

Now Deon... Yikes. That was absolutely horrible. I felt so bad for the contestants. "Lifesaver, lifesaver..." What? Was he thinking of that 50s/60s song, "Lollipop lollipop loll lolly lollipop..."?

For the Winners Circle clue, Things You Catch, could you say, "A thrown ball"? I think you could. 

My DVR didn't catch all of Rosie & Kathy's half, but they are so good. For the gold category, a good clue would have been "A first place medal."

[Violet Penner]

Deion was the worst. Did he know this was not charades?  And he seemed to do some kind of "dealing cards" mime for half his clues. 

My DVR cut off halfway through the winner's circle with Rosie. Did they win?

[Irlandesa]

59 minutes ago, Violet Penner said:

My DVR cut off halfway through the winner's circle with Rosie. Did they win?

Unfortunately not.  They were killing it until the final clue which was "things that are tangled."  Rosie gave a clue of hair and "vines in a forest" which got beeped because of the "in a forest" bit.  (Which led to my above stance on hating this rule.)

[peeayebee]

She could have said "forest vines." I didn't see that part of the show, but could she have said matted hair? Is matted a synonym for tangled and therefore not allowed? Ooo, how about "a deceiver's web"?

[iMonrey]

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 "Lifesaver, lifesaver..." What? Was he thinking of that 50s/60s song, "Lollipop lollipop loll lolly lollipop..."?

Yes - I think that's what he was thinking of, but he called it a "jingle" because . . . he doesn't know words.

Edited September 14, 2016 by iMonrey

[FilmTVGeek80]

On 9/12/2016 at 11:49 PM, Irlandesa said:

 

I really hate the preposition rule.  Really hate it. 

 

 

Man alive, I agree with you! That was the first thing I said when she got buzzed for "vines in a forest." The preposition rule is so stupid. He loses out on 100,00 dollars because of the word "in." And I'm not sure how well they're explaining this rule to people. Rosie seemed completely baffled when she first got buzzed. She didn't seem completely surprised when Michael explained it to her, but it didn't strike me as something that had been explained thoroughly before.

 

10 hours ago, peeayebee said:

 

She could have said "forest vines." I didn't see that part of the show, but could she have said matted hair? Is matted a synonym for tangled and therefore not allowed? Ooo, how about "a deceiver's web"?

 

 

She definitely could have said "forest vines." She even mentioned that after Michael explained the preposition rule. She said she should have said "forest vines." I still think the preposition rule is stupid. Though, for me, the first thing that popped into my head for "things that are tangled" was wires or cable cords.

 

On 9/13/2016 at 8:42 PM, peeayebee said:

 

I thought Jon Lovitz was pretty good. You could tell he was keeping the category description in mind, and that sometimes helps, like with the Rags to Riches category. I really like him, too. Cracked me up when he got seven and he turns to Deon and says, "Touch. Down!" Then the next time that happens, "Home. Run!" 

 

 

I thought Jon was fairly decent as well. His first round I thought he would be terrible, but he got better. Like a lot of the celebrities this season he just seemed to be way better at receiving the clues than giving them. I give him a lot of credit for getting the last clue in the winner's circle when the contestant seemed to get stuck and just said "bathtub."

 

On 9/13/2016 at 2:06 PM, iMonrey said:

He had to pantomime every single clue because he couldn't think of words.

You can't even imagine how many times I screamed at the screen "Use your words!" It wasn't that he was just horrible at both giving and receiving clues, but his whole attitude was bad. He seemed to think he was too cute and entertaining. It was kind of funny but mostly lame, how overly excited he got over the lap dance clue. And saying he wouldn't have gotten museum in a million years also kind of made him look dumb. What I hated the most was his attitude when they were getting to the end of the round and Michael asked who would give the clues, and both times, Deion snottily insisted on giving the clues as if the contestants were the dumbest people on Earth. Granted, I didn't think either contestant was that great, but they were miles better than Deion.

I still the show is a little too inconsistent on what they let contestants get away with and what they won't. It pissed me off, I think it was the last episode when a contestant got dinged for just saying the "s" sound for "soda, but in the winners' circle especially people can give partial answers and get credit. Like in this episode one of the clues was "Things in a Weather Forecast" and Jon just said "weather" and got it. Last week, I think, one of the clues was one of those "What something-something would say" and the celebrity just said the "something-something" part without saying the whole thing and got credit for it.

[BW Manilowe]

2 hours ago, FilmTVGeek80 said:

Man alive, I agree with you! That was the first thing I said when she got buzzed for "vines in a forest." The preposition rule is so stupid. He loses out on 100,00 dollars because of the word "in." And I'm not sure how well they're explaining this rule to people. Rosie seemed completely baffled when she first got buzzed. She didn't seem completely surprised when Michael explained it to her, but it didn't strike me as something that had been explained thoroughly before.

 

She definitely could have said "forest vines." She even mentioned that after Michael explained the preposition rule. She said she should have said "forest vines." I still think the preposition rule is stupid. Though, for me, the first thing that popped into my head for "things that are tangled" was wires or cable cords.

 

I thought Jon was fairly decent as well. His first round I thought he would be terrible, but he got better. Like a lot of the celebrities this season he just seemed to be way better at receiving the clues than giving them. I give him a lot of credit for getting the last clue in the winner's circle when the contestant seemed to get stuck and just said "bathtub."

 

You can't even imagine how many times I screamed at the screen "Use your words!" It wasn't that he was just horrible at both giving and receiving clues, but his whole attitude was bad. He seemed to think he was too cute and entertaining. It was kind of funny but mostly lame, how overly excited he got over the lap dance clue. And saying he wouldn't have gotten museum in a million years also kind of made him look dumb. What I hated the most was his attitude when they were getting to the end of the round and Michael asked who would give the clues, and both times, Deion snottily insisted on giving the clues as if the contestants were the dumbest people on Earth. Granted, I didn't think either contestant was that great, but they were miles better than Deion.

I still the show is a little too inconsistent on what they let contestants get away with and what they won't. It pissed me off, I think it was the last episode when a contestant got dinged for just saying the "s" sound for "soda, but in the winners' circle especially people can give partial answers and get credit. Like in this episode one of the clues was "Things in a Weather Forecast" and Jon just said "weather" and got it. Last week, I think, one of the clues was one of those "What something-something would say" and the celebrity just said the "something-something" part without saying the whole thing and got credit for it.

I think in the Winner's Circle what they accept is what the judges/producers decide is the key word in the category, even if the receiving/responding partner fails to say the rest of the phrase on the category card. Given the clues Jon was getting, which I felt were proper for the category, & were clues I'd have also given if I were playing, I'd say he responded properly & as long as he said "weather", he was good to go. I think if you watch the Dick Clark version (currently it's The New $25,000 Pyramid) on GSN, aka Game Show Network, Monday-Friday at 10:30AM Eastern, you'll find people had categories accepted there, & on at least most other Dick Clark versions of the show, based on 1-word answers too. At least I'm reasonably certain they did.

As for the "no prepositions" rule, it may be stupid but it's been a rule since the first ep. The problem with it may be the clue giver may have forgotten which words are considered prepositions in English (shrugs). I think they also have problems when the clue givers get too wordy in general, never mind if they use a preposition or not. In the Winner's Circle they like nice, brief, succinct clues as opposed to lengthy & elaborate clues.

[BW Manilowe]

OK... In the post above, I said I thought they're looking for a key word in the Winner's Circle categories when they decide if the player gets the money for that square &/or the money for reaching the top of the pyramid/clearing all 6 categories, & it's OK if they don't answer with the exact word/phrase written on the pyramid. Unless, of course, there's just 1 word in the category. Just saying.

I was watching the Dick Clark version on GSN this morning & the 1st trip to the Winner's Circle confirmed exactly what I thought, & it came straight out of Dick Clark's mouth once that round was over.

Ken Kercheval (he played Cliff Barnes, Bobby Ewing's brother-in-law on the original CBS version of Dallas & the enemy of JR Ewing & the rest of the Ewing family on both the original & the recent TNT reboot version of the show) was playing the Winner's Circle pyramid with his partner for $10,000. They'd cleared the 1st 5 categories. The last category was "Things You Change". The contestant said "change" at 1 point, & the usual "you won the money" hoopla (theme music playing & bell ringing) commenced. But they apparently didn't think they won the $10,000.

Dick came over, as usual, & congratulated them & confirmed the win. He further confirmed my hunch about them actually just looking for a key word in the Winner's Circle pyramid categories & not really needing the exact phrase in the category said by the player.

He explained that the category was "Things You Change" & that when the lady Ken was playing with said the word "change" in response to Ken's list of stuff that fit the category, that got her the $10,000 because they look for a key word in the categories at the Winner's Circle pyramid. He specifically mentioned the thing about looking for a key word.

Edited September 15, 2016 by BW Manilowe
Clarifying something I said.

[FilmTVGeek80]

4 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

He explained that the category was "Things You Change" & that when the lady Ken was playing with said the word "change" in response to Ken's list of stuff that fit the category, that got her the $10,000 because they look for a key word in the categories at the Winner's Circle pyramid. He specifically mentioned the thing about looking for a key word.

 

Ok, thanks for clarifying. At least good to know this is something that's allowed and normal for the show. 

I know the preposition rule is not a new one, but I still hate it. :)

[Scott]

Finally caught up with Sunday's episode.  As many bad games as they've had, the Lovitz/Sanders game was the first one that was so bad I had to fast forward through it.

[TheOtherOne]

For the tangled question, I would have loved if she'd said "A Disney Rapunzel movie."

Edited September 17, 2016 by TheOtherOne

[iMonrey]

Quote

As for the "no prepositions" rule, it may be stupid but it's been a rule since the first ep. The problem with it may be the clue giver may have forgotten which words are considered prepositions in English (shrugs). I think they also have problems when the clue givers get too wordy in general, never mind if they use a preposition or not. In the Winner's Circle they like nice, brief, succinct clues as opposed to lengthy & elaborate clues.

Again, the problem seems to be that too many of the celebs and contestants don't understand how the game works, despite claiming to have watched religiously as a child. In the original version, Dick Clark always reminded them - you can only give lists of things. Lists. Period. That's it. The only time that doesn't apply is when the clue is "things a so-and-so would say." Otherwise, you're only allowed to list things. 

I believe the purpose is to differentiate from the easier preliminary round where you can pretty much say anything except the clue itself. The Winners Circle is supposed to be harder. 

It might help if Michael reminded them to give only lists, like Dick Clark used to do, along with warning them not to use their hands.

[starri]

I know Leslie Jones isn't everyone's taste, but she's just so joyous when she gets to do fun things like this. It's hard not to be swept up in it. 

I really liked the woman in the yellow top, and I don't know if I was more excited for her or Leslie when they nailed the Winner's Circle. 

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, starri said:

I really liked the woman in the yellow top, and I don't know if I was more excited for her or Leslie when they nailed the Winner's Circle. 

Leslie started a bit slow but she did better as she got going.  I loved when she lifted her partner and the woman was five inches or so off the ground.  Leslie's so tall and she's so short.  LL Cool J was decent as well.

Jennifer Nettles was very good but I was surprised by Tom Bergeron. I thought he'd be better.

[iMonrey]

I expected Leslie Jones to be an utter train wreck on this thing but after a shaky start she turned out to be pretty decent. Not great but not terrible. (How can you not get "oil?" Vinegar and. Duh.)  I thought the clues in the winners circle were awfully easy, though, and that the judges were giving them much more leeway than they should have. When the clue is "things such-and-such would say" they should have to say that, not just a word. It annoys me when they answer with just one word and the judges give it to them. Also, on "kinds of tickets" I'm pretty sure they would have been buzzed on the original show for saying "concert ones, speeding ones."

[Arcadiasw]

Having watched Leslie Jones on "Match Game", I knew she would be very excitable on this show. I like her enthusiasm to help the contestants win. 

[starri]

1 hour ago, Arcadiasw said:

Having watched Leslie Jones on "Match Game", I knew she would be very excitable on this show. I like her enthusiasm to help the contestants win. 

That and her "I got this!" strut when Michael said the last category was about comedy clubs. 

I know she was wearing heels and the winner's circle is slightly raised, but she seemed to be towering over Michael. 

[jhlipton]

I liked both shows -- all 4 celebs racked up decent scores (Tom and Jennifer each got 18 out of 21 -- Jennifer just beat Tom by a fraction of a second). 

Leslie and LL were so fun together without missing the point of the game: to make money for the contestant.