The $100,000 Pyramid - General Discussion

[snarkylady]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

But boy, if I thought they were bad . . . along came Alyson Hannigan. Yikes! She was terrible. She was just way too flustered and way too unfocused. I felt so bad for the contestants stuck with her. To be fair, the female contestant was the worst possible match because they were both way too manic. I bet she was thrilled when she got over to Joel McHale's table. But then I felt sorry for the poor guy who got stuck with her in the second round. 

I mean, when you have to go thru "Not North, Not South, Not West" just to get to "East,"  wow.

Felt like I was watching a train wreck....couldn't look away....figured she would be better in the second game with a different partner but no.  She tried the face saving "I'm much better playing at home", no consolation for the people paired up with her.

[jalady]

Maybe because it's fresh in my mind, but I don't think I've ever seen a worse celebrity contestant than Alyson Hannigan.  Yikes!  But at least she knew she was terrible.  Not that it helped her partners . . .

[Orillia]

I thought that the lady who won $150.000 was one of the best contestants I've seen in a while. She was cool calm and collected , didn't get flustered or frantic and gave great clues. And just as important , she wasn't an over the top personality but seemed pretty normal. I'm happy that she won the big money.

That clue giver who kept saying "perfect" each time his partner got a right answer was getting on my nerves , and fast. Maybe it's just me.

I agree , Alyson stunk. Felt bad for her partners.

[opus]

37 minutes ago, Orillia said:

That clue giver who kept saying "perfect" each time his partner got a right answer was getting on my nerves , and fast. Maybe it's just me.

 Not just you.

[jhlipton]

On 7/1/2019 at 12:39 PM, jalady said:

Maybe because it's fresh in my mind, but I don't think I've ever seen a worse celebrity contestant than Alyson Hannigan.

You didn't watch this week, then.  The woman told the audience that English was her second language -- so what is she doing where knowledge of language is critical????

So very bad!

[opus]

At least when one celeb is good and one is bad it does guarantee both contestants one shot at the bonus round each.

[jalady]

1 hour ago, jhlipton said:

You didn't watch this week, then.  The woman told the audience that English was her second language -- so what is she doing where knowledge of language is critical????

So very bad!

LOL!  I did watch.  But as bad as Roslyn Sanchez was, and she was bad, I still think Alyson was worse.  Because English is her native language!!!  At least some of this week's misses were based on legit unfamiliarity with some American words/phrases.  I think . . .

[jhlipton]

2 hours ago, jalady said:

LOL!  I did watch.  But as bad as Roslyn Sanchez was, and she was bad, I still think Alyson was worse.  Because English is her native language!!!  At least some of this week's misses were based on legit unfamiliarity with some American words/phrases.  I think . . .

I don't give Sanchez a pass like that.  If ABC wanted to push Grand Hotel, she could have been on To Tell The Truth or Match Game (although the latter seems to be more for stars who have been out of the spotlight for a while..; and she was on Celebrity Family Feud.) and wouldn't have affected a chance for someone to win real money.  Hannigan may have just had a "brain-fart" night but Sanchez would never be great at this game.

[lambertman]

The good news about having one celebrity being regrettably deficient in the game is that both contestants get a shot at the Winner's Circle while playing with the other celeb 🙂

[iMonrey]

Quote

LOL!  I did watch.  But as bad as Roslyn Sanchez was, and she was bad, I still think Alyson was worse.  Because English is her native language!!!  At least some of this week's misses were based on legit unfamiliarity with some American words/phrases.  I think . . 

Agreed. I think at best Roslyn Sanchez managed to get 6 out of 7 in one round. I don't think Hannigan got more than 3 or 4 at her best. But it's really apples and oranges. With Sanchez there was a language barrier. Hannigan was just too flustered and unfocused. 

[opus]

Ugh. Gronkowski AND Edelman tonight? Might have to skip that one.

[ams1001]

 How did they not buzz that guy for saying "cheetos" when trying to get to "cheetah"?

[lb60]

4 hours ago, opus said:

Ugh. Gronkowski AND Edelman tonight? Might have to skip that one.

Then to make things worse, Tom Brady showed up.

[DietCokeJunkie]

5 hours ago, opus said:

Ugh. Gronkowski AND Edelman tonight? Might have to skip that one.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen worse “celebrities.”  Have scores ever been that low? It was entertaining, though, when the contestant said “the continent the Nile runs through” and Edelman replied Egypt and the contestant tried to explain the difference between country and continent. “Do you understand?”  Poor guy. 

[Irlandesa]

I was afraid that the football players would be bad, especially Gronk, and I was right. I really felt bad for both contestants. Are they Patriots fans?  I hope they were because they didn't get much else out of it. Gronk was just terrible.  Julian was at least your average terrible celeb.

At least the second set of celebs were worthy players; although you could Kelly didn't watch Netflix.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Irlandesa

[Enigma X]

The clue for tribes: “In Africa they don’t have cities they have...”

Um...

[DasFlavorPup]

Yahoo article on that debacle.

Pretty good comparison, but the author's suggestion that Gronk should be brought back again is a big hell to the no.  It may be entertaining for some viewers, but when I watch this show and they bring on incompetent celebrities, all I can think of is how frustrating it must be for the civilians to have a once-in-a-lifetime shot at a huge sum of money and get kneecapped by being paired with a chucklehead, which is QUITE often on this version. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

I was afraid that the football players would be bad, especially Gronk, and I was right. I really felt bad for both contestants. Are they Patriots fans?  I hope they were because they didn't get much else out of it. Gronk was just terrible.  Julian was at least your average terrible celeb.

Julian seemed better at times but only because he got a much easier category in one round, and the clues in the winner's circle were really dumbed down. I mean, "football terms?" Really? And he didn't even say "Terms" he just said "Football" and they gave it to him. They also gave him "Fad Dances" when all he said was "Dances." I mean, honestly. "Two letter words?" At some point I expected clues like "Colors," "Numbers," and "Words."

Quote

The clue for tribes: “In Africa they don’t have cities they have...”

Um...

I died. I died. I bet they were wishing they could edit that out.

You know, Moynihan and Osbourne were only better comparatively. I recall episodes where Moynihan was so bad I was hoping they'd never invite him back again. He gets terribly flustered sometimes when he's giving the clues.

Edited July 15, 2019 by iMonrey

[jhlipton]

On 7/14/2019 at 6:22 PM, ams1001 said:

 How did they not buzz that guy for saying "cheetos" when trying to get to "cheetah"?

Maybe because they are totally different words????

On 7/14/2019 at 9:13 PM, Irlandesa said:

At least the second set of celebs were worthy players;

I really don't care for Kelly "I have no discernible talent but I'm famous because my mom used my dad and us kids to rake in a few bucks" Osbourne, but she was mostly OK.

On 7/15/2019 at 10:35 AM, iMonrey said:

 I recall episodes where Moynihan was so bad I was hoping they'd never invite him back again. He gets terribly flustered sometimes when he's giving the clues.

He was good this time.  He got 17 out of 21 both times IIRC, which is not bad, and was decent in the Winner's Circle.  In the second round, the contestant lost the $50,000 due to a somewhat understandable error, not because of Moynihan.

[peeayebee]

I haven't watched the Gronk ep yet, but it's still on my DVR. I was going to delete it, but I think I've got to watch it.

Just watched the ep with two actors from This Is Us and two people from The Sopranos. Both were generally good games. Steve Schirippa got a little flustered in the last round -- I think he just blanked on Serena Williams' name and that threw him off after that.

[ams1001]

Jeffrey Ross is making Gronk look good...

[iMonrey]

I was initially dismayed to see Anthony Anderson because he was terrible the last time he was on, but he wasn't too bad this time. It was Jeff Ross who stunk up the show, especially in the first round when he had to give the clues. Ouch. What did they get, like 2?

After the first contestant got buzzed on the second to last subject in the winner's circle the judges really let her slide on the last one. She should have gotten buzzed for both "Sailing on the Water" and "Going to the mall." You're not allowed to give qualifying clues. You can say "sailing" but not "on the water." 

[suebee12]

I was quite impressed by the comedian Pete whoever. I don't watch much comedy TV but he gave great clues and he also listened and got the clues right without being overly excited! Those were two good games.

[iMonrey]

Pete Holmes. Definitely MVP this week. However, I have grown to dislike him somewhat after watching his show "Crashing" on HBO and after listening to a few interviews he's given in podcasts. 

[Racj82]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Pete Holmes. Definitely MVP this week. However, I have grown to dislike him somewhat after watching his show "Crashing" on HBO and after listening to a few interviews he's given in podcasts. 

Why exactly do you dislike him?

[suebee12]

8 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Pete Holmes.

Thanks for the name. At times he really reminded me of John Ritter! I had never seen him before this show but I did like playing of the game!

[snarkylady]

17 hours ago, suebee12 said:

Thanks for the name. At times he really reminded me of John Ritter! I had never seen him before this show but I did like playing of the game!

I was also reminded of John Ritter. 

[Fable]

I kind of really loved Jamie Lynn Sigler.  She was a good player and so adorable.  I think she is aging backwards!  

[peeayebee]

Pete Holmes is welcome back any time.

Jeff Ross is banned.

Not only was Pete a great player, both in giving and receiving clues, but he was funny and charming. Loved him kidding around with Michael about making the contestant nervous, and about kidding around with her, saying that he could move HIS hands around, and then doing it.

Michael: How you doing, Pete?
Pete: A little bored. 😄

I don't know if I want to hear anything negative about him. La-la-la-la-la.

Jeff Ross, I never liked him.

Jay Pharaoh had a few problems knowing... things. Anthony Anderson was pretty good, but I couldn't stand how he was in the first Winner's Circle, trying to hurry the contestant along.

[Scott]

I've had a bunch of these sitting on my DVR, and I finally got around to watching the Gronk/Edelman episode.  It was entirely the train wreck I had hoped for and so much more...

[ams1001]

"...in the Trump administration...was fired"

"Everybody!" 😂

[iMonrey]

Good grief, I thought Jenny Garth was going to be as bad as Alyson Hannigan for a minute there. She was pretty bad in her first round, she seemed way too distracted by the audience or something. Overall she doesn't strike me as being very bright. 

I still think the judging is far too lenient in the Winner's Circle. If the subject is "Things that _ Might Say" then they should be required to actually say that instead of just "blank." Also, the subject was Gas Stations and all Jenny Garth said was Gas and they gave it to her. Gas stations and gas are two very different things.

[opus]

A judge's acceptance that annoyed me last night was (don't remember which ep) "describe these words with Y in the middle of them" They accepted goodbye for bye. D is in the middle of goodbye.

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Good grief, I thought Jenny Garth was going to be as bad as Alyson Hannigan for a minute there. She was pretty bad in her first round, she seemed way too distracted by the audience or something. Overall she doesn't strike me as being very bright. 

Definitely. My thought was ditz. I'm glad she didn't completely bomb in the Winner's Circle.

Too bad that one contestant couldn't think of chameleon. That's THE clue.

One of the male contestants, Justin, was so calm when giving clues. 

"Toby" was pretty good.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Too bad that one contestant couldn't think of chameleon. That's THE clue.

Actually for "things that change colors" my first thought was "Fall Leaves." I was yelling that at the TV.

[SiouxB]

One of my favorite game shows from back in the day & I’m enjoying it now but Strahan drives me crazy.... if the contestant doesn’t win in the winner circle, he’s right there with a clue (yeah Michael, why don’t you try to make them feel worse than they already do ?)

Dick Clark used to do the exact same thing and I loathed him for it too..

[TAG42481]

1 hour ago, SiouxB said:

Dick Clark used to do the exact same thing and I loathed him for it too..

You ... loathed ... Dick Clark?!  TAKE THAT BACK! 😜

[jhlipton]

21 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Definitely. My thought was ditz. I'm glad she didn't completely bomb in the Winner's Circle.

Jennie was bad in the first round, but bounced back and was good in the other 5.

21 hours ago, peeayebee said:

One of the male contestants, Justin, was so calm when giving clues. 

One of the male contestants was rocking back and forth like crazy.  It was very distracting.

21 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Too bad that one contestant couldn't think of chameleon. That's THE clue

20 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Actually for "things that change colors" my first thought was "Fall Leaves." I was yelling that at the TV.

I said "chameleon" (which is indeed, the clue) and "mood rings".

"Stripper's legs" and "hooker's legs" for "Thing That Spread" were a bit risque (but funny!) for this show!  Too bad they didn't help!

[helpmerhonda]

4 hours ago, jhlipton said:

One of the male contestants was rocking back and forth like crazy.  It was very distracting.

This was driving me crazy!! The whole time I was thinking, "Bro, you have to sit still."

[lb60]

The one contestant lost me when she said she wanted to buy a dog with her winnings. They're called shelters, lady. Look into them!

Jenny Garth was not good.

23 hours ago, jhlipton said:

One of the male contestants was rocking back and forth like crazy.  It was very distracting.

Seriously! I've worked with autistic kids that rock less.

[jhlipton]

3 minutes ago, lb60 said:

The one contestant lost me when she said she wanted to buy a dog with her winnings. They're called shelters, lady. Look into them!

To be fair, they are DARN cute!  But $3600 for a dog???  Woof!

[Bridget]

I say the following as someone who owns the every season of “Beverly Hills, 90210” on DVD and is thrilled for the reboot: Jennie Garth was straight up painful to watch.

I know not everyone can be as good as Bridget Moynihan (loved her!), but Jennie didn’t seem as naturally ditzy as Gronk, Julian Edelman or Alyson H. 

From my perspective, she seemed like she was higher than a kite. 

Her posture, facial expressions, the cadence in her voice and her general interactions with the others struck me as being really odd. 

Yes, she made it to the Winner’s Circle, but she was playing against that guy from “This Is Us” who SUCKS. He and Jennie reminded me of Gronk and Edelman.

Did anyone else groan out loud and say “That guy?! Again?! He sucks!” when the actor from “This Is Us” appeared on their TV?

[peeayebee]

23 hours ago, jhlipton said:

To be fair, they are DARN cute!  But $3600 for a dog???  Woof!

What did she say the dog was? A meeky?

[jhlipton]

14 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

What did she say the dog was? A meeky?

Mi-Ki.

[Racj82]

Do not, will not ever care for animals being anywhere near me so I rolled my eyes at the dog thing.

Garth didn't read as high to me. She was super nervous and I think that screwed her.

[iMonrey]

Two bad episodes with four bad celebrities, and bad contestants too. That one lady didn't even seem to understand what "appliances" were. Geez. And Mary Lynn Rajskub sat there going "Uh, uh, uh," when the answer was "rock." She couldn't think of any clues for "Rock?" Wow. Just . . . wow. 

[suebee12]

I really thought that Hill Harper was going to be good...first round was super then it was downhill from there. It was fun to see him be "human" after  his role in The Good Doctor! And boy, does he have impressive degrees! (Harvard Law School, Bella Vista High School, Harvard University, Brown University, Harvard Kennedy School) If they ever cast Obama, he is the man to play him but he will have to wear lifts to be tall enough!

As for clues...when the category was things that are great, my first thought was Mohamed Ali! Would they have allowed a, b, c, d, e, f...... for alphabet?

Edited August 19, 2019 by suebee12

[opus]

2 hours ago, suebee12 said:

As for clues...when the category was things that are great, my first thought was Mohamed Ali!

I also thought sports, but went with Wayne Gretzky.

[iMonrey]

Quote

As for clues...when the category was things that are great, my first thought was Mohamed Ali! 

I thought of Frosted Flakes. They're Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

[sd dude]

Muhammad Ali occurred to me first as well.  Frosted Flakes is a pretty good clue for someone of a certain age (like me).  And I thought Chinese wall was brilliant although "big Chinese wall" should have be disqualifying in my opinion since big is a synonym for great.  I didn't think of bodies of water but Michael was correct that referring to the Great Lakes should have been a gimmee, although I don't think I would have thought to say "the 5 lakes" but rather would have said Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Ontario, etc.  and maybe the Salt Lake for good measure.

Oh and how about: "I'm made up of 26 letters that are used to make up all the words in the English language."  Ding!  That contestant really seemed to draw a blank once the timer started ticking.  I'm sure I can relate.

Question about the rules:  Is the contestant required to give the clues in the money round?  I know in the Dick Clark version it was the contestant's choice and in fact my recollection is the vast majority of the time the contestant would elect to have the celebrity give the clues, although there were definitely some exceptions to that, thus I know there was a choice available, at least in the original version.  Now it appears that the contestant immediately sits in the chair facing the pyramid by default, even when the contestant is quite clearly worse than the celebrity at giving clues!  Case in point: Van Der Beek.  That contestant from Brooklyn was not a very good player but was particularly poor at giving clues (not being unsympathetic.  I believe I'm fairly bright but under timed pressure in front of an audience I also can get easily flustered and seemingly unable to recall my basic vocabulary.)  When she was paired with Sara Haines, her performance at the money round was rather unimpressive (I'm pretty sure that a whisk and an egg beater are utensils, not appliances, but whatever).  But when she got paired with VDB, it was a whole new level of awful during the team competition, as in she was awful at giving clues and he was awful at guessing answers.  Yet, when the roles were reversed, their performance was perfect!  So, what do they do for round three, given that they have the option of deciding who gives and receives?  They practice common sense and have VDB give the clues again and guess what, they win the game!  That's why I ask if the contestant is required to give the clues for the money round, as common sense would dictate they should have elected to have VDB give the clues again, and she not only would have earned more money, she might have won $100,000!

Edited August 19, 2019 by sd dude