The Wall - General Discussion

[lynxfx]

17 hours ago, pinkandsparkly13 said:

Wow she was terrible! I had to guess on a few, but got them right. 

I read this before watching and thought they couldn't be that bad. Holy cow. I think this was the first time with zero correct answers. Listening to her say that there could be millions on the board. 😆 

The guy at least tried. 3 balls and only $3 is just bad luck. 

[saber5055]

4 hours ago, lynxfx said:

I read this before watching and thought they couldn't be that bad. Holy cow. I think this was the first time with zero correct answers. Listening to her say that there could be millions on the board.

I know, right? She not only didn't get any questions correct, she thought there could be MILLIONS on the board! You know, from all her correct answers. The host tried to smooth things over: Him: "The questions were harder than usual." Me: "No they weren't." I was really hoping she tore up the contract, they deserved to get nothing. But then NBC would have aired a full hour of dumbassery while The Wall is suppose to be "The Feel-Good Show." Eh.

Even @ottoDbusdriver didn't bother to recap for us. Too painful, I am sure!

[ottoDbusdriver]

1 hour ago, saber5055 said:

Even @ottoDbusdriver didn't bother to recap for us. Too painful, I am sure!

Watching both last week's show and this week's show now -- didn't even realize it was back

Thanks for the reminder @saber5055.

[opus]

9 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Watching both last week's show and this week's show now -- didn't even realize it was back

Thanks for the reminder @saber5055.

Two more to go according to the Deadline renewal story linked above in this thread.

 

>>>This comes as it scheduled the three remaining episodes of the third season, which launched in March. The final episodes will air on October 1, October 21 and October 28 at 8pm.<<<

Edited October 3, 2020 by opus

[ottoDbusdriver]

The Wall is back -- technically it was back on Sept. 24 for this episode, but hey, I'm playing catch up -- with Tiffany and CJ from Pennsylvania.  I missed the viral CJ story -- not sure when that happened, though I am pretty sure this was filmed WAAAAAAAAY back in Jan./Feb. because there is NO social distancing or masks in the audience.

The superfluous re-recorded voiceovers by Chris are many in this intro for Tiffany and CJ.

That BTS question was too easy, followed by the Mikey from the Life cereal ad, and the duckface question -- geez these are easy.
Can't believe they got the Talladega question wrong. That 'which number is longer question' was also too easy.  Exiting the FreeFall round with $65,005.

CJ is headed for the isolation booth.  I was disappointed in the 'special high five'.  Not so special, looked like a regular high five.
Tiffany needs to ditch those heels if she is going to be jumping in front of the Wall.

Into Round 2, the superdrop nets them $425,021, giving them a total of $490,026 -- which is a decent amount, but still no guarantee they will leave Round 2 in the positive.

Really ?  A Loch Ness Monster question -- and he wasn't sure about his answer.  Come on CJ.  And it nets them $1.
Followed by Cubs World Series question that was also a gimme, giving them $100K
Followed by a gimme Where's Waldo question.  And with a triple up, gets them $200,001
Red Superdrop removes $360,112, leaving them with $579,916.

The 4 green balls in Round 3 added $10, $50K, $10 + $200K respectively, bringing their total to $829,936.  
But we did get the traditional appearance of dead relative to justify picking a slot for a ball.
Finally we get some slightly tougher questions in Round 3 -- CJ gets the first question wrong and they lose $100.
A Hannah Montana question, seriously ?  He gets that wrong too, but they only lose $1.
CJ gets the 3rd question wrong, and it only costs them $50,002. Leaving them with $779,833 before the final 4 red balls, and a guarantee of $125,005.

The 4 red balls knock off another $700,101, leaving them with $79,733 -- good thing CJ signed the contract which gave them the bigger amount of the guarantee ($125,005).    Not life-changing money (after taxes) but a really nice new car for sure.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Time for another episode of The Wall with Keaton and Taylor, Air Force members and recent newlyweds.
Chris congratulates them on the wedding that was "literally two weeks ago".  Probably like more 9 or 10 months ago by the time this airs. Still no masks or social distancing.

Even more re-recorded voiceovers by Chris in this intro as well.  Seriously, they can't match the audio levels -- that's just lazy.

Freefall didn't go so well after they zeroed out by Question 2, but then they got 3 really simple questions and ended up with $55,132.  Getting $21 on that really easy Hunger Games question seemed appropriate.

Tribute to your fearlessness.  Wow !! Talk about going overboard with praise for TV.

The Round 2 green superdrop gets them $200,112, bringing their total to $255,244.
Taylor is really long-winded when it comes to the decision making process.  She just goes on and on.
She gets the first question wrong, and $10K gets removed from their total.
Since they doubled up for Q2 and Taylor it got wrong too, losing $125K.  This is not boding well.
Keaton triples up on Q3 because why not, Taylor gets it wrong -- again -- losing $60,010.
The red superdrop zeroes them out bigly, getting $260,102 which easily wipes out the $60,234 they had left.

Round 3 starts off with a bang, getting $1 on the first ball, followed by $1 on the 2nd ball, followed by $1 on the 3rd ball and finally getting $100K on the 4th ball.

My dad wasn't able to make it to our wedding because of a medical issue, so I'm choosing slot 5.  WTH ??  What does that have to do with choosing the number 5 ?  Or was Keaton dedicating that particular ball drop to him ?  It was just odd.

On the 1st Round 3 question Taylor says that 'My mother-in-law would die if I get this question wrong' -- and of course Taylor gets it wrong.  Better start building the casket for the mother-in-law, she may need it soon.  And just to hammer the nail in the coffin, to borrow a timely phrase, they zero out by hitting the million.  Ouch !

On the second question, Taylor just rambles on and on -- and of course she gets it wrong.  How do you not know the last line of 'Gone with the Wind' ?  Let alone think that "After all, tomorrow is another day" is from 'The Wizard of Oz'.  The ball drop is moot because they had $0, but if they were any good at this game they would have lost $100,001.

Question 3 was really easy if you know your history, but Taylor -- who is the one that is good at the trivia and pop culture between this couple -- and she hasn't got a clue.  She actually says "1512 was a long time ago."  No shit Sherlock.  And of course she gets it wrong.  Taylor goes 0 for 6 on questions.  Yet another moot ball drop, but they would have lost another $200,101.  

And since they zeroed out, they don't even bother with the last 4 red balls.

They're living in an RV. Trying to start a family (didn't they just get married ?). Need another car.
Chris actually tells Taylor that she played "a great game" -- no, she didn't. She sucked at answering the questions.
Taylor even acknowledges that she didn't get many questions right, but after rambling on and on and on eventually confirming that she signed the contract getting them $55,132.

Not really life changing money, but might get them that 2nd car after all (after taxes).  Or fix up the RV.

But they really didn't deserve to get anything after that disastrous game, because they only got 3 questions correct of 11 questions.

To summarize:
-- total money earned with green balls: $180,336
-- total money lost with red balls: $2,085,326 (and it should have been even more since they bypassed the last 4 red balls)

13 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I know, right? She not only didn't get any questions correct, she thought there could be MILLIONS on the board! You know, from all her correct answers. The host tried to smooth things over: Him: "The questions were harder than usual." Me: "No they weren't." I was really hoping she tore up the contract, they deserved to get nothing. But then NBC would have aired a full hour of dumbassery while The Wall is suppose to be "The Feel-Good Show." Eh.

Agreed, the questions weren't hard and they shouldn't have got anything.

Remember The Wall is all about "chance at massive winnings" and "people we love" -- still glad they got rid of the whole 'people who deserve money' from the early seasons.  Still too much Lebron in the Intro.

Edited October 3, 2020 by ottoDbusdriver

[saber5055]

2 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Round 3 starts off with a bang, getting $1 on the first ball, followed by $1 on the 2nd ball, followed by $1 on the 3rd ball and finally getting $100K on the 4th ball.

Even The Wall itself hated this couple.

Thanks @ottoDbusdriver for the great recaps. "They're gold, Jerry, gold I tell you!"

[saber5055]

Last night I kept track of my answers and total Wall money. I liked the couple playing, I remember when he saved that baby, it was on the news, so was for them winning money. But Oh, My, talk about them not knowing anything. How did either of them even make it through high school?

Anyway, I got both of the first questions correct that they missed, Childish Gambino (they need to watch SNL) and mouth of a river, so got $55,003 before the missed Romy and Michelle question left me with $10,003. I saw that movie so long ago, it was potluck remembering which was Lisa Kudrow.

They didn't know "artery" (!) but did know Garfield loves lasagna. Now I have $70,004. Ball drop added more $, then I knew primal and Manchester. Shocked she guessed those correctly out of thin air. I also knew challah, which she didn't  know, but that was only worth a buck. After all the green and red drops, I have $1,195,305. Wow me!

Who doesn't know the capitals/major cities of Oregon and Maine are both named Portland. This woman, that's who! Somehow she got phantom and Dalia Lama. Now I have $1,195,416.

Then the red-ball drop. Which proves you don't need to know jack on this show because the drop wiped the players out and wiped me out too. We all went home with a big fat nothing. Eh. That was no fun.

Edited October 22, 2020 by saber5055

[ottoDbusdriver]

After 3 weeks off we're back with a new episode of The Wall with Jeremie and Nikki, high school sweethearts from Ocala, Florida.
Gotta give Jeremie props, dude went above and beyond to save baby Kingston.

I'm pretty sure when Jeremie walked out on to the set he said "Oh my God, are you shitting me ?"
Dude, it's a family show at 8pm, you may want to dial it back just a little.

And they start off the Freefall round getting the first question wrong, so rightfully they should be down $35,001, but they get to stay pat at $0.  What wrong question ?  I don't nothing about no wrong question. What are you talking about ?  Uh, let's move on.

Seriously, they got the river question wrong.  WTF ??  They have rivers in Florida, right ?
Rightfully they should now be down $60,003, but it's all good, free pass back to zero.  Again.

After getting Q3 wrong as well, they should now be down $110,003.  I think they may have read the rules incorrectly, because they are doing it wrong.

Jeremie's a police officer, he has had to have some EMS training at some point, and he had to guess about artery -- seriously ??
But at least they guessed correctly to pick up $20,001. 

And they picked up another $40,000 on Q5 -- but their actually dollar amount for the 5 FreeFall questions should have been -$60,002 -- but they exit the FreeFall round with $60,001 (but not for lack of trying to be the first couple to fail to get out of the FreeFall round).

As we get further into the pandemic, it's still weird not seeing anyone in the audience wearing masks.  Or sitting further apart.

Green SuperDrop in Round 2 gets them $160,301 giving them a total of $220,302 -- a decent amount, but no guarantee to get out of Round 2 in the positive.
They score the big prize -- $250,000 -- on the first question, bringing them up to $470,302

When they showed Q2 answers displayed as London, Manchester and Liverpool, my guess at the question was: "Which UK city has the worst coronavirus outbreak ?"
We really do live in different times these days.  But a lucky guess gets them another $125,000, bringing the total to $595,302.

And a 3rd lucky guess gets them Q3 right -- seriously this is pulling horseshoes out of their ass lucky -- but only gets them another $1.

Red Superdrop knocks off $210,102 leaving them with $385,201 going into Round 3.

The 4 green balls in Round 3 get them $100, $300,000, $1, and $400,000 -- $700,301 in total, bringing their total to $1,085,302.  A healthy total going into the questions.

The odd thing is that with only 7 balls left to drop, there is still half the show left.  Must be a lot of padding coming.
Nikki correctly reasons out that Phantom was the longest running Broadway show, but only adding $100.

Nikki gets Q2 wrong, and they only lose $10.  And she guesses correctly for Q3 -- which is pretty good considering she hasn't seen most of Caddyshack -- getting them $1.

Nikki goes 5 for 6 in questions, surprisingly good considering most of her answers were guesses.
Their total for Round 3 questions was $89, for a new total of $1,085,393.  That ain't good when they should have been running up the total.

Though $160,001 is a pretty good guarantee. 

The 4 final red balls were not kind -- $400,000, $10, $500,000 and $400,000 -- totaling $1,300,010 and wiping them out.
The Wall can be cruel sometimes.  And Nikki tore up the contract so they go home with zilch.

 

Edited October 23, 2020 by ottoDbusdriver

[lynxfx]

That was the worst super drop the show has had. Only $25k for the green balls and over $600k for the red balls. Ouch. 

The Statan Island Ferry question was made for me. I moved to NYC in July of 1997 as a student and one of the free things I would do is ride the ferry round trip. 

Another hard episode to play along though when they constantly get wiped out to zero. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

And a new episode of The Wall with Denise and Tisha, electrician and bus driver sisters from Milwaukee.

They start off the Freefall round with a gimme movie question, followed by a gimme Burning Man question, but then they got the Julia Louis-Dreyfus question wrong and zeroed them out.  And then they get Q4 wrong, so everything is holding in the balance with Q5 -- another gimme question -- which garners them $50,100 at the end of the FreeFall round. But if they didn't have the $0 baseline, they should have only come out of FreeFall with $25,106.

Tisha heads off to isolation.

The green superdrop was pretty lame, only getting them another $25,112 for a total of $75,212.
That pizza question was pretty easy, and pays off with $250,000.
The Kanye question gets them another $15,000.
The final question of the round, a Lion King question, gets them another $10K, resulting in a total of $350,212.

But yeah, as @lynxfx mentioned, the red superdrop was not kind, dropping the hammer to the tune of $610,110 and zeroing them out.  Ouch !!

The four green balls of Round 3 get them $100 + $50K + $50K + 10, totalling $100,110.  Don't know if that's going to be enough.
They should have got the All-4-One question, 'cause I swear .... that question was easy.  And it wipes them out to zero when they hit the $200K slot.
They should have got the Staten Island Ferry question.  I thought everyone knew that -- I've taken it for free before. And those 2 red balls collect $100,001, but that's ok they're still at zero.
For Q3 even I knew Clueless was based on a Jane Austen novel -- and the red balls were flying to the tune of $1,100,010.  If only they had been green balls.

Let's add it up -- at this point they should be down $1,299,901 instead of at zero in Round 3.  I think they are playing this game wrong -- the goal is not to generate the most negative dollar values.

And we don't need the last 4 red balls -- again.  They went 6 for 11 in questions, including the FreeFall round.

The guarantee is $110,100, but Tisha tore up the contract.  So, for the 2nd week in a row the contestants go home with nothing.

I wonder if this is the last episode of 'The Wall' for a while.  How many of these could they have banked from before the coroanvirus ?

[saber5055]

12 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

So, for the 2nd week in a row the contestants go home with nothing.

Yeah, this show was being promo'd as "The Feel-Good Show of Summer" but hokey smokes, it sure isn't making any players feel good. But the show is making out like a bandit since they don't have to fork any cash out, just have to pay the host and the production people and they're good. Talk about banking money, the show is banking money.

Speaking of the host, I keep wanting to comb his hair. He's just not quite right for the Bed Head look.

The dialogue at the end of the show:

Host to player: "What's keeping you strong?"

Player (in my words): "I don't want to break down bawling on national tv."

Still, I'll miss this crazy show. Hope it comes back. It should since it's not costing the network anything.

[Diana Berry]

I still say they should at least give the constants 10k if they don’t have any money or make a donation to charity.  This is bumming me out.

[Kromm]

Who's cutting Chris Hardwick's hair now?  A Flowbee? 

[saber5055]

On 1/24/2021 at 7:19 PM, Kromm said:

Who's cutting Chris Hardwick's hair now?  A Flowbee? 

So hilarious. I didn't even recognize Hardwick with his new "do." But I guess if George Clooney can rock the Flowbee, so can Chris.

[Kromm]

3 hours ago, saber5055 said:

So hilarious. I didn't even recognize Hardwick with his new "do." But I guess if George Clooney can rock the Flowbee, so can Chris.

I guess his heiress wife can't cut hair. So Flowbee it is. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Wow, I have been so busy lately that I didn't even notice that there were new episodes this year.  Can't believe I've already missed 5 so far in 2021.

Just flipped over to NBC during the Super Bowl half-time show -- and you guys are right, what the hell is up with Hardwick's hair ?
It's like that episode of Seinfeld when Jerry got a bad haircut that made him look like he was 12 years old.

They are re-running the Jan. 25 episode tonight.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Finally catching up on the new 2021 episodes of 'The Wall'.

And we start off the premiere episode of the 4th season with Lisa and Daniel, a married couple from Indiana -- he's a construction worker and she's a counsellor, who help young women build confidence.

Lebron is back with the same "live out their dreams" clip.  You'd think they would at least update the clip or something.
Complete with fake crowd noise.  Seriously what's up with Hardwick's hair ??  It almost looks like a toupee.

First Freefall of 2021 -- and we get Freefall+, a gold + button that lets players double the amount of one Freefall question.  I guess FreeFall Pro Max+ was taken ©Apple, Inc.    Lisa calls it the magic button.   Giggity.

Lisa is in these giant heels, jumping up and down.  When will these players ever learn ?

They use the Freefall+ button on the first question -- and the balls turned gold.   Oooooooooohhh !!!  Gold Balls !!

Wow, these questions are easy.  They get 5 out of 5 -- ending the Freefall round with $95,244.

How easy were these questions.  Try Q3 -- The original Walkman was designed to play what: A) 8-tracks B) cassettes.
Other answers were -- Baby Yoda, Oklahoma Sooners, Ombre, Kit kat bar

And we get the 'Family Booth' with Lisa's parents.

Here's a new change -- the top value on the wall in Round 2 is only $150,000, down from $250,000 in previous seasons.  Also, the $100,000 slot was dropped to $75,000 while the $150,000 slot was dropped to $100,000.  Lower budget this year ????

Superdrop gives them $225,112, giving them a total of $320,356.

Daniel goes 1 out 3 in questions, leaving them with $345,335 -- with the Superdrop deducting $100,122 leaving them with $235,233 going into Round 3.

Lisa gets $10 + $1 + $500K + $200K with the first 4 green balls, giving them a total of $945,244 going into the questions.

Daniel goes 2 out 3 in questions, adding exactly $1 to their total (the questions scored $1 + -$1  + $1).  
That is the least amount of money you can make in the question portion of the round without hitting zero or going negative.  I don't think anyone has done that before.

The guarantee of $155,224 against a total of $945,245 going into the last 4 red balls  (hey, at least we get the last 4 red balls for the first time in long time).  The 4 red balls total $100K + $300K + $1 + $10 -- bringing them down to $545,235 -- which means Lisa and Daniel will actually go home with at least $155,224.

Daniel tore up the contract and they go home with $545,235 -- finally somebody goes home with big money.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode 2 of the 4th season with Brittany and CJ, siblings from New Jersey -- he's a middle-school teacher and she's a community event planner, and they are part of a Puerto Rican family, and they helped raise donations for supplies for Hurricane Maria relief in Puerto Rico.

They used the Freefall+ button on the 1st question and score $40,002.  Thanks Freefall+.

Wow these questions are really, really easy.  They get 5 out of 5 -- ending the Freefall round with $135,225.

CJ heads for the isolation booth.  And we get the 'Family Booth' with their father and uncle.

Green Superdrop gives them $250,021, giving them a total of $385,246.

CJ goes 2 out 3 in questions -- $10 + $15K + -$15,100 -- they lost $90 in the questions section, leaving them with $385,156 -- with the Red Superdrop deducting $325,102 leaving them with $60,054 going into Round 3.

Lisa gets $100 + $1 + $100 + $1 with the first 4 green balls, totalling $202 giving them a total of $60,256 going into the questions.

Daniel goes 3 out 3 in questions -- $10 + $600K + $550,000 -- which is pretty good total of $1,150,010, giving them a total of $1,210,366.

The guarantee is $235,225 against a total of $1,210,366 going into the last 4 red balls.  I was so used to them skipping the last 4 red balls, since it seemed to happen so often last season.

The 4 red balls total $100 + $100K + $100K + $100K -- bringing them down to $910,266, but still meaning that they will go home with decent money.

CJ tore up the contract and they go home with $910,266 -- 2 weeks in a row where the players go home with big money.  I almost don't believe it.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode 3 of the 4th season with Tamara and Leo, married couple from Arkansas -- she's a social worker and professor and he's a therapist and advocate for criminal justice reform.  Tamara also has super high heels.

They used the Freefall+ button on the 1st question and score $80,00.  Looks like everyone likes the FreeFall+ button on question 1 (we're 3 for 3 so far this season).

Wow these Freefall questions are super easy.  They get 5 out of 5 -- ending the Freefall round with $155,104.

Q5 -- Originally said on the air by Chevy Chase, the famous phrase typically said before the opening credits of "SNL" is "Live from New York, It's" what ? : A) Saturday Night B) Sunday Night

Leo heads for the isolation booth.  And we get the 'Family Booth' with Tamara's brother-in-law and sister-in-law (I guess that means they are Leo's brother and sister).

Green Superdrop gives them $175,203, giving them a total of $330,127.

Leo goes 2 out 3 in questions -- -$10 + $150,001 + $75K -- totaling $224,991 and giving them a total of $555,118 -- with the Red Superdrop deducting $275,201 leaving them with $279,917 going into Round 3.

Tamara gets $400K + $10 + $10 + $100K with the first 4 green balls, totaling $500,020 giving them a total of $779,937 going into the questions.

Leo gets 1 out of 3 in questions -- $100K + -$200K + -$200K -- for a net of -$300K, giving them a total of $479,937.

The guarantee is $215,104 against a total of $479,937 going into the last 4 red balls.
The 4 red balls total $1 + $50K + $500K -- zeroing them out, so there was no need for the 4th red ball.

Thankfully CJ signed the contract and they go home with $215,104 -- I was worried for a minute there that they might go home with nothing, which is more typical for this show.

Edited February 14, 2021 by ottoDbusdriver

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode 4 of the 4th season with Travis and Michael, cousins from Ohio -- they have their own roofing company, and every year that donate 1 new roofing job to someone in need like disabled veterans.

And for the first time this season, they don't use the Freefall+ button on the 1st question.  They finally use the Freefall+ on question 3 and get it right.

The Freefall questions continue to be super, super easy.  They get 5 out of 5 -- ending the Freefall round with $120,415.

Michael heads for the isolation booth.  And we get the 'Family Booth' with Michael's wife and Travis' girlfriend.

We get the first disappointing Green Superdrop of the season that only adds up to $20,104 (3 of the 7 balls were $1), giving them a total of $140,519.

Michael goes 3 out 3 in questions -- $25k + $150,010 + $1 -- totaling $175,001 and giving them a total of $315,530 -- with the Red Superdrop deducting $205,013 leaving them with $110,517 going into Round 3.

Travis gets $50K + $1 + $1 + $1 with the first 4 green balls, totaling $50,003 giving them a total of $160,520 going into the questions.   And we get our first dead relative dedication of the season (but it only produced $1 from the 4th ball).

Michael gets 2 out of 3 in questions -- -$50K + $900K + -$1,000,000 -- for a net of -$150K, giving them a total of $10,520.   Ouch !!!

The guarantee is $200,415 against a total of $10,520 going into the last 4 red balls.
The 4 red balls total $1 + $400K -- zeroing them out, so there was no need for the 3rd and 4th red ball.

Michael tore up the contract and they go home with zero.  

The Wall is back, baby -- building up hope and then crushing spirits by taking away all the money.

ETA: had to fix a few things -- case of copy-and-paste-itis.  :)

Edited February 18, 2021 by ottoDbusdriver

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode 5 of the 4th season with KD and CJ, married couple from Georgia -- CJ is a sheriff and KD is a gospel singer who had a video go viral (she's a really good singer -- try doing a 9-part harmony with yourself).

Wow, that's the 2nd CJ we've had this season.  Thankfully KD is wearing flats that are ideal for jumping up and down in front of the wall -- just based on that common sense decision alone I hope they go home with big money.

And for the 2nd time this season, they don't use the Freefall+ button on the 1st question.  They finally use the Freefall+ on question 3 and get it right.

The Freefall questions continue to be so very easy.  They get 5 out of 5 -- ending the Freefall round with $135,144.

Take Q3 for example -- The fax machine was a technological marvel for the pre-Internet age.  What is Fax short for ? A) Facsimile, B) Factor Matrix
What the hell is a 'factor matrix' ?

CJ heads for the isolation booth (the 2nd CJ in the isolation booth this season).  And we get the 'Family Booth' with KD's brother-in-law and the brother-in-law's wife.

The Green Superdrop adds up to $210,002, giving them a total of $345,146.

CJ goes 2 out 3 in questions -- $100 + -$10,000 + $200,010 -- totaling $190,110 and giving them a total of $535,256 -- with the Red Superdrop deducting $50,222 leaving them with $485,034 going into Round 3.  

Hardwick calls the red superdrop the "evil superdrop".  How is it "evil" exactly ?

KD gets $1 + $1,000,000 + $200K + $50K with the first 4 green balls, totaling $1,250,001 giving them a total of $1,735,035 going into the questions.  

CJ gets 1 out of 3 in questions -- -$400K + -$300,001 + $1,000,000 -- for a net of $299,999, giving them a total of $2,035,034.

The guarantee is $195,144 against a total of $2,035,034 going into the last 4 red balls.
The 4 red balls total $100K + $50K + $1 + $1,000,000 -- deducting $1,100,001 and giving them $885,033.  I can't believe that they hit the million 3 times.

CJ signed the contract and they go home with $195,144.

Edited February 14, 2021 by ottoDbusdriver

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode 6 of the 4th season with Debbie and Ghadir, grandmother and granddaughter from Baltimore -- Debbie is a retired police officer who does community service projects.  We don't find out what Ghadir does.

They use the Freefall+ button on the 1st question, doubling up to $70,002.  Which is pretty good for just one question.

The Freefall questions continue to be painfully easy.  They get 5 out of 5 -- ending the Freefall round with $165,223.

Take Q1 for example -- Myrtle Beach, a popular destination for swimming, fishing and golf, is on which coast of the United States ? A) East Coast, B) West Coast

Debbie heads for the isolation booth.  And we get the 'Family Booth' with Ghadir's dad and brother.

The Green Superdrop adds up to $230,021, giving them a total of $395,244.

Debbie goes 1 out 3 in questions -- $10K + -$60K + -$10 -- totaling -$50,010 and giving them a total of $345,234 -- with the Red Superdrop deducting $185,013 leaving them with $160,221 going into Round 3.

Ghadir gets $100 + $100K + $1 + $400K with the first 4 green balls, totaling $500,101 giving them a total of $663,322 going into the questions.  

Debbie gets 0 out of 3 in questions -- -$300K + -$100 + -$800,100 -- zeroing them out.  For the first time this season, we won't get to see even part of the last 4 red balls.

The guarantee is $185,223, and thankfully Debbie signed the contract and they go home with decent money.

[opus]

@ottoDbusdriver  Nice job, you’re all caught up. Two (2!) more scheduled for tomorrow.

[saber5055]

Maybe I'm cranky but I hated that those two women took home a nice paycheck Monday night. They couldn't even get the easy first questions right, but since they didn't have any $ they didn't lose any $ for being stupid. I mean, incorrect. I might be done with this show, tired of women wearing way too-tight clothes and high heels jumping around and doing OTT theatrics after each ball drop. At least no one is picking Hardwick up and swinging him around any more. That's one plus.

[Bliss]

We watched an episode of this show last night - not sure which one, because I tape them and then watch a one hour show in 10 minutes because I ff through all the FLUFF (I love you for these reasons... I love you more... etc.), the reasons for choosing which number (sorry, peeps, but I don't give a dang when your great-uncle's birthday is) and explanations of how the game works. I even ff through the bulk of the balls dropping (I stop just before they land so I can scream at my tv when the ball misses the million and lands in the $1 slot) because I only have one life to live and I don't have that much time left to waste! Basically, I watch the questions. Hence, 10 min.

It must be part of their agreement to wait an agonizing amount of time before they reveal their decision to sign vs rip up the contract... and then the same agonizing amount of time to reveal what was left on the wall and whether the isolated team member made the right decision.

Those balls can be mean!

I adore Chris Hardwick (wish he'd bring back his messy hair) and think he's one of the most 'real' hosts out there. He absolutely cracks me up with his antics on stage. Those pushups were remarkable!

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode 7 of the 4th season with Jason and Jay, married Navy veterans and expectant fathers from Maryland.

They use the Freefall+ button on the 2nd question, doubling up to $40,202.  On Q3 they manage to get THE lowest amount possible on a single FreeFall question -- $3.

The Freefall questions continue to be painfully easy.  They get 5 out of 5 -- ending the Freefall round with $90,407.
Take Q3 for example -- Every year, at least five federal holidays are observed on which day of the week ? A) Monday, B) Friday

I really liked both of their speeches before Jay went to the isolation booth.
Seriously, really impressed by Jay doing those jumping push-ups --  I'd be out after attempting just 1 of them.  :)

The Green Superdrop adds up to $200,103, giving them a total of $290,510.

Jay goes 2 for 3 in questions -- $150K + $10K + -$50K -- totaling $110,000 and giving them a total of $400,510 -- with the Red Superdrop deducting $175,112 leaving them with $225,398 going into Round 3.

Jason gets $1 + $1 + $500K + $1 with the first 4 green balls, totaling $500,003 giving them a total of $725,401 going into the questions.  

Jay gets 1 out of 3 in questions -- $10 + -$500K + -$400,100 -- zeroing them out.

The guarantee is $150,407, and thankfully Jay signed the contract and they go home with some money.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode 8 of the 4th season with Terra and Brandi, sisters and educators from Atlanta.

They get the first 3 Freefall questions wrong, so the pressure is on for the last 2 questions.

The Freefall questions continue to be painfully easy.
Take Q3 for example -- In one of his popular country hits, Garth Brooks sings that he's "got friends in" which of these "places" A) High, B) Low

They use the Freefall+ button on the 4th question -- and get it right, doubling up to $40,040.  And they get the 5th question right, exiting the FreeFall round with $90,050.  But if they had included the money they lost on the first 3 questions ($74,121) they should rightfully have only had $14,929.

And we get 3 family members in the Family Booth or VIP section, including Brandi's son, nephew and brother-in-law. 

The Green Superdrop adds up to $50,114, giving them a total of $140,164.

Brandi goes 3 for 3 in questions -- $100 + $75K + $50K -- totaling $125,100 and giving them a total of $265,264 -- with the Red Superdrop deducting $275,120 and zeroing them out.

Terra gets $100 + $500K + $300K + $200K with the first 4 green balls -- an impressive recovery totaling $1,000,100.

Brandi gets 2 out of 3 questions -- $100K + $200,100 + -$500K -- netting -$199,900 and leaving them with $800,200.

The 4 red balls tally up to $200,012 ($10 + $1 + $1 + $200K), giving them a total of $600,188.

The guarantee is $190,050, and Brandi signed the contract giving them some money as well.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Because of the large payouts in the first 2 episodes, the average payout so far this season is $298,928.63.  Which is above average for this show.

For example, the last 4 episodes of last season paid out an average of $45,034.25 (especially since 2 of those 4 episodes paid out nothing).

Payouts so far this season are:
E1 -- $545,235
E2 -- $910,266
E3 -- $215,104
E4 -- $0
E5 -- $195,144
E6 -- $185,223
E7 -- $150,407
E8 -- $190,050

Edited February 18, 2021 by ottoDbusdriver

[opus]

On 2/16/2021 at 1:25 PM, saber5055 said:

Maybe I'm cranky but I hated that those two women took home a nice paycheck Monday night. They couldn't even get the easy first questions right, but since they didn't have any $ they didn't lose any $ for being stupid. I mean, incorrect. I might be done with this show, tired of women wearing way too-tight clothes and high heels jumping around and doing OTT theatrics after each ball drop. At least no one is picking Hardwick up and swinging him around any more. That's one plus.

I often find myself rooting against the contestants and for the red balls. I haven't figured out if that says more about the show, or more about me.

 

[SHD]

18 hours ago, opus said:

I often find myself rooting against the contestants and for the red balls. I haven't figured out if that says more about the show, or more about me.

 

I think it says more about how they choose their contestants and how they make them act. They must instruct them to act like sugar-fueled 5 year olds and scream and fall around like that. I've never met a person in real life who displays that kind of energy naturally. It's annoying.

[opus]

43 minutes ago, SHD said:

I think it says more about how they choose their contestants and how they make them act. They must instruct them to act like sugar-fueled 5 year olds and scream and fall around like that. I've never met a person in real life who displays that kind of energy naturally. It's annoying.

I have seen some antic people on The Price Is Right, but to be fair, they’re only on for a few minutes at a time.

[ottoDbusdriver]

For the Feb. 22 episode, the guide listing has the following: "Team USA Celebration: Apolo And Bianca -- The Wall celebrates NBC's Tokyo Olympic Games! Two-time gold medalist speed skater Apolo Ohno, and his fiancée Bianca Stam, take on The Wall to raise huge amounts of money for the Team USA Fund, supporting future Olympic and Paralympic athletes."

Since it's a fundraiser, prepare for super duper easy questions.
 

[saber5055]

I wasn't going to watch last night's ep, but flipped over and saw Apolo Ono, someone I really like. So I stayed and watched.

Man, talk about a painful episode in so many ways. I'm really sorry I didn't flip back to ... whatever was on the other channel.

I did learn Apolo now has a real not imagined girlfriend, the only positive takeaway I got. I also liked he was wearing tennis shoes. But man, the rest was ultra depressing.

I guess The Wall has joined all the other contest shows that are doing charity giveaways now. I guess celebrities don't get COVID-19.

[lynxfx]

Apollo is the first player to use the right strategy with those green ball drops. Aggressive at first and then protect that money with using location #1. He just got extremely unlucky with a ball moving all the way to the right.

Was this shot in early 2020? They talked like everything was prepandemic and that the Olympics weren't post poned a year. Unless I missed it. 

[SHD]

First time I’ve liked and rooted for the contestants and such a bad outcome. Apollo might be the first player who was just the right amount of enthusiastic and showed appropriate reactions. I wish non-celeb contestants were more like him. I might root for them more.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode 9 of the 4th season with Winter Olympian Apolo Ono and his fiancé Bianca, playing for the Team USA Fund for a maximum of $1 million.  Interesting fun fact -- Bianca can speak 6 languages fluently.

They zero out after the first 3 Freefall questions, so the pressure really was on for that last 2 Freefall question.  And then they got the 4th question wrong which really ratcheted up the pressure.  Thankfully, they came out in the positive on the 5th question with $35,010.  The did use the FreeFall+ on the first question, but it didn't make a difference in the end.

I did like that Apolo seemed to have a little PrimeTimer in his DNA when he asked "Is it possible for this to go negative ?".  I ask that all the time.

Apolo's excuse for getting Q4 wrong was amusing. 

On "Beverly Hills 90210", Brian Austin Green played Donna Martin's Off-Again On-Again love interest David. What was David's last name ?  A) Gold B) Silver
After getting the question wrong, Apolo said: "I only have gold on my mind, what is this silver nonsense ?"

The Green Superdrop gets them $285,120 -- giving them a total of $320,130.

Bianca goes 1 for 3 in questions -- $150K + -$100 + -$150,002 (he tripled up) -- totaling -$102 and giving them a total of $320,028 -- and the Red Superdrop is not so evil this day, only deducting $25,222 and leaving them with $294,806.

Going into round 3 Apolo gets $100 + $1,000,000 + $300K + $100K with the first 4 green balls -- netting an impressive $1,400,100, and producing a total of $1,594,906.

Bianca gets 1 out of 3 questions correct -- -$50K + $500,010 (doubled up) + -$50K -- netting $400,010 and leaving them with a very, very impressive $2,094,916.  Which looks pretty good going into the last 4 red balls.

But the last 4 red balls are not kind -- if this was the green round of 4 balls it would have been awesome -- and Apolo ended up hitting the million twice and zeroing them out.  Red balls totaled -$500K + -$1,000,000 + -$1,000,000 (there was no need for the 4th red ball).  Seriously, he hit the million 3 times in one game.  The last red ball that hit a million started from the #1 position -- how often does that happen ?

The guarantee is $75,010, but Bianca tore up the contract -- and not surprisingly that is exactly what Apolo had indicated that he wanted her to do right before the final red balls.  But Chris announces that they are getting $100K anyway.

I was rooting for Apolo and Bianca -- for once, they really seemed to be a pair of players in tune with each other.  Apolo would say something and Bianca would repeat essentially the same thing from the isolation booth.  And despite the FreeFall round, Apolo looked like he had studied the game and had really good strategy going.  Like playing ball positions to try and protect the million that they had in the 3rd round. Only for it to be destroyed by hitting the million twice in the last four red balls.  

Overall, a really enjoyable episode.

[WAnglais1]

I paused the credits on this show one night. They read that whatever is won is paid as an annuity over 25 YEARS. So much for those life changing amounts of money. You won $200,000! A whopping $8,000 a year. Or, you could cash out the annuity right away. 

I didn't think I could like this show less. Now, I can. Still like Hardwick since he's Wil Wheaton's bestie and got him to stop drinking. 

[rr2911]

On 2/23/2021 at 9:25 PM, SHD said:

First time I’ve liked and rooted for the contestants and such a bad outcome. Apollo might be the first player who was just the right amount of enthusiastic and showed appropriate reactions. I wish non-celeb contestants were more like him. I might root for them more.

Lol...I thought I was the only who thought this way! I really find it difficult to root for the contestants with their over the top enthusiasm. One part I really don't like is when the contestants have to say something to each other. It's so corny and I think it's unnecessary. Yep, for the first time I was rooting for someone to win money. Apollo and Bianca were very likeable.

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

On 2/25/2021 at 10:01 AM, WAnglais1 said:

I paused the credits on this show one night. They read that whatever is won is paid as an annuity over 25 YEARS. So much for those life changing amounts of money. You won $200,000! A whopping $8,000 a year. Or, you could cash out the annuity right away. 

I didn't think I could like this show less. Now, I can. Still like Hardwick since he's Wil Wheaton's bestie and got him to stop drinking. 

That's actually a pretty standard practice on most game shows that have large winnings. 
Most people take the present day cash value of the annuity and then lose nearly half to taxes.

First time I noticed this was on Fear Factor way back in the day when they had a $1 million multi-episode contest.

[Kromm]

As bored as the US version of this show makes me, I've come to LOVE the UK version, because while it's the same crappy game, it's hilariously hosted by British icon Danny Dyer.

Here's a little sampling:

 

[opus]

After watching the Olympics, that Tokyo question was easy. Wouldn't have known before though.

(Oh yeah, in case you didn't know, show's back)

[ottoDbusdriver]

I had no idea this was back. Thanks for the heads up @opus .

[saber5055]

I only saw a few minutes when I flipped over from the show I was really watching, but I found the woman to be insufferable and was glad I had another station to flip back to. The guy seemed pretty smart though, at least for the few questions I saw. Hoping Otto posts a recap so I don't have to actually watch more of that woman, reading about it will spare me that pain.

[lynxfx]

3 hours ago, saber5055 said:

The guy seemed pretty smart though

He wasn't by himself. Only got 2 out of 6 missing a few pretty easy questions. 

The lady really lucked out with the drops, especially the red balls. She was too risky late in the game but for her it paid off. Based on his performance and knowing they had a large guarantee I would have signed too.

I really want to see a team play a solid strategy with the balls and not just be willy nilly with placement. Be very aggressive in round 1 since only 1 ball in round 2 can make or break you. So even if you have zero going into round 2 it isn't that big of a deal.

[saber5055]

17 minutes ago, lynxfx said:

I really want to see a team play a solid strategy with the balls and not just be willy nilly with placement.

You mean, "I'm dropping this ball from 4 because I have four grand kids" isn't a solid strategy? Who knew!

[ottoDbusdriver]

You know this show has been off the air for a while when you start to do the recap and realize this is Episode 11 of Season 4, but the last show I recapped was Episode 9 of the 4th season with Winter Olympian Apolo Ono and his fiancé Bianca -- so what happened to Episode 10 ?  Turns out there was another episode on May 27 in honor of Red Nose Day.  Who knew ??  I'm going to have to see if I can find that mysterious 10th episode of Season 4 somewhere.

Still no explanation of what the hell Lebron James is doing in the opening credits.  I know he is one of the executive producers, but the show has never directly explained his involvement in the show.  It's just weird.

Anyhow, for Episode 11 of the 4th season we have Tammy and Doug from Virginia, a school administrator and trucking supply company worker/Army veteran.
Interesting fun fact -- Tammy helps out high school kids with prom, providing help getting tuxedos and prom dresses for kids at the high school she works at.
No crowds at the episode taping, but lots of fake crowd noise -- but they did bring one of their daughters and the daughter's friend to cheer them on.

They get the first Freefall question wrong, but still can't go below $0 so it makes no difference, but then go on a run getting the last 4 Freefall questions right accumulating $40,100 + $100,002 + $20,011 + $20,101 for a total of $180,214.  They used the FreeFall+ on the 3rd question and it paid off.  And I think that is the highest amount coming out of the Freefall round that I have seen (or remember at least).

Doug heads to the isolation booth.

The Green Superdrop gets them $110,002 -- giving them a total of $290,216.

Doug goes 1 for 3 in questions in Round 2 -- -$100K + $25K + -$75K -- totaling -$150K and giving them a total of $140,216.  The Red Superdrop is pretty harsh, deducting $275,112 and zeroing them out.

In Round 3, Tammy gets $10 + $300K + $300K + $1million with the first 4 green balls -- a nice recovery from zero after Round 2 -- producing a total of $1,600,010.

Doug gets 1 out of 3 questions correct -- -$10 + $1 + -$10 -- netting -$19 and leaving them with $1,599,991. You have to admit that getting 2 questions wrong and only losing $19 is pretty good.

There is a lot of hemming and hawing around the contract -- like over 2 and a half minutes where literally nothing happened.

They did really well on 3 of the last 4 red balls -- the last 3 red balls each hit $1 (what are the odds), but the first of the last 4 red balls hit $400K leaving them with $1,199,988.  
In fact, the last red ball to hit $1 was in the slot immediately to the right of the 1 million slot so they could have easily lost most of the money.

The guarantee is $220,214, and Doug signed the contract -- at least Doug didn't drag out the drama for long before announcing that he signed the contract.   I liked the little noise Doug made when he found out that they could have walked away with nearly $1.2 million.

[opus]

22 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

what happened to Episode 10 ?  Turns out there was another episode on May 27 in honor of Red Nose Day.  Who knew ??  I'm going to have to see if I can find that mysterious 10th episode of Season 4 somewhere.

One place is over at NBC’s website 
 

https://www.nbc.com/the-wall/video/red-nose-day-jon-and-stephanie/4369385

[lynxfx]

I watched the red nose episode on Hulu. It is still there.

[ottoDbusdriver]

In a better late than never recap moment (only 2 and half months from when the episode aired, but whatever), we have Episode 10 of the 4th season with Jon and Stephanie, an airport baggage handler and a children's speech pathologist from Dallas, Texas.  Interesting fun fact -- their 10-year-old daughter Mackenzie wanted to start a food program for the homeless, and the whole family pitched in to make it happen and now they deliver 50 meals to the homeless every weekend.

They get the first Freefall question wrong, but then go on a run getting the last 4 Freefall questions right accumulating $40,001 + $35,001 + $40,020 (using Freefall+) + $25,002 for a total of $140,024.

But wait, Kristen Bell stops by via video on the Wall for a trivia challenge for Chris Hardwick.  Chris gets the question right (it was a Rock'em Sock'em Robots question) and earns $150,000 for the Red Nose Day charity -- the money was courtesy of Walgreen's.

For family in attendance there are Jon/Stephanie's daughter, Mackenzie, and Jon's sister Donna.   Stephanie heads to the isolation booth.

The Green Superdrop gets them $360,101 -- giving them a total of $500,125.

Stephanie goes 1 for 3 in questions -- $1 + -$75K + -$10 -- totaling -$74,989 and giving them a total of $425,116.  The Red Superdrop is pretty easy, only deducting $110,202 and giving them a total of $314,914.

On to Round 3

Jon gets $300K + $1 + $1 + $1 million with the first 4 green balls -- producing a total of $1,614,916.

Interesting sidenote -- Jon/Stephanie have nearly the same amount of money at this point in the episode as Tammy/Doug did the following episode.

Stephanie goes 0 for 3 in questions -- -$50K + -$10 + -$50K -- netting -$100,010 and leaving them with $1,514,906.  Which seems like a good total going into the 4 red balls section of round 3.

The first 3 red balls were not kind -- -$300K + -$1M + -$300K -- zeroing them out, and not requiring that the last red ball be dropped.

The guarantee was $160,024, and thank goodness Stephanie signed the contract -- Stephanie even got a little teary-eyed during her explanation of why she signed the contract.