Press Your Luck - General Discussion

[gsnrocks92]

ABC spared no expense with the food related prizes on this episode. 5 years worth of hot dogs, 100 apple pies, and 4 years of 2x a month trips to Outback Steakhouse. I wonder if the contestant just put that last one as a joke when filling out whatever forms they have for the personalized prizes. I mean nothing screams ‘Merica more than an Americanized fake Australian chain restaurant.

Glad they didn’t pull this episode just for one of the contestants being a cop, though it probably helped she didn’t win. Apparently they did this with an episode of The Wall though that show can’t help itself with it’s OTT sob stories.

[chitowngirl]

I was yelling at the TV for him to take it all after the round! I looked at the time and realized he would. If he would have hit a whammy and lost it, he would have gone to the next round to build it back up again, but the clock told me what was going to happen.

[853fisher]

I thought the winner's approach was very sensible.  He can take a nice European vacation with the cash he won.

I did think there was something very funny about the police officer getting the burglar whammy, and staring it down with “you should be in jail.”  She was a good sport.  I was rooting for her to start, since San Jose is in my neck of the woods.

When Elizabeth said (paraphrasing) "you probably have noticed that we're doing it big tonight because of my outfit," I genuinely hadn't.  I think she looks incredible every week, but I do love a bit of flash.

I want to be careful not to veer inappropriately into politics, but this was pitched about right for me in terms of "patriotic celebration."  No jingoism or partisanship, just a bit of trivia about civics and history with a dash of thanking people in uniform.  That's my America.

It probably helps that I think this show is so good at keeping the "inspiration porn" in check overall.  They pick generally rootable people, leave the revelation of their hopes and dreams for a few moments in the bonus round, don't overuse the family, etc

This is great feel-good summer TV for me.  I like it so much more than I thought I might.  Now I look forward to it weekly.

[gsnrocks92]

Another almost-million dollar winner tonight, they really seem to want it to happen. It helped that tonight’s winner already won a lot in the main game including a freaking Mercedes, so he was in a position to take risks in the bonus round. But at least we know it’s possible to achieve. ABC is throwing money at this show with Tesla’s and these ridiculous “______ for life” prizes. It’s weird when it leads into Match Game that is “only” $25,000. 
 

This episode was dangerously close to The Wall territory with being overly sappy and emotional with the engagement ring prize but it’s not as forced on here. I will say Elizabeth Banks deserves an Emmy for her hosting. Nobody else genuinely roots for the contestants like she does.

[opus]

Forget the cars. I think I’d just tell people I won a lifetime supply of gumballs.

[Taeolas]

It's not often that a game show host needs to be bleeped out of sheer excitement for the contest. Banks is a great host for this type of thing. 🙂

They're really trying for the 1M; I'm positive we're going to see 1 1M winner by the end of the season. This guy got really close. I know the rules say "500k in the bonus round" but the starting amount should count IMO. (If that was the case this guy would have 1M). 

As for his bonus playing, he played exactly as I would have, no matter how much I had banked. The Penultimate round, he "only" had 120k or so, and no wammies, so it was worth going for more. Then he got the wammy in the last spin of the penultimate round. 1 Wammy, no money, there's no reason NOT to keep going, and man did he go. 

[853fisher]

I hope nobody is bored of me coming here once a week to say that Elizabeth looks fabulous and is just the right amount of engaged for this kind of show.  I don't have many other plans right now, you understand. 😉

The mother reminded me powerfully of...someone.  I don't know who exactly, but I do know that "oh my gawd, is there another round?" just about killed me.  I did wonder, where was the father's car?

Couldn't they stop tape, call Tesla to inquire about options, and add seat warmers or something to bump those prices up?  I agree, they really want it to happen, and I wonder whether it will.

It certainly has me looking forward to next week!

Edited July 13, 2020 by 853fisher

[Eolivet]

I've never been so happy to see someone miss out on the million. A single rich white kid who plays poker for fun, puts an engagement ring for his long-time girlfriend up as a prize and asks for a Tesla (which the show bumps up to two Teslas), plays a flawless game until he hits two Whammys, somehow hits the $100K twice with extra spins, plus the two Teslas, and misses out on the million by less than $20K.

A balm for my soul in 2020.

If someone's going to win the million, I want it to be someone who needs it. He wasn't it.

[Maverick]

I'd rather this not turn into The Wall.  

The money in the first round doesn't count toward the $500,000 because it's never at risk.  The bonus round is independent of the main game.  

 As someone said, it's kind of ridiculous to have people winning hundreds of thousands on this show then the max on Match Game be $25k.  I wish they would just play two regular rounds like they do on Match Game and Card Sharks.  They have decent enough prizes in the regular game to be comparable with the other nighttime shows. 

[starri]

On 7/14/2020 at 2:47 AM, Maverick said:

I'd rather this not turn into The Wall.  

Me either, but for some reason, I find it really endearing here.

I think a big part of that might be due to Elizabeth, who I just like so much more than Chris Hardwick.

[Taeolas]

Part of it is Elizabeth's energy and bubbliness I'm sure. 

 

I think the other part is the variety of prizes, and the fact that the story gets spread out over multiple rounds. 

The variety means you get some real strange things, like "A fence!" and "1000 Chromebooks" and "A lifetime supply of socks!" or whatever it is; and when those come up, I want to know what the story is behind them. And often times those stories are cute or just fun, not necessarily heart tuggers. 

With the wall, you get heart dumped at around 3 spots during the game ,and you always know it's going to be a heart tugger. And it's always money related since that's all they can have. So there's no variety. Just people sobbing about what they would do with all the money basically. 

Sure the later prizes tend to get extra personal; but even then, they're still usually personal fun things. 

I think I would still prefer to have 2 rounds instead of a prize round; but I find I don't FF through Press as much as I do the Wall or some of the other shows. 

[Maverick]

 The prattling on about how great the contestant is doesn't get too bad here.  My point was I don't want it to become where you have to have a resume for sainthood to be eligible to play.   I want to watch a game show,  not vet whether they're worthy or not (plus I believe most sob stories / good dead doer stories having a certain amount of Hollywood exaggeration).   But this is why I wish they'd just play two rounds with people winning modest amounts.   

 I like the smaller personalized prizes like the socks or tickets to a meaningful event.   I don't even mind some of the more lavish ones like the mobility van.   But two Teslas?   I don't care who the contestant is, that's really getting kind of obscene.  But they must have some special deal with Tesla because it's been a prize several times.   I doubt that many people are specifically listing a Tesla as a dream prize, unless they're recruiting contestants from the Tesla marketing list.   

[Maverick]

 Another rerun this week. Are they trying to stretch the season out or did production get cut short due to covid?

[lambertman]

16 hours ago, Maverick said:

 Another rerun this week. Are they trying to stretch the season out or did production get cut short due to covid?

Stretching. They were able to tape all 13 episodes in February; there are still eight more in the can.

[saber5055]

I haven't been able to watch this season so the reruns are new to me. Elizabeth toned down HUGELY this season so she's gone from barely tolerable last season to actually good this season. I wonder if players realize they would have to pay taxes on those prize cars, which would take all of the cash the tax man allowed them to keep. Would make more sense to skip the cars, take the cash and buy that auto when they get home. Still, this is a harmless way to spend a brainless hour.

[Taeolas]

OK I think the Board was looser than it normally is. That was a lot of extra spins and a lot of money. Theo got more than most people get for the full game just from the first half. 

It was nice to see all 3 return. I think the show realized how popular it was to have a returning contestant last season (or earlier?) and made the theme episode this time. And it worked. 

I also liked that all the questions were 80's themed. Theo caught himself on the second to last one; almost saying New York when the borough was needed. Nice catch, even if he was ultimately wrong. 🙂

I was a bit worried when the first spins hit Wammies right off the bat; but then we got no more until the end basically. Was it just me or did they bring out the classic Wammies instead of the normal ones? The very first one seemed a lot more granulated than the ones we see nowadays. 

He made it to the final bonus round, and really he had no reason NOT to play it. His prize pool was a lot smaller than his first winnings, and he only had 1 Wammy.  He only got 6k in chopper leasons from that; but man everything else he got was great. I do almost wish he got the africa trip too; but I'm sure he can afford it. 🙂

[starri]

That may have been my favorite episode yet.  The contestants were having a blast, Elizabeth was having a blast, and the game was exciting.

[lynxfx]

I was waiting for someone to get the "add a 1" when they already had at least $10k. They have had that one all season but I never saw the double your money tile before. Was that new this ep?

Agree that it was a great ep. The two ladies were throwing some shade. lol

[Taeolas]

Tactically, the woman in the middle played it wrong. She was trying to get to second place, but she should've punted her spins to Theo ASAP. 

If I had been her, I would've spun once after the wammy so I had something in the bank. And then passed the remaining 3-4 spins to Theo to hope that he wammies out. Because as it was, neither of them were going to catch him, so the only way to be a contender is to Wammy him out. 

[lynxfx]

5 hours ago, Taeolas said:

If I had been her, I would've spun once after the wammy so I had something in the bank. And then passed the remaining 3-4 spins to Theo to hope that he wammies out. Because as it was, neither of them were going to catch him, so the only way to be a contender is to Wammy him out. 

She needed to get into 2nd place otherwise she had nearly zero chance of winning.  She played it right and if Theo hit a wammy when she passed, she would have won. If she passed early there would have been a higher chance Theo wammied and unless he kept getting extra spins, then 2nd place would have won not her. The 2nd round had so little spins earned compared to past shows so it really limited the strategy.

[Carey]

On 9/24/2020 at 10:20 PM, Taeolas said:

He made it to the final bonus round, and really he had no reason NOT to play it. His prize pool was a lot smaller than his first winnings, and he only had 1 Wammy.  He only got 6k in chopper leasons from that; but man everything else he got was great. I do almost wish he got the africa trip too; but I'm sure he can afford it.

Basically the winnings in the first half and second half were reversed.  Unless he hit $100,000 and a spin, that bonus round wasn't that exciting, thanks to the whammy.  BTW, the lose the whammy decision with only one whammy was the absolute right call whereas it probably wouldn't have been within the history of PYL.

 

 

1 hour ago, lynxfx said:

6 hours ago, Taeolas said:

If I had been her, I would've spun once after the wammy so I had something in the bank. And then passed the remaining 3-4 spins to Theo to hope that he wammies out. Because as it was, neither of them were going to catch him, so the only way to be a contender is to Wammy him out. 

She needed to get into 2nd place otherwise she had nearly zero chance of winning.  She played it right and if Theo hit a wammy when she passed, she would have won. If she passed early there would have been a higher chance Theo wammied and unless he kept getting extra spins, then 2nd place would have won not her. The 2nd round had so little spins earned compared to past shows so it really limited the strategy.

 

Exactly.  Given I was doing something else, I was saying, "Wow, she came to play.  Wonder why she's spinning so much.  But seconds later I remembered that you're not crowned a champion as a second-place finisher.  In the event that Theo was passed 5 or more spins and couldn't avoid the whammy, he would need to hit one right away so that he could have a chance to catch up and still win with proper strategy.  Sure $100K is gone, but that is offered in the bonus round (at the time I didn't know that he'd sorta bomb out in the end game).

 

 

18 hours ago, lynxfx said:

I was waiting for someone to get the "add a 1" when they already had at least $10k. They have had that one all season but I never saw the double your money tile before. Was that new this ep?

Similar to A-A-ONE, Double your bucks and a spin were part of the original series. 

 

I don’t ever recall anyone hitting Add-A-One in the original version either when $10,000 was won prior to that.  Granted it was only around for a year.   The thing is that the CBS limits were $25,000 and $50,000 during PYL’s 80s run, so in the event that someone would have hit five digits in the first half, they probably would have taken A-A-ONE of the board.

I think five figures have definitely been won in first half, but as mentioned, it’s difficult.  Not many money and a spin spaces in Round one.  If someone were to do it in the 80s, they would have to accumulate a lot of spins (not easy) and hit the big bucks about 6-7 times.  Both are possible, but what’s more likely is doing both while hitting a whammy in-between that run.

I used to love the A-A-ONE back in the day, even during the USA airings.  Personally, I could take it or leave it.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was hit to get to a total exceeding $100,000 (though I feared that a whammy would wreck that historic moment).  From there I think it was a mistake to remove it from the board.  I think it should’ve been made available for the other contestants.  It’s cash, not a car or some other prize.  That way it opens the door for someone else (or everyone) to hit it for six-figures.  That, and I won’t have to root against a contestant that has no shot at winning short of a whammy costing the leading contestant money that he or she won’t reach, win or lose

[853fisher]

Good episode.  Bit of a bummer the bonus round flamed out, but you never know.  I thought at first that they'd all appeared on the same episode, but it makes more sense that they were just different people who re-applied.  Pam had a lot of spunk but I liked Theo too.  Did Barbara remind anyone else of June Squibb, the longtime actress who was especially big in indie movies 5 or 10 years ago?  I think those were their names anyway.  Long weekend.

I think this show strikes a good balance between needing the resume of Mother Teresa to get booked and having no "story" at all.  It seems to me that usually one or two of the personalized prizes have an "angle" (jerseys for the youth league I work with, car with mobility features for my sick mother, etc) and the rest are just "I've always wanted such and such, lemme have it" like any game show prize.  I consider myself fairly sensitive to this: I can't watch shows like "The Wall" that just overdo it.  It does feel good to watch a little bit of good be done amidst the indulgence.  But as always YMMV.

Also, I have to add, I think Elizabeth is gorgeous. And Peter was too. So I’m with the contestants, who had a good word for the old and new shows.

Edited September 28, 2020 by 853fisher

[opus]

23 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I thought at first that they'd all appeared on the same episode,

Anyone remember when (I think it was on the Todd Newton ‘Whammy’ version ) they bought back the two players who lost to Michael Larson?

[SVNBob]

33 minutes ago, opus said:

Anyone remember when (I think it was on the Todd Newton ‘Whammy’ version ) they bought back the two players who lost to Michael Larson?

That was part of GSN's promotion for the documentary they made about Larson.   A special "rematch" episode, with Larson's brother standing in for Michael.

I think that part of the documentary was also on the "Whammy" set, with Todd explaining how Michael's system worked.   They'd also set the board up to replicate the original patterns he deciphered, so that one of the other two could "beat" Michael's score.

[SVNBob]

3 hours ago, SVNBob said:

I think that part of the documentary was also on the "Whammy" set, with Todd explaining how Michael's system worked.   They'd also set the board up to replicate the original patterns he deciphered, so that one of the other two could "beat" Michael's score.

Quoting myself to correct myself.

I found the GSN documentary on YouTube.  While they might have shot the segment with Larson's competitors on the then-current Whammy! soundstage, it looks like it was in one of the wings or off-stage somewhere.  And it didn't use the Whammy! board, but a mock-up of the original.  And it wasn't hosted by Todd Newton; it was Peter Tomarken himself.

 

And while looking for that, I found out that in the rematch, James Larson was also the winner.  So no actual redemption for either of the others.

[chitowngirl]

If you’re watching the clock, you know exactly what decision the contestant is going to make.

[lynxfx]

That was a whammy night. Some pretty funny ones too. The Pennywise clown being my favorite.

I like when passing the spins really come into play. Some nice back and forth and I think the lowest regular game score.

She just wasn't having luck in the bonus round but hit enough to take at least some cash home. Didn't even get to round 4.

[readster]

6 hours ago, lynxfx said:

That was a whammy night. Some pretty funny ones too. The Pennywise clown being my favorite.

I like when passing the spins really come into play. Some nice back and forth and I think the lowest regular game score.

She just wasn't having luck in the bonus round but hit enough to take at least some cash home. Didn't even get to round 4.

I still love everyone's reaction when he hit "Add a One" and it was to a 0 making it just $10. I mean, that is a first. 

[opus]

On 10/1/2020 at 10:04 PM, chitowngirl said:

If you’re watching the clock, you know exactly what decision the contestant is going to make.

Also, I had noticed the episode was titled ‘Still Standing’, so I had a feeling after the interviews the Elton John fan was going to the bonus round.

[Carey]

On 10/3/2020 at 10:00 AM, readster said:

I still love everyone's reaction when he hit "Add a One" and it was to a 0 making it just $10. I mean, that is a first. 

This has happened in the original 80s version.  IIRC, it was a contestant that also hit Double Your Bucks and a spin for only $250.  Not easy to do since that space doesn't show up until the second set, and even in the mid 1980s the cash and prizes were significantly higher than that

[saber5055]

I liked the teacher who kept winning last night. That doesn't happen often for me, liking someone all the way through an episode.

I wonder how they pick the audience member whose face always shows up in the open square on the front of the contestants' table. It's so random and weird, like Señor Wences and Pedro. I watch for the head-in-a-box every episode. "S-okay?" "S'al-right."

Edited October 9, 2020 by saber5055

[starri]

On 10/9/2020 at 12:47 PM, saber5055 said:

I liked the teacher who kept winning last night. That doesn't happen often for me, liking someone all the way through an episode.

I'm glad he cashed out.  He won a decent chunk of money, and the prizes that he got were great. The Wizard of Oz first edition is one of the coolest things anyone has picked.

I also liked that they framed the school supplies prize as "because we want you to keep the rest of the money for yourself" as opposed to it being some kind of out and out sob story.  

[853fisher]

I liked Scott too.  He seemed like a sweet guy and played it smart.  The first edition book was one of their more novel personalized prizes (ha, I see what I did there).

I was thinking it is kind of a bummer that school supplies have to be won on a game show, but wondered whether it would be above-the-baseline tech, given the price tag.  I wish so many teachers and parents didn't have to worry as they do.  Sigh.

Now, that was 8 episodes, same as we got last season, I believe.  Are we done?  I hope not, but I'm afraid so.

Edited October 12, 2020 by 853fisher

[starri]

4 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I was thinking it is kind of a bummer that school supplies have to be won on a game show, but wondered whether it would be above-the-baseline tech, given the price tag.

Elizabeth mentioned smart boards specifically. Those are pretty expensive. 

[853fisher]

1 hour ago, starri said:

Elizabeth mentioned smart boards specifically. Those are pretty expensive. 

Did she? I thought the announcer did at the end. Either way, yes, someone did, and I should’ve said so.

[opus]

In the main game, Banks mentioned the possibility of three way playoff (all would have had $0). How would that have been done?

[Maverick]

 It's just a guess but I assume each player gets a spin a highest value earned in that one spin wins. 

[opus]

12 hours ago, Maverick said:

 It's just a guess but I assume each player gets a spin a highest value earned in that one spin wins. 

Thought of that. Would they still have "plus a spin'? If those keep coming up and taken or passed around it could eat up some bonus game time.

[Taeolas]

56 minutes ago, opus said:

Thought of that. Would they still have "plus a spin'? If those keep coming up and taken or passed around it could eat up some bonus game time.

The show has a lot of filler and 'wasted' air time that could be trimmed or extended based on the number of spins they need to show. 

If they needed such a spinoff, it's hard to say if +Spin would even be on the board or not. It would be interesting to see if we ever actually get in that situation. 

[Maverick]

 This contestant wants a lifetime supply of Pepsi.   I'm already rooting for her to lose.  

[chitowngirl]

At 9:59, starting a new round with 3 whammies? Of COURSE she’s going to get the fourth whammy!

On a shallow note, I loved the neckline on Elizabeth’s red dress.

[Maverick]

Yeah, it was obvious she was going Whammy out on the second spin at best.   

 I wonder if they're working on a new season of this.   Like Card Sharks, it's practically covid ready.   Space out the player seats, ditch the audience add an applause track and you're set.

[readster]

9 hours ago, Maverick said:

Yeah, it was obvious she was going Whammy out on the second spin at best.   

 I wonder if they're working on a new season of this.   Like Card Sharks, it's practically covid ready.   Space out the player seats, ditch the audience add an applause track and you're set.

Pretty much, I know Joel was talking about how he is going to do Card Sharks once he is finished with his second season of Stargirl. Saying they are pretty much just going to have new packs of cards ready to go with the assistants and won't do an audience until it's safe again. 

[saber5055]

I couldn't believe last night's player going for the next round when she had three whammies. But her family said she "deserved" to win all the new prizes, and she thought so too. Like yeah, even if you did manage to play all three spins, the odds of you hitting that Bora Bora wedding square were pretty bleak. So I guess I was okay with her hitting the whammy right off since she "deserved" to get zero'd out.

She could have used that $8,000+ she lost to pay for a "real" wedding photographer.

[853fisher]

I wouldn’t’ve pushed it with three whammies either, but still a tough way for the game to end. I just streamed it and paused several times doing errands around the house, so I didn’t have a good sense that it was wrapping up. $40K does take the edge off a bit. It was fun to recognize Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. I’ve seen a few cabaret shows there and I’m in that neighborhood to shop or drink from time to time. At least I was before March! It’s very well located. They’ll have a great trip!

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

And the show's back for another season. Last night's episode totally telegraphed who would make it to the bonus round. When Elizabeth is only shown asking one contestant "So, what's your favorite hobby?", it's a pretty good sign that contestant is the one who'll advance (note that I am NOT claiming producer shenanigans. I'm sure Elizabeth asked all three the same question, but the fact they only showed one reply was a clear tipoff).

Why, oh why, when someone has a commanding lead and a bunch of spins left, do they keep spinning??? Just pass the spins and let the next-closest contestant Whammy out. For that matter, once you get into second place, don't use any more spins either. Pass them to the leader and let him/her hit a Whammy and have to start over.

For that matter, given how crummy the prizes are in the first round (usually 1/4-1/3 the value of the second round prizes) and the likelihood you'll lose them via Whammy anyway, why use any spins in the first round? Just pass them all and let your fellow contestants rack up a few Whammies. They carry over, so if one of your competitors goes into Round 2 with two or three Whammies to their name, you've probably made it a 50/50 contest between you and the third contestant.

[Meedis]

Ouch on the latest Whammy episode (Season 2, Episode 3 according to Hulu).   Two out of three contestants whammied out even though Falawna had an amazing run with ten spins she had to take.   The third player wins but with 0 dollars.     Then he gets through two bonus rounds w/o a Whammy and then whammies out at the very end.    Definitely an episode for the ages.    I felt like he should've quit after the second bonus round.   Like he said though, it seemed fitting that he ended the bonus round with a whammy.

[lynxfx]

Yeah that was quite an episode. He probably should have done one spin in the regular game before passing, just to guarantee something. But his way got him to the final where luck just crushed him.I don't blame him for continuing. He only had 2 whammies in that last round and every space is big buck. Easy to gain all you lost just by hitting $75k or $100k.

[Diana Berry]

Why don’t players in the second round pass their spins if they have a decent bank?  The odds are more in their favor that the other player Will  whammie out.  Isn’t the goal to get the final round?

[lynxfx]

12 hours ago, Diana Berry said:

Why don’t players in the second round pass their spins if they have a decent bank?  The odds are more in their favor that the other player Will  whammie out.  Isn’t the goal to get the final round?

There are a lot of reasons you might not want to pass a large number of spins. A whammy isn't guaranteed. Also if they get a whammy from passed spins the remaining go back to earned which can then be passed right back to you which means you have to spin all of them. 

Now if the person already has 2 or 3 whammies then passing makes more sense.

They have also added "take the lead" tiles which can make last place to first a reality with just one spin. 

The game really becomes fun when there is a lot of back and forth. Only sucks if you zero out with no spins left keeping you in third.