America to rescind communism

By | November 7, 2014

So the big news of the last few days (broke by The Jeopardy Fan) is the suggestion that all-American quiz show Jeopardy! will stop allowing ties in regular matches and introducing tie-breaker questions answers. As it stands if two people have the same amount of money after Final Jeopardy they both win it and get to come back the next day (losers usually take home $1000 and $2000 for third and second place). This is clearly an UNAMERICAN PRACTICE, so in theory in future there will now only be one winner and no point in betting to tie. Fans are in uproar.

The closest equivalent we’ve got in the UK is using extra conundrums to break ties in Countdown, a practice that was instigated in 1991 before the internet and internet uproar and old people and students were even invented.

21 thoughts on “America to rescind communism

    1. Barry

      The theme tune to this topic is Ricordati Che Guevara Devi Morire.

      Here’s a expensive tie game:

      Reply
  1. Alex McMillan

    Ooh there appears to be a sequence in the Children in Need special of OC I’ve been waiting to come up for a while, although I was convinced it only had 3 steps. See if you can guess which one!

    Reply
  2. Setsunael

    French news : latest ep. of Rising Star got an abysmal 1.55M viewers, 6.7% share . Final has been fast-forwarded to next Thursday (originally planned to be mid-december then already bumped to end of November due to the poor ratings)

    I’m curious : can someone remember another TV format being that much successful being sold to many countries then being a trainwreck virtually everywhere it got aired ?

    Reply
    1. David B

      You Deserve It had a similar capitulation. Had a massive launch at MIP (as in “book the entire hotel out and give them dinner” massive), many territories bought it, less than ten bothered to make it.

      Reply
    2. Delano

      I Love My Country (Talpa)
      Duel (French TV)
      Who’s Still Standing? (Armoza Formats)
      The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime (Seven)

      Just a few I came up with.

      Reply
      1. Brig Bother Post author

        Not sure Duel really fits, in a lot of countries it wasn’t so much a flop as just not a hit, don’t think there was much real hype behind Who’s Still Standing and certainly not $1m CoaL. I Love My Country certainly wasn’t a flop everywhere outside of the Netherlands AFAIK.

        Reply
        1. Brekkie

          Still bugs me Duel didn’t get a second series when it wasn’t doing much worse than Millionaire at the time. Would be perfect now as an alternate for The Chase.

          Reply
  3. Mart with a Y not a I

    How well did ‘For The Rest Of Your Life/Set For Life’ sell internationally?

    We had a version, that bombed, and the US version on ABC started alright, and quickly heading downwards, but did it sell elsewhere – mostly due to the creator and his very more sucessful format, then see the viewing figures, and tried to hide the programme rights in the shredder?

    Reply
  4. CeleTheRef

    Enzo “Pupo” Ghinazzi returns!

    Albanian network Agon Channel is launching an Italian language channel (to be broadcast to Italy) and Pupo was hired to devise and host their gameshows.

    the title of his first show is “A Song For 100,000”

    Reply
  5. Alex McMillan

    Question because I’m completely ignorant: Is there a set time limit between game show appearances? I’m considering applying to a few but wouldn’t want to if it affected my chances of applying to other shows later this year/early next year

    Reply
      1. Luke

        I think there is a legal limit in the States (though not sure of the precise details.)

        Depends on which shows it is – I know Endemol can be quite picky about it, especially Pointless, but I don’t know of other companies having a hard and fast rule. (Or at least, not one listed on the application form.)

        Reply
        1. Poochy.EXE

          To my knowledge the limit is no longer one set by law; it’s simply an industry standard these days. Sort of like the 2 million yen per person / 10 million yen total cap in Japan — formerly a law, now just a standard.

          Most shows will only let you apply once per season (even for shows like Jeopardy! which bring on new contestants every episode), and only if you haven’t taped another show in a year nor plan to tape another one for another year. A lot (but not all) of them also have additional requirements saying you can’t apply if you’ve taped 3 other shows in 5 or 10 years. This is also why Ken Jennings can appear on so many shows as a pseudo-celebrity contestant: The rules usually restrict *applying* to the show, and there’s no rule against *appearing* on the show if, say, they specifically seek you out to invite you.

          Reply
        2. Josh Woo

          Having been on three game shows in the US, I can say with certainty that paperwork stipulates you cannot appear on another show within a year after your last appearance, and you cannot have been on more than three in the span of 10 years (The Price is Right stipulated 2 shows/10 years when I was on).

          That’s a moving guideline, to boot–in my case, I’ve been on three shows already, but over the span of 11 years (Jeopardy! in 2003, TPIR in 2010, Wheel of Fortune earlier this year). So if I were to appear on a third game show sometime in the next, say, two or three years, I’d be barred from another one until 2020.

          In addition, I think my paperwork from Wheel of Fortune mentioned I couldn’t audition for another show until 6 months after my airdate. Seeing as my show aired 28 April this year, I’m now in the clear for that hurdle, but I have another few months to go before I can actually appear again.

          Reply
  6. Poochy.EXE

    Regarding Jeopardy!, I’ve always wondered why people in first place would usually prefer wagering to win by $1 over wagering to tie. If at that point you have the lead, it would suggest you’re probably a better player than the 2nd place guy, and it’d be in your own best interest to face someone you’re likely to beat again than a complete unknown in the next game. This behavior seems particularly odd since this is a show where most players will have studied wagering strategy to prepare.

    Reply
    1. David B

      I agree. The high number of ties this season implies the plays may be cottoning on to this.

      Reply
    2. Poochy.EXE

      Come to think of it, the existing rules for a tie actually has a loophole a la The Genius: Collusion between all 3 players could virtually guarantee a 3-way tie. They could agree to have 3rd place wager nothing in Final Jeopardy! and have 1st and 2nd place intentionally miss it and wager to create a 3-way tie. Then they would all win and return for another game, where they could pull the same stunt until either the producers catch on or one of them finishes Double Jeopardy! with a non-positive score.

      For even better results, they could agree whoever is in 1st place should wait, say, 1 second before ringing in, and 2nd place waits half a second, to give 3rd place the best shot at catching up.

      Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if the show sequesters contestants before the game to prevent this sort of thing in the first place. After all, it’s a well-known fact that they already do it for the first round of each tournament, to prevent players in later matches from gaining an advantage by figuring out the score they need to get a wildcard entry into the semifinals.

      Reply
      1. Josh Woo

        Contestants are not sequestered for games that aren’t tournament quarterfinals. I played the last show of a Kids’ Week taping group back in 2003 and I watched all four previous games from the audience.

        And you’d be surprised how many players DON’T study wagering strategy before going on the show (myself included).

        As for collusion, you don’t know who your exact opponents will be until about five minutes before you play (unless something changed between 2003 and now), so I highly doubt this would be remotely possible…I just don’t think there would be enough time to plan something like that.

        Reply

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