WWTBAM Bored

littlebeast13 wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:

hbomb1947 wrote:So what parts of the "tweaked version" are TPTB planning on incorporating? And do TPTB believe that TOPG constituted part of "the essence of the original"?

That's what I hope, but what I think is that TPTB look on TOPG as the largest mistake they ever imported from the UK.

If this revival is related to the success of Slumdog Millionaire, TPTB may have a particular interest in casting potential slumdogs for the show.

How about a Mecca Millionaire?

lb13

Hmmmm. Does a night stocker have the same cachet as a chai wallah?

MarleysGh0st wrote:

littlebeast13 wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote: That's what I hope, but what I think is that TPTB look on TOPG as the largest mistake they ever imported from the UK.

If this revival is related to the success of Slumdog Millionaire, TPTB may have a particular interest in casting potential slumdogs for the show.

How about a Mecca Millionaire?

lb13

Hmmmm. Does a night stocker have the same cachet as a chai wallah?

I don't even know what that is. Of course, I didn't see the movie....

lb13

littlebeast13 wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote: Hmmmm. Does a night stocker have the same cachet as a chai wallah?

I don't even know what that is. Of course, I didn't see the movie....

lb13

His job was serving tea ("chai") to all the other employees at a Mumbai call center.

MarleysGh0st wrote:That's what I hope, but what I think is that TPTB look on TOPG as the largest mistake they ever imported from the UK.

And yet the last time PT BAM ran, it used the phone game to select contestants.

Jeemie wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:That's what I hope, but what I think is that TPTB look on TOPG as the largest mistake they ever imported from the UK.

And yet the last time PT BAM ran, it used the phone game to select contestants.

Then I hope that I'm being overly pessimistic.

Did SuperMillionaire use TOPG rules or the modified phone game rules, where TPTB made the final contestant selections?

MarleysGh0st wrote:

Jeemie wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:That's what I hope, but what I think is that TPTB look on TOPG as the largest mistake they ever imported from the UK.

And yet the last time PT BAM ran, it used the phone game to select contestants.

Then I hope that I'm being overly pessimistic.

Did SuperMillionaire use TOPG rules or the modified phone game rules, where TPTB made the final contestant selections?

You can't remember????

You were allowed to qualify for one tape date, and they chose form the pool of qualifiers for each tape date to stock that show's RoF...... it was a modified PPP style game....

lb13

MarleysGh0st wrote:

Jeemie wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:That's what I hope, but what I think is that TPTB look on TOPG as the largest mistake they ever imported from the UK.

And yet the last time PT BAM ran, it used the phone game to select contestants.

Then I hope that I'm being overly pessimistic.

Did SuperMillionaire use TOPG rules or the modified phone game rules, where TPTB made the final contestant selections?

They had one round of five questions and said the selection of the finalists for tape dates was completely random, IIRC.

So it was kind of a mix of both.

Also, IIRC, there was a decent amount of MAWGs on the show.

littlebeast13 wrote:You were allowed to qualify for one tape date, and they chose form the pool of qualifiers for each tape date to stock that show's RoF...... it was a modified PPP style game....

Jeemie wrote:They had one round of five questions and said the selection of the finalists for tape dates was completely random, IIRC.

These two testimonies do not agree on an essential detail.

littlebeast13 wrote:You can't remember????

It has been five long, frustrating years of quixotic questing, beast.

But it turns out I do have a copy of the rules saved, and Jeemie's recollection is correct.

The Eligibility Call

All Phone Game players and Computer Game players who select the same Tape Date will be placed into a one (1) Tape Date Player Pool for the selected Tape Date. For each Tape Date, players will be randomly selected from the applicable Tape Date Player Pool. The randomly selected players will be contacted by Super Millionaire representatives for the purpose of qualifying him/her as a Finalist for the Program. Only the randomly selected players will receive Eligibility Calls. All other players remaining in the Tape Date Player Pool will be eliminated from the competition and will be blocked from qualifying for another Tape Date Player Pool.

And that will be fine with me, if they keep these rules.

MarleysGh0st wrote:

littlebeast13 wrote:You were allowed to qualify for one tape date, and they chose form the pool of qualifiers for each tape date to stock that show's RoF...... it was a modified PPP style game....

Jeemie wrote:They had one round of five questions and said the selection of the finalists for tape dates was completely random, IIRC.

These two testimonies do not agree on an essential detail.

Only because you're focused on exactly how they selected the contestants....

I'm thinking it was random, but either way, they chose who made the final cut.....

lb13

MarleysGh0st wrote:

littlebeast13 wrote:You were allowed to qualify for one tape date, and they chose form the pool of qualifiers for each tape date to stock that show's RoF...... it was a modified PPP style game....

Jeemie wrote:They had one round of five questions and said the selection of the finalists for tape dates was completely random, IIRC.

These two testimonies do not agree on an essential detail.

LB's memory is probably better than mine...but I seemed to recall they didn't actively choose.

And there were plenty of older contestants. I know the first contestant was younger but I do not recall seeing anything in the contestant pool that made me feel they were skewing it younger or towards more women.

mebbe the slumdog guy will make a few callbacks from the Indian call center

littlebeast13 wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:

hbomb1947 wrote:So what parts of the "tweaked version" are TPTB planning on incorporating? And do TPTB believe that TOPG constituted part of "the essence of the original"?

That's what I hope, but what I think is that TPTB look on TOPG as the largest mistake they ever imported from the UK.

If this revival is related to the success of Slumdog Millionaire, TPTB may have a particular interest in casting potential slumdogs for the show.

How about a Mecca Millionaire?

lb13

Or a Podunkville Millionaire?

ghostjmf wrote:I finally saw "Slumdog Millionaire". I don't recall the main character ever answering "so how did you get on that show?", though he was asked. And he did work at a call center. Lotsa phones. Even if he was the chai-wallah & not even a call answerer.

I don't believe it was spelled out, but the impression I got was that qualifying for the Slumdog game was like those radio contests where they randomly announce that the next caller to the station will win a prize. The people at the call center all watched the show and unsuccessfully tried to qualify when the host said it was time to call in. The main character was the only one to figure out the timing delay involved and when the precise right time to call would actually be (sort of like figuring out the buzzer delay on Jeopardy).

I see no need to further reduce their chances by giving syndibam alumni a second bite at the apple.

I wholeheartedly agree. While it would be fun to play again, I would far rather see those bb's who haven't had the opportunity as yet in that seat. Make it so.



t.

Okay, then. J! audition today, Phone Game for PTBAM in mid-June or so. All I need is a SyndieBAM audition this year, preferably but not necessarily in Boston, to complete the trifecta.

One of these shows is going to tape my shayna punim this coming season. You are warned.

MarleysGh0st wrote:

littlebeast13 wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote: That's what I hope, but what I think is that TPTB look on TOPG as the largest mistake they ever imported from the UK.

If this revival is related to the success of Slumdog Millionaire, TPTB may have a particular interest in casting potential slumdogs for the show.

How about a Mecca Millionaire?

lb13

Hmmmm. Does a night stocker have the same cachet as a chai wallah?

Night stalker??????

Good luck to everyone eligible.

No matter what contestant selection method they use.

I might even watch the show again.

gsabc wrote:Okay, then. J! audition today, Phone Game for PTBAM in mid-June or so. All I need is a SyndieBAM audition this year, preferably but not necessarily in Boston, to complete the trifecta.

One of these shows is going to tape my shayna punim this coming season. You are warned.

Why do you want them to tape your face? You'd look better without it.

andrewjackson wrote:Good luck to everyone eligible.

No matter what contestant selection method they use.

I might even watch the show again.

I can't watch BAM unless Regis is hosting.

Something about Meredith hosting it just rubs me the wrong way.

Marley, What do you think will TPTB pay Cash or by Annuity?

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:Marley, What do you think will TPTB pay Cash or by Annuity?

Didn't they have an annuity set-up for the biggest prizes for "Super Millionaire"? I would expect it to be similar this time around.

bazodee wrote:
(2) The phone game will return. All the legal issues were resolved when they allowed a means for hearing impaired people to play the phone game. They will not gear up for nation-wide auditions nor will they use auditioners currently in the pool from SyndiBAM. The buzz was generated in 1999 because anyone could get on the show by dialing a phone number one night and being in New York two days later.

I thought that the abandonment of TOPG was much more about "diversity" in contestants than about that unfortunate lawsuit. Nevertheless, the more I think about it, the more I conclude that either a phone game or some type of online qualification method will be used. Due to the rather brief, 11-episode run of this revival, nationwide auditions (or even auditions in a few "major cities") would seem to be overly expensive -- a lot of trouble to go to for the recruitment of a relative handful of contestants. And I doubt TPTB would do NY-only auditions, because having night after night of WE/WE contestants for 2 weeks would probably not be conducive to the type of ratings ABC will be seeking for prime-time.

hbomb1947 wrote:

bazodee wrote:
(2) The phone game will return. All the legal issues were resolved when they allowed a means for hearing impaired people to play the phone game. They will not gear up for nation-wide auditions nor will they use auditioners currently in the pool from SyndiBAM. The buzz was generated in 1999 because anyone could get on the show by dialing a phone number one night and being in New York two days later.

I thought that the abandonment of TOPG was much more about "diversity" in contestants than about that unfortunate lawsuit. Nevertheless, the more I think about it, the more I conclude that either a phone game or some type of online qualification method will be used. Due to the rather brief, 11-episode run of this revival, nationwide auditions (or even auditions in a few "major cities") would seem to be overly expensive -- a lot of trouble to go to for the recruitment of a relative handful of contestants. And I doubt TPTB would do NY-only auditions, because having night after night of WE/WE contestants for 2 weeks would probably not be conducive to the type of ratings ABC will be seeking for prime-time.

They can always piggyback on the SyndiBAM auditions, which should start in a month or so. That'll give 'em a couple of months of potential contestants to choose from.

BUT, I do think they'll revert back to some incarnation of Phone Game for this, if they're using the FF round. Simply because they'll have a lot of seats to fill over a 2 week period.

hbomb1947 wrote:

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:Marley, What do you think will TPTB pay Cash or by Annuity?

Didn't they have an annuity set-up for the biggest prizes for "Super Millionaire"? I would expect it to be similar this time around.

Yes, the prizes over $1M were annuities. And since they never go out of their way to explain that to the viewers, it'll be easy for the bean counters to insist on that again.