Article about some Family Week contestants

[MarleysGh0st]

They'll be in the Hot Seats on Wednesday.

http://www.thedailystar.com/local/local ... 40006.html

Margaretville Village Treasurer Betty DeSilva may be keeping track of more than just the village's money after she appears on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" on Wednesday.

Betty DeSilva, 71, joined her daughter Diane DeSilva, 50, of Clifton Park, and her granddaughter, Bree Ballard, 26, of Clifton Park, as a team on a special family week on the show hosted by Meredith Vieira.

Sounds like a bunch of families got left behind.

The women arrived at ABC at 6 a.m. and were warned to plan to be there until 8 p.m. Betty said there were 10 to 12 family groups, but at the end of the day only six families made it on the show.

Ouch!

[ulysses5019]

They'll be in the Hot Seats on Wednesday.

http://www.thedailystar.com/local/local ... 40006.html

Margaretville Village Treasurer Betty DeSilva may be keeping track of more than just the village's money after she appears on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" on Wednesday.

Betty DeSilva, 71, joined her daughter Diane DeSilva, 50, of Clifton Park, and her granddaughter, Bree Ballard, 26, of Clifton Park, as a team on a special family week on the show hosted by Meredith Vieira.

Sounds like a bunch of families got left behind.

The women arrived at ABC at 6 a.m. and were warned to plan to be there until 8 p.m. Betty said there were 10 to 12 family groups, but at the end of the day only six families made it on the show.

Ouch!

I thought Bush said no one would be left behind?

[Rafferbee]

If there were 10-12 family groups, that means there were at least 30 people in the Green Room.

[ulysses5019]

If there were 10-12 family groups, that means there were at least 30 people in the Green Room.

That does sound a wee bit crowded. Especially when the winners come back with their winnings, small unmarked bills only of course.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

They'll be in the Hot Seats on Wednesday.

http://www.thedailystar.com/local/local ... 40006.html

Margaretville Village Treasurer Betty DeSilva may be keeping track of more than just the village's money after she appears on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" on Wednesday.

Betty DeSilva, 71, joined her daughter Diane DeSilva, 50, of Clifton Park, and her granddaughter, Bree Ballard, 26, of Clifton Park, as a team on a special family week on the show hosted by Meredith Vieira.

Sounds like a bunch of families got left behind.

The women arrived at ABC at 6 a.m. and were warned to plan to be there until 8 p.m. Betty said there were 10 to 12 family groups, but at the end of the day only six families made it on the show.

Ouch!

<sigh>

[Bob Juch]

That could have been a major financial hit for the families that didn't get on. They probably brought more than just the team of three. That could have cost a couple of thousand if they flew from the west coast.

[MarleysGh0st]

That could have been a major financial hit for the families that didn't get on. They probably brought more than just the team of three. That could have cost a couple of thousand if they flew from the west coast.

I wonder if TPTB decided to take some of the left out family team members as individual contestants in a regular episode? One from each family, probably.

It's going to be really interesting to see how they manage getting input from three different contestants at once, under the pressure of the damned clock.

[TheConfessor]

According to Buzzer Blog, tomorrow's Expert is Alan Thicke, but he doesn't last the full week, since Ken Jennings returns later in the week. The speculation is that Thicke sucked, so Ken replaced him, which may or may not be true. I do know that the guy who runs that site communicates with Michael Davies sometimes, so his speculation may have some credibility.

[MarleysGh0st]

According to Buzzer Blog, tomorrow's Expert is Alan Thicke, but he doesn't last the full week, since Ken Jennings returns later in the week. The speculation is that Thicke sucked, so Ken replaced him, which may or may not be true. I do know that the guy who runs that site communicates with Michael Davies sometimes, so his speculation may have some credibility.

How in the world are they selecting these celebrity experts? Are they all people who Meredith or Michael meet at cocktail parties?

[TheConfessor]

Thicke did OK today. He got an easy 8K question. Meredith kept pimping him and encouraging contestants to call him, especially when the question was related to TV in any way.

[sunflower]

Some celebrities are rather smart, so you never know. You would probably never know if someone famous was a trivia guru...but I think Meredith was probably smart to steer contestants toward using him for tv questions which is probably Alan Thicke's strength. I would imagine there is some bad press about that lifeline so if they can do anything to help the stats, it might seem better. I wonder if they'll keep that for next season. I think if they do they should consider having a resident expert, for consistency, so you know you will get to call whoever no matter when you tape.

[MarleysGh0st]

Some celebrities are rather smart, so you never know. You would probably never know if someone famous was a trivia guru...but I think Meredith was probably smart to steer contestants toward using him for tv questions which is probably Alan Thicke's strength.

Yeah, but to paraphrase that JG Wentworth commercial: "It's your lifeline. Use it when you want to!" A lifeline that's only really good for one topic, where he may or may not be needed, is pretty crummy.

I would imagine there is some bad press about that lifeline so if they can do anything to help the stats, it might seem better. I wonder if they'll keep that for next season. I think if they do they should consider having a resident expert, for consistency, so you know you will get to call whoever no matter when you tape.

Has there been any press reviewing the new lifelines? I do a Google News search every day and all I find are occasional articles about contestants which may quote from the standard WWTBAM press release explaining what the new lifelines are. I don't think anybody is paying attention to this like we are.

Personally, I'd prefer that they discard the ATE next season and bring back Switch The Question. If used with Topic List, they could simply add one topic to the top of the list; switching the question would then mean skipping a question to one that would have been the next higher level.

But since TPTB are always so eager to take my advice...

[sunflower]

Personally, I'd prefer that they discard the ATE next season and bring back Switch The Question. If used with Topic List, they could simply add one topic to the top of the list; switching the question would then mean skipping a question to one that would have been the next higher level.

I agree with you, Marley...STQ didn't help me personally, but I believe it was more valuable than an ask the expert would be. At least it's in my hands, and not some expert who I don't know and have zero faith in! And to just throw away a question can help you mentally, instead of getting hung up on it and burning multiple lifelines, you just throw it away!

[MarleysGh0st]

Personally, I'd prefer that they discard the ATE next season and bring back Switch The Question. If used with Topic List, they could simply add one topic to the top of the list; switching the question would then mean skipping a question to one that would have been the next higher level.

I agree with you, Marley...STQ didn't help me personally, but I believe it was more valuable than an ask the expert would be. At least it's in my hands, and not some expert who I don't know and have zero faith in! And to just throw away a question can help you mentally, instead of getting hung up on it and burning multiple lifelines, you just throw it away!

The one thing I didn't like about the STQ was that the replacement question sometimes wasn't much of a change; a pop music question might be replaced by another pop music question. If STQ was used with the Topic Tree, you'd know you'd be going from "Srcrabble" to "Express Yourself." Whatever that meant.

[gsabc]

Personally, I'd prefer that they discard the ATE next season and bring back Switch The Question. If used with Topic List, they could simply add one topic to the top of the list; switching the question would then mean skipping a question to one that would have been the next higher level.

I agree with you, Marley...STQ didn't help me personally, but I believe it was more valuable than an ask the expert would be. At least it's in my hands, and not some expert who I don't know and have zero faith in! And to just throw away a question can help you mentally, instead of getting hung up on it and burning multiple lifelines, you just throw it away!

Could be worse. They might have gone the Play It! route and gone with PACS (Phone A Complete Stranger), picking numbers out of the NYC phone book or just stopping people walking by outside the studio at that moment.

[MarleysGh0st]

Could be worse. They might have gone the Play It! route and gone with PACS (Phone A Complete Stranger), picking numbers out of the NYC phone book or just stopping people walking by outside the studio at that moment.

Random strangers would unpleasantly remind TPTB of the Phone Game. Can't have anyone appear on the show, whether contestant or expert, without being vetted for personality!

[sunflower]

Could be worse. They might have gone the Play It! route and gone with PACS (Phone A Complete Stranger), picking numbers out of the NYC phone book or just stopping people walking by outside the studio at that moment.

Random strangers would unpleasantly remind TPTB of the Phone Game. Can't have anyone appear on the show, whether contestant or expert, without being vetted for personality!

Hey! I didn't right that! I agree that it would suck, but it's not my quote!

[MarleysGh0st]

Hey! I didn't right that! I agree that it would suck, but it's not my quote!

Oops, I cut out your comments (since I was responding to gsabc) but left in your quote tags.

It's fixed now.

[gsabc]

Hey! I didn't right that! I agree that it would suck, but it's not my quote!

Oops, I cut out your comments (since I was responding to gsabc) but left in your quote tags.

It's fixed now.

That's okay. Get ignored when my post count increases over someone else's, have my quotes attributed to someone else - it's all just part of my Mr. Cellophane persona.

(If it's not already prepared, I may just have created my own portrait from ES.)

[sunflower]

Hey! I didn't right that! I agree that it would suck, but it's not my quote!

Oops, I cut out your comments (since I was responding to gsabc) but left in your quote tags.

It's fixed now.

That's okay, I apparently don't know how to spell "write"...we all make mistakes!! I was trying to be a wise ass and managed to mess it up!

[MarleysGh0st]

That's okay. Get ignored when my post count increases over someone else's, have my quotes attributed to someone else - it's all just part of my Mr. Cellophane persona.

(If it's not already prepared, I may just have created my own portrait from ES.)

Yeah, sure, Mr. Cellophane. If I lose my concentration on my gh0stly appararition for just a second, I

[TheConfessor]

The speculation that Thicke would be Thick as a Brick seems unfounded. He came through again today, although he still seems not all that eager to be there, except to promote a couple books he wrote.

[MarleysGh0st]

The speculation that Thicke would be Thick as a Brick seems unfounded. He came through again today, although he still seems not all that eager to be there, except to promote a couple books he wrote.

I can't wait to see if it's another challenging question like Bill Cosby's sweaters!

Please don't spoil it!

[sunflower]

The speculation that Thicke would be Thick as a Brick seems unfounded. He came through again today, although he still seems not all that eager to be there, except to promote a couple books he wrote.

I can't wait to see if it's another challenging question like Bill Cosby's sweaters!

Please don't spoil it!

I really can't believe with 3 generations, that they didn't know that. That was THE show to watch back in the day!

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Hey! I didn't right that! I agree that it would suck, but it's not my quote!

Oops, I cut out your comments (since I was responding to gsabc) but left in your quote tags.

It's fixed now.

That's okay. Get ignored when my post count increases over someone else's, have my quotes attributed to someone else - it's all just part of my Mr. Cellophane persona.

(If it's not already prepared, I may just have created my own portrait from ES.)

Did you turn green?