silvercamaro wrote:I agree only this far -- that the clock should not start until the answers have been read. I even thought this contestant was funny with his brusque, rapid-fire approach -- at first. He carried it much too far, however, and before long, what had been amusing at the beginning started to seem not only annoying, but downright rude. The rudeness was extended beyond Meredith and the producers all the way to the viewing audience. Like Winnamill, I was not in position to see the answer choices. The choices weren't necessary for the questions so far, but I would have liked to have known (before I saw the transcript) what the writers might have used as distractors, and I am sure that many people in the viewing audience, particularly sight-impaired BAM fans, became annoyed much sooner than I did. I do not grant any contestant the right to say, in effect, "This is MY time in the hot seat, so screw the rest of you."
The job of TPTB is to put on a television show, including a little bit of entertainment and a lot of game that was designed to have a play-along-at-home component. If the contestant is not willing to buy into that concept, even to the point of maintaining minimal politeness, then he or she loses my good will.
Shinycar, I'd like to be sure I'm clear about what you're saying here. Are you saying that Alan should have allowed precious seconds tick off the clock at the possible detriment of his game situation in order to enhance the experience for the viewing audience?
If so, I've gotta say that I agree wholeheartedly with Marley -- it is entirely the problem of the producers, and not the contestant's issue at all. It's the producers' job to design a game in which both the common and best modes of game play (if they are different) provide an entertaining viewer experience. It's the contestant's job to play the game as well as he possibly can.
Last week,
Jeopardy! broadcast its very first Alex Trebek episode. As you may know, in the first season, the rules were different. Rather than being forced to wait until Alex finished reading, the contestants were permitted to buzz in as soon as the clue was revealed. This led to two problems -- (a) an annoying sound effect interrupting the read of the question, and (b) dead time while contestants who buzzed in quickly realized that they didn't know the answer. The solution wasn't for contestants to change their game play. It was for the producers to change the rules, which they did.
If you're referring to Alan's apparent lack of grace between questions, I'm willing to cut him some slack here for a couple of reasons. First, I do think he was at least
trying to play for some humor points. But comedy is
hard in the best of circumstances and leaves little margin for error, particularly on television. Someone who tries but misses by just a little bit usually comes off as either stupid or boorish. Second, based on the audience reaction, I infer that Alan's shtick came off pretty well in person. Basically, he's playing a Klingon. He's just not as good at it as is Michael Dorn. --Bob
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson
