BuzzerBlog

CONTESTANT CALLS + AUDIENCE INFORMATION

*DEAL OR NO DEAL (US)
*DEAL OR NO DEAL AUDIENCE (US)
*SET FOR LIFE
*SHOW ME THE MONEY
*ONE VERSUS 100 (US)
*ONE VERSUS 100 (UK)
*WHO WANTS TO BE A
MILLIONAIRE
*JEOPARDY!
*JEOPARDY! AUDIENCE
*WHEEL OF FORTUNE
*WHEEL OF FORTUNE AUDIENCE
*THE PRICE IS RIGHT (UK)
*THE PRICE IS RIGHT (US)
*FAMILY FEUD AUDIENCE
*PRODUCERS: GET YOUR SHOW LISTED! CLICK HERE!

SCHEDULE

Jeopardy! M-F, Check Local Listings

Wheel of Fortune M-F, Check Local Listings

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? M-F, Check Local Listings

Family Feud M-F, Check Local Listings

Lingo M-F, 7-8 PM ET

I've Got A Secret M-F, 6:30 PM ET

Jeopardy! M-F, Check Local Listings

Chain Reaction Tue-Sat, 9 PM ET

StarFace Tue-Sat, 9 PM ET

Playmania Tue(Wed)-Sun(Mon) 1AM ET

High Stakes Poker M, 9 PM ET

World Series of Blackjack M, 10 PM ET

88SLIDE M-F, CLICK HERE

"Chain Reaction" Pilot Info

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Here's a word for word account of the GSN/Embassy Row pilot "Chain Reaction". Judging by what I read, I'm really hoping this gets picked up.

Here's the lowdown on the Chain Reaction pilots:

The 3 players on each team introduce themselves (it's assumed they'll have some kind of
bond, a la Hot Potato, but this is only mentioned during the intro), then
Tim does the same and weclomes the audience to the show. He does a decent
enough job, but needs to rely on the teleprompter a little less.

Set: I had the immediate impression that this was just a temporary setup for
pilot purposes, since the actual series (should it sell) will more than
likely tape in LA. It was a bare bones set...just a small black platform
holding two long plexiglass podiums for the team, one w/a red stripe
projected onto it, the other a blue (as the respective team colors), and a
small one for Tim in the center, w/only a colored cyclorama in the
background projecting those same team colors. No score displays or onstage
gameboard; these elements were displayed on a monitor.

Format: As metioned above, the old 3-player team format has been reinstated,
although they're now comprised entirely of civillians. The chains have 7
words, just like the USA version, except each one forms a 2-word name,
phrase, etc. As an example, one such chain was:

PRIVATE
DICK
BUTTON
HOLE
PUNCH
BOWL
GAME

Scores are now kept in cash; as on the USA version, it's a flat payoff
regardless of when the word is guessed. Teams start off w/$1,000, and
payoffs for the first 3 rounds are as follows:

Round 1: $100/word
Round 2: $200/word
Round 3: $300/word

The final 2 rounds use a "betting" format: on each turn, the player in
control may wager up to a certain part of his/her team's winnings ($100-$500
in round 4, $200-$1,000 in round 5).

In addition, the team ahead after each of the first 4 rounds gets to play
the "Speed Chain", where they're shown the first and last words in a 4-word
chain, along w/the first letters of the middle 2 words. The team is then given 10 seconds to guess both words; if successful, they win the value of that chain, otherwise, the opposing team is given one chance to guess the missing words. Payoffs are $150 for the first, 2nd and 3rd $250, and the last $350. The team w/the most money after round 5 wins the game and goes on to play bonus round.

Bonus round: Yes, they've brought back the original; two of the teammatesare given 90 seconds to construct sentences one word at a time for the 3rd player to guess the subject. 7 correct answers doubles the money won in the maingame, and 10 correct triples it, so if a team managed the near-impossible feat of a perfect maingame followed by a 10-for-10 bonus round, a theoretical maximum payoff of $37,750 would be possible I will say that the teams I saw needed help forming some gramatically acceptable questions. Some examples:

What-country-is-hockey? (Canada)
What-mammal-swims-blowhole? (Dolphin)
What-TV-accesory-improves-radio... (Time ran out at this point; they weretrying to convey Antenna)

There may be returning champs...during the close of the 1st pilot, Tim said the winning team would be returning tomorrow. but given that it's being pitched for GSN, who knows if the series will actually have them. All told, I think it was a faithful recreation, and I hope GSN takes a good look at it as a possible original series, maybe paired up w/Lingo as the Word Power Hour.

Thanks to Chuck Donegan for all of the info. And we appologize for the long post. We don't have a cut option here (to my best knowledge). If we get it, we'll fix it.

posted by Alex Davis * Permalink

0 Comments: