Board 8 > Lucky 13 is a picture perfect model of everything a game show shouldn't be.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I gave it a try because it's Shaq.

This might be the slowest paced, most boring attempt at a game show I have ever seen. About 75-80% of the show is dead air where nothing is really happening at all, and what should take 10 minutes at most is dragged out to a solid half an hour.

What an utter abomination of a show, I didn't even get close to through the first contestant before it lost me.

How does the game work?

TeamRocketElite posted...

How does the game work?

One person goes up, and takes several minutes to answer 13 true or false questions, then spends 3 minutes guessing how many they got right, then they go to a commercial.

They take a few minutes to review 5 questions, and go to another commercial.

They take a few minutes to review another 5 questions, and go to another commercial.

Almost nothing is happening in the meantime. At least 6 full minutes of the first 20 were spent as completely dead air where absolutely nothing whatsoever was happening, not even anyone talking in any meaningful way.

It's an impressive slog of commercials and constant "dramatic pauses" that doesn't even attempt to bring any entertainment value to what it's doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz7tTdwEL1s

At least Press Your Luck was on beforehand. Elizabeth Banks makes the show fun.

Uglyface2 posted...

At least Press Your Luck was on beforehand. Elizabeth Banks makes the show fun.

The second half of the new PYL is excruciating though. I always turn it off after the first half hour if I happen to catch it on.

Modern primetime game shows are trash. They all do this.

It pains me to say it, because I like so many game shows over the years.

Meow1000 posted...

They take a few minutes to review 5 questions, and go to another commercial.

They take a few minutes to review another 5 questions, and go to another commercial.

So instead of just quickly going over the obvious ones, they draw those out? Sounds like a terrible way to build suspense. If you lose your audience, it's not done right.

I remember a bad game show from last year called "Loteria Loca" where it was all luck and literally everything got drawn out way longer than it needed to be. It only lasted four episodes. The energy on that show was great, but the format was horrific for much the same reason as the one you're describing, Blade.

I'll just stick with the classics. They've been around forever for a reason. I mainly watch Price Is Right and Jeopardy these days, and they don't have this issue. Note how back in the Bob Barker days, he would draw things out a bit to bring an amusing reaction out of somebody, but he never took so long that it disrupted the pace. He should be the gold standard of how you make a reveal exciting.

On a quick Google search, they even managed to get one of the answers to a question wrong. Cinco de Mayo is not Mexicos independence day

Aecioo posted...

On a quick Google search, they even managed to get one of the answers to a question wrong. Cinco de Mayo is not Mexicos independence day

They did not get that wrong they correctly had it as false.

The show is an interesting concept but executed in the worst possible way.

The brief deal or no deal interlude is insulting.

Meow1000 posted...

what should take 10 minutes at most is dragged out to a solid half an hour.

This has been my experience with basically every game show in the past 10-15 years

Uglyface2 posted...

At least Press Your Luck was on beforehand. Elizabeth Banks makes the show fun.

I was skeptical about Press Your Luck with no Peter Tomarken (RIP), but Elizabeth Banks is just naturally amazing at hosting, she's got so much energy and really gets into it. It feels like blasphemy to say I prefer her to Peter, but I kinda do XD

WazzupGenius00 posted...

This has been my experience with basically every game show in the past 10-15 years

I hate to make everyone feel old but this has been the case since Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and that started in 99. Everyone has been trying and failing to catch that lightning.

Leafeon13N posted...

I hate to make everyone feel old but this has been the case since Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and that started in 99. Everyone has been trying and failing to catch that lightning.

Millionaire worked because you were watching people think. The dead air wasn't building up suspense, it was seeing how a contestant arrived at their answer - and that's more entertaining than drawing out something you already know the outcome of. Also Regis helped a LOT. And he was very much in that Bob Barker school of drawing out the reveal just a little when the timing was right. He never did that with the easy questions; they just blitzed through those. It sounds like this Lucky 13 show is doing that even with the gimmies. And that's insulting.

As for why Millionaire failed in syndication? No Regis. RIP to a legend. (And to pretty much all the legends.)

Poorly formatted shows tend to not last. And that's pretty much all the newer ones. Most of the ones that have been around for a long time were created by Mark Goodson/Bill Todman (Price, Feud) or Merv Griffin (Jeopardy, Wheel). Not to say those guys also had misfires (they did), but those shows have a play along format and good pacing, so they work. Family Feud has been around 40 years and gone through numerous hosts, and yet it's still here.

The Quiz With Balls is also too slow. It would be better as a half hour show with fewer rounds.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

So instead of just quickly going over the obvious ones, they draw those out? Sounds like a terrible way to build suspense. If you lose your audience, it's not done right.

I remember a bad game show from last year called "Loteria Loca" where it was all luck and literally everything got drawn out way longer than it needed to be. It only lasted four episodes. The energy on that show was great, but the format was horrific for much the same reason as the one you're describing, Blade.

I'll just stick with the classics. They've been around forever for a reason. I mainly watch Price Is Right and Jeopardy these days, and they don't have this issue. Note how back in the Bob Barker days, he would draw things out a bit to bring an amusing reaction out of somebody, but he never took so long that it disrupted the pace. He should be the gold standard of how you make a reveal exciting.

That Loca show was all flash and bang, but had absolutely no substance at all. I had a feeling it would be completely terrible and it took only a few minutes to confirm it.

It was bad for a different reason. Loca had a significantly slower pace that it tried to make up with some and dance - And this show is very popular in Mexico because that sells there. American audiences did not have the patience to wade through the mound of superfluous BS of that show.

Lucky 13 doesn't even try. It makes no effort to be an entertaining viewing appearance. As far as bad modern game shows go, it misfires in all capacities, not just some of them. It's the sheer amount of low drama/tension dead air that elevates it to unwatchable status.

I don't mind some dramatic pauses when there actually is drama. You don't need it during and between every question, especially since the way the show builds up, there's no significant reason to care about the early questions to begin with.

swirIdude posted...

The Quiz With Balls is also too slow. It would be better as a half hour show with fewer rounds.

Never watched this one. Have the impression to me it was about dumb humor more than anything else.

Oh and to get the million you have to not only get all 13 right, you have to bet on yourself to have gotten all 13 right, and you get nothing if you miss even one.

So it's unlikely anyone will ever even attempt the grand prize and it's existence is just for show.

BlueCrystalTear posted...

As for why Millionaire failed in syndication? No Regis. RIP to a legend. (And to pretty much all the legends.)

Pretty much, yeah. Regis was a quick thinker and a great personality for the show. And even then they were seeking ways to speed up the show ever so slightly.

Meow1000 posted...

Oh and to get the million you have to not only get all 13 right, you have to bet on yourself to have gotten all 13 right, and you get nothing if you miss even one.

So it's unlikely anyone will ever even attempt the grand prize and it's existence is just for show.

The prize structure sucks. Its a constant all or nothing which is a big downer.

The visual display, at least for those of us at home, didn't keep a record of the questions either.

So we get moments where the easiest question of the bunch(mexican independence day) is last and you just immediately kill all the drama because everyone with a brain cell knows the outcome of the game.

That they didn't think there was value in scaling the difficulty of the questions(in a blatant attempt to make it more likely contestants lose) is just more shortsightedness.

Oh the questions being almost unreadable did it no favors.

I know someone who had to stop watching quickly because the tiny text was screwing up her eyes.

Dropout is the only channel with good game shows. No coincidence it is not ad supported.

Leafeon13N posted...

I hate to make everyone feel old but this has been the case since Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and that started in 99. Everyone has been trying and failing to catch that lightning.

98

BlueCrystalTear posted...

f. Also Regis helped a LOT. And he was very much in that Bob Barker school of drawing out the reveal just a little when the timing was right. He never did that with the easy questions; they just blitzed through those. It sounds like this Lucky 13 show is doing that even with the gimmies. And that's insulting.

As for why Millionaire failed in syndication? No Regis. RIP to a legend

millionaire was huge in ~100 countries and i want you to guess how many featured regis

also it definitely did not fail in syndication

So someone went for a million. But it became apparent that they guessed on 3+ answers(I only sort of paid attention).

So it wasn't some grand exciting play, they just were a fucking moron.

They also turned down 80000 which was offered at perhaps the most boring time possible because this show has no idea how to do drama.

The real question is...

Why the living hell did you subject yourself to that trash again dude

I had the TV on for background noise and it happened to come on.

those new primetime game shows are also heavily scripted in my opinion as far as the results.

Meow1000 posted...

Loca had a significantly slower pace that it tried to make up with some and dance - And this show is very popular in Mexico because that sells there. American audiences did not have the patience to wade through the mound of superfluous BS of that show.

I think having a Spanish title and having no substance for the actual game didn't help. The audience needs to be able to play along - and if they can't, at least find some way to entertain them. Repetitive song and dance is not how to do that.

Steiner posted...

millionaire was huge in ~100 countries and i want you to guess how many featured regis

Just one. My point was that Regis was a big part of why Millionaire made it big here in the USA, where people at the time didn't really care much for game shows. Our TV culture is something else, really.

You also have to consider how easy the US Millionaire was compared to the UK version, which was because Disney wanted their "million dollar moment" - which kinda made it a flash in the pan in the end. Having a host that could sell that material was necessary.

Some of the $100 UK questions would be like $16,000 here so that checks out

guffguy89 posted...

those new primetime game shows are also heavily scripted in my opinion as far as the results.

I was subjected to a couple episodes of one from a year or two ago where it was grandparents teamed with their grandkids (or other family members with a similar age gap) and theres no way some of that shit wasnt staged. There was a question where a kid was shown a picture from I Love Lucy and they were supposed to guess what show it was from. This ten year old kid said The Avengers. I completely buy the kid getting it wrong but theres no fucking way they thought the answer was Avengers. Also multiple times when a black man was put on-screen the kids guessed that it was Black Panther. (The show was on ABC btw)

Oh Lord I was also subjected to one of those and it was terrible, so thanks for the reminder tbqh. Somehow that show got a second season, too.

And yeah there's a big difference between answering wrong and clearly not trying to answer right.

Meow1000 posted...

And yeah there's a big difference between answering wrong and clearly not trying to answer right.

Sure, but if they have absolutely no idea what the answer is then a joke answer is slightly more entertaining than "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, i dunno shrug".

If I remember right there was a worse penalty for not making a guess than for an incorrect guess, but still, Avengers?

WazzupGenius00 posted...

If I remember right there was a worse penalty for not making a guess than for an incorrect guess, but still, Avengers?

Yeah, they were penalized if they didn't answer at all. It was clearly an attempt at forcing funny answers. But it just lead to lazy answers where people just name any person they can think of to avoid the penalty.

That show also jumped on the bandwagon of having the host's parent randomly on the stage, just to cut to them with bored expressions, and when prompted to give simple witless replies as if it was the funniest thing because of how simple they were.
Something like:
Host: "hey dad, do you know how to dab?"
Host's dad: "no"
*Audience loses their shit laughing*