Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
"Whammy" a Disappointment
Tuesday
April 16, 2002
I just finished watching a tape of last night's debut of "Whammy -- The All New Press Your Luck" on the Game Show Network. I was interested in seeing how they would handle the reincarnation of one of my all-time favorite game shows, Press Your Luck. Sadly, I was disappointed.
First, the positives. The competitors were cast well for a debut episode (I imagine more than a few channel-surfers stuck around when they ran across the gorgeous Laura). They kept at least some of the basic premise around, with three participants, four whammies and you're out, and the traditional 3,000/4,000/5,000 and a spin in the top middle/right. Game Show Network has a much smaller budget than a major network, but because the original PYL ran on CBS from 1983-1986, inflation allows them to keep the top prizes the same price, staying with the GSN budget and not seeming overly cheap. The idea of computer-animated whammies was creative. The host, Todd Newton, did the best he could with what he was given, emulating some of Peter Tamarkan's cadances (particularly when listing the three possible answers on the question round) while not coming across as a ripoff.
Unfortunately, Whammy seems to have been overproduced. I can just imagine the meetings when they planned it out.... "Yeah, let's dump popcorn on them when they hit a Whammy, kids'll love that". Ugh. They introduced the concept of a "Double Whammy", which at first I thought was great because I thought it meant you'd get two whammy pop-ups, which could impact strategy late in the game (i.e. passing to someone with two whammies, hoping they'd hit a double and go to four and be forced from the game). Instead, the concept of the "Double Whammy" meant they'd do the whammy animation and then dump something on the contestants, be it popcorn or feathers or even mini-basketballs. I was waiting for anvils to start falling from the sky. And then the contestants were only penalized with one whammy pop-up, not two. What's the point of the "Double Whammy" then?!?
They tinkered with the game board design, which was a major mistake. There's too much wasted space. The original Press Your Luck made much better use of TV space, with the board around the perimeter and the contestant's shot in the middle. You can't tell what's a whammy and what's a humidor (seriously, that was a prize in the first round.... I was waiting for them to bring back the much-maligned "Jog-N-Tramp" from the original).
Despite the good choices for contestants, you could blatantly tell that they had been told to say certain things. When Laura said "I like an occasional cigar, I want that humidor", I knew the fix was in. I'm not sure if Skylar's obnoxious behavior was coached, natural, or a blend. One thing that the original PYL had going for it was the genuine emotion behind the contestants and what they said. They were told to say "Big Bucks, No Whammies", but beyond that they weren't told to say "I want the Exercise Rower" or whatever.
But possibly most disturbing is the change in format of the first round. It used to be you'd have a round of questions to land spins, then a first big board round, then a second round of questions, and the final big board round with the high stakes prizes. Now they have this stupid start-round where the contestants take turns going until they either whammy or decide to stop with what they have. To call it a flawed concept is an understatement. The original format was smart both in how it allowed for commercials at non-jarring intervals and in the flow of the game. I imagine the execs wanted Whammy to get things started with the contestants on the big board, but it didn't seem to fit at all.
At least they kept the question round for the second go-around at the big board, where players earn spins and then either choose to spin or pass. Thank goodness they at least kept that intact. Strategy didn't seem to be deployed very well at the end, though. Sadly, for as beautiful as Laura was, she made a very questionable decision. She had roughly $4,000 and 5 spins. The guy in first place had roughly $7,500 and THREE WHAMMIES. So she could've passed the spins to him, forcing five straight non-whammy landings. And with the producers busting a nut over the stupid "Double Whammy", you had to think the likelihood of that happening wasn't likely. But she instead kept going... and then whammied herself. By the time she passed, she only had two spins, and the "hope the other guy hits a whammy" deal didn't pay off. Oh well, too bad for her.
Overall, while I love the idea of Press Your Luck being brought back to life, I hate seeing it in this bastardized state. If you care to check it out, Whammy airs at 10 PM Eastern on Game Show Network.
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