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sir_quirky_k (

sir_quirky_k) wrote,
@ 2007-07-25 17:40:00

Current music:

KT Tunstall - Miniature Disasters

Things that I've thought about in the last 100 hours
* I haven't formalised Clarkson-Lewis yet. There's a very good reason for this; I've not heard the Lewis version in a long time, owing to the lack of any copy myself. My brother's probably got one though. Heck, he's got Umbrella. As a ringtone. He really does bring disdain upon himself...
* I've been feeling rather upset about the phone loss (or possibly theft, it's not clear which). I've interpreted it as illustration of failure of the whole holiday, despite many people telling me otherwise. Lawks, even the family were amongst the supporters.
* The most effective method of escpaing low self-esteem I've found so far? Playing Alice.
* Spoke to a(nother) classical soprano met on Fitzpatrick-era LJ regarding my voice, and while she's exercising caution she has little time for Gemma's generalisation. I certainly intend to find a new teacher, and I may yet bring out the diagram that emerged on Saturday.
* One question she asked me that really got me thinking: 'What are you hoping to sound like?' That really threw me for a second. I'd been thinking somewhat along the lines of being less constricted in writing for myself, and being generally more technically competent, but there was never a grand plan for how I'd sound. I was heading towards the perspective of an almost conversational style, effectively with the intention that what I'm singing is more important to the listener than how I'm singing it. I don't want my voice to stand out in any particular way, I don't think. By contrast, I'd rather not be too constrained... ooh, this is going to be interesting to think about, and I thank her for opening up this new line of thinking.
* There's something interesting that should but may not be happening next week. I'm not mentioning it yet in case it isn't happening, but I sense jiggery_pokery will like it. A lot. (Actually the event is certainly happening but my involvement with it is in question for reasons outside my control.)
* Watched a repeat of Get 100 yesterday, the first time I've seen what is quite clearly the best new format of the year in at least some respects. Was quite amusing to see this (with a potential prize fund of Shiny Things that must be valued into four figures quite easily, surely) followed soon after by an old Catchphrase (the Snake Charmer episode, no less) where the audience made war whoops over bonus banks as low as £200...

Things have changed a lot since 1994... when did the prize regulations disappear anyway? And was it the then-notorious high costs of new cars in the UK relative to the eurozone related to how the default ITV1 game show prize (Catchphrase's holidays were an exception) between deregulation and Millionaire was a Brand New Car?

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It could be a great night tonight if you play your cards right

daweaver
2007-07-25 07:10 pm UTC (link)

Watched a repeat of Get 100 yesterday, the first time I've seen what is quite clearly the best new format of the year in at least some respects.

Could be this, could be The Search, could be The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Could easily be something we've not yet seen; the year is barely half-run.

Things have changed a lot since 1994... when did the prize regulations disappear anyway?

Prize caps were relaxed from £1000 to £3000 in 1982, £5000 in 1990 (which explains why Bob's 64,000-dollar Question had to give away its top prize (£6400 (then ECU 9500)) as a cheque) and quietly abolished in the final days of the Major government in 1997. However...

was it the then-notorious high costs of new cars in the UK relative to the eurozone related to how the default ITV1 game show prize (Catchphrase's holidays were an exception) between deregulation and Millionaire was a Brand New Car?

...a player could win £500 in cash and £1000 in other prizes (1982: total of £4000 respecting the cash limit; 1990: cash and other prizes to £10,000). The IBA allowed a Brand New Car to "slightly" exceed this limit so long as it was British. (For values of "slightly" that wouldn't cover a Roller, but would stretch to a decent family car.)

The non-cash prize limit was raised to £10,000 (£15,000 in total prizes) when the IBA was replaced by the ITC in 1993, and removed in 1995, instantly giving us better prizes on the new series Bruce's Price is Right, and within months that great ITV Saturday night success, Raise the Roof.

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Re: It could be a great night tonight if you play your cards right

sir_quirky_k
2007-07-25 07:54 pm UTC (link)

There's no question it's the best studio quizzer of the year. Though when your competition is The People's Quiz, That's The Question and the impending Are You Smarter Than A 10-Year-Old? this almost goes without saying.

Catchphrase sometimes flashed up the total value of the player's winnings at the end of the show, and I keep remembering figures in the region of £8,000. Presumably the game was planned such that nobody would ever win more than (£10,000-holiday value), or the prize value was determined accordingly (and this could be why Catchphrase gave away holidays instead of cars).

It's quite remarkable that the biggest cash prize on offer on UK television went up two orders of magnitude in two years. From this distance, it seems even more remarkable that the BBC (through Big Ticket) were responsible for the first of these two. And now I see why Bruce's Price Is Right started when it did, and why there was such excitement in the studio in the early series. (Though Challenge seems to mostly repeat the episodes of the post-Millionaire era these days... something does seem to be missing, and the fact that there's a seven-figure cheque on offer in Elstree by then might be the genesis.)

It's also quite amusing to think that the BBC would have held the record for biggest cash win until a certain Mr Skillings came to Elstree. When did the All-Time Winners List start anyway?

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Re: It could be a great night tonight if you play your cards right

daweaver
2007-07-26 05:57 pm UTC (link)

There's no question it's the best studio quizzer of the year. Though when your competition is The People's Quiz, That's The Question and the impending Are You Smarter Than A 10-Year-Old? this almost goes without saying.

How could you *possibly* forget Your Country Needs You? Because it had Patrick Kielty, Myleene Klass, and Zoe Salmon? Good point.

Presumably the game was planned such that nobody would ever win more than (£10,000-holiday value), or the prize value was determined accordingly (and this could be why Catchphrase gave away holidays instead of cars).

Almost certainly. TVS knew the rules - indeed, they were the main instigators of the later relaxations - and had no scruples about playing them to their maximum.

It's quite remarkable that the biggest cash prize on offer on UK television went up two orders of magnitude in two years.

Yep, from an £8000 car on Celebrity Squares 1993, to £20,000 on Bruce's Price is Right, a £50,000 house on Raise the Roof 1995, to a possible £100,000 on The National Lottery ~~People's Quiz~~ Big Ticket, then to the eponymous Millionaire.

It seems even more remarkable that the BBC (through Big Ticket) were responsible for the first of these two.

The Beeb was never under the IBA / ITC rules, but then the Beeb never really did big money game shows until its commercials for the lottery.

It's also quite amusing to think that the BBC would have held the record for biggest cash win until a certain Mr Skillings came to Elstree. When did the All-Time Winners List start anyway?

With the first top-prize winner on Big Ticket, a name that isn't (currently) inscribed onto UKGS's Hall of Fame. In researching this response (yes, research... this is why I'll never fit in at Wikipedia) I've found that the £100,000 went twice on 30/5/98 and 13/6/98. The BBC does not record the prize winners. How irritating.

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	Re: It could be a great night tonight if you play your cards right sir_quirky_k 2007-07-26 06:34 pm UTC (link)
	I always had the impression nobody ever won £100k on Big Ticket and Skillings was the first six-figure winner... interesting that it went twice. Brig's put part of one episode on the Bar - I doubt he'd have any more but if he does have either or both of the six-figure wins recorded... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: It could be a great night tonight if you play your cards right

daweaver
2007-07-31 06:54 pm UTC (link)

I always had the impression nobody ever won £100k on Big Ticket and Skillings was the first six-figure winner... interesting that it went twice.

Not really: according to someone who actually watched the show (thanks, Brig), the game mechanic involved blowing up five of six sealed contraptions, to reveal amounts totalling between £50,000 and £100,000 - in effect, the contestant won £100,000 minus the contents of the unopened box. There was a one-in-six chance of revealing the top prize, and in a twelve episode series, it went twice.

The names have now been added to the Hall of Fame, and we're reasonably certain they're the first people to win a six-figure cash prize on UK television.

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Re: It could be a great night tonight if you play your cards right

sir_quirky_k
2007-07-31 10:22 pm UTC (link)

I note that Lang isn't the only one of the £1m winners to have other winnings from elsewhere, or indeed the biggest. (Should we count poker shows? Must we count poker shows?) Wonder when there'll be a single cheque for more than One Million Pounds Cash - of course, it should have gone to Karen Shand. (Speaking of The Vault, the million-pound barrier would have been - marginally - broken had it been a studio contestant, and not a home player like Shand, who ended that interminable run without a jackpot winner.) There'd have been a non-trivial chance had ITV commissioned Show Me What You've Got in the form presented in the pilot that Brig saw and reported on; I simulated several dozen games in that format, randomly simulating the quiz portion by assuming P (wrong answer) = 0.15, and produced a single win in seven figures (and one of, um, £990,000). A rather neater version of that format, producing far fewer zero wins while also being more affordable, aired in Italy and wasn't a flop; a subversion of the format aired in the colonies and was.

An order of magnitude down, the two names are there, and it's somewhat reassuring to see their names there. Somewhat worrying to see Graeme from Noel's Gambling Party immediately above, considering how he won it.

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Re: It could be a great night tonight if you play your cards right

daweaver
2007-08-01 05:09 pm UTC (link)

I note that Lang isn't the only one of the £1m winners to have other winnings from elsewhere, or indeed the biggest. (Should we count poker shows? Must we count poker shows?)

The metric I've proposed for game showiness, at least for inclusion in the A-Z, is that the event must be capable of having either a clear win outcome or a clear loss outcome; and that the event must be primarily made for television. The first criterion rules out things like the win-free House Improvement With Smiley Smiley Carol Smilie; the second ensures that the FA Cup does not count, for it would continue without the television cameras.

Poker is a sticky point: there's certainly a clear outcome, but there's a convincing argument that the events could take place without the television exposure. That said, the purpose of the winners' list is to list people who have won money on television game shows, a metric slightly more inclusive than the A-Z, and it's just about the one place where cash wins count and everything else is ignored, so in they go.

Wonder when there'll be a single cheque for more than One Million Pounds Cash

Wouldn't surprise me if Millionaire ups its jackpot in a year's time, marking its tenth (count 'em!) anniversary on air. Otherwise, I suspect that we may be waiting quite some time.

Somewhat worrying to see Graeme from Noel's Gambling Party immediately above, considering how he won it.

He took a big risk, one that you wouldn't have taken, one that I wouldn't have taken, but he did. It's not as though he went into the host's dressing room with a loaded gun and said, Gizzus a hundred grand, or Cheggers gets it. *That* would be wrong.

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Re: It could be a great night tonight if you play your cards right

sir_quirky_k
2007-08-01 11:14 pm UTC (link)

It's not as though he went into the host's dressing room with a loaded gun and said, Gizzus a hundred grand, or Cheggers gets it.

Now that made me smile too much for this hour. Of course, arguably all big Deal winners are almost exclusively beneficiaries of circumstance, and the biggest of them all is the most clear example of them all. Had she played her game in 2005, she would have accepted a five-box offer similar to her actual two-box offer; had she played soon after the first jackpot win, it may have been even earlier than that. By contrast, if Graeme had played his game in spring 2006, he would have won £5,000. Assuming no swap...

House Improvement With Smiley Smiley Carol Smilie

As did that.

Wouldn't surprise me if Millionaire ups its jackpot in a year's time, marking its tenth (count 'em!) anniversary on air.

Whereas the US did it within three years, by a whole order of magnitude to boot, and thanks to making the questions as hard as ours were to start with, the most they gave away was (um) USD 1,000,000.

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