New game show: Merv Griffin's Crosswords

[DancnDude]

Has anyone else been watching this? I really like it! It's truly a "classic" gameshow in the style of Jeopardy or WoF with lots of questions and requires skill. It reminds me a lot of the classic gameshow Scrabble (with Chuck Woolery) because of the witty clues and similarity of crossword clues.

In round 1, there are 2 contestants. The host tells the crossword clue and number of letters, then the contestant buzzes in and answers. If they get it right, they win money and wrong they lose money. The next question's word usually crosses the previous one so one or more letters are already filled in.

Round 2 and 3 are the same, except they add 3 "spoiler" contestants. If neither of the original contestants gets the answer correct, a spoiler can answer it. If they get it right, they can swap places with one of the contestants with money and the original contestant becomes the spoiler.

And the bonus round for the person who won is just filling in all the rest of the clues that haven't been filled in to win a prize.

It's really a fun show for those who like game shows!

[omnibus]

At one point in the show there was a 6 or 7 letter word with a clue that had several possible 6 or 7 letter answers.

Trouble was, on TV they did'nt show the connecting words which the contestants may or may do have been able to see.

Consequently the first contestant to buzz in answered incorrectly even tho' the answer fit and answered the clue.

[Fl_Gulfer]

I haven't seen it here, when is it on and what channel;?

[tase2]

I haven't seen it here, when is it on and what channel;?
+1

[forecheck]

It is syndicated, usually shown in the morning or mid afternoon. As the saying goes, "Check your local listings for channel and time in your area"

[TIVO_GUY_HERE]

Its on NBC in Dallas, and in LA.

Its a good show, gotta get rid of the host tho.

I think If i was one of the spoilers, I would just sit back till about 2-3 minutes to go, and then try to steal. Last couple of shows I've seen, thats pretty much what happened.

[DancnDude]

No idea when it's on. Here it's on NBC, but I just pulled up Merv Griffin's Crosswords in TiVo and set up a season pass. I believe it's on 5-days-a-week for a half-hour.

[forecheck]

You can find your local station and time here:

http://www.crosswords.tv/wheretowatch.aspx

[steve614]

If I wasn't a crossword fan, I probably wouldn't be able to sit through it.

[Fl_Gulfer]

Figures it would be a local channel I can't get Fox

[steve614]

A game show element I'd like to see with this program:

Any contestant who has a negative amount when the game ends has to pay that amount back to the show. :D

[trainman]

It's nice to see a new game show that actually gets through a bunch of questions in a half-hour (unlike, say, most new prime-time game shows). However, I note that it's theoretically possible for one of the spoilers to win by answering only one question correctly at the end of the game -- I think that's a big flaw. One way I can think of to partially fix it: having the same five contestants stay for a full week and rotate positions each day (and then the big winner for the week could play a super-deluxe bonus round on Friday).

[steve614]

I note that it's theoretically possible for one of the spoilers to win by answering only one question correctly at the end of the game

This actually happened on one of yesterdays shows.
A 'spoiler' answered a question, and took over the podium with the money* right as they were sounding the end of game buzzer.
And I think that was the ONLY question answered by that spoiler.
:p

*Actually, it was a close game, and the spoiler chose the lower amount podium with a trip, but when the $300 moved with the spoiler to the podium for answering the question correctly, it became the winning podium.

[ElJay]

Why don't they have the spoilers start out in round one and then have them exit at the end of round two? I do not like the idea of a spoiler answering exactly one question correctly and then winning the show after the buzzer sounds. Except for this situation, the spoiler idea is my favorite part of the show.

I know it doesn't mean much, but the theme music is absolutely dreadful. If I only heard the audio portion of this show I'd think it was out of the 1980s because of that wretched music. "Vegas.com" is the only clue otherwise.

[DancnDude]

I agree that the rules should be tweaked a bit, but I'm not really sure how. It is annoying that one guy can get one question right and just win.

I think all the contestants should start out as a podium and able to win money, then make the 3 with the least money after round 1 the spoilers. It's just odd that anyone can win but 3 of them didn't even play in the entire game.

I mostly like the game because the clues are so much fun to try to solve yourself. Who wins, what they win, etc is kinda secondary to my enjoyment of the show.

[trainman]

I know it doesn't mean much, but the theme music is absolutely dreadful. If I only heard the audio portion of this show I'd think it was out of the 1980s because of that wretched music.

The theme was written by Merv Griffin, and it actually is from the 1980s, or maybe even late 1970s -- it was originally used as incidental music on "Wheel of Fortune."

[Ntombi]

I liked the show, but I found some of the clues way too easy.

[ElJay]

The theme was written by Merv Griffin, and it actually is from the 1980s, or maybe even late 1970s -- it was originally used as incidental music on "Wheel of Fortune."

Oh my! Well, the least they could have done is spent a few grand to have somebody make a decent modern sounding arrangement of it... The way it is now, played on what sounds like a 1980s Casio imitating a calliope, just doesn't work in 2007.

[DancnDude]

I kinda like the theme. Because it sounds retro and this game is very retro. It's certainly a throwback to the 80's gameshow era, consolation-prize watch included :)

[steve614]

I liked the show, but I found some of the clues way too easy.
Not everybody can solve a New York Times crossword. Some of the questions have to be easy.