WWTBAM returns to primetime

[MarkBarrett]

Hope Mina is on HQ tomorrow and that her co-hosts talk about her PAF work even if it was all a guess in picking the right guy by chance going for a general area of who might have been in office at the time.

She was on today and they discussed it. Even funnier, though, was the alternate-universe version during the outro in which Pablo Torre was the PAF.

Great, I have it recorded and that is the first thing I watch after archiving the games. Sorry to see that Dan is leaving, though happy the show will continue. HQ meets my mentality better than ATH and PTI.

[Mathew5000]

In this prime-time series, are the phone-a-friends permitted to use Google and similar aids? If not, how is that rule enforced? If so, why doesn't everyone do it? I remember a decade or two ago it was obvious that many phone-a-friends were Googling the question; sometimes the contestant would just give the keywords instead of reading the whole question.

[Rackme32]

In this prime-time series, are the phone-a-friends permitted to use Google and similar aids? If not, how is that rule enforced? If so, why doesn't everyone do it? I remember a decade or two ago it was obvious that many phone-a-friends were Googling the question; sometimes the contestant would just give the keywords instead of reading the whole question.

I don't know how a rule like that would be enforced, but I have an idea that Google, etc. is why the 30-second clock starts when the contestant *begins* to read, rather than after. Definitely takes typing time for the phone-a-friend down to a minimum.

[Golf]

In this prime-time series, are the phone-a-friends permitted to use Google and similar aids? If not, how is that rule enforced? If so, why doesn't everyone do it? I remember a decade or two ago it was obvious that many phone-a-friends were Googling the question; sometimes the contestant would just give the keywords instead of reading the whole question.

I don't know how a rule like that would be enforced, but I have an idea that Google, etc. is why the 30-second clock starts when the contestant *begins* to read, rather than after. Definitely takes typing time for the phone-a-friend down to a minimum.

Actually, very few PAF's used Google during the original run as well as the syndicated version. Why? Because most people don't know how to give themselves the best possible chance of success. No different than contestants on Jeopardy not having a clue on how to wager properly. It was nice to watch when a PAF did use Google.

So of course they are free to Google, and 30 seconds is an eternity for one question. These days, 99.99% of questions are easily checked if you have someone at a computer with half a clue.

[teapot37]

I know on the more recent seasons of the UK version, the show sends a representative to each of the potential phone-a-friends to monitor them to make sure there's no internet searching (or maybe they just have them on a Zoom or something right now, I dunno). I would assume that there's something similar to that being done over here.

[LucarioSnooperVixey]

No choices needed for $64,000 - $500,000.

I will admit, I had NO IDEA women open their mouths when applying mascara. I know, I would not be a good boyfriend.

Impossible burger was also completely new to me. Yet again, I do not like burgers, so I am not disappointed.

[alietr]

Yeah, these stacks are seriously easy. I didn't know $500k, but I was breezing until then and would have had 3 lifelines left to try to get that one. It's a much different game than the syndie version was.

[talkingaway]

In this prime-time series, are the phone-a-friends permitted to use Google and similar aids? If not, how is that rule enforced? If so, why doesn't everyone do it? I remember a decade or two ago it was obvious that many phone-a-friends were Googling the question; sometimes the contestant would just give the keywords instead of reading the whole question.

I don't know how a rule like that would be enforced, but I have an idea that Google, etc. is why the 30-second clock starts when the contestant *begins* to read, rather than after. Definitely takes typing time for the phone-a-friend down to a minimum.

Actually, very few PAF's used Google during the original run as well as the syndicated version. Why? Because most people don't know how to give themselves the best possible chance of success. No different than contestants on Jeopardy not having a clue on how to wager properly. It was nice to watch when a PAF did use Google.

So of course they are free to Google, and 30 seconds is an eternity for one question. These days, 99.99% of questions are easily checked if you have someone at a computer with half a clue.

I couldn't tell you if it was in the original prime time or syndie, but I distinctly remember one contestant in WWTBAM's run who started the question basically telling their PAF the keywords to type into Google - and THEN read the actual question. Highly efficient use of time, IMO.

The question writers in the old-school WWTBAM original run seemed cognizant of the limitations of PAF, and wrote questions that were purposely brief enough to be read in 10-15 seconds, leaving a reasonable amount of time for talking. Many questions on the Kimmel run are long - which is fine for a studio question, but a pain for a PAF. There are way too many PAFs that wind up with no dialogue. Of cousre, it could be the celebrity slant that makes it less likely to be helpful.

The first thing I'd do before selecting PAF is mentally run though how to edit the question down, if at all possible.

[AntmanB]

So..... Whew Knew That Toy Story Question? i knew it immediately and im wondering if other people did and im think that was way to high for a 125k Question.

[MarkBarrett]

So..... Whew Knew That Toy Story Question? i knew it immediately and im wondering if other people did and im think that was way to high for a 125k Question.

To me in this version of the show I think the Q is fine for $125K. As we saw tonight not everyone has seen the movie, though it is still possible to have some familiarity with the characters.

I saw the movie a year and months ago in the theater for my one viewing and knew the answer without choices. You could ask a different question about the movie and it could possibly stump me.

Movie trivia can be one of the easiest things for viewers who live for flicks and can recall the tiniest details or have spent a lot of time memorizing lists, awards and such. On the other hand we see from J! game posts how movie clues can cause all kinds of problems for those that do not watch movies regularly.

Tonight's contestant had an idea and took a shot on the way to proving it was no gimme for at least one person in the hot seat.

A good habit for viewing the show is to not look at the ep. description as it spells out the chair occupants. I remembered to avoid that kind of spoiler and had no idea about who would be facing Jimmy tonight.

I agree with Jimmy that Barbra Streisand would not have an album, Rough and Rowdy Ways.

[Mathew5000]

I agree with Jimmy that Barbra Streisand would not have an album, Rough and Rowdy Ways. :lol:

About that question (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYIcVqsh4iE), I was wondering whether each of the three wrong answers had a streak of six decades (the 1960s through the 2010s) with a top 40 album. In other words, can Willie Nelson, Cher, and Barbra Streisand potentially tie (and surpass) Bob Dylan's streak? And are there any other singers on the same streak? In the case of Streisand, she's done better than top 40, with a number 1 album in six decades up to the 2010s (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-musi ... G020140924). Willie Nelson does not seem to have had a solo top 40 album in the 1990s or 2000s (per Wikipedia). On the Top Country Albums chart, however, he has a top 10 album in all seven decades since the chart was originated, including the 2020s (https://www.billboard.com/articles/busi ... ms-history). As for Cher, she does have a top 40 solo album in every decade from the 1960s to the 2010s, most recently Dancing Queen, which hit #3 in 2018 (per Wikipedia).

Looks like the Rolling Stones also reached the top 40 on the US album charts in each decade from the 1960s to the 2010s (per Wikipedia). Anybody else?

Edited to add: On doing further research, my question was answered on Reddit a few months ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments ... 40/fwdgesj

Also, Willie Nelson did release a new album this year (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Ros ... ing#Charts), despite Jimmy Kimmel saying that he would have known if that had happened. The album apparently peaked at #49.

[MarkBarrett]

Looks like ABC is doing a burn off with ep. 9 on Sunday the 3rd followed by eps. 10-12 on Wednesday the 6th from 8-11. That Wednesday will be fast forward city with Fox having the masked dancers and new Name That Tune plus CBS has another TPIR at night special. The Challenge can wait a day and mercifully The CW won't be quite ready with new Riverdale and Nancy Drew episodes yet.

[LucarioSnooperVixey]

By any chance, could ABC re-schedule those three back-to-back WWTBAM episodes?

[MarkBarrett]

By any chance, could ABC re-schedule those three back-to-back WWTBAM episodes?

If my onscreen guide is accurate then E10 will air Sunday the 10th and E11 will air Sunday the 17th. Originally those nights were going to be 13 & 14.

[MarkBarrett]

Amanda Peet was the polar opposite Dr. Phil for playing style as she did indeed act, like Jimmy commented, that her car was waiting outside.

I like the Spanish Q as I got it right even though I had the wrong letter in the middle with a Y. It's easy for anyone to look back at high school and think about doing something differently. One for me would be to work in a year of Spanish in addition to my two years of French. I have no regrets about not bothering with calculus while I can only imagine how chemistry and/or physics would have helped me with trivia over the ensuing 40 years.

The episode was interesting with whether to keep Jimmy as a lifeline or not.