If the recent decades have taught pleasure spectators anything, it’s that Hollywood enjoys reusing well-known businesses. Studios much prefer selling new adventures with well-known characters to reliant on irate fans to adopt a new cast of characters, from” Fast and Furious” remakes to live-action adaptations of Disney animated classics to the obscene production of the x-rated” Star Wars” series.
Relying on known qualities has taken on a new meaning in the case of The CW. The network premiered two game shows based on board games —” Scrabble” and” Trivial Pursuit” — that have remained mainstays of American living rooms for decades, both of which had prior television adaptations.
Linguistic Plan
The original broadcast type of” Scrabble”, hosted by Chuck Woolery, generally featured crossword-like puzzles, in which candidates tried to guess a word while filling in the word’s papers one at a time. This 1980s version featured wordplay but few characteristics unique to” Scrabble”, along with several features ( e. g., the dreaded” stopper” — a letter not in the word ) absent from the board game.
The latest version, hosted by Raven-Symone, starts out also to the 1980s present, albeit without the” plugs”. In the first category, two people think scrambled terms based on a one-word idea. Even in this crossword-like portion of the game, Scrabble scoring conventions still apply, with rarer letters ( e. g.,” Q”,” Z”, etc. ) earning candidates more details.
The last two rounds of the current” Scrabble” show closely resemble the board game. The next category features contestants who use letters from the same four predetermined hangers of seven letters each to make word combinations. The winner who collects the most points at the end of the next segment advances to the extra round, which allows the winner to create seven terms from seven predetermined containers of words. Contestants who score 100 points, based on the board game’s traditional scoring, in the bonus round leave with$ 1, 000, those achieving 150 points win$ 5, 000, and contestants finishing with at least 200 points win the maximum prize of$ 10, 000.
This variation of the game show uses much more method and intrigue than its 1980s father, while using the standard scoring system and allowing candidates to create their own words. One could get the impression that the candidates who play Scrabble frequently had a harder time understanding and utilizing the connections between the TV and table game versions when watching the first two half-hour episodes, which heat up as a one-hour wall.
On the other hand, the strategy elements that make this version of” Scrabble” more difficult to watch make it a harder game for viewers who do n’t regularly play the board game. Understanding the show’s nuances — how to put letters to existing words to make new words, create “mini-words” at the crossroads of several words, increase double and triple text and expression scores, etc. — may prove challenging to comprehend and confusing to follow for Scrabble newcomers.
But other game shows have faced, and overcome, similar obstacles. In the 1960s, producers famously complained that the original version of” Jeopardy”! featured content that is too difficult for a large audience. The success of” Scrabble” may depend on whether it can draw and keep viewers past the cult of the board game players.
Burton‘s Better Reboot
Following Alex Trebek’s passing, LeVar Burton was given a very public tryout as a quiz show host following nearly four years of Twitter chatter and an online petition. Burton was n’t named as the permanent host of” Jeopardy”!, but The CW secured a priceless consolation by hiring him to perform the most recent episode of a” Trivial Pursuit” television series.
The Trivial Pursuit board game has three distinct segments, each incorporating the renowned “pie wedge” motif that made it a smash hit in the early 1980s. In the first segment, Burton poses a series of 18 buzz-in questions, three for each of the six wedge categories, players accumulate points and wedges, with the highest two scoring players advancing.
In the second segment, two players go head-to-head, answering questions of increasing difficulty ( and point value ) from five of the six wedge categories. The highest scorer advances to the bonus round, where a winner who answers the questions in all six wedge categories correctly in less than a minute will win the top prize of$ 20, 000. There is no word on why” Scrabble” has a maximum prize of half the amount of money awarded immediately following it, aside from the declining viewership dynamic that causes the” shrinkflation” of many game show prizes.
Burton did n’t exhibit the same level of nervousness he did during his time on” Jeopardy” when he hosted the first two half-hour episodes of” Trivial Pursuit”! Perhaps starting a new show from scratch rather than trying to fill the shoes of a game show legend relieved pressure in a way that allowed Burton’s hosting abilities to shine.
In contrast to the 1980s version of” Scrabble”, which aired for seven seasons on NBC, few viewers probably remember the two television versions of” Trivial Pursuit” that aired briefly in the 1990s and 2000s. The current version resembles the 1990s program hosted by Wink Martindale largely, but it’s unrelated. The CW’s adaptation of” Trivial Pursuit” stays true to its board game roots and makes a lively addition to the quiz show/trivia genre.
” Scrabble” airs Thursdays at 8 p. m. Eastern/7 p. m. Central, and” Trivial Pursuit” airs Thursdays at 9 p. m. Eastern/8 p. m. Central, on most CW affiliates. Episodes are also available for next-day streaming online.