Pyramid/YMMV

Some subjective Tropes for the Game Show Pyramid.

---

• Hilarious in Hindsight: One contestant on $100,000 listed her occupation as a "domestic goddess", which befuddled Dick Clark. When asked to clarify, she revealed that she was simply a housewife, and a few subsequent housewives introduced themselves the same way.
• Most Annoying Sound: Donny's "OH! OH! OH! OH!" screams when someone screws up in the Winner's Circle.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: The $1,000,000 Pyramid for the Nintendo Wii, easily one of the worst game show video games ever created. No Mii support (typical of Ludia's Wii games), the classic 1982-91 logo is a lie since the game otherwise copies pretty much everything from Donnymid (the version most fans hate viciously), zero computer AI (your opponents start off by scoring one point on just about every subject; they get smarter as you progress, but will never pose a challenge), laboriously slow gameplay, hideous camera angles (no shots of the Winner's Circle pyramid while you're playing it), and the $1,000,000 top prize is awarded every time you clear the Winner's Circle — thus you have no incentive to play it after clearing the game once... unless you really want to unlock the wardrobe items.
• Replacement Scrappy: John Davidson was criticized by many fans for constantly screwing up, similarly to when he hosted The Hollywood Squares. Seriously, something like this should never happen:

John: You need seven to tie and eight to win—(buzzer)

• • At least twice, he had to ask on-air why the stagehands were flashing cue cards at him:
    • One involved a team who found the Mystery 7 last. They only needed four points to win, but by long-standing rules would play out the category to try for a trip to Aruba. John apparently didn't know this, because a stagehand flashed a cue card reading "but keep playing" and he had to ask what it meant. (To John's credit, the same thing happened later in the run and he handled it flawlessly.)
    • On another Mystery 7, he nearly blurted out the topic (which on a Mystery 7 isn't revealed until afterward, hence the "Mystery") and asked why they were flashing a card that said "don't tell".
• Special Effects Failure: On at least five occasions, the slides fell out of the Winner's Circle trilons (one instance, from $100,000, can be seen here). You have to admire the contestant for not turning around after a large plastic sheet has just slammed into the floor right behind their back!
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks: The 1996-97 pilots altered the gameplay (and the set!) very drastically. Would you believe one celebrity for each category?
  • Donnymid, to most fans. The kicker? It was done by the same guy who did the 1996-97 pilots. The double kicker? It was the basis for Ludia's $1,000,000 game.
    • Lax judging.
    • A hyperactive host.
    • Bad writing, with plenty of Unexpectedly Obscure Answers in the Winner's Circle.
    • Dark set and loud techno theme. Fun fact: even the critics said this about Donnymid's theme selection, bemoaning it as "change for the sake of change".
    • Six words in 20 seconds instead of seven in 30.
    • Gratuitous camera angles, especially in the Winner's Circle.
    • One of the worst warm-up guys in the genre, Steve Saunders.
    • Taping all the front games first, then all the Winner's Circle rounds.
    • Etc.
  • Following the stuck-to-what-worked 2009 pilots which convinced fans the show could work in the here-and-now, Michael Davies' changes for the 2010 pilots were (according to him) "designed to bring the show into the 21st Century".

1. 1. 1. The set had no chairs, which meant that everybody stood up. While Davies referred to this as "bringing the show to its feet", contestant applications looked for people who "love to play charades".
      2. The main game was played pretty much the same, except the third and fourth categories of every game were the bonus ones. Each hour-long episode was structured like a tournament, with the first two winners playing the third game for a shot at $25,000.
      3. The Winner's Circle pyramid, the show's centerpiece (used in every version and pilot), was ousted for the first time in the franchise's history in favor of what were only described as "seven surrounding screens". Combined with the whole "give clues through charades" aspect, this would seem to have thrown out the foundational Winner's Circle rule of "Don't use your hands."

• What an Idiot!: Every game show has them, and word-association games with illegal clues are more prone.
  • At least twice, a team managed to claim none of the boxes in the Winner's Circle. One of those instances, seen here, was one of the few times that the contestant chose to give clues.
  • At least one team on Donnymid managed to get zero words in one category in the main game.
  • Those Donnymid judges, who usually required the contestant to say the Winner's Circle subject verbatim, with uttering the "essence" considered unacceptable (breaking all precedent). Among others:

1. 1. 1. Category: Characters In The Wizard Of Oz
         Unacceptable Guess: Things In The Wizard Of Oz
      2. Category: Things Mick Jagger Would Say
         Unacceptable Guesses: Mick Jagger / I Am Mick Jagger
      3. Category: Tools
         Unacceptable Guess: Things In A Toolbox
      4. Category: Things On A Cave Wall
         Unacceptable Guess: Things In A Cave
      5. Category: Things A Babysitter Says
         Unacceptable Guesses: Babysitter / Things A Babysitter Does ^[1]

• What the Hell Casting Agency:
  • John Davidson in 1991. Yes, Dick was busy with The Challengers, but they couldn't get anyone better than this?
  • The many weeks where Henry Polic II (a friend of Stewart) filled-in as announcer. Stewart's earlier Double Talk (a revival of his own Shoot For The Stars) proved that Polic can't host; Pyramid proved that he can't announce, either.
  • Those who don't speak English as their primary language are naturally going to have a difficult time playing a game where the object is to describe words and phrases as quickly and concisely as possible. Despite this, Donnymid brought in Russian-born Lenny Krayzelburg for a week. He proceeded to lose all ten games against the other celeb (Picabo Street), and at least once did so poorly in the maingame that it ended after the fifth category. Considering that, the fact that players change partners for Game 2, and the many ways Donnymid screwed contestants out of qualifying for the Tournament, it seems the only reason the man was there in the first place was so nobody playing that week could qualify.

1. ↑ (Actually in the 1996 pilot, but listed here because that pilot and Donnymid had the same producer.)