Questions About Donnymid

[sushibarset11]

Pyramid will always be one of my favorite shows. However, the 2002-04 version; aka Donnymid to many, wasn’t a favorite of mine. But the biggest questions I always thought of:

1. Why were the judges so strict? I mean, in the past, and now, you just need the key word in the Winners Circle for credit. But, in Donnymid, those judges wanted the category names to be said verbatim. I don’t know why. For example, in a 2002 episode, the category was “What Mistletoe Might Say”; the contestant said “What is mistletoe?” Granted, this isn’t Jeopardy, but she said “mistletoe”! Come on.

2. Why was beating the Winner’s Circle twice in one day needed to not only win the full $25,000 and get into the “tournament”, but to also win the $100,000? Back in the 80s, you didn’t need to win it twice to win the $25,000. And, time was a factor in getting into the tournament.

3. What’s with the unnecessary puns in the front game? Ex: “Going to Israel? Tel Aviv I Said Hi”

4. Was Columbia Tristar Domestic Television (now Sony Pictures Television) trying to fuse Millionaire (loud theme, dark set, strict judging) with their classic word association game? Kinda seems that way.

5. Nothing against Donny Osmond, but was there a specific reason why someone was close to the Winner’s Circle, he always had to yell, “OH! OH! OH! OH!”?

And finally,

6. Why was the “tournament” not only just 3 days, but still had a top prize of $100,000? At this time, million dollar game shows were a thing, maybe a more structured tournament with a higher top prize would’ve worked.

Those are my questions, if you guys want to answer, go ahead.

[Deleted]

I just saw on YouTube from Wink Martindale and it has a sizzle reel of The $100,000 Pyramid which has Donny Osmond in it.

[dougmorrisontheair]

1. You'd have to ask the then producers. Persnickety adjudication really killed would could've been a nice long run. (I worked at a TV station that carried this show. We, obviously, rooted for the show's success.)

2. Probably part of a need to stand out from its previous versions.

3. Again, a likely need to stand out. The current version with Michael Strahan's been known to have punny categories.

4. A *lot* of other shows that decade tried to copy the WWTBAM look and feel.

5. Habit? Bert Convy would react similarly in "Super Password's" bonus round after the player scored $900 and had a legit amount of time to go ten out of ten -- only not to win it all.

6. Vague recollection -- but I think there was one tourney in which the top $100K was not awarded at all -- making for an awkward ending as the show closed.

Donny was not that bad of a host. A better judge, a better game format, and a set that looked more like "Pyramid" and less like WWTBAM would've made a bigger difference.

One more thing that irked me: In the second season's winner's circle segments, the director noticeably took more shots of the player and celeb partner in the winner's circle -- and one or two shots at the pyramid within that 60-second time frame. The name of the game is "Pyramid" -- not "Winner's Circle".

[sushibarset11]

Feb 4, 2020 23:22:34 GMT -5 dougmorrisontheair said:

1. You'd have to ask the then producers. Persnickety adjudication really killed would could've been a nice long run. (I worked at a TV station that carried this show. We, obviously, rooted for the show's success.)

2. Probably part of a need to stand out from its previous versions.

3. Again, a likely need to stand out. The current version with Michael Strahan's been known to have punny categories.

4. A *lot* of other shows that decade tried to copy the WWTBAM look and feel.

5. Habit? Bert Convy would react similarly in "Super Password's" bonus round after the player scored $900 and had a legit amount of time to go ten out of ten -- only not to win it all.

6. Vague recollection -- but I think there was one tourney in which the top $100K was not awarded at all -- making for an awkward ending as the show closed.

Donny was not that bad of a host. A better judge, a better game format, and a set that looked more like "Pyramid" and less like WWTBAM would've made a bigger difference.

One more thing that irked me: In the second season's winner's circle segments, the director noticeably took more shots of the player and celeb partner in the winner's circle -- and one or two shots at the pyramid within that 60-second time frame. The name of the game is "Pyramid" -- not "Winner's Circle".

Hmm. Interesting. Unfortunately, there are no more tournament episodes on YouTube (because of Sony), but I have one more question on visuals. In the 80s, whenever the $100,000 was won, the trilons would sort of “dance” as the whole audience came to celebrate with the contestant. In Donnymid, whenever there was a $10K or $25K win, there would be a LOT of lights flashing complete with a loud siren-y noise that’s kind of similar to Jeopardy!’s Daily Double noise. What happened in a $100,000 win, if there was any? I remember one telling me there was some sort of confetti drop, but I’m not sure.

[dougmorrisontheair]

Feb 16, 2020 17:35:58 GMT -5 sushibarset11 said:

Hmm. Interesting. Unfortunately, there are no more tournament episodes on YouTube (because of Sony), but I have one more question on visuals. In the 80s, whenever the $100,000 was won, the trilons would sort of “dance” as the whole audience came to celebrate with the contestant. In Donnymid, whenever there was a $10K or $25K win, there would be a LOT of lights flashing complete with a loud siren-y noise that’s kind of similar to Jeopardy!’s Daily Double noise. What happened in a $100,000 win, if there was any? I remember one telling me there was some sort of confetti drop, but I’m not sure.

Based upon somewhat hazy memory, it was either confetti cannons, streamers or a combination thereof.

[gameshowfan1995]

I can confirm on the two occasions (Maybe three, I'm not sure) that the $100,000 was won, confetti cannons were fired. Despite the fact that the show aired at around 1:30 in the morning on my local CBS affiliate when the show was on, I managed to stay up late enough to watch the tournament episodes when they aired.

[Deleted]

Do you think there’s a 7-11 on the Donny Osmond one?

[gameshowfan1995]

There were no 7-11s or Mystery 7s during Donny's tenure. There was a Super Six available in both front games (so called because each category had 6 words to guess rather than 7). The Super Six was worth a bonus prize for getting all six words in the 20 second limit.

[sushibarset11]

Feb 17, 2020 14:30:28 GMT -5 gameshowfan1995 said:

There were no 7-11s or Mystery 7s during Donny's tenure. There was a Super Six available in both front games (so called because each category had 6 words to guess rather than 7). The Super Six was worth a bonus prize for getting all six words in the 20 second limit.

Super Six usually offered prizes such as a trip or some Sony merchandise. On tournament episodes, more expensive prizes, such as a trip to Paris, were offered.