Anyone remember the "Consolation Prize?"

[ShadowTiger]

Does anyone remember those old shows like Jeopardy, which are still on even today. Guests are accommodated in 5 star hotels, (From what I hear.) and receive prizes even if they lose. I mean, that's pretty impressive. They go there to earn money from their banks of knowledge, and win things from it.

Now, They used to have such a thing as the Consolation Prize. I haven't seen any new show with one. Gone are the days where, "Everybody Goes Home A Winner." .. And here are the days of Ann Robinson (Whoever. >_< ) saying, "You are the weakest link. Goodbye!" ... Dang, I hated her! :eek: She kept making people feel bad, while they just had to stand back and smile awkwardly while the audience looked at him and shook their heads... oh god... it was horrible... >_<

America has the Freedom to do that nowadays. They have the Freedom to change like that. The have the Freedom to laugh at the misfortune of others. But is this a bad thing? Is Change a bad thing? .. Or is staying as things were, a bad thing? ... Very difficult to tell. I guess it's all up to the jackal people who like to laugh at the misfortune of other people, or the people who look at that sort of thing and shake their heads in dismay at the changing state of the world.

[Rainman]

What's with all the "used to"s and "old"s?. I still watch Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, etc and they are still relatively popular shows.

[ShadowTiger]

I know! I love them, for the most part! We watch Jeopardy at the dinner table whenever possible. But I keep hearing from a lot of people that I respect (Mostly neighbors and older people.) That the morals of the country are going down the drain.

However, don't think that this means everyone's morals are doing that. That's ridiculous. But take a look back some 30 years ago, back when there were no reality shows of this sort. No one was truly laughing at the misfortune of others in real world, unscripted situations.

(BTW, happy 5000th post, if a bit late.)

[Breaker]

Are you really too young to remember the Gong show? That is sad.

[biggiy05]

What is or was To Gong show? Never even heard of it but it sounds a lil weird.

[AtmaWeapon]

I never really watched The Gong Show, but I saw it a couple times on the Game Show Network and I picked up the basic premise. It's like a talent show, people come on the show and do their stuff. There's a celebrity panel, and if they think your act sucks they get up and hit this big gong. Game over, you lose, go home.

[biggiy05]

Ok ok ive seen something sort of like that it was on fox but i cant remember the name. You did your act and if the audience didnt like it they hit the button the controller for yes or no and the scale went up or down.

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

And here are the days of Ann Robinson (Whoever. >_< ) saying, "You are the weakest link. Goodbye!" ... Dang, I hated her! :eek: She kept making people feel bad, while they just had to stand back and smile awkwardly while the audience looked at him and shook their heads... oh god... it was horrible... >_<


A little late responding to this one... Remember though, a lot of people these days are idiots, and some of the schmucks on Weakest Link really take the cake. Am I wrong? I've seen some really dumb people on that show.

I assume the reason is that there's so much emphasis on pure cash these days. How many shows can you think of, the really popular ones, that give away anything but huge 55 gallon barrels of cash? Survivor, Weakest Link, Millionare, Fear Factor, they're all about money. Nobody wins prizes anymore, not on the big shows.

[Axel]

On Survivor I know you got a consolation prize, of sorts. Whenever you got kicked off the show they kept you around in a 5 star hotel on an extended vacation until the end of the season incase they needed you for anything. You got to visit the sights of whatever country they were in and live in luxury, probably better than what you'd've won....

Anyway on those shows the people had some kind of talent. They intentionally pick complete losers for reality shows, it represents the average population better. :D
(actually they know that on average people like watching others stupider than themselves fail)

[slothman]

I remember the Gong Show. I really liked the one with Homer and Barney on it. Oh wait that wasn't a real episode. I like WoF because to take home money you only need to win one round, not the whole game. I probably would have liked Jeopardy better when they had less money but you got to keep it even if you didn't come in first. Of course those shows actually require thought instead of just laughing like Survivor.

[Feasul]

I still watch Jeopardy, especially now with this guy on the show, Ken Jennings, he's a 13 day winner with a total of over $450,000 and he's still going. It's very interesting. Anyway, whenever I see someone do horribly on a game show it reminds me of that Wierd Al Yankovic song, "I lost on Jeopardy."

[Ganonator]

remember, that was 3 weeks ago. Jennings now has over a million, and it boggles my mind to think anybody knows that much trivial information on such a broad range of categories :shrugs:

[Feasul]

My post was 3 weeks ago. Now everyone is talking about him. The music, news, and sports radio stations where I live have talked about him, Jon Stewert briefly mentioned him, and Conan O'Brien said a few nights ago, "Ken Jennings yesterday bacame the first person ever to win a milion dollars on Jeopardy. You can tell he's getting cocky because whenever he hears the name Alex Trebek he says 'Who's my bitch?'" It's possibly the first time someone has been this popular for being a game show contestant.

[Naked Jim]

I think its ok to laugh at other peoples misfortune!! if you think about most jokes they make fun of some one or something. change is also a good thing in most cases.