Watchin' Whammies In My Jammies

The 70's and 80's cultivated some great game shows that I enjoyed watching: The Gong Show, Match Game (I loved watching Gene Rayburn, Charles Nelson Reilly and Fanny Flagg!), Hollywood Squares (Paul Lynde was a favorite!) and so many more. My favorite? Press Your Luck! God, it was just so fun to watch. For those who may not be familiar with the show, here's a brief synopsis of how the game was played: "On this game show, contestants answer a series of questions and earn money with each correct answer. After these questions, contestants then have to gamble those winnings on a light-board that flashes in a seemingly random fashion and hit their buzzer/plunger to stop it at a hopefully desirable spot (i.e. money, more spins, prizes). The results can range from increased winnings, increased spins and hitting the dreaded "Whammy" which causes a cartoon character to appear and the player loses all their winnings."

I was watching a rerun of an older 80's show, yesterday and it must have been College Week, because all the contestants were college kids. Here's the set up: The three players are Monica, Missy and Chris. Monica is a short, chunky brunette with short Janet Wood-style hair (re: Three's Company) who's wearing a turquoise V-neck sweater with a yellow button-up shirt underneath with the collar turned up (very 80's), Missy looks just like her name, very JAP (Jewish American Princess), but with blonde sorority hair and earrings, and then there's Chris, the frat jock with his coifed helmet hair (blonde) and sports jacket. My favorite part was when Chris "pressed his luck" and lost everything to a gloved Michael Jackson-looking Whammy who moonwalked across the screen. So 80's! Chris was so pissed. It was great.

So, at some point in the game, the contestants have the option to pass any additional spins they've accumulated, over to another player in hopes that they will go bankrupt (they HAVE to use those spins). So, the opportunity comes to Chris and the host asks him if he'd like to stay where he's at (2nd place) or pass his spins on. In typical male chauvinist fashion, Chris asks who they would go to. The host says "Monica," so Chris goes "I'll pass em." So, what it amounted to was he gave them to the "uggo" chick, but if it had been the "hot" sorority chick, he would have kept them and kept spinning. What a dick. And the best part? Monica took those spins and kicked Chris' ass AND won the game! Lol! I love it!

Another part of the show that cracked me up was when the "Lightning Round" portion of the game came up, where the host asks a question and the person who buzzes in first gets to answer it and in turn receives a spin for the final round. So the host asks about Lincoln's "Four score and seven years ago" speech and asks "How much is a score?" The question stumps everyone, so they put up a multiple choice and everyone picks the answer they think is right. Monica picks 10, Missy picks 25 and Chris picks 20. Chris gets it correct with "20" and the host makes some comment about him being a smart jock (Chris has this look like "Yeah, that's me, dude"). Then comes the next question: "What cartoon character is known for their phrase 'What's up, Doc?'" Chris buzzes in first and blurts out "Porky Pig!" Uh, yeah. So much for that smart jock theory. Lol!

The new version of Press Your Luck: Whammy, isn't anywhere near as good as the original. What's that saying? You can't catch lightning in a bottle? Well, in this case (and most "remake" cases) it's true. The new show is played differently and there are different rules. This in turn makes the show move at a much slower pace, which I find boring. The old one was fast-paced and fun and everyone didn't have to be talked to like they were a three year old immigrant child, hearing English for the first time. Big bore! The original game show Press Your Luck had some GREAT prizes as well: Sailboats, catamarans, Disney vacations and gold his/her watches, just to name a few. The NEW version has crapola prizes like A crystal vase, a leather desk chair, an antique rug and His/Her bathrobes. WTF? Can you imagine your excitement running home to tell all your friends you won an antique rug?! Wheeee! Not.