What On Earth?-Column #1, June 2002

Well, as you know, June has arrived, and you know what that means around here, don't you? Yes, Summer has arrived, as well. To me, summer is a time to relax and think about what will happen in the coming months. Well, with the whole 9-11 thing behind us, now that the WTC recovery efforts have wrapped up, I'll just talk about some of the things going on in the game show world.

2 months ago, Game Show Network got us a revival of the classic "Press Your Luck", you know, the game show that made the phrase "BIG BUCKS, NO WHAMMIES, STOP!" famous, as well as the BIG BOARD, loaded with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and fabulous prizes. This new version was called "Whammy!: The ALL NEW Press Your Luck," hosted by Todd Newton of GSN's "Hollywood Showdown," and the movie review show "Hot Ticket." Now, the only differences in THIS show from the CBS classic, hosted by Peter Tomarken, was that the first round was big board only, and a whammy knocked you out for the rest of the round, as did freezing your score. Now, about 3 or 4 times around, MORE whammies are added to the board to make it more challenging. So, this meant, if YOU felt that a whammy would knock you out of the round AND out of an advantage, you could freeze, and you know what happens in round 2, in terms of an advantage: Whoever is in FIRST gets to play LAST! The question round is done before Round 2, with 5 questions, instead of the original 4. As always, 3 for a buzz-in, 1 for a multiple choice. The buzz-in player's answer is one of 3 choices for the other 2 players, but if NO one buzzes in, the host gives the players 3 choices for them to get 1 spin. Now, in Round 2, the board features DOUBLE whammies that mess with you if you hit 'em. Believe me, THAT'S not fun! And by now, you know that the rest of the rules from the classic version apply here, too. Now, some of these newer whammies don't fit too well with me, because there are TOO many of them dealing with taking away a players' pot (ex. Two of the whammies from the classic show: "One if by check, two if by cash, the whammies are coming to steal your stash!" and "HOLD IT, FANG! DON'T FORGET THE MONEY!") Obviously, the only thing that I have to do each time I watch BOTH shows is TURN UP THE VOLUME just to hear if anyone's gonna laugh, because obviously, the whammies get hurt when what THEY're doing is unsuccessful (other than taking the players' money, of course). By the way, Fang is Whammy's dog on the CLASSIC PYL. He's also got a girl-friend, Tammy Whammette (named after famous late country singer Tammy Wynette). Throughout the entire show, we would see if the two would ever marry. I don't know if they did. This version was also famous for Whammy poems. Some were good, some were bad. Some were even in SONG FORM!

Now, there are some unusual prizes on the new version that people wouldn't want, say a "Lobstergram" (don't know what it is, so don't ask me), or "M&M's Chocolate Candies for a year," but some of those, I love, say the M&M's, for example. But here's the BIGGIE Prize: A GEM CAR! You had to land on the GEM space in Round 1, and the CAR space in Round 3, and you know what it takes to keep it: WINNING THE GAME! Hit a whammy along the way (whether it be Single OR Double), And your chance at the Gem Car is HISTORY! Now, speaking of cars on PYL, Peter Tomarken, on the CLASSIC version, always explained in Round 2, that in addition to over $80,000 in cash ($50,000 in the first few months, and over $13,000 in cash in Round 1, and prizes that have values like the cash values), there would be a prize that's worh $5,000+, and that was of course, A CAR! Just a regular car, not a Gem Car. And as always, you knew what it took. Now, on the CLASSIC version, Peter's demonstration spins landed on squares of each kind: Cash, Prizes, and Whammies. But Todd's demonstration spins landed on Prizes only. He wanted the players to know their values BEFOREHAND, which I kinda like. And, unlike the Classic version's "Pick A Corner" (the board was square-shaped), the new version's board (which is circular-shaped), has "Pick A Prize." This space, in Round 1 only, puts ALL available prizes up for grabs. Pick one, and BOOM! It's added to your score! There are also some unusual cash values, like $740 (a.k.a. $470's long-lost cousin, BOTH of which are in Round 1), and some NEW spaces, some that say "SPIN AGAIN" on them, like the new "$1,000 OR SPIN AGAIN" space. And unlike the "$$ + ONE SPIN" spaces, these do NOT add an extra spin to your total if you chose to spin again (although NOBODY would do that, because they'd always choose the cash or prize). These allow you to spin again WITHOUT losing ANY of the spins you've got. There's also a new THREE-WAY "MOVE ONE SPACE" space. This means THREE spaces are up for grabs. But, there aren't very many "$$ + ONE SPIN" spaces (Cash plus a spin, goes into EARNED column, whether PASSED or not): NONE in Round 1, and very few in Round 2, and NOT counting the BIG BUCKS values (If you hit BIG BUCKS, you advanced to the space with the HIGHEST available cash value, whether or not it had an extra spin). But, on BOTH versions, MY favorite space is "$2000 Or Lose-1-Whammy," because many people ARE aware that a 4th whammy took them out of the game, so they took advantage of the latter option. Now, of course, anyone who did NOT have any whammies to start with, would, of course, TAKE THE MONEY! I've even seen people with just 2 whammies (most of the time, they had 3) would go ahead and lose a whammy. Speaking of picking up whammies, players passed spins when they had 2 whammies in Round 1, but some were unfortunate to pick up a 3rd whammy in Round 1, whether it be on a PASSED spin, or an EARNED spin. Now, "Add-A-One", which was featured in the classic version, puts a "1" in front of the player's score, so $0 would be $10, and ONE player on the classic version actually GOT THAT! Also, on the classic version, there was "Double Your $$ + ONE SPIN," which of course, doubled your dough, and added an extra spin (In the first few years, NO extra spin was offered). Now, I've seen a few people hit that space, even though they had NOTHING to begin with! If they can't double their cash, well, how about an extra spin? And as ALWAYS, whoever has the most money is declared the winner and the ONLY one to keep ALL cash and prizes earned!

And, we also got a good dose of the ORIGINAL Hollywood Squares with Peter Marshall as host, Kenny Willians as announcer, and Paul Lynde as center square, from 1966-1981. Now, speaking of HS, Whoopi Goldberg, center square AND executive producer since the 1998 revival's premiere, will NOT return next season, due to a salary conflict. Now, I really liked her for the fact that she was picked 90% of the time to start each front game. Tom Bergeron, the show's host, is continuing his hosting duties to coincide with his replacing of Bryant Gumbel on CBS's "The Early Show," AND his hosting role on ABC's NEW version of "America's Funniest Home Videos" (The OLDER versions were hosted by Bob Saget of "Full House", and Daisy Fuentes, host of some of the American Pageants). Now back to the show. The show's new 60-second bonus round is quite interesting, I might add, although "Wheel Of Fortune"'s new "mini-wheel" bonus round is better, due to the fact that one player has been able to win the $100,000 grand prize there, so guess what? It CAN be done! Winning $100,000 in cash in HS's new bonus round CAN be done! The first bonus round involved picking a star and winning a prize ORIGINALLY. In the 2nd, players had to pick one and nail a final question. If you missed, you won a $2500 cash prize. Season 2 on up was where returning champs played a factor, really. If you didn't win the bonus round, well, you kept your front game stuff, and anything else you won was NOT risked. Also, there was a 1986-9 version, with John Davidson as host, as well as various center squares, from Shadoe Stevens (the show's announcer on versions 2 and 3), to Joan Rivers, and so forth. This version's bonus round featured 5 cars on the set, and if you chose a correct key out of 5, and it started the car, BOOM! You won it! If not, you could NOT choose it again. Now, on the original version, there was NO bonus round, you just won a new car or two to go with the cash! In the current bonus round, you had 60 seconds to answer a series of 3-choice questions, each worth the dollar amount in the envelope of the celeb YOU decide to team up with. After the minute is up, you can go double the amount on ONE more question or lose it all. On all questions, the two can confer, but ONLY the player may answer. I like this, because it test MY knowledge.

Third, how about everyone's favorite, even though I saw a few episodes of this hit: "WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW!" This is the game show where WHAT you draw can get you big cash! How? Well, all puzzles drawn and guessed win you $200. In the lightning round, you draw puzzles at a $100 per puzzle. Whoever is in the lead at the end gets an additional $1,000.

Last, but not least, on this topic, we have 2 new shows: "Russian Roulette," starring Mark Wahlberg, and "Friend or Foe," hosted by MTV's Lisa Kennedy.

"RR"-Now, on this show, 4 contestants go on this show to win lots of money, possibly $100K+. The catch is to NOT miss any questions, or you'll be sent plummeting down one of 6 holes, and believe me that's NOT fun. There are 3 rounds in the front game: Round 1 questions are worth $150 and have 3 choices, Round 2 questions are worth $200, and have 4 choices, and Round 3 questions are worth $300 and also have 4 choices. In eacn round, one player is selected at random to challenge another player to answer that question. If you get it right, you get money, get it wrong, and all your winnings head to the challenger's pot. You then have to pull a handle that activates a series of red "Drop Zone lights (Each round starts with ONE Drop Zone, and with each succeeding question, adds one more, for a maximum of FIVE.). If your zone is lit, you drop, and are out of the game. If unlit, you're still alive, and the game continues, until a person drops, or time runs out. In THAT case, whoever is in the lead steps out of their zone, and the rest play Russian Roulette. If there's no leader, Mark pulls the lever. Whoever drops, their money gets split between the remaining players, unless the person who dropped had zilch, in which case, scores remain intact. In Round 3, there are some changes, due to 2 players remaining. If you're the challenger, you can either challenge the player, like the first 2 rounds, OR, if you feel confident, you can answer it yourself, realizing that you risk EVERY PENNY of your money. If time runs out, that's it for the trailing player. No need to pull the lever, because that person is GONE, and the remaining player wins and keeps all the front game money, including their opponents' money. In the bonus round, if you can answer 5 Killer Questions in 60 seconds or less, you get an additional $10,000 which you can turn into $100,000 by betting that 10 grand on one final game of Russian Roulette, and surviving. If your drop zone is unlit, you get the $100,000 added to your front game winnings, but if it's lit, bye-bye to the 10 large, and you only leave with your front game total. Every 10 seconds, a drop zone opens. If you miss a question or run out of time, you drop, with $500 for every question you DO get correct, added to your front game total. If you're stuck on a question, you can pass, and also, you must lock in an answer with the phrase "My answer is..." (much like "Final Answer" on Millionaire).

"Fr OR "Foe"-Now, Three teams of 2 square off to see who will be able to tell who's a friend, and who's a foe, answering various questions. Then they head to the center, where all the "Trust Box" money is at stake. If BOTH are Friends, they will split the money, and if one's a friend, and the other foe, well, the foe will get the money. If BOTH are Foes, They go away EMPTY-HANDED, and THAT's not fun, either. Another quiz show, with a funny twist!

Now, I would like to focus my attention to the NBA playoffs.

The LA Lakers are shooting for a 3rd straight championship title, and to do so, must defeat the New Jersey Nets. Now, during my California trip LAST SUMMER, I got to watch them, and they were a BLAST!

I must admit, I've watched them play hard, and they are playing like they used to in the past, with Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe (Bryant), and Magic (Johnson) to help.

This month also marks the return of "Sailor Moon" to the tube on Cartoon Network. They were responsible for doing the "S" and "Super S" episodes, and we got 7 or 8 of the "S" episodes for Kids' WB. The first 65 episodes began here in 1995 (1992 was the Japanese copyright date, my sister says; she and I constantly fight over it). I've been doing a little Fan Fiction myself (even though I'm male), and I MAY put it up at a later date.

My sis got me into "Sailor Moon" Christmas Day 1995, and I only had to have the familiarity come to my head during Spring Break 1996, when I watched the first 5 or 6 episodes of the 65 episode pack DIC received (First Season and "R" episodes, no less), with the intro of "FROM A FAR AWAY PLACE AND TIME, EARTH'S GREATEST ADVENTURE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN..." And SO was my familiarity with the show. Now, obviously, you have to believe that there's a little story that leads up to the premiere of the show, so if you've gotten all the Sailor Moon tapes in your VHS collection, and there are 2 sets of them (one from DIC, the other from ADV Films), Watch them in order from first to last. These ALL have to deal with season 1 of the show. I even have a few episodes on tape, covering the first 2 weeks in 1996. Now, even though I'm already familiar with the first 5 scouts (Moon [Serena], Mercury [Amy], Mars [Raye], Jupiter [Lita], and Venus [Mina]), there's a 6th scout on the Inner side, and she doesn't become a scout until "S" (my sister says there are 5, but NO WAY! There ARE indeed 6.), and that's Sailor Mini-Moon [Rini, Serena's future daughter]. And, let's not forget about the Scouts' allies (the cats, Luna [Serena's], Artemis [Mina's], and Diana [THEIR future daughter], and of course, Tuxedo Mask [Darien]. He was kidnapped by Zoycite, one of the first villains, and told to work for Queen Beryl, but it didn't hold up that long, as Sailor Moon rescued him, but in the process, he, Queen Beryl, and the other scouts, died in the final "Press Your Luck"-style battle with Beryl, and by that, I mean, only ONE side could win, kinda like the game show, where only ONE of the 3 players could win AND keep their loot.

Now, in "S", we meet 3 new OUTER scouts (Uranus [Amarah], Neptune [Michelle], and Pluto [Trista]; Saturn's earth name I'll figure out later). The 3 are out for the pure heart crystals that hold their talisman weapons (A Space Sword, A Deep Aqua Mirror, and a Garnet Orb), and in the order I just gave them, is the same as the order of the Outer scouts I gave, so MATCH 'EM UP, if you can! Now, back to the topic. These 3 girls ARE allies, but they don't work with the INNER scouts THAT much. Anyway, WHO CARES? I LIKE THEM! Anyway, the first 2 find out that the pure heart crystals holding the talismans are THEIRS! Sailor Pluto pops up in the episode the moment AFTER Eudial, of the "S" villains, captures the weapons; and when SHE's revealed, so is the revealing of the third, which she holds onto, nonetheless. The 3 combine to create the Purity Chalice, which boosts Sailor Moon's powers, and later, it would be lost. In this episode, Eudial is destroyed, when her car's brake pedal instead contains snails, and as a result, she dies when she splashes into the water, in yet ANOTHER and the FINAL "PYL"-style battle with HER, and of course, as always, the side that ended up winning were the scouts and Tuxedo Mask, and as a result held onto the LOOT. They made sure that, like the Negaverse and Rubeus (the ONLY "R" villain), Dr. Tomoe and his Sisters 5 ("S" and "Super S") ended up hitting Single, Double, and as I like to call it, with BOTH groups of scouts equaling multiples of 3 (6 Inner Scouts, 3 Outer Scouts), TRIPLE WHAMMIES!

And if you're wondering about how my familiarity with the A-Teens is coming, it's coming along FINE! I've got the lyrics from 4 of the songs from "The ABBA Generation" (Mamma Mia, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!-A Man After Midnight, Dancing Queen, Take A Chance On Me), and 7 of the songs from "Teen Spirit" (Upside Down-Bouncing Off The Ceiling, ...To The Music, Halfway Around The World, Firefly, Sugar Rush, Rockin', Around The Corner Of Your Eye). Just like my sister, Karen, I've played the songs as many times as I can to learn the lyrics (words).

Their 3rd album, "Pop 'Til You Drop," is expected to debut THIS month, and an ABC documentary is expected to air SOMETIME this month, IF it DOES happen. Don't miss it, because they will turn your primetime "Upside Down," just like the first track from "Teen Spirit," and I like this song. The only problem with it being #1 on the list is that it dissappears as quickly as it appears, considering it's 3:14 (3 minutes, 14 seconds) long. "Rockin'", my 2nd favorite, at #6 on the list, is 3:27 (3 minutes, 27 seconds) long, and I like the mood of the song, as well as the tune. "Halfway Around The World," at 3:40 (3 minutes, 40 seconds) long AND #3 on the list; and "Sugar Rush," at 3:00 (3 minutes EVEN) long AND #5 are tied for my 3rd favorites.

Now, some of you are wondering, "Are the songs from The ABBA Generation carbon-copies?" Well, some are, some aren't. The only difference is the fact that the words have been changed a little bit, and the music is a little different from the music used by ABBA.

Well, that's all for now! I hope that you will continue to visit the site again and again just for this.

Until Next Time, this is John Lee saying thanks for coming here. Now, go back HOME!