‘The $100,000 Pyramid’: The Most Exciting Game Show Ever?
Photo: ABC
It’s the summer of the game show, at least on network television and specifically on ABC. For the past two weeks, that network has had significant success with a Sunday prime-time block consisting of Celebrity Family Feud, The $100,000 Pyramid, and Match Game. All of these are shows whose original incarnations began airing in the 1970s; all of them have been spiffed up, glitzed up, and refurbished with new hosts.
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I’ve written about Steve Harvey’s version of Family Feud and Alec Baldwin’s takeover of Match Game. Now I want to get to Michael Strahan and his producers’ new take on The $100,000 Pyramid. This series began as The $10,000 Pyramid and saw inflationary incarnations that included top prizes of $20,000, $25,000, and $50,000, and I think in some ways, at its best, it is the most exciting, purest game show ever.
Why? Because it has a very simple but effective premise — celebrity and “civilian” contestant give each other word-association clues to describe theme categories (“Things a Dog Might Say”; “Things That Glow”). Two teams compete, with the winning team going to the Winner’s Circle, where they have 60 seconds to race to the top of the Pyramid for the big money. The ticking-time-clock bakes in suspense, and when celebrity and civilian are attuned to each other’s style of clueing and rhythm, the excitement is contagious. There’s often a moment when, upon a victory in the Winner’s Circle, the celebrity (who’s not there for the money) and the contestant (who is) leap up in joyous triumph, as in this old clip, featuring the comedian Nipsey Russell, one of the all-time great game-show contestants ever:
Pyramid has been hosted by a variety of men, including Donny Osmond, but by far the best-known Pyramid host was Dick Clark, whose calm warmth was the perfect set-up for the excitement to follow. Michael Strahan has clearly studied his Dick Clark tapes — he’s smooth and relaxing to watch, very good at reminding players of the no-hand-gesture rules and in settling the nerves of any rattled contestant.
Like all the new versions of these old shows, the 21st-century editions have upped the double-entendre factor exponentially. Why provoking naughty — and sometimes downright vulgar — responses from contestants is an audience draw is something I understand (lots of folks sitting at home like to be startled by responses racy or ribald), but for me, it makes for some pointlessly crude interactions. Just look at this promo clip for the new Pyramid, which includes Strahan’s invitations to be lewd, such as “Describe these things that you might do while on your knees.”
To me, this obscures another aspect of Pyramid’s fascination: the interaction between celebrity and civilian. You get a real glimpse of how famous folks view themselves, I think, by watching whether they are generous clue-givers and receivers. Some celebs — and this is true of Pyramid throughout its history —direct their comments only to the host, as though conversing with a mere ordinary human was beneath them. Some become downright irritated when they lose, as Anthony Anderson seemed to be a couple of weeks ago; there were moments that were uncomfortable to watch.
This Sunday, the Pyramid lineups consist of Martha Stewart vs. Snoop Dogg, and Ken Jeong vs. Tisha Campbell Martin.
At this point, of that first couple, I’m not sure who’ll be the slower responder — the languid suburban doyenne Stewart, or the professionally buzzed Dogg — but I’ll be watching to see how they treat their mortal partners. My guess is that Snoop will be the kinder soul.
The $100,000 Pyramid airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on ABC.
