1. Game Show Whammy Scandal
2. Game Show With Double Whammy Imdb

Double Whammy (2001) cast and crew credits, including actors. Share this page: Create a list ». Predicting the timing of this is a fool’s game if you are buying for yourself or your family. After a small run at the board following his only whammy of the game, Chad figures the only. Skip navigation. The Graham Norton Show. Regular & Double Whammy 62-Pack - Duration: 9:16. Was Game Show Network's true-to-the-original remake of the classic CBS game show, 'Press Your Luck,' and served as a companion to reruns of the classic series, which GSN began rerunning in 2001. Three contestants competed in this three-round game. Each contestant was spotted $1,000 to start the game. (subtitled The All-New Press Your Luck for its first season) is an American television game show that aired new episodes on Game Show Network from April 15, 2002 to December 5, 2003. The main goal of the game is to earn as much money and prizes as possible through collecting spins by answering trivia questions correctly, then using.

The show was memorable for the 'Whammy,' a red cartoon creature of indeterminate species wearing a cape. The Whammy's spaces on the game board took away the contestant's money, accompanied by an animation that would show the Whammy taking the loot—but frequently being chased away, blown up, or otherwise humiliated in the process. (subtitled The All-New Press Your Luck for its first season) is an American television game show that aired new episodes on Game Show Network from April 15, 2002 to December 5, 2003. The main goal of the game is to earn as much money and prizes as possible through collecting spins by answering trivia questions correctly, then using those spins on a gameboard to win various prizes. Game Show With Double Whammy Good. 7/15/2017 0 Comments Game Show Theme Songs - Soundboard. We love watching a good old game show, playing along and shouting at the screen when someone has no idea what Citizen Kane is and thought it was called Calvin Klein.

Whammy! (subtitled The All-New Press Your Luck for its first season) is an American televisiongame show that aired new episodes on Game Show Network from April 15, 2002 to December 5, 2003. The main goal of the game is to earn as much money and prizes as possible through collecting spins by answering trivia questions correctly, then using those spins on a gameboard to win various prizes and cash amounts while attempting to avoid the show's eponymous character, the 'Whammy.' Contestants who do land on a Whammy lose all their prizes accumulated to that point; four Whammies eliminates a contestant from the game. The program is an updated version of Press Your Luck, which originally aired on CBS in 1983–86. The series was taped at Tribune Studios and was hosted by Todd Newton, with Gary Kroeger announcing. The show aired in reruns on GSN until 2017.

• 1Gameplay
  • 1.1Other features
• 2Production
• 4References

Gameplay[edit]

Gameplay remained largely similar to Press Your Luck, with contestants accumulating cash and prizes and attempting to avoid landing on a Whammy, who took away the winnings of any contestant who landed on it. At the start of the game, each of the three contestants was spotted $1,000 and took turns taking one spin at a time on the board.^[1] After each cycle of spins, additional Whammies were added to the board replacing cash values or prizes,^[1] and contestants chose to spin again or freeze with their score at that point. Landing on a Whammy in round one resulted in bankruptcy and eliminated that contestant from further play in the round. Play continued until all three contestants froze or hit a Whammy. Cash values ranged from $100–$1,500 in round one, and prizes of similar values also appeared.^[2]

Round two consisted of five questions (four in some episodes) posed to the players. The host read a question, and one of the contestants buzzed-in and provided a response. Their response, along with two other choices, were provided to the other two contestants, who selected one of the choices. Correct answers earned three spins for a buzz-in answer and one spin for a multiple choice answer. After five questions, all three contestants advanced to the final round.^[2]

In the final round, cash values ranged from $500–$5,000, and some spaces offered additional spins in addition to cash. Other spaces offered the choice of up to four adjacent spaces, or directed the contestants directly to another space. Accumulating four Whammies eliminated a contestant from the game. Also added to the board were 'Double Whammies,' which—in addition to bankruptcy—added a physical consequence following the Whammy's appearance (e.g., spraying the contestant with water or dropping ping pong balls on them).^[1] Play began with the contestant with the lowest score at the start of the round, or, in the case of a tie for last place, the contestant with the fewest spins. If there was still a tie in terms of score and spin totals, the contestant farthest to the left went first.

Spins earned in this round could be passed to the opponent with the higher total (if they were tied, the contestant passing the spins could choose the recipient). Contestants were required to use all spins passed until they used their spins or hit a Whammy; in the latter case, any remaining passed spins were transferred to their earned spin total.^[1] If a contestant using passed spins hit a space that awarded a spin (e.g., $3,000 + One Spin), that spin was added to the earned total. The contestant in the lead at the end of the game kept any cash and/or prizes in their bank at that time. Unlike its predecessors, three new contestants appeared on each episode.

Other features[edit]

In round one, the board featured a 'Pick-a-Prize' space. Contestants who landed on it could choose any prize on the board at the time. In round two, one space labeled '$2,000 or Lose-1-Whammy' gave the contestant a choice of a cash prize of $2,000 or removing a previously-landed-upon Whammy (also seen on the classic show). '$1,000 or Spin Again' offered the choice of a $1,000 cash prize or the opportunity to spin again (without using an earned spin),^[3] in season two, it was changed to '$555 or Spin Again.'^[2]

Contestants also had an opportunity to win a Gem Car during the game. To claim the prize, the contestant needed to land on the 'GEM' space in round one, and avoid landing on a Whammy for the rest of the round. In round two, the contestant needed to land on the 'CAR' space, and again avoid the Whammy, and also win the game.^[3] In season two, the GEM car was replaced with a Suzuki Aerio SX, and the contestant needed to claim both halves of a car key in order to win the prize.^[2]

A new feature called 'Big Bank' was added for the second season. The Big Bank on each episode was a cumulative jackpot that began at $3,000, and any cash and prizes that the contestants lost after landing on a Whammy (including halves of the car key) were added into the bank. If a contestant landed on the Big Bank square, the host asked an open-ended general knowledge question to the contestant, who could claim the money and prizes in the Big Bank with a correct answer. Once the Big Bank was claimed by a contestant, it was reset to $3,000.^[2]

Technological changes[edit]

Whammy! made use of technological advances that had been developed since the original Press Your Luck ended its run in the 1980s. For example, the prizes and light patterns for each space on the Big Board were randomly generated using a personal computer, running at a speed of 200 MHz.^[4] This resulted in a very large number of patterns for gameplay, which prevented memorisation of patterns as Michael Larson did on Press Your Luck (the same holds true for all subsequent versions).^[4] Also, the Whammy animations were animated in 3D computer graphics, rather than being digitally hand-drawn as on Press Your Luck.^[5]

Production[edit]

Game Show Network (GSN) acquired the rights to air Press Your Luck in September 2001, and high viewership ratings prompted the network to order a revival of the series.^[6] Two pilots were taped on February 13, 2002: one with original Press Your Luck host Peter Tomarken^[7] and the other hosted by Todd Newton. Newton was ultimately chosen to host the show.^[7] Tomarken explained that he was asked to change his style of hosting, saying, 'It was terribly hurtful and I think I was doomed before I did [the audition]. I remember being told, 'No, no. Be nice. Be sure everybody likes you.' I took that advice with the pilot. I made the same mistake.'^[7] Tomarken also acknowledged that GSN wanted to employ a younger host in an effort to attract a younger audience.^[7]

GSN produced 65 episodes for the first season, which began airing April 15, 2002.^[8] The series was eventually renewed for a second season, which consisted of 65 additional episodes that premiered March 17, 2003. Following the conclusion of the Tournament of Champions, which completed its run on July 25,^[9] a combination of first-run new episodes and reruns continued to air until December 5.^[10] Additionally, a short-lived Filipino version of the show aired on GMA Network in 2007–08. The series, entitled Whammy! Push Your Luck, was hosted by Paolo Bediones and Rufa Mae Quinto.^[11]

Special episodes[edit]

The show aired four holiday specials: a Mother's Day special (featuring an all-cash board and with Karen Grassle (Little House on the Prairie), Estelle Harris (Seinfeld) and Mimi Kennedy as contestants),^[12] a Halloween special (featuring contestants in costume),^[13] a St. Patrick's Day special (with the contestants wearing green, and all the whammy animations in green as well),^[14] and an April Fools' Day special that featured Graham Elwood (from Cram) as the episode's host, with Newton only appearing when a contestant hit a Double Whammy.^[15]

Janie Litras and Ed Long appeared on a special episode coinciding with GSN's documentary Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal. Litras and Long originally appeared on the episodes airing June 8 and 11, 1984, competing against Michael Larson, who had memorized the light pattern and went on to win $110,237. Larson's brother, James, competed in the 2003 episode against Litras and Long, as Michael had died of throat cancer in 1999. Tomarken made a special appearance hosting the question round of this episode, which would be one of his last television appearances.^[7] James would win the game with a digital grand piano worth $6,695.^[2]

The July 21, 2003 episode featured a 'Tournament of Losers' starring three past contestants who had lost their previous games.^[16] July 22–25 of that same week featured a Tournament of Champions, with nine of the biggest winners to that point competing for additional cash and prizes. The winners on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday episodes returned to compete against each other on the Friday episode in the finale of the tournament. Friday's episode featured higher-valued spaces in both rounds, and the eventual winner also received a Suzuki Aerio SX as a bonus prize in addition to their grand total winnings.^[9]

Reception[edit]

Whammy! lasted on GSN for only two seasons, leading Garin Pirnia of Mental Floss to deem the series '[not] a huge hit like its predecessor.'^[17] At the sixth World Media Economics Conference, Eileen O'Neill and Marianne Barrett listed Whammy! among several television series that used creative methods of advertising in their programs, noting GSN's ability to 'encourage viewers to watch the programs live.'^[18] The series was also mentioned in Steve Ryan and Fred Wostbrock's The Ultimate TV Game Show Book in a list of GSN original programs.^[19]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdBrooks 2009, pp. 1503
2. ^ ^abcdefWhammy! The All-New Press Your Luck. Season 2. Episode 2. March 17, 2003. Game Show Network.
3. ^ ^abWhammy! The All-New Press Your Luck. Season 1. Episode 1. April 15, 2002. Game Show Network.
4. ^ ^abBig Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal (television). Game Show Network. March 16, 2003.
5. ^DeMichael 2009, pp. 29
6. ^Baber 2008, pp. 257–58
7. ^ ^abcdeBaber 2008, pp. 258
8. ^'Whammy!'. TV Guide. CBS Interactive, Inc. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
9. ^ ^abWhammy! The All-New Press Your Luck. Season 2. Episode 54–57. July 22–25, 2003. Game Show Network.
10. ^DeMichael 2009, pp. 27
11. ^Erece, Dinno (October 1, 2007). 'Rufa Mae Quinto and Paolo Bediones, to host Whammy! Push Your Luck'. Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
12. ^Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck. Season 1. Episode 21. May 11, 2002. Game Show Network.
13. ^Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck. Season 1. Episode 65. October 26, 2002. Game Show Network.
14. ^Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck. Season 2. Episode 1. March 17, 2003. Game Show Network.
15. ^Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck. Season 2. Episode 14. April 1, 2003. Game Show Network.
16. ^Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck. Season 2. Episode 53. July 21, 2003. Game Show Network.
17. ^Pirnia, Garin (September 26, 2016). '11 Whammy-Free Facts About Press Your Luck'. Mental Floss. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
18. ^O'Neill 2004, pp. 10
19. ^Ryan 2005, pp. 238

Bibliography[edit]

• Baber, David (2008). Television Game Show Hosts: Biographies of 32 Stars. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN978-0-7864-2926-4.
• Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present. Random House. ISBN0-307-48320-7.
• DeMichael, Tom (2009). TV's Greatest Game Shows: Television's Favorite Game Shows from the 50s, 60s, & More!. Marshall Publishing & Promotions, Inc. ISBN978-0-9814909-9-1.
• O'Neill, Eileen; Barrett, Marianne (May 12–15, 2004). 'TiVO—The Next Big Thing?: DVRs and Television Advertising Models'(PDF). HEC Montréal, Montréal, Canada: Arizona State University. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
• Ryan, Steve; Wostbrock, Fred (2005). The Ultimate TV Game Show Book. Santa Monica, California: Volt Press (Bonus Books). p. 238. ISBN978-1-56625-291-1.

External links[edit]

• Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck on IMDb
• Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck at TV.com

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Whammy

Go To

Third version of Bill Carruthers' Game ShowSecond Chance, which became famous in its second iteration, Press Your Luck. Whammy!, a revival of the latter, was hosted by Todd Newton on GSN from 2002-03.

The main difference between this and its predecessors was that Round 1 gave each contestant $1,000 and the opportunity to press or 'freeze' before each of their spins. After each contestant had a turn, more Whammies were added to the board, and hitting a Whammy eliminated you from the rest of the round.

Round 2 was the Question Round, containing contestant interviews and five questions, while Round 3 was just like normal Press.

Season 2 added a 'Big Bank' to the game, which began at $3,000; every time a player hit a Whammy, his/her winnings were added to the total. Hitting a Big Bank space gave that player a chance to win the entire bonus by correctly answering a question.

Whammy! ended after 26 weeks in a move by GSN to branch out past game shows into other fields, such as video games, although repeats have aired for most of the period since. Since 2003, all franchise-related merchandise, foreign versions, video games, etc. have been adaptations of this or Press Your Luck.

Game Show Tropes in use:

• Bonus Space: '$x00 + One Spin' spaces, as before. There were none in Round 1, due to the format above. The board also had Pick-A-Prize (which usually had about 10-12 choices at any given time) and returning favorite $2,000 Or Lose-A-Whammy.
• Consolation Prize: An Argus digital camera in Season 1, a Croton watch with a Whammy on it in Season 2.
• Covered in Gunge: The result of a Double Whammy, only present in the final Big Board round. Contestants who hit one of these were subjected to a physical element associated with the animation, such as being sprayed with water or having grass clippings dumped over their heads.

Advertisement:

• Extra Turn: The '$x00 + One Spin' spaces.
• Game Show Winnings Cap: One-and-done, which didn't really work out too well when people were the 'big winner' with less than $3,000. The only contestant to win with $0 due to her opponents Whammying-Out was invited back on a later episode, while 12 contestants were invited back for the very last week of shows.
• Golden Snitch: The Big Bank. (See below.)
• Personnel:
  • The Announcer: Gary Kroeger.
  • Game Show Host: Todd Newton.
• Progressive Jackpot: The Big Bank, which started at $3,000 and grew by whatever was lost to the Whammy. If a player landed on a Big Bank space, s/he was asked one question. Answering it correctly (and it had to be exact) broke the Bank, which was usually enough to put them far ahead of everyone else.
• Undesirable Prize:
  • The GEM Car. Did anyone actually want that thing?
  • Same could be said for a lot of the prizes. Who wanted a $300 year's supply of M&Ms when that was also the lowest cash amount on the board? The 'His & Hers Roller Skates' were also a prime example, as well as every prize worth $300 or less on this list — all 100+ of them.
• Whammy: Same as before, but in 3-D.

This show provides examples of:

Game Show Whammy Scandal

• April Fools' Day: In 2003, Graham Elwood guest-hosted as part of GSN's April Fools' Day host switcharound. For each of the first three spins in Round 1, the space landed on was turned into a 'Newton' (represented by Todd making a face resembling that of the Big Tongue Whammy from Press), which awarded the contestant an outlandish (and fake) prize before saying 'April Fool's!' and giving them another turn.
• Ascended Glitch: The game board on the original Press Your Luck featured 18 screens with values that almost always changed at the same time, but would occasionally have half of the screens changing out of sync with the other half. Whammy actually implements - and even amplifies - this behavior in Round 2. Not only do each of the 18 screens change independently from each other, but their values also change at semi-random intervals.
• Call-Back: Round 1's dollar values included $470 and $525, both of which were present on Press Your Luck.
• A Day in the Limelight: Mostly the above, but on the last day of taping then-Fremantle employee Mandel Ilagan (probably best known for creating Half Off for The Price Is Right) hosted the final rehearsal game, giving the rules from memory.
• Catchphrase:
  • 'Big Bucks, no Whammies!'
  • Todd Newton had a couple for questions and answers:
    • 'Where's Whammy?'
    • 'Time now for a Whammy Flashback... Flashback Flashback Flashback Flashback.'
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Whammy's dog Fang is absent from the animations.
• Deadpan Snarker: Todd could be this when dealing with a Whammy's aftereffects.
• Double Unlock: Winning the car required contestants to collect both 'pieces' ('Gem' and 'Car' in Season 1, two halves of a key in Season 2) and win the game. In Season 1, hitting a Whammy at any point in the game took the car out of consideration ^note . This was fixed with the Big Bank.
• Downer Ending: One episode had a contestant rack up over $25,000 with one passed spin left (meaning she had to take it). She hit a Double Whammy with that last spin and lost the game, but that memorable loss led to her return for the Tournament of Losers episode.
• Early Installment Weirdness:
  • The first two taped episodes lacked the $1,000 rule at the start of Round 1.
  • The first 12 taped episodes featured a smaller font for the Big Board, plus had different coloring on the contestant podium and no yellow background on the Whammy indicators that popped up in front of the players. Also, at least one of these episodes featured a regular Whammy that would later be repurposed for use as a Double Whammy.
• Flawless Victory: In Season 1, winning the GEM car (or any prizes in Round 1), required the player to win the game without hitting a single Whammy along the way due to the rules regarding participation in Round 1. Although this happened with regular prizes, no GEM car was ever awarded. In fact, every single player who won the GEM card in Round 1 ended up hitting a Whammy later in the game, losing the card.
• Foregone Victory: At least once, two contestants Whammied-Out (eliminated themselves from the game), leaving one player to use their remaining spins playing against the house, as had been the case on Press (and, presumably, Chance before it). On that contestant's final spin, instead of the board showing an image of her versus the person in 2nd/1st place, it showed the image of the Whammy to indicate that she was indeed playing against the house and could still lose.
• Four Is Death: As before, getting four Whammies knocked you out of the game.
• Inflation Negation: Premiered 16 years after Press Your Luck ended, but retained the same nominal values in Square #4 despite inflation going up about 63% in America during that span. Justified, in that a cable channel the caliber of Game Show Network would most definitely have a smaller budget than CBS.
• Limited Animation: Averted, with WIT Animation providing rather impressive 3-D CGI Whammies (most notably the Tarzan Whammy, which smacked into the screen quite realistically, and was the first Whammy used in a taped episode).
• Luck-Based Mission: Even going so far as to say it was 'Larson-proof'.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Ed and Janie, Michael Larson's opponents when he broke the bank on Press, were invited back to play Whammy! against his brother James, since Michael had died in 1999. ^note
• Mythology Gag:
  • Several of the Whammy animations, both regular and Double, were call backs to those of the original Press Your Luck, most notably the 'Lawnmower' Whammy.
  • One regular Whammy had the creature in a boxing ring dressed in 'wrestler'-type clothing, including a yellow mask around his eyes, harking back to the original Whammy's appearance.
• Nintendo Hard: This version of Press Your Luck is this trope due to new rules regarding participation plus additional Whammy squares and an even more random board pattern than the classic format.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed / Shout-Out: Among the many new Whammies were expies of George Foreman, Emeril Lagasse, Martha Stewart, Steve Irwin, Britney Spears, Ozzy Osbourne, Anne Robinson, Judge Judy, Harry Potter, and *NSYNC.
• No Indoor Voice: Todd freakin' Newton. Justified, in that he actually had a likable personality and genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself rather than simply being the loud-voiced, robotic, only-here-for-the-paycheck, pretty-boy kind of emcee that became so common in the aughties (such as Ty Treadway).
• Non-Indicative Name: The 'Double Whammy' only added one Whammy to the player's total. The 'Double' came from the Whammy animation ending end with the player covered in something like confetti, Silly String, or something else.
• Obvious Beta: The pilots had a 'Whammy Guard', awarded to a player for earning the maximum 12 spins in the Question Round, that negated the next Whammy hit.
• Obvious Rule Patch:
  • The Big Bank, which made the car much more likely to be won. Kind of hard to miss the display below the contestants... The only car given away in a regular game was won through the Big Bank, after several Whammies took the Key halves from other players.
  • The show also had any player that hit a Whammy in Round 1 be eliminated from the rest of the round. This is to address a rare but serious problem from Press Your Luck where it was possible for a player to Whammy-Out in Round 1 and be unable to play in Round 2 because of it (although this also made winning anything from Round 1, such as one half of the car, much more difficult).
• Opening Narration:
  • Season 1 (2002): 'The game with big bucks and Whammies is back, bigger and better than ever! It's time to play Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck!'
  • Season 2 (2003): 'The game with big bucks and Whammies is even bigger and better than ever! It's time to press your luck and play Whammy!'
• Pilot: Two of them were taped on February 13, 2002, and were respectively hosted by Peter Tomarken and Todd Newton. Clips from them made it to early GSN promos.
• Product Placement: One Whammy dove into a bowl of M&Ms.
• Press X to Die: One of the options presented by two Move 1 Space squares in Round 2 could have been a Double Whammy.
• Roger Rabbit Effect: Again, the Whammies.
• Sequel Difficulty Spike: Round 3 had 11 Whammies for most of the run, up from nine in Round 2 on Press and three Devils on Chance, plus the squares now each changed on their own instead of the whole board changing at once, never mind the 'Larson-Proof' light pattern. For the record, there was no spike between Chance and Press, as both had the same chance of hitting the villain (3/18 = 9/54 = 1/6).
• Take That!: One Double Whammy mocked Enron! ^note
• Trademark Favorite Food: One of the Whammy animations has a Whammy that loves M&M's and dives into a bowl of them, then starts swimming; Todd actually joked on one instance 'the Whammy that melts in your mouth, not in your hands'. This Whammy would be used even if the contestant didn't earn the M&Ms supply in Round 1 as a plug-in.
• This Is Your Premise on Drugs: Early GSN commercials for the series began with 'This is your Whammy' (the rollerskating Whammy from Press that slips and hits his head), followed by 'This is your Whammy on the all-new Press Your Luck' (clips from both of the 2002 pilots).
• Transpacific Equivalent: The Philippines got Whammy! Push Your Luck, which ran on the GMA Network from 2007-08. Hosted by Paolo Bediones and Rufa Mae Quinto, the show was virtually identical to the American version.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: Big Bank. Although a decent idea ('Whammying the Whammy'), it was marred by some incredibly-hard questions (including one where the contestant's guess was The Godfather and the answer was The Godfather Part 2) and the fact that it pretty much brought the excitement to a halt.
• Visual Pun: The Double Whammy animations had the 'W' symbol on the Whammy's chest divided into two - 'double whammy', get it?

Game Show With Double Whammy Imdb