A game show clip that circulated on the web before RU-vid, here it is in high quality: Lois Nettleton uses all the time possible to take her partner to the top of the pyramid. Did she, in fact, use too much?
Upon listening at x.25 speed, it is noted the buzzer beat her, so she would've been disqualified normally. However, noticing that there were one or two answers where the judges were too slow to give the bell (which may have disadvantaged her unfairly), they probably decided to award her the $10,000 due to their mistake(s).
The effortless and eloquent mastery with which Dick Clark explains the rules and then builds up the suspense before finally revealing the win and sending the contestant and the audience into delirium is what made him who he was. The largely talentless people that the networks use for game show hosts these days can't hold a candle to him, Bob Barker, Wink Martindale, Allen Ludden, Gene Rayburn, Peter Marshall or any of the other guys of the golden age who made hosting into the delightful art form that it was and still should be.
The only game show I ever watched religiously as a child. As I watch these really old re-runs,I realize how honest & generous the producers & Dick Clark were for being fair and honest to all contestants. There was also no nonsense blabbing. Very speedy show!!
If you play it back at .25x speed, she was late. But someone pointed out that the $100 had a slight delay before flipping over and that time delay was much longer than how late her answer was. It was probably the right call.
The advantage we have vs what 80s pyramid did was slow the video down to quarter speed. In real time it's very close, but when you slow it down even to half speed, she does not get the subject said in time, the buzzer did beat her by a hair. But again because they did not have the technology to run video yet in slow speeds or did but no audio was available to hear it, it was rapid fast sounding as if she said it along the buzzer, and ultimately after several reviews in real time decided to give her the win. In today's iterations of Pyramid it would have been a no go.
Such a close one! I'm always relieved when the judges rule in favour of the contestants. The clues for flannel weren't as sharp as the others. "Nightgown" threw the contestant off, she immediately thought of a a sexy, silky nightgown - about as far away from flannel as you can get! A baby's blanket would have been better than baby's clothes. Pyjamas would have been the best clue to start with, followed by winter sheets and a lumberjack's shirt.
@@TommygunNG Larry Thompson put it best during American Gladiators, where he stated he could not find clear evidence to show the contender did NOT hit the target, so the contender received 10 points. Yes, there is competition, but with a game against the proverbial "house", naturally the staff wants to see the contestants win.
Thanks for this clip, I remember this being uploaded on youtube a long time ago but I think it's been taken down since then. Can't get much closer than that as far as the finish goes!!!!
She may have started after the buzzer, but go back to after getting the $50 box. Notice the small gap between the turning the $50 box and the turning of the $100 box. With a call that close, you have to think the contestant would have gotten Flannel out before the buzzer if that gap didn't exist.
On Press Your Luck if the buzzer goes off and a contestant said something before the buzzer stops going off completely it still counted as getting the answer in before the buzzer
Mike C yeah but that’s press your luck. That has an entirely different rule set As Dick said the only way for it to be accepted is if the contestant mention the essence or important part of the clue. If for example the clue was “things made of wool” if a contestant shouted wool that would be given as that would be deemed the important part. If say a buzzer went and he/she said “things made” *buzzer* “of wool” that is not accepted
@@michaelfalkner1186 no it's not incorrect. Let me explain Go back to when she got the $50 box right. She almost instantly gets the clue right, but the person turning the boxes got thrown by at least a good 1 to 2 seconds before turning to the next clue. Those extra 2 seconds that were lost in the confusion certainly wouldve bought her enough time to say "of flannel" before buzzer went. It's clear that if everything went according to plan, her answer wouldve been after the buzzer and not deemed acceptable. But because there is an error on their end due to human indecisiveness, the judges credited a couple of extra seconds and gave her 10k. Watch the first clue again and count how long it takes for the board to turn.
Maybe it's a reflection of our times, but Jeopardy & WOF center on the individual winning it all, whereas Pyramid was a team effort. True, you had to come up with the correct answer, but this depended on a solid partner, like Nathan Cook. Who doesn't ❤️ 🔼?
I do think in reality, that “flannel” did come late, but there for some reason, the board had a slight delay between the $50 and $100 boxes, and that delay might have been the difference between getting that last answer in time. Given that malfunction, I think the judge was right to award her the money.
I think they got the call right, I think I hear her start the "Ffff" sound in Flanel just a tick before the buzzer. Remember this is 1983, no digital recordings, it's all tape. They have to make a call in a hurry, they can't wait all day. giver her the money.
*"The $100,000 Pyramid"* was also seen in the 1995 suspense film *"Nick of Time"* with Johnny Depp! The episode where Denise Bumblis wins $100,000 was playing on a T.V. set in an airport in this one *really* tense scene...
When a situation like this is so close that after listening five times you have to listen another five, then it’s bothing more than putting technicality before substance. At that point, just give the contestant benefit of the doubt. “Tie goes to the runner.”
There are two similar ones that have that "keyword rule" "Things with a strap" (Teresa Ganzel) and "Things made of aluminum" (Anita Gillette) along with this one. I listened to all three and all three times the judges got it right. It's a real tough call. It's a hard call to overturn.
I heard that in quick succession 5 times in a row & I heard "Fl __ anel", so I think the right call was made based on the rule (Though I recall a situation where the rule was if the contestant starts the correct answer before the buzzer even if said contestant completes it after the buzzer he/she wins).
yeah the rule generally goes like this (and its explained of course in the next part of the clip) Had she said "Things made *BZZT* of fannel" then she would have lost because the word they needed was "Flannel" and that wouldn't have been said before the buzzer went off. In this case there are people that have argued (and I can understand it) that because one of the boxes had about a second delay turning (and before the clue giver could start) they figured that she could have had the time to get it right if not for that so the Judge may also have accounted for that too in the decision. Its always interesting to watch these clips and then pick them apart which is kind of what I have been doing trying to figure out if the right call was made...or not
The contestant said the word "flannel" concurrently with the buzzer... not before and not after. The buzzer itself takes up a certain amount of time. I wouldn't want to be the one to make the call on that.
True, but she lost a second when the crew didn't immediately reveal the $100 subject after she was awarded the $50 subject. When you add that wrongly lost second, she said "flannel" with one second left.
I'd love to know if there's any pictures or video of behind that board. I'd love to say how they operate it. I know it's by a person or persons cause if you ever pause it, sometimes you see a hand turning the pylons.
Dave Smith ; David ; I replayed it three times. The buzzer came before "flannel" was uttered . It was extremely close but IMHO she missed it by about 1/3 of second or less. Judges made a mistake
Dave Smith it could be debated the buzzer came first... However there is also leeway to be considered in this decision Remember that the boxes that are turned for clues are all done by hand, that actually meant in this circumstance there was a delay of about 1-2 seconds before the next clue was visible You have to think what if that second that wasn't wasted could've given them enough time to say flannel. There's a grey area and because of that, due to the interest of fairness the money was rightfully awarded
If you slow it down, now available on RU-vid settings next to Closed Captioning, you can hear the original call was correct, she shouldn’t have won, but it was way too close.
I literally had to slow it ALLLLL THE WAY DOWN and here is what I heard Things are made of *buzzer sounds* Flannel So going by the rule that was established it felt like she shouldn't have won but as a previous commenter said in another thread because of a delay with one of the box turns they might have accounted for that and that is why she won. I can respect that But yes having listened to this at 0.25 speed (which is interesting to say the least) it felt like the original decision should have stood but I guess in a "too close to call" situation sometimes the tie goes to the contestant which I can respect
@@Vansbaseball Also if you notice when the contestant got the first subject right, there was a one or two second delay turning the second subject around.
There is a slight delay between the countdown clock on the screen reaching "0" and the buzzer. From what I can tell (and slowing it down as others have indicated) she does not say the "essence" of the response ("flannel") before the clock reached zero, but does manage to get the word "flannel" out before the buzzer.
FYI, Lois Nettleton appeared on the final week of the $20,000 Pyramid opposite Bill Cullen whose show at the time, Chain Reaction was eating their ratings up, both were cancelled before the second half of 1980.
She said flannel on the buzzer. That’s as close as it gets. I believe the call was correct, but if it is too close to call the contestant should get the benefit of the doubt. Good call. They would lose viewers if they went the other way.
It was interesting that the contestant thought of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet when the clues were "Ricky" and "long-running TV show". Yep, that makes sense too.
I go back to this clip to argue with myself for at least 30 minutes it seems BUT I want to see how many "eagle ears" we have The final box is "Things made of flannel" right? I know people use the 1 second delay about the box switching over but do this for me: Play the video at the 2 second (on the game clock) mark and watch when it counts down (and also do this at the slowest speed possible I have gone back and relistened to what the contestant says and here is the way it comes out to me "Things ARE made of flannel" So because of that extra word she says the buzzer goes off when she didn't get to the word they needed which SHOULD constitute a loss. I know we are arguing over a clip that is now...35 years ,5 months and 14 days old about the technicalities of it but this is something that started to drive me crazy so I slowed it down to make sure I heard everything right and it legitimately sounds like she added that extra word which is why she didn't make it to the word needed in time If I'm right in that then no matter if there was a delay on the box she should have gotten a loss
I’m not sure I believe the ruling. My guess is that the judges knew it was late but that it was so close that it would have been a negative feeling regarding the show, so they gave it to her, totally unaware that something called RU-vid could eventually prove otherwise
I'm curious to know how the rest of the game played out. It's great to give her the money, even though she DID ever so slightly get beat by the buzzer. But that has ramifications for her opponent. The one who gets the highest on the pyramid comes back for the next show. So if her opponent won the second game and scored $750 she would have tied this woman, but would have not been able to come back since they declared this woman won. The best solution would have been to give her the money, but considered her score $750 for the game purposes. Like what The Price is right did when they put fishing wire on the Plinko Board to guide all the pucks into the $10,000 slot for a commercial and then forgot to take the string off. They realized it after the contestant dropped 3 pucks, obviously winning $30,000. They stopped the taping, decided to give her the $30,000, but then also give her 5 more pucks and started the game up. Only the score from the last 5 pucks counted in terms of the order for the showcase showdown or the showcase. the other solution would have been to consider her score BOTH $750 and a victory. That was, if her opponent won the second game and she scored $750, it is a tie, and I thin they both come back under the rules. But if she won, they would ALSO consider it a tie and both would come back. That way, neither would be potentially screwed out of coming back
The more that I look t this and listen again. The Judges call was correct. She started the keyword about a half second before the buzzer sounded. The other one with Teresa Ganzel was also right. It's a tough call.
I don't completely get the rule, because she was in the middle of saying it in a sentence. BUT according to the way Clark described it, she didn't say flannel in time. Again, I don't get it, because she was midstream of a fluid sentence. Also, seems like if you say it over the buzzer, it should still count.
I think its called the "Essence" rule Basically some boxes have one word that needs to be said for the box to count in the case with a buzzer If you say "Things made *buzzer* of Flannel" it doesn't count If you say "Things made of F*buzzer*lannel" then it counts because the word that NEEDED to be said was or started during the buzzer. There was an episode when they played the audio with the contestant and the clue giver (with the clock counting down) was played for the home audience to see if in fact the contestant won and in that case they didn't sadly. Its a tricky rule trust me
The rule states that the key word MUST BE STARTED BEFORE the buzzer starts. So no matter how many words are in the subject, in this subject...THINGS MADE OF FLANNEL, the word FLANNEL must be started in a person's speech BEFORE the buzzer starts. So if you say...THINGS MADE OF "BUZZZER"....FLANNEL... then you are late...But if you happen to be saying...CLOTHES MADE OF FLA...'BUZZER SOUNDS'...NNEL...you are officially on time due to the rule of starting the key word before the buzzer sounds. So you win the money. Should be simple to understand.
That's exactly what happened, however. If you set the video on 1/2 speed and close your eyes and listen, she says "Things that are made" BUZZZZZZZZ "of FLANNEL!!!"
The key word is what is needed BEFORE the buzzer sounds on this game show. And Dick explains that to the contestant. So the key word in this subject is FLANNEL. She must start that word BEFORE the buzzer starts. The other words in the subject are for the giver of the list to know what to say in the list.
As much as I love seeing somebody win money on a gameshow...I believe the call made here was incorrect, based on this video. The buzzer had maybe beaten the contestent to the word "flannel" by a tenth of a second at most but it still beat her. I even went to the trouble of running the video at 1/4 speed and listening to it through studio headphones...and it is oh so painfully close, but...sadly, this lady shouldn't have won the $10K, going by the rules as explained shortly after by Dick. What I consistently heard was "Things that are made of" *BUZZ* "flannel!"
@ True; that may have factored into the call. However, Dick said nothing about that while he was explaining the rules on-air. I don't have a copy of the game's official rules handy, so...I'm unsure if there's a contingency for that. Likely, if the late turning of the $50 trilon had resulted in a loss, the contestant would've been invited back, as per SOP for gameshow production errors.
My personal opinion, after rewatching this clip, is that the buzzer went before she said 'flannel." It was "Things made of(BUZZZZ)flannel. Just that close, less than a tenth of a second in fact. I imagine technology in 1983 was as such, that you couldn't make a 100% accurate call. But thanks to the internet, you can pinpoint exactly what happens, and make the call close to 100% correct. Still, happy that she won.
judges let her get away with that one....slow the video down and listen for the buzzer starting and then the word flannel maybe a quarter of a second later
I did too but there was a one or two second delay turning the second subject after she answered the first subject correctly. That's why the judges gave her the $10K due to that delay.
