Yes, it COULD be that they are monitors, but they are not.

I was sitting front row in the upstage left bleachers; during breaks after WC play I could clearly see stagehands resetting the slides for an upcoming round. Same with the small pyramid. Slides.

Adding to above...in some of the pics you can clearly see the trilons partly turned and the gaps between them. I think the lighting issue is just the angle of the pics. I bet it will look different on TV. That, and also since it's a pilot it was probably a "hurry up and do it" type job with the lights inside and they may fix it if/when it goes to series.

So Dean Cain will host on June 19. That explains why they cancelled the taping on June 17, which I went to the Kaufman Astoria studios for. The set looks fantastic, a throwback to the 80s Pyramid. I really do hope CBS picks this up. You know who I think would make a good Pyramid host - Pat Kiernan. He has a low-key quality but keeps things in control, which is what you need for a Pyramid host, and he's worked for Michael Davies before, with World Series of Pop Culture and Grand Slam.

I think this picture here clearly shows that they are not monitors. I agree with Joe's point about the lighting, but you can see the backdrop in this image through the partially turned trilon. In addition, looking at the top one, you can see how it is protruded out from the board. I could easily see why monitors may be used, but if they are going to keep trilons, it is once again a great throwback to the Clark days.

As a side point - I know this is in the pilot stage, but all things considered, that is a pretty decent set. If it gets picked up, I can see where they would make come improvements, but this is a job well done.

Quoted for truth.

Pat's a good choice. Off the board, I've heard suggestions for Bob Goen, which is a great choice too. Both are in that Dick Clark mold of letting the game shine, but not being total robots who couldn't inject some personality if needed. Plus, Bob's a familiar enough face to work on the "have to have a name" level. At least in my opinion.

-Jason

Gimme a break, Joe. I don't do this all the time, but I am going to defend myself when one of the resident cyberbullies decides to attack me. Lemon obviously didn't want to move the conversation forward. He just wanted to make a joke at someone else's expense. Again. The fact that I'm seemingly the only one who doesn't just roll over and take it makes me a bit of a lightning rod.

Both are good choices. I'm surprised Pat hasn't been tapped for one of the pilots, given that he did actually host an Embassy Row game for two seasons, compared to Tim's Chain Reaction pilot (not slighting Tim).

Speaking of CR, they should get Dylan Lane in there too...

/I keed.

I agree; it's reminiscent of the original Pyramid designs. The one thing I would "tweak", and I sincerely hope it happens. Put the audience back in its proper place, off camera. Seeing an audience situated around the set is a bit of a distraction for me. I want to connect with the players, and their game. In some of the pictures, the stage looked so narrow, it appeared that Pyramid is being staged on bowling alley. That's not a complaint. Pyramid is hopefully, well on its way back to the airwaves. That is something!

I have a question for anyone who was there at the taping. Is it a "cold" opening? Is there a little spiel; a "Keep your eye..." maybe?

Aha, thanks. :)

Looking at one of the WC photos, if you look at the corners of the slides, they appear dimmer than the rest of the slide. That made me believe they were backlit.

They are backlit. But--didn't I post about this yesterday?--the lightboxes are quite even. It's the slides themselves that are *shaded* to look dimmer in the corners. Seemed a nice retro touch to me.

Anybody going to Friday's taping? (Aside from me, that is.)

I'll be along, and $20 richer! Thanks, Craigslist!

Hi Clay !

I hope you will give us updates tomorrow.

Can you try and keep an eye out for the announcer (if he's in Studio), some have mentioned that it might be Alan Kalter, but I do not think this is confirmed. I'd like to know if it's him.

If they move the show to the CBS Broadcast Center (if it goes to series), it's possible the audience may be off camera. I'm 50/50 about the audience being located on the sides. On the plus side, its different for Pyramid, and I like it when the audience is shown on TV. On the downside, I feel it may be a distraction for both the players and the the home audience, as the audience is VERY close to the contestants. Another thing to consider.... what happens if someone in the audience does something goofy at a big moment in the front game, and they have to stop tape, and it winds up costing the player the game ? It could be dangerous.

I'd also like to know more about the opening, if there is one. They may plan to add it, in post production.

At Tuesday's taping, I couldn't see the announcer, and could barely hear the opening announcement over the audience's applause. I wouldn't be surprised it was pre-taped. In one of the openings, Tim thanked "Alan"--but in another, he thanked "Michael"--and what little I heard of the announcement sounded vaguely British. Perhaps it was Mr. Davies, filling in?

Could it be that Alan Kalter is the announcer they want, but by the time the second show was taping Alan needed to be back at Letterman's show?

Sure, that's possible. It's also possible they pretaped his one line at the Letterman studio. Since I didn't hear the voice clearly, it's even possible it was Alan Arkin. ;)

My friend who went said that was indeed Michael Davies doing that particular opening.

Oh, I absolutely loved him in Wait Until Dark, didn't you?
Truly, I tell you, dear ones, I don't care if it's an emcee and/or announcer that I've never heard of, just as long as they're good.

I just went back and looked at the set pictures, and something looks off to me...maybe its just me, but the set looks sorta...unfocused, if that's even a word. I know it's just a pilot, but the contestant island/audience barriers use the color scheme like the pyramid bases from the 1980s, the top of the pyramid looks like a 50s roadside inn/50s Vegas sign, but the rest of the set has the whole modern neon thing going. It looks like somebody wanted to find a way to incoroporate a bunch of different set elements/colors/designs without thinking it through.

Quick question for anybody who attended the taping: did the contestant area look any different when lit up?

Like I said, I know its just a pilot, but I just took a second look and wondered if anybody saw what I did.

I, too, hope a few changes will be made. I like that it's not as bland as Donnymid, but it's really garish. The colors are too much, and Vegas-y doesn't feel quite right for Pyramid. Also, putting the "$1,000,000" in Times Roman Bold is just plain lazy.

I'd like seeing the audience behind the host, but it does seem distracting and a potential problem behind the players. A real audience always brought something great to the show, so it's nice to see them.

It's not Arial...I'll give them that much. :-)

As for the intro, the "Take a look at this spot" would be sweet, but one thing I always wanted to see Donnymid do was incorporate the winning clips from past Pyramids, i.e. 70s-current day. Would be even sweeter, seeing that this version seems to be heading closer to its roots.

/Oh, and do TEH WINNARZ when the team wins. ;-)

Forgot the traditional Bob Stewart Brand Quotation Marks ^TM

Yes! Good call! :-)

Out of curiosity - can there be a hold on nitpicking until, say, we see a video or -- hey -- it gets on the air?

Photographs not accurate enough for you?

You seen it in motion?

Besides, a pilot is just that - for things to *change.* My wish is that some people would take into consideration that there's only so much that's going to be spent on a pilot. Maybe this will be the final set - maybe it won't. You or I don't know that.

Why not rejoice in the fact that it's going in the right direction?

You got it.

That thing someone said about "Alan Kalter is the announcer but couldn't make it and Michael Davies was filling in" was correct. They had him (Davies) step out and record the line in the clear before taping started. The opening spiel is: "From the CBS Studios in New York, this is The One Million Dollar Pyramid! Today's guests are Kathy Najimy, and (that other guy). Here's your host, Dean (whatshisface)!"

Earlier someone asked if they're using the traditional clock sound effect: indeterminate. Everything is silent during the Winner's Circle in-studio except for correct answers and buzzes. (No visible clock, either. Or maybe it's just 'cause I was facing away from all the monitors and such.) There seems to be a lot of "We'll fix it in post" going on at this point, which I assume will get tightened up if/when it goes to air.

Also, the warmup comedian they're using is terrible at actually warming people up. /shrug

I lol'd
Good job!

Seconded. Looks like we have a replacement for the 70s pic! :-)

Hope the water bottle was there just for the rehearsal.

Just noticed something else interesting about that pic. There's two desk mics, but is Ken also wearing a lavalier?

The gif now comes in an Aquafina-less variety.

The larger image shows... maybe?

Well, it seems only fair that they retain something from Donnymid.

Body pack, yeah. Are the desk mics doing anything, or just for show, I wonder. There are a pair on a stand in the Winner's Circle, too, but I wonder if it was just for retro-cred, since everybody's on a wireless.

How did Friday's pilot taping go? Any news?

Who was the warm-up comedian? Was it someone other than the announcer? I am assuming that Alan Kalter was not the announcer. Last time I saw him announcing, thirty-four years ago at The Money Maze, he did his own warm-up.

In my own opinion:

Donnymid - A rather unentertaining, albeit thankfully brief chapter in Pyramid history. A time in which the game got crammed into a 22 minute time slot. OK, they had to allot for more commercial time. That's just the requirements of commercial television these days.

I felt that because they changed celebrities and contestants every show, there was no time to "connect" with anyone playing the game. At times, I recall them changing celebrities in the middle of a show. Dick Clark played only one game in his appearance. Am I correct? And without having any time to know who a contestant was, by the time they went for the $100,000, who cared?

My biggest issue with Donnymid - Did someone, or many people on staff think that their audience was stupid? Did they think we had to be reminded of a celebrity's name or show title every thirty seconds? Maybe that's why they changed the front game to "six in twenty", to have the extra time for all those "supers". I would like to know if they thought we had to be reminded of how many subjects were "needed to win"?

Donnymid - Will we ever let it go?

Maybe they did "think it through" and are going to promote the show in the style of a certain chain of "roadside inns". I can hear it now...

"Pyramid 6. We'll leave the trilons flippin' for you."

No, you are not.

By virtue of the production staff thinking the viewing audience would go for that pile of crap: yes, yes they did.

Considering on some shows it was uncertain who was the "celebrity" and who was the contestant, yes.

Are we assured that most everyone who has a say in this one doesn't also think like this? Or are they going to start howling "where's the girders and the plasma screens? (cuz we need MORE FLASH!!!!!!!!!)" or "Where's Donny?" if the ball gets rolling?

No, we are not. But since there's nothing at all we can do about it if they do, there is no sense in getting worked up over the possibility.

Even still, nothing beats the original Holiday Inn road signs....those things were epic.

Does anybody know who directed this- Mark Gentile, perhaps?

QFT.

Seconded.