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May 25, 2020 2:22 pm  #1


Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

You don't have to be a fan of game shows to be intrigued by the brilliance and/or stupidity of those who would try to cheat them. And that's why a three part series called "Quiz," that will air weekly on AMC (in both the U.S. and Canada) and starts Sunday May 31st, should be so fascinating.

You may have heard about this one. It's the story of how three people conspired to cheat the British version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," by planting two people in the audience who would conveniently "cough" whenever the contestant pondered his "final answer." (I sometimes wonder if that's where the Houston Astros got their sign-stealing "garbage can" lid-clanging scheme from.)

Eventually, the trio was caught and it became a huge scandal in Britain, as word of it spread around the world. Not surprisingly, the show about the cheaters became a huge hit in the U.K. and is being shown here for the first time. It's had very good reviews overall and boasts a great cast, including Michael Sheen, lately of "Prodigal Son" on Fox. 

I love true inside-TV stories, especially with a side order of larceny mixed in, and I'm looking forward to this one.

It's not the first time this kind of thing has happened. Back in 1984, an unemployed ice cream truck driver named Michael Larson won so much money on CBS' "Press Your Luck," that producers became convinced he had to be cheating. Nobody, they reasoned, could press their luck that much and do what he did, winning more than $120,000 on a show that regularly saw contestants leave with maybe $10-grand.

The story of how he did it - and why in the end, it wasn't really cheating - is told in a remarkable documentary from Game Show Network that has long been available on YouTube. It's almost 90 minutes long, but it's a fascinating look at how one guy decided to study a system - and was able to beat it. Even if you hate game shows, it's well worth your while if you've never seen it.

"Quiz" airs from around 10 PM to about 11:10 PM starting a week from Sunday.


 

May 25, 2020 3:21 pm  #2


Re: Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

ITV UK isfilming a movie starring Michael Sheenabout the Millionaire cheating scandal.  Supposed to air sometime this year.

There are some good youtube docs about both millionaire and press your luck.... although agreed, the press guy technically wasn't "cheating"

 

May 25, 2020 3:26 pm  #3


Re: Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

No "technically" about it. He wasn't cheating. He watched enough back episodes, saw there is a pattern, memorized it and used it to his advantage. He worked alone and only used his mind... and possibly his beard

 

May 25, 2020 5:09 pm  #4


Re: Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

Absolutely right. Larson (which I always thought of was ironically close to "larceny")  simply figured out a pattern the producers didn't even know was there. He didn't cheat. He just outsmarted them. They fixed the issue after he was gone but by then, it was too late. He'd taken them to the cleaners and made them all look bad. But that was their fault, not his. 

     Thread Starter
 

May 25, 2020 5:50 pm  #5


Re: Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

You are both correct... Larson did not cheat, he simply "played them"...

The PYL game board was a series of rear slide projectors for each cube or square around the border. I recall reading that each square had 8 individual projectors all being controlled by a sequencer...  the pattern just cycled or repeated... it did not vary at random. 

For the early / mid 80s, this was impressive...  Larson did not cheat or conspire with anyone... as mentioned above, he simply studied the pattern, and was able to break it down. Similar I suppose to someone who can count cards at a casino gaming table.

There was also a contestant on TPIR a few years ago who guessed the price of his showcase to the exact dollar... and this did two things.

First, because he guessed the dollar amount to within $100 of the actual retail price of the showcase, he automatically won both prize showcase offerings.

Second, it immediately shut down production of that particular episodes taping as the producers and CBS Standards and Practices had to figure out how he did it....  The producers and the control room know the value/cost of each one bid / game prize / showcase in order to allow for camera blocking. And on Price, the showcase contestants give their bids before the last commercial break.  This is the point that the producers had to start panicking...

In the end, Fremantle (the new owner/production company) had to accept the fact that the contestant did nothing wrong...  he just guessed the price to the exact dollar value of his showcase prize offering, and by the show rules, in doing so, he won both showcases.

 

 

May 25, 2020 6:15 pm  #6


Re: Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

Two examples of people getting negatively viewed for merely using their minds. The overlords would rather us not exercise our gray matter and never get the cheese at the end of the maze.

 

May 25, 2020 9:31 pm  #7


Re: Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

Mr. Perfect Bid on TPIR was a chap named Terry Kniess. Esquire did an article about him in July 2010 entitled "The Contestant Who Outsmarted The Price Is Right"

 

May 31, 2020 1:32 pm  #8


Re: Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

Wow, what timing. On the night "Quiz" premieres in North America on AMC, the New York Times reports it's just been revealed that Herb Stempel passed away in April. He was 93.

Who was he? The guy who blew the whistle on the game show scandals of the 1950s, when he deliberately mangled the final question on the popular "Twenty-One." The producers asked him to make way for the much more photogenic Charles van Doren, who went on to become very popular - and took the ratings up with it. Until the entire disastrous cheating affair came to light, destroying his Golden Boy image and his career along with it.   

Stempel eventually helped unravel the scandal that took almost all network TV games off the air for almost a decade, as dramatized in the famous Robert Redford-directed film "Quiz Show". Jack Barry, the host, was forced to flee to Canada for many years, where he fronted some of the worst game shows in the universe at CHCH just to make a buck. 

One of them, called "It's A Match," was so cheap a local high school teacher with perfect recall named Rocky Sankoff set a record for continuous appearances on the show. The memory-based game had him on for several months before he finally decided to leave undefeated. His total take after all those weeks and weeks of being champion? A measly $64!

Barry later returned to the U.S. and hosted several game shows, including "The Joker's Wild." But it was Canada that saved him during all those years in the wilderness.

Herb Stempel, Quiz Show Whistle Blower Is Dead at 93

     Thread Starter
 

May 31, 2020 2:06 pm  #9


Re: Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

His death isn't a coincidence: the Oblong made it happen. Such a damn shame so many people are dying -- 93. Wow. So young.

 

May 31, 2020 4:43 pm  #10


Re: Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

You missed the point - it's not the fact he was 93, it's the fact the news comes out on the day the miniseries about a quiz show scandal is airing that's the amazing coincidence. But I suspect you knew that. 

     Thread Starter
 

June 1, 2020 8:03 am  #11


Re: Viewer Alert: Story Of Infamous Quiz Show Cheats Starts On AMC May 31

How ironic. Charles Van Doren died in April 2019.... age 93.