Is the consensus really that all of the Giveaway was actually on the up and up? I'm not saying it wasn't a legit contest, but I came away from it thinking that, for example, the Rick Roll was just bad comedy that they wrote, and then they put someone on the line who had already been called and vetted (or possibly pre-recorded the conversation, and spliced in the important parts for the live broadcast).
It is the policy of the documentary crew to remain true observers and not interfere with its subjects.
Originally posted by hansen9jIs the consensus really that all of the Giveaway was actually on the up and up? I'm not saying it wasn't a legit contest, but I came away from it thinking that, for example, the Rick Roll was just bad comedy that they wrote, and then they put someone on the line who had already been called and vetted (or possibly pre-recorded the conversation, and spliced in the important parts for the live broadcast).
I'm going to say that it's on the up-and-up. Look at McMahon's reaction to the first call. He obviously doesn't know what's going on, and isn't aware that some people can program their phones to play a song instead of the "ring ... ring ... ring" that most do. Heck, he almost hung up on the guy. And I'd wager that that's the guy's normal ring, not one just to "rick roll" the WWE.
The DTMF tones for each and every number in the call were played on the air. If you wanted to, you could hold a phone up to a speaker and have it dialed by the TV.
So, if you wanted to call $75,000 man who had a busy signal, you could.
I'm not recommending this, by the way.
By the same token, someone who has more time than I do should be able to look at the frequencies of the tones and tell you what numbers were dialed without making the call.
Maybe they muted some of the numbers on the west coast feed?
The DTMF tones for each and every number in the call were played on the air. If you wanted to, you could hold a phone up to a speaker and have it dialed by the TV.
So, if you wanted to call $75,000 man who had a busy signal, you could.
I'm not recommending this, by the way.
By the same token, someone who has more time than I do should be able to look at the frequencies of the tones and tell you what numbers were dialed without making the call.
Maybe they muted some of the numbers on the west coast feed?
I actually had the exact same thought -- I was surprised they let us hear the phone being dialed. Radio stations figured out a year ago they had to mute that, but WWE doesn't realize it?
The DTMF tones for each and every number in the call were played on the air. If you wanted to, you could hold a phone up to a speaker and have it dialed by the TV.
So, if you wanted to call $75,000 man who had a busy signal, you could.
I'm not recommending this, by the way.
By the same token, someone who has more time than I do should be able to look at the frequencies of the tones and tell you what numbers were dialed without making the call.
Maybe they muted some of the numbers on the west coast feed?
I actually had the exact same thought -- I was surprised they let us hear the phone being dialed. Radio stations figured out a year ago they had to mute that, but WWE doesn't realize it?
Once they figure out that new fangled touch tone method of dialing, then they can concentrate on how not to give away the phone numbers on the air. If they really wanted to have fun with this, next week have Vince try to use an old rotary phone. When he fails to figure out how to work that, the next week break out the method of calling people through the operator used in the Andy Griffith show. This all culminates in Vince facing a descendant of Alexander Graham Bell at SummerSlam to redeem his honor due to his humiliation at the invention of the telephone.
Originally posted by Guru ZimSo, if you wanted to call $75,000 man who had a busy signal, you could.
Wait. Someone HASN'T done this already? Where are all the "reporters?"
Like I already said, I was busy listening for my own phone number, so I was thankful they weren't muting them out. (I also switched to the SD feed during the phone segments to try to compensate for the HD delay...I know, as if I was gonna get called, right)
The thing with the first phone call was the guy DID pick up, but Vince hung up on him before figuring that out. That was a lawsuit waiting to happen, but Vince somehow stumbled into doing the right thing and immediately called him back, so all was well.
It seemed to me that the sound dropped out on some of the dialing. I may have just been confused by Vince stopping and restarting phone numbers many times. I guess they wanted to illustrate Vince dialing to prove this was on the up and up, but they probably would've made for much better TV if Vince was just pressing one button and the number autodialed.
They really didn't make big enough noise about everyone having to sign up again this week to be eligible for next Monday - just a quick mention at the end of the show. Odds are getting better for those who do sign up.
I'm waiting for the week when the person answering doesn't know the password. Wonder how WWE will handle that? I used to do some mystery shopping for Silver Diner. On a few of them I was to "reveal" myself at the end of the shop and give the manager one of two certificates for the waitress: Either "Congrats, you mentioned the new summer menu. You'll receive $100" or "Sorry, you didn't mention the new summer menu. If you had, you would have received $100." Horrible look on the face of the one woman who didn't. I felt terrible, but oh well.
Although, recently anything that refers to the song is considered Rickrolling, including the incident last night and earlier in the year where internet fans had Astley's song play for one day during the stretch of a Mets game.
Originally posted by Super Shane SpearRickrolling is the action of forcing somebody to hear Rick Astley's 80s hit "Never Gonna Give You Up."
Why the hell would anyone need to be FORCED to listen to Rick Astley? He was a pretty damn good artist who had numerous catchy songs that never get old?
No, I'm not joking!
As for RAW, I thought Vince having problems understanding how to use the phone worked perfectly, storyline wise. They can end it by saying he's a 'crazy old man' who doesn't know what he's doing later on.
The Highlight Reel was pretty good, but I think the roles should be reversed. Michaels should be the heel and Jericho the good guy. HBK is the one who faked an injury to win a match and he is the one who put Ric Flair out of work. Jericho should be the good guy. HBK should have put Jericho through the Jeritron 3000. It would have been an interesting parallel of what Michaels did by kicking Marty Janetty through the window. It just feels like HBK doesn't want to be the heel and it's beeing forced on Jericho because one of them has to.
Originally posted by CerebusThe Highlight Reel was pretty good, but I think the roles should be reversed. Michaels should be the heel and Jericho the good guy. HBK is the one who faked an injury to win a match and he is the one who put Ric Flair out of work. Jericho should be the good guy. HBK should have put Jericho through the Jeritron 3000. It would have been an interesting parallel of what Michaels did by kicking Marty Janetty through the window. It just feels like HBK doesn't want to be the heel and it's beeing forced on Jericho because one of them has to.
I have to disagree here. The dynamic of Jericho, the man who came back to "save us" being essentially pushed to heeldom because of crowds that refuse to boo their beloved HBK not only makes the feud based much more in reality, but acknowledges that at this point in his career there is really no way the crowd will boo Michaels for any length of time. Hell, even in the Hogan feud the crowd was just waiting for him to turn back the minute the feud ended.
I love the concept of Jericho as a guy who tried to make the people happy, tried to give us what we as fans wanted, and then had it shoved in his face. Jilted angry heels are more fun than Grr! Smash! heels.
If the point of this "million dollar" giveaway was to generate ratings, why would they give away the password on the website? Or not CHANGE the password for each call?
Why not flash the password on the Tron as Vince is calling? I understand that there is an issue with West Coast folks, maybe make those in that time zone answer a trivia question from the previous week's show or something.
They actually got some free publicity out of this and they pissed it away with the execution. What is the over/under on how much longer this stunt will last?
Which will end up killing "million" dollar promotion real quick, considering the live audience was chanting "BORING" toward the end of it.
They need to get some new faces instead of Cena, HHH, and even Hardy. And I'm going to vomit about another Batista/Edge feud. Same old feuds.... getting real stale, real quick. Just put up a new guy with charisma... give him the title **RIGHT AWAY** and work that angle.
Just something different for a change.... something radically different.
They actually got some free publicity out of this and they pissed it away with the execution. What is the over/under on how much longer this stunt will last?
Unless next week really improves, I can see that being it. Make an announcement during the show that there will be no contest the next week because of the draft, and if the ratings don't improve, that'll be the last we hear of it.
Originally posted by StevieRichardsIf the point of this "million dollar" giveaway was to generate ratings, why would they give away the password on the website? Or not CHANGE the password for each call?
Why not flash the password on the Tron as Vince is calling? I understand that there is an issue with West Coast folks, maybe make those in that time zone answer a trivia question from the previous week's show or something.
They actually got some free publicity out of this and they pissed it away with the execution. What is the over/under on how much longer this stunt will last?
I was surprised as it really meant there was no incentive to watch the show beyond the first five minutes. I figured they would do something to make people keep watching, but apparently not. I just kept waiting for someone to admit they weren't watching, but they did have the password so they're all good.
I didn't catch RAW last night...part because I was at work, and part protest because Canadians were disqualified from the contest. Not sure if it makes a difference; do the Canadians watching RAW on THE SCORE count in the ratings?
Ok, I've been keeping track of every match on WWF TV, thanks to the extensive archive of show summarys at slashwrestling.com . I've gotten back to Judgement Day 2001, which was a time when I wasn't really paying much attention to the WWF.