REVISED CONCEPT... NEW SCORING SYSTEM... INCREASED FUN...
Okay, this is going to be a long post, because there's a fair bit of new stuff that warrants explaining, but I'll try and keep it as straight forward as possible
THE BIT OF BACK STORY
A lot of you probably remember the TV Walrus I hosted back on boards, which was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work - it was probably 5 times the workload of the 2 Movie Walruses I hosted, and a lot of a reason for that is TV Episodes have gotten so fucking long, some of the episodes were as long as 90 minutes a piece and I was doing 3 episodes per show times 8 categories times 14 players. It was tough going to say the least...
There was also the issue that I was only reacting to the first 3 episodes of each show, which was kind of in place for serialised dramas that would make no sense if I was watching episodes at random, and that hindered people since sometimes a show doesn't hit its stride until a good chunk of episodes in, so I said if I was to do it again I'd try and find a new system that would give people more freedom in their choices...
NEW PARAMETERS: 30 MINUTES OR LESS
The clue is that bit in the title, which I may or may not have "borrowed" from Dominos...
In this game, there'll be 4 Rounds (we'll get to those in a moment), there'll still be 3 episodes watched by me per person per round (more on that momentarily), but the catch is that each of the episodes submitted will be 30 minutes or under in length, which will tie in with the theme of this particular game anyway...
NEW PARAMETERS: CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
As I mentioned, for each round I'll still watch 3 episodes from each contender, but they don't have to be the first three episodes of a TV Show, in fact they don't even have to be 3 episodes from the same TV SHOW, you can handpick the finest TV episodes and serve them up to me on a platter as long as they fit the criteria for that round.
So you could pick 3 episodes from the same show, or you could pick 1 episode from 3 different shows, or 2 episodes from one show and 1 from another
You can decide which episodes of the shows you want me to watch, or if you're not too fussed on particular episodes (or aren't someone who remembers specific episodes of things) you can just tell me the shows you want me to watch, and I'll use a randomizer to decide which episodes of those shows I'll be viewing
I'm going to do up an example of how to submit and hopefully make it a bit clearer in a separate post following this one, so if that all sounds really confusing, scroll down to the simplified example of what I'm getting at
GAME THEME: FEEL GOOD COMEDY
I'm sure most of you already put 2+2 together given the 30 Minute or Less parameter, that for the most part shows under 30 minutes long are predominantly Sitcoms, so I thought it would be fun to have the same theme for all 4 Rounds, and picking different eras for the rounds rather than different genres of shows.
Therefore, Sitcoms and Comedies are the name of the game throughout. I'm not going to be too much of a stickler for what counts or doesn't count as a "Sitcom" - it can be your classic live audience style sitcom, comedies with no audience laughter, mockumentaries, adult animations, cartoons and other feel good fun shows aimed at kids, etc. etc. I'm just going to call them all "Sitcoms" going forward for clarity's sake...
THE 4 ROUNDS
When sending episodes please give me the show name, episode season and number, and episode title if applicable. Or if you don't care which episodes I watch, just give me the name of the show(s) and tell me to pick at random
Wikipedia or IMDB will be your friend when wanting to find out when episodes aired and also for episode numbers and titles
Round 1: WAY BACK WHEN
3 Sitcom Episodes that aired between the Dawn of Television and 31.12.1983
Can be 3 episodes from the same show, 3 different shows, etc.
Round 2: BOOKENDED BY BIG BROTHER
3 Sitcom Episodes that aired between 01.01.1984 (the year in which George Orwell's infamous novel is set) and 31.12.2000 (the first year that the Big Brother reality show aired in the UK & Ireland)
Can be 3 episodes from the same show, 3 different shows, etc.
Round 3: THE NEXT GENERATION
3 Sitcom Episodes that aired since 01.01.2001 to Present Day
Can be 3 episodes from the same show, 3 different shows, etc.
Round 4: THE TIME WARP
3 Sitcom Episodes from any point in the history of television, this is basically a Wild Card round
Can be 3 episodes from the same show, 3 different shows, etc.
Overall, you'll be sending me 12 episodes via PM, 3 per round...
NO DUPLICATES: FIRST IN BEST DRESSED
Straightforward enough, when you're submitting it's first in first served, so if Contender #1 comes along and submits a specific episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, and Contender #2 comes along and tries to submit the same episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, then tough titties you're too late... This only applies to specific episodes though rather than the shows themselves, so Contestant #2 can then choose another episode of SpongeBob SquarePants if they wish to do so, just not the same episode as Contestant #1.
This rule applies to all shows, it's not specific to SpongeBob SquarePants, SpongeBob SquarePants is merely the most fun to use as an example...
NEW SCORING: CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS
If your head is already melted, and you're not someone who's interested in how the sausage gets made, you can probably skip this bit, as it all boils down to submit good stuff and you'll probably score well
I'm throwing out the standard Walrus scoring of awarding people points based on where they rank against how many players are in the game...
In this game, everybody has the potential to get up to 400 points (it's improbable to achieve a perfect score, but not impossible). You'll be marked out of 100 in each round and those marks are the points that will be added to the scoreboard
Each episode in a round will be given a percentage out of 100, then the 3 percentages of your 3 episodes in the round will be melded together to get your average and that average will be your points for the round ; its how I did the last TV Walrus and the Movie Walruses, but now that average number (instead of determining your rank for the round) will just simply be the amount of points you'll be walking away with
I'll give an example of this in the next post as well to make it clearer, but you can also just not worry about it, I know what I'm doing and that's all that matters...
NEW REVEAL STYLE: CHRONOLOGICAL ORDERING
I'm not going to get too into this, because this post is long enough already, and its not too important to know at this stage, but when it comes around to the reveal, I'll be doing it episode by episode (so I won't be reviewing all 3 episodes from 1 player in the same post) starting from the earliest airdate and working forwards. At the end of each round the scores will then be aggregated and the average/points revealed.
NOT A SITCOM FAN BUT STILL WANT TO PLAY?
You don't actually have to have seen the shows you're picking to play along. Maybe you've heard a lot about certain shows, but couldn't be arsed watching them, so just give me the show name, tell me to pick an episode at random, and you can live vicariously through me as I tell you if its hot or not... Simple...
WORRIED ABOUT HOW I'LL FIND THE EPISODES YOU WANT ME TO WATCH?
Don't be. I know my way around the interwebs, I've never had much of a problem finding stuff, it doesn't have to be something easily accessible on the major streamers, so go for whatever you want, and if I really really can't find it I'll let you know
BUT WHAT IF I'VE ALREADY SEEN IT BEFORE?
The great thing about Sitcoms is their rewatchability, and I'm well versed in my TV knowledge, so don't be concerned about having to find something super rare and unique, this IS NOT like my current Double or Nothing Music Walrus where I want new stuff, I'm perfectly happy with stuff I've seen before when it comes to TV, so it won't work against you if I know it already
UPDATE 25/03/2023: GAME CANCELLATION
Unfortunately I will no longer be moving forward with this game, apologies to those who had entered or were considering entering...
Okay, this is going to be a long post, because there's a fair bit of new stuff that warrants explaining, but I'll try and keep it as straight forward as possible
THE BIT OF BACK STORY
A lot of you probably remember the TV Walrus I hosted back on boards, which was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work - it was probably 5 times the workload of the 2 Movie Walruses I hosted, and a lot of a reason for that is TV Episodes have gotten so fucking long, some of the episodes were as long as 90 minutes a piece and I was doing 3 episodes per show times 8 categories times 14 players. It was tough going to say the least...
There was also the issue that I was only reacting to the first 3 episodes of each show, which was kind of in place for serialised dramas that would make no sense if I was watching episodes at random, and that hindered people since sometimes a show doesn't hit its stride until a good chunk of episodes in, so I said if I was to do it again I'd try and find a new system that would give people more freedom in their choices...
NEW PARAMETERS: 30 MINUTES OR LESS
The clue is that bit in the title, which I may or may not have "borrowed" from Dominos...
In this game, there'll be 4 Rounds (we'll get to those in a moment), there'll still be 3 episodes watched by me per person per round (more on that momentarily), but the catch is that each of the episodes submitted will be 30 minutes or under in length, which will tie in with the theme of this particular game anyway...
NEW PARAMETERS: CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
As I mentioned, for each round I'll still watch 3 episodes from each contender, but they don't have to be the first three episodes of a TV Show, in fact they don't even have to be 3 episodes from the same TV SHOW, you can handpick the finest TV episodes and serve them up to me on a platter as long as they fit the criteria for that round.
So you could pick 3 episodes from the same show, or you could pick 1 episode from 3 different shows, or 2 episodes from one show and 1 from another
You can decide which episodes of the shows you want me to watch, or if you're not too fussed on particular episodes (or aren't someone who remembers specific episodes of things) you can just tell me the shows you want me to watch, and I'll use a randomizer to decide which episodes of those shows I'll be viewing
I'm going to do up an example of how to submit and hopefully make it a bit clearer in a separate post following this one, so if that all sounds really confusing, scroll down to the simplified example of what I'm getting at
GAME THEME: FEEL GOOD COMEDY
I'm sure most of you already put 2+2 together given the 30 Minute or Less parameter, that for the most part shows under 30 minutes long are predominantly Sitcoms, so I thought it would be fun to have the same theme for all 4 Rounds, and picking different eras for the rounds rather than different genres of shows.
Therefore, Sitcoms and Comedies are the name of the game throughout. I'm not going to be too much of a stickler for what counts or doesn't count as a "Sitcom" - it can be your classic live audience style sitcom, comedies with no audience laughter, mockumentaries, adult animations, cartoons and other feel good fun shows aimed at kids, etc. etc. I'm just going to call them all "Sitcoms" going forward for clarity's sake...
THE 4 ROUNDS
When sending episodes please give me the show name, episode season and number, and episode title if applicable. Or if you don't care which episodes I watch, just give me the name of the show(s) and tell me to pick at random
Wikipedia or IMDB will be your friend when wanting to find out when episodes aired and also for episode numbers and titles
Round 1: WAY BACK WHEN
3 Sitcom Episodes that aired between the Dawn of Television and 31.12.1983
Can be 3 episodes from the same show, 3 different shows, etc.
Round 2: BOOKENDED BY BIG BROTHER
3 Sitcom Episodes that aired between 01.01.1984 (the year in which George Orwell's infamous novel is set) and 31.12.2000 (the first year that the Big Brother reality show aired in the UK & Ireland)
Can be 3 episodes from the same show, 3 different shows, etc.
Round 3: THE NEXT GENERATION
3 Sitcom Episodes that aired since 01.01.2001 to Present Day
Can be 3 episodes from the same show, 3 different shows, etc.
Round 4: THE TIME WARP
3 Sitcom Episodes from any point in the history of television, this is basically a Wild Card round
Can be 3 episodes from the same show, 3 different shows, etc.
Overall, you'll be sending me 12 episodes via PM, 3 per round...
NO DUPLICATES: FIRST IN BEST DRESSED
Straightforward enough, when you're submitting it's first in first served, so if Contender #1 comes along and submits a specific episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, and Contender #2 comes along and tries to submit the same episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, then tough titties you're too late... This only applies to specific episodes though rather than the shows themselves, so Contestant #2 can then choose another episode of SpongeBob SquarePants if they wish to do so, just not the same episode as Contestant #1.
This rule applies to all shows, it's not specific to SpongeBob SquarePants, SpongeBob SquarePants is merely the most fun to use as an example...
NEW SCORING: CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS
If your head is already melted, and you're not someone who's interested in how the sausage gets made, you can probably skip this bit, as it all boils down to submit good stuff and you'll probably score well
I'm throwing out the standard Walrus scoring of awarding people points based on where they rank against how many players are in the game...
In this game, everybody has the potential to get up to 400 points (it's improbable to achieve a perfect score, but not impossible). You'll be marked out of 100 in each round and those marks are the points that will be added to the scoreboard
Each episode in a round will be given a percentage out of 100, then the 3 percentages of your 3 episodes in the round will be melded together to get your average and that average will be your points for the round ; its how I did the last TV Walrus and the Movie Walruses, but now that average number (instead of determining your rank for the round) will just simply be the amount of points you'll be walking away with
I'll give an example of this in the next post as well to make it clearer, but you can also just not worry about it, I know what I'm doing and that's all that matters...
NEW REVEAL STYLE: CHRONOLOGICAL ORDERING
I'm not going to get too into this, because this post is long enough already, and its not too important to know at this stage, but when it comes around to the reveal, I'll be doing it episode by episode (so I won't be reviewing all 3 episodes from 1 player in the same post) starting from the earliest airdate and working forwards. At the end of each round the scores will then be aggregated and the average/points revealed.
NOT A SITCOM FAN BUT STILL WANT TO PLAY?
You don't actually have to have seen the shows you're picking to play along. Maybe you've heard a lot about certain shows, but couldn't be arsed watching them, so just give me the show name, tell me to pick an episode at random, and you can live vicariously through me as I tell you if its hot or not... Simple...
WORRIED ABOUT HOW I'LL FIND THE EPISODES YOU WANT ME TO WATCH?
Don't be. I know my way around the interwebs, I've never had much of a problem finding stuff, it doesn't have to be something easily accessible on the major streamers, so go for whatever you want, and if I really really can't find it I'll let you know
BUT WHAT IF I'VE ALREADY SEEN IT BEFORE?
The great thing about Sitcoms is their rewatchability, and I'm well versed in my TV knowledge, so don't be concerned about having to find something super rare and unique, this IS NOT like my current Double or Nothing Music Walrus where I want new stuff, I'm perfectly happy with stuff I've seen before when it comes to TV, so it won't work against you if I know it already
UPDATE 25/03/2023: GAME CANCELLATION
Unfortunately I will no longer be moving forward with this game, apologies to those who had entered or were considering entering...
The FoGie Formerly Known As Rachel Stevens On A Pogo Stick & Also Starring LeVar Burton