Greed

Winning lines, Twenty-one , Hollywood Showdown , Mall Masters are wan-a-be "Who wants to be a Millionaire game shows. Okay Greed also was a rip off but the show was good enough to stay. I liked the eliminator. I heard all about the hate mail received and the letters were awful. Roomers that the show was a fraud and no money was given. That was not true. That caused the ratings to drop and then eventually got pulled off the air for good. Somebody did something. Everyone I talked to found some interest in the show. One thing that did bother me was that they played it at the same time millionaire was on. Even on the same day "Thursdays at the time. But the show is gone now and they cant bring it back. Too bad. I was looking forward to it this year.

I have seen all the big money shows, and since "Twenty-One" and "Winning Lines" got axed, "Greed" is my favorite. I don't know why, but it's a great show. What really surprised me, though, is where it's taped: CBS Television City. I have deep interest in this studio, and many great game shows came from there. I am deeply surprised "Greed" is one of them. "Millionaire" to me is a total bore. I have seen them win it all, and now it just bores me. "Greed" is just better.

It was a fun show but did you see some of those contestants that made it to 1 million and lost. Some of them wanted to kill each other after losing. I would of snapped if I was on that show and lost. Some of those captains on there were so damn petty because when some people want to quit the captain of the group still had the need for greed. I think thats why it got the axe. Someone was going to snap one day.

"Greed" is definitely one of the best game shows ever to air on television. The music and set for the show create a perfect, tense atmosphere. Chuck Woolery is a great host. The best part of the show is when he takes out giant wads of cash and offers them to the players.

The game play of "Greed" consists of a team of five people (a sixth player is eliminated before the actual game begins) trying to answer questions worth increasing amounts of money. After each question, the team captain can decide to quit and keep the money that the team has earned. The money is split equally between the players. However, once the questions become worth $200,000, between every question a terminator round occurs and players have a chance to eliminate another player by answering a question first. The terminator randomly selects a player, who then either selects the player that he wants to eliminate or chooses to not eliminate anybody. Chuck Woolery hands a challenging player $10,000 automatically. The winner gets the loser's share of the money.

"Greed" offers more money than just about any other game show, but as a rarity, the money is extremely hard to earn. Once the team reaches $200,000, each question has four correct answers out of 4-8 choices. Most of the questions are nearly impossible, and the teams need a lot of luck to get them right. On one episode, one person won $10,000 from a terminator attempt and nobody else won anything at all. Most teams lose once they reach $200,000, so the game gets really exciting when a team gets to a $500,000 question.

Overall, "Greed" is an entertaining, well-made show. Players can earn a lot of money (it should be noted that, if the team stops after the first question, then each player gets $5,000, the same amount that the winning two people on Supermarket Sweep get to share) but must answer super hard questions. Any fan of game shows should make sure to watch "Greed"

It is extremely obvious that this show was made in the wake of Who Wants to be a Millionaire's popularity. The set almost exactly remade from it (save the addition of the multiple podiums), the sound-effects are nearly identical and the premise and feel virtually the same.

However, this is not Who Wants to be a Millionaire, although it comes fairly close. What makes this game different is the addition of the team and the Terminator. The team-play gives a fresh variance from it's predecessor, and the fact that the captain can either accept or eliminate any answer gives it another fresh element. In every other team-based game-show, the individual members of the team choose their answers. Here it still boils down to that one individual, although he gets constant suggestions instead of life-lines. The Terminator is the most original part of this show, which randomly will choose one team member to challenge another for their share in the money. My favorite part of the show, however, is when the host actually shows the captain the money, when he takes it out in front of them and fans it around a bit. I love game-shows, I really do, and in every other show I've seen you always lose your concept of money; you never quite remember exactly how much you've won. This grounds the contestants back into reality, forcing them to come to terms with what they can easily walk away with.

This show does have it's flaws. The questions are inconsistent, and can vary from the mundanely simple to the impossibly hard. I haven't seen them ever find a stride that's challenging, but still possible to answer with a fair bit of certainty. As I mentioned before, the set is FAR to reminiscent of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, in fact it's nearly identical. When they choose teams, I always found it annoying that they never showed the eliminated contestant's answer. And, finally, they wait far too long between answering the question and revealing the answer. It's a constant element to the show that begins to wear on a person after a few rounds.

However, the host is amiable and, as with the best of them, unobtrusive. However, much as he doesn't take anything away from the show, he really doesn't ADD to the show. But I suppose that this is preferable to one of the extremes.

Despite it's flaws, this really is an enjoyable show. It takes from Who Wants to be a Millionaire it's better components, while adding new aspects to keep it fresh. While the result is not nearly as good a show as that which it borrows from, it creates a better game-show than most others.