User reviews

Pyramid's syndicator has opted not to run a third season. Instead, the first two seasons will air in reruns during 2004-05.

In the present era where there's a dearth of first-run game shows, it's a shame we have to lose this one. This was a nice remake of a classic, tweaked a little to fit into the 75-channel world, but solid in its format. Still, there were a few things that departed from the classic a bit too much, and that may have caused its demise:

*No returning champions. Bringing back returning champs gives the viewers a sense of continuity, and it makes things more interesting when there's a champion to be dethroned. Instead, Pyramid opted for the cheap way out, which is taping the programs at will and showing them in any order they want.

*Winners circle judging. If the category were "Cities in Europe," and the contestant said "Places/Things in Europe," the contestant would get credit under the old rules of the '80s. The important thing was the KEY WORD(S) of the category. The most frustrating thing about the latest Pyramid was that the entire category had to be said VERBATIM to get credit. This really turned me off, and I turned the show off often, as it wasn't in the spirit of the game.

*No real theme music. A minor detail, you say? The melody of the Pyramid themes of the '70s and '80s were recognizable and identified themselves well with the show. While the 2002-04 Pyramid music fit in well with the modern, purple & scaffolding set, it still sounded like background music and no one would recognize it if it were on its own.

*No true $100,000 tournament. Sure, they had such tournaments, but 2002-04 big money format was such that it was possible that there would be no $100K winner (and it even happened once). The spirit of the $100K tournament in its original, successful format was: We're going to throw tough categories at you, make you earn the big money, and this tournament won't end until SOMEONE wins the big prize, no matter how long it takes. This format had some of the best drama in game show lore, and the new version again opted the cheap way out, risking a fall-flat conclusion. That's what they got, too, and it hurt the show badly.

That's not to say there weren't some improvements this time around. Flat screens have replaced outdated trilons on the finely-tuned set, and the nice effect with the six coming into view in the winners circle was a sweet, dramatic touch. Having different celebrities every day, instead of every week, was also proven experiment. Finally, Donny Osmond also did a solid job as host. He was there to present the game, move it along, add a little personality to it, but not get it the way. That's what the best hosts do.

I'm sure this show will be back in another life form. The format is too strong not to rekindle. Still, I hope producers learn from this version's mistakes, and create a better version one day of the show we knew and enjoyed well.

I'm a sucker for game shows. Just turn the television on and I could probably watch the Game Show Network cable channel for hours.

I always thought "The $10,000 Pyramid" (and its later reincarnations) should have been called "The Game Show That Wouldn't Die". The original creator, Bob Stewart, had a wonderful concept for a game and the current revival hosted by Donny Osmond captures the original rather well.

There are a list (pun intended) of things I'm not totally happy about with the revival:

1. Contestants have only one episode to win some cash instead of the maximum of 5 episodes.

2. The weekly episodes have various celebrities instead of two celebrities for the entire week.

3. With some exceptions, the judges on the revival are a little bit more lenient when people give clues in the Winner's Circle. Perhaps because the answers are more wordy?

4. I prefer Dick Clark and even the late Bill Cullen over Donny Osmond. When someone mentions the name Donny Osmond, you either love him or hate him. There's no grey area with him.

Now having said this, I still like the show because:

1. A quicker First Round (Name 6 clues in 20 seconds instead of 7 clues in 30 seconds).

2. A number of celebrities and contestants have done a good job of giving clues creatively which always made it a fun show to watch and play along.

3. Even after watching 30 year old repeats of "Pyramid" I still get excited when contestants get to the top of the pyramid. It can be very spine-tingling to see if two contestants can be on the same wavelength and if they are successful, the contestant can win $10,000, $25,000 or $100,000.

4. Donny Osmond does not overshadow the concept of the game. I believe he realizes he's not the show, the game is the show. From a person who was never a fan of the Osmonds, Donny has done a good job as host.

I have no idea if the show is doing well but I hope "Pyramid" will last a few seasons.

Update (June 2006): Sony Pictures Television cancelled "Pyramid" after two seasons. PAX-TV aired the program after its cancellation.

First off, I must say that this is a fun game show. Also, I'm not sure if I've seen every episode. However, I do know the show very well. Every time I watched it on the WJLA Newtork, I had a lot of fun playing along and watch. During that time, this made me long to be a contestant. Despite the fact that I don't know that many answers, I still have fun playing along. I hope that PAX keeps it on in reruns so I can play along and watch for years to come. If that happens, I will be really happy. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I'll always remember this show in my memory forever. Now, in conclusion, I hope that you catch it one day before it goes off the air for good.

I really love this version of the Pyramid Game Show. There were a lot of neat celebrities and great contestants during its run. I first caught a look at this version in early 2003 when it was on a local CBS station. It was wonderful and I was overjoyed to discover it. Donny Osmond was a wonderful host and he did a great job, as did Dick Clark back when he had the show. I was always excited to see the Winner's Circle rounds and the surprising wins. I was so sad to find out that it was going to be canceled after its second season, but I know now that sometimes revivals of certain game shows don't really last as long as their earlier predecessors. I was so lucky to have taped every episode of the show, and I can watch it anytime!!

This is one game show that is definitely worth watching because it's such an awesome update of a game show classic. It has every bit of the competitive fun that the original version did and I like the sense of humor that the writers put into coming up with the categories. Donny Osmond also does a fantastic job as the host.

Pyramid is the best revival game show in years, it's way better than that godawful card sharks 2 years ago, it had cool computer generated effects, Great music theme and a smooth set, (nice black marble), and bigger money, I Hope more game shows follow suit, Forget the jerry springers and the stupid reality tv shows on the air right now, this is the best to be.

"Pyramid" is the remake of the "$10,000/$20,000/$25,000/$50,000/$100,000 Pyramid" and it's hosted by former teen idol Donny Osmond and it features two celeberty contestants with two contestants and they're giving clues from six catagories and one celeberty and one contestant wins and go to the winning circle to win $10,000 and the second round they switch celeberties.

The best game show and I hope it win daytime emmys for best game show in syndication.

Donny Osmond is going to be one great game show host of the 21st century and I hope the show will be a success.

I give it 10 out of 10.

What can I say. This show really sparked the best of the show and basicially even though the show was foolishly canned by Sony for PAT CROCKE The show really needed much better format of the Original. However, I think that the show is the best of the revival of PYRAMID unlike the John Davidson episodes from 1991-92. Dick Clark will still be known as Mr. PYRAMID! However I think that The best thing that PYRAMID will be is that they did that Dick Clark Challenge in 2002 and yet the gameplay of PYRAMID will still be as solid as ever! So for that I give PYRAMID a total of

9/10 Not a bad revival But still one of the best games out there right now.

Watch PYRAMID repeats on PAX TV every night at 7 PM ET/PT!

I truly enjoy this new version of the classic game. Say what you will about Donny Osmond, but he does a very good job of hosting this show. Donny himself was a longtime fan of Pyramid (Yes doing those years when he, his brothers, and sister Marie were popular) and knows that the game itself is the star of the show. However they are a few changes to this version of Pyramid.

In the front game, their are now six words or phrases in each category now rather than the traditional seven, but now contestants must get the words and phrases within 20 seconds instead of 30 seconds. Being the in 21'st Century the new Pyramid is much high tech and uses lots of video monitors especially those used in the game.

The best improvement is that the audience applause has now been cut out during the 'Winners Circle' when the category is correctly guessed. You still have 60 seconds to get to the top of the Pyramid, and still NO HANDS when giving the clues in that part of the game.

Some of the music during game play you might find annoying at first but I got used to it. The 'Winners Circle' Music is the best and better than the one note countdown sound that was used in the past incarnations. Pyramid purists might be disappointed that a whole new theme is used, but it does have Techno/Egyptian feel to it. Were did get the great Pyramids from anyway?

Give this Pyramid a chance and you might get hooked on this one as well.