[tellyblues]

The amount of actual gameplay time on Strike It Lucky/Rich seems to get less and less as time goes by. I've also seen people elsewhere say that the hot spots were only there so the game could last longer, which is nonsense. They forced contestants to decide to bank prizes or risk losing them.

For quiz nerds, it wasn't a show to get much out of but it wasn't intended to be. I don't think it was padded because the chat was just right and crucial to the success of the show. Barrymore also knew when to goof around and when to get on with things unlike hosts today who don't know how to and rely on format points which supposedly deliver tension (but fail to). Stop, start, stop, start, zzz... which didn't happen with Strike It Lucky/Rich.

It couldn't be stretched to 60 minutes without obvious padding unless they repeated the first round and swapped who is on the screens and who is answering the questions but then how do you decide who goes through to the final round? Convert prizes to money so it's luck more than anything, or just money as prizes and the show loses its humour and charm? Maybe that was part of the changes intended for Bullseye? The emphasis on money and cutthroat ways of going about it can ruin shows.