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Take the Money and Run on ABC HD

4022 Views 44 Replies 16 Participants Last post by MeatChicken, Sep 8, 2011

randalthor

Discussion Starter · Aug 3, 2011

Here's the basic premise of the show. Two normal people (the thieves), get a briefcase full of 100,000 dollars. They have 1 hour to hide it. They are then arrested by 2 cops. The cops have 48 hours to find the briefcase. If the cops find it, they get to keep the money. If the cops don't find it, then the thieves get the money.

I was excited about this show when I saw the previews for it. It looked like it would be 2 cops vs. 2 thieves. Instead, it's actually, 2 cops + 2 experts vs. 2 thieves. And it looks like the experts are the "stars" or the show, because everyone else is a new person each week.

I don't like the experts. I found them to be abrasive, arrogant, and irritating. And while those are probably useful personality traits for solving cases, those same traits made them very annoying to watch. The experts gave an unfair advantage to the cops with all the help and analysis they provided. It would have been fairer, and more entertaining, to have the 2 cops do all the work. I would prefer that the experts weren't part of this show.

The experts managed to break one of the thieves when they were interrogating him. He told them exactly where to find the briefcase. When the thief broke, it seemed fake and scripted. He broke way too easily, under pressure. I did not buy it.

Of course, the cops find the briefcase. And then they rub it in the thieves faces by showing them the briefcase. Bizarrely, the thieves act happy about loosing 100,000. They were locked up for almost 2 days, and lost in the last 18 hours. Yet they're somehow happy for the experience. Yeah, I'm sure it was "great" being locked up and interrogated.

I'll give the show another try next week. Hopefully, it will be better. But I kind of doubt it. I have a feeling that the cops are going to win the majority of the time.

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1 - 20 of 45 Posts

bruin95

· #2 · Aug 3, 2011

When I saw the thread title, I actually thought you were talking about the 1969 Woody Allen film of the same title.

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CPanther95

· #3 · Aug 3, 2011

I didn't find it believable at all - it seemed completely scripted and poorly acted.

It didn't help that they didn't explain the "real" rules either. Clearly, they were compelled to answer questions and they were not allowed to completely lie. Witnesses were allowed to lie, but also not completely. Cops ruled out suspects with no fear that they may not have been honest.

Don't call anybody, hide the case, keep your mouth shut for 48 hours - simple.

lexluthor

· #4 · Aug 3, 2011

Yes, the fact that they didn't explain the "rules" is a big problem. Clearly, they couldn't just sit there and stay mum.

As CPanther95 pointed out, this seemingly is way too easy for the thieves.

I'm not sure if the whole show is fake or if there are just rules that might explain what's going on. With what we know, I'm just not buying the brother cracking. There's just no way. The other brother had it right. He was like, I'm on a TV show, this is fun, I'm not worried, you can't do anything to me. They aren't in a Iraqi prison here.

And why wasn't the brother who didn't crack angry at his brother for not being able to just shut up for 48 hours?

He wasn't able to sit in a room for 14 more hours with his mouth shut to make $50K?

The whole thing just didn't make sense.

Is there any more info out there as to what the rules really are?

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sigmaace01

· #5 · Aug 3, 2011

I agree, there's got to be more rules or it's completely fake. It's way too easy to hide money and shut up for 2 days.

CPanther95

· #6 · Aug 3, 2011

Quote:
Originally Posted by lexluthor /forum/post/20774162

And why wasn't the brother who didn't crack angry at his brother for not being able to just shut up for 48 hours?

Because they told him that his face gave them more information than his brother did.

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bigguy126

· #7 · Aug 3, 2011

What do the interrogators get out of it? Seems like to me that they did all the work and the detectives got the cash. Seemed scripted to me.

Mac The Knife

· #8 · Aug 3, 2011

Quote:
Originally Posted by CPanther95 /forum/post/20773657

I didn't find it believable at all - it seemed completely scripted and poorly acted.

It didn't help that they didn't explain the "real" rules either. Clearly, they were compelled to answer questions and they were not allowed to completely lie. Witnesses were allowed to lie, but also not completely. Cops ruled out suspects with no fear that they may not have been honest.

Don't call anybody, hide the case, keep your mouth shut for 48 hours - simple.

That's what I thought at first too. That they had rules that they had to answer questions and there were some things they couldn't lie about.

But after the phony breakdown, I'm pretty certain that it's totally scripted.

This could be a good premise for a show, but this implementation stunk to high heaven.

Mac The Knife

· #9 · Aug 3, 2011

Here's the "alledged" rules:

http://blog.jbfilms.com/?p=795

Some rules:

Teams must use the vehicle.
They can park it and walk somewhere.
They can use pay phones.
Detectives get GPS information tracking the vehicle, cell phone records.
The briefcase must be hidden somewhere accessible 24 hours a day.
Anyone the contestants use to hide the money must be accessible by detectives.
All questions must be answered, but both sides are expected to lie and do their best to deceive the other.

BTW, concerning the "must be accessible 24 Hrs" rule, is the park where they buried the case really open 24 hours a day?

Almost every city park I've ever been to has "sunrise to sunset" hours to prevent "urban camping" and other problems.

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lexluthor

· #10 · Aug 3, 2011

Still think the "rules" are a little vague.

One other question. Do the contestants know the show that they are going to be on? I would presume they are just told they are on some sort of reality show where they can win $100K. They can't really be told the premise of the show until the instant it begins, I'd suppose.

domino92024

· #11 · Aug 3, 2011

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac The Knife /forum/post/20775563

Here's the "alledged" rules:

http://blog.jbfilms.com/?p=795

Some rules:

Teams must use the vehicle.

They can park it and walk somewhere.

They can use pay phones.

Detectives get GPS information tracking the vehicle, cell phone records.

The briefcase must be hidden somewhere accessible 24 hours a day.

Anyone the contestants use to hide the money must be accessible by detectives.

All questions must be answered, but both sides are expected to lie and do their best to deceive the other.

Any rule stating that both contestants must stay together 100% of the time? Having one brother believe the case was somewhere that it wasn't sure would have messed up the cops. Buried in the park? Nope, it's been moved. Where to? Only one of them knows.

mikey mo

· #12 · Aug 4, 2011

Naw, it's not scripted. Just like the Bachelor, Bachelorete (sp), and WWF are not scripted.

Mac The Knife

· #13 · Aug 4, 2011

2

Quote:
Originally Posted by domino92024 /forum/post/20775847

Any rule stating that both contestants must stay together 100% of the time? Having one brother believe the case was somewhere that it wasn't sure would have messed up the cops. Buried in the park? Nope, it's been moved. Where to? Only one of them knows.

That's all I could find. I found a link to a page that said it had a bunch of answers to question by Bruckheimer, but I couldn't find anything on the page.

I think Lex was going for an "understatement of the year award" when he said the "'rules' are a little vague".

I'd guess that they're required to stay together, but one guy could wear a blindfold and crank up some music on a pair of earbuds so that he's effectively deaf and blind and wouldn't know anything.

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Mac The Knife

· #14 · Aug 4, 2011

I'm still curious about the hours on that park. I'd be willing to bet that those cops were illegally trespassing when they dug that case up in the middle of the night.

And since when can you go digging up park landscaping without getting busted for vandalism?

Seems to me that they must have had to get permission from the City to be digging around the park and to be in it at night. Which seems like another check mark on the "scripted" side of the ledger to me.

randalthor

Discussion Starter · #15 · Aug 4, 2011

Glad to see that other people think this show is scripted. Which begs the question: "If the show is scripted (fake), are we supposed to believe that the reward is real?"

If the outcome of each episode is written before hand, and then "acted out," then no one wins any money. It's just actors and average joes trying to act, getting a paycheck. I doubt anyone gets paid 100,000 dollars for "acting" in a single one hour episode of a new "reality" TV show.

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djzack

· #16 · Aug 5, 2011

Quote:
Originally Posted by cpanther95 /forum/post/0

i didn't find it believable at all - it seemed completely scripted and poorly acted.

It didn't help that they didn't explain the "real" rules either. Clearly, they were compelled to answer questions and they were not allowed to completely lie. Witnesses were allowed to lie, but also not completely. Cops ruled out suspects with no fear that they may not have been honest.

Don't call anybody, hide the case, keep your mouth shut for 48 hours - simple.

+1

HawaiianHDaddict

· #17 · Aug 10, 2011

We should start a pool to see how many more episodes air. Because this is probably one of the worst shows on television!!

Not only does the show appear to be scripted, but the contestants don't even follow the supposed rules. For example, one of the rules posted above is that "the briefcase must be hidden somewhere accessible 24 hours a day." How is a private residence accessible 24 hours a day??

Can't believe I wasted 45 minutes watching this POS.

lexluthor

· #18 · Aug 10, 2011

I'm still completely confused by this show. Why are they not making the rules transparent!?

First of all, it was kind of boring because they never even got close to finding it.

Secondly, I must be totally missing something, but why didn't the investigators go to the first stop at all? There were only 2 stops. One time, the couple stopped for at least a few minutes to hide the briefcase and the second time looked like a few minutes to get a drink.

Why were the investigators looking at the piece between the highway exit and the drink stop? What, did they think the briefcase was thrown out the window?

The drink stop place seemed to have to real good hiding place or any connection to the couple, so why didn't they lower the odds of it being there and even look at the first place?

The first stop was at least 50/50 as a hiding spot and they didn't even go there until there was less than an hour left?

The must be an explanation for this in the rules that they aren't telling us.

The only way it was going to be found was if the couple told the investigators where it was (like last week) or if they tricked the daughter into telling. The couple could have said, haha, we hid it in a friends house near the first stop, and it still never could have been found.

I'm so annoyed by this show.

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CPanther95

· #19 · Aug 10, 2011

{{{can't believe I'm going to try and explain part of this show, but...}}}

They get GPS, but they can't see a timeline for the travel. Any timing they get is from external sources. In the first episode, they were on the phone so much that they were able to look at the times off the phone and narrow down possible hiding times.

This episode they made a quick phone call in the beginning and then nothing until the stop at the gas station near the end of the 60 minutes. Other than that, all they got was the route they took.

lexluthor

· #20 · Aug 10, 2011

Quote:
Originally Posted by CPanther95 /forum/post/20806089

This episode they made a quick phone call in the beginning and then nothing until the stop at the gas station near the end of the 60 minutes. Other than that, all they got was the route they took.

No, the investigators also got that there was a long stop towards the beginning where they hid the briefcase. For some unknown reason, that stop appeared not to have been investigated.

Also, not sure why the couple thought that not shutting off the engine at the first stop would make a difference.

I guess the couple always has to stay together? That's never really been explained, but obviously that has to be the case.

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