BuzzerBlog

All of us in the BuzzerBlog and FLASHGames² family would like to wish you a happy new year. 2006 has been a terrific year full of milestones and great people, and we hope 2007 goes even better. Also, we’d like to hope your 2006 has been terrific and 2007 will be even better. In our little world of game shows, we’ve had quite a year. From the ups of “Deal or No Deal” to the lows of “Show Me the Money” and more, it’s just been interesting. Will 2007 be different? From the look of it, we have a really busy year ahead of us, and we hope you continue to read us as we continue to entertain all of you. Hopefully you are all having a better evening than I am also. I do work for ESPN, and I got back really really late last night, so I’m just watching Evil Dead 2 with some friends which I probably won’t remember tomorrow. So, in short, we hope you had a great 2006, have a great evening tonight, and have a terrific 2007.

-The FLASHGames² Family

2 million pesos were won by Terry Lim Cua, a customer service representative for a bank, on the final episode of the first season of “Kapamilya Deal or No Deal.” He left the 1 million and 2 million peso cases in the game, forcing the banker to offer 1.4 million pesos. He said No Deal without hesitation, and revealed that his case contained the top prize.

“The Women Who Changed Game Shows,” a GSN documentary premiering January 28th at 8:00 PM EST, looks at the women who had an influence on any game show, including Arlene Francis, Anne Robinson, Vanna White, Betty White, and many others.  From the pictures on GSN’s web page, I see Shandi Finnessey, Mel Peachy, Brett Somers, and Lacey Pemberton.  Of course, that may not mean they’re in the show at all.

This is rather amusing.  A bit ago, the host of the long running Australian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Eddie McGuire, quit so he could be the chief for Nine Network.  Now comes news that he is coming back to host…..

1 VS 100

What makes me laugh even more is that it might be in Millionaire’s former time slot: Mondays at 8:30PM.  It’s looking like they are following the US format, with a top prize of $1,000,000.  However, they may change stuff up.  Giving the mob a LITTLE advantage would be nice.

We recently lost Annie Duke on NBC’s hit game show “1 VS 100″, so obviously we need some new celebrities in the mob.  NBC announced a few of them.  Coming on January 5, 2007, we have Adam West.  Also, on January 12, 2007, joining the mob with be crazy and awesome Matthew Lesko and Fabio.  We’ll get pictures if we can.

GSN has launched yet another game coming from the headlines. This one: “Saddam Hussein’s Hangman”. As you can probably guess, you play hangman with Saddam Hussein there. However, he shouts some interesting things at you as you play the game. Play it and tell us what you think.

Edit: Sorry, I had the wrong link up. All fixed now.  I’m still out of it from the holidays.

Imagination Games, who released the “Deal or No Deal” DVD game, is launching a new one for the show “Press Your Luck”.  Sadly, though, not a lot is known about it except that Todd Newton is hosting, which is rather interesting seeing that “Whammy!” was, well, special.  Check for this in your local Target stores or online.

BCI, who created the “Match Game” DVD set, has announced they made a five year deal with Fremantle to create new game show DVDs.  Sadly, nothing is known right now.  However, BCI did state more information will be released at NATPE in January.  So, in review, here is a new update of events.

January 12th- Television Critics Association (We’ll hear GSN’s announcements plus other network’s things)

January 16th- NATPE

If you watch the Australian daytime edition of “Deal or No Deal”, be on the lookout for some changes occuring relatively soon.  According to people who have been part of auditions, they have dropped the quiz portion and will be selected as in the NBC version of the show.  Also, quite interestingly, on the DVD game, they use pictures of the NBC logo and set, and they also use the NBC logo on the Aussie website as well.  In the beginning of the fall episodes of the show, it was said that the show was getting a new logo and updated set, which really did not happen at all.  Could we be seeing one of the few, if not the only, surviving original “Deal or No Deal” games being changed?

We’re back from break and hope you had as good of a Christmas as we had.  GSN will be paying tribute to the late Gerald Ford and James Brown by airing a special “What’s My Line” event on Sunday, December 31st.

President Gerald Ford’s episode of “What’s My Line” will air Sunday, December 31st at 3AM ET.  His episode was taped August 28, 1969.  This was at a time he was a congressman and served as a mystery guest.  This episode was hosted by Wally Bruner and featured Bennett Cerf, Brenda Vaccaro, Gene Rayburn, and Joanna Barnes on the panel.

James Brown’s episode of “What’s My Line” will air Sunday, December 31st at 3:30AM ET.  He was a mystery guest on the November 19th, 1968 edition of the long-running show.  This episode was hosted by Wally Bruner and featured Arlene Francis, Gawn Grainger, Phyllis Newman, and Soupy Sales on the panel.

Well, it’s that time of year again. It’s the Christmas season, and we’re taking a bit of a break. All the staff of Buzzer would like to thank you for reading and we hope you have a safe and terrific week. We’ll be back sometime later this week, but we’re going to be with our families for a bit. No updates will take place unless something breaking happens, so enjoy the week.

-Buzzer Staff

-Monday 9 p.m. (out of Deal or No Deal) – Viewers: 12.26 million, A18-49: 4.4/11
-Tuesday 8 p.m. – Viewers: 8.21 million, A18-49: 2.9/ 8
-Wednesday 8 p.m. – Viewers: 8.76 million, A18-49: 3.0/ 9
-Thursday 8 p.m. – Viewers: 9.51 million, A18-49: 3.1/ 9
-Friday 8 p.m. – Viewers: 7.83 million, A18-49: 2.4/ 9

As the last ratings post was for Wednesday, here’s a summary of Identity’s ratings. The report for Thursday were the highest without a Deal or No Deal lead-in. Nearly getting 1 million more than the previous two nights, getting second place for the night. While Friday’s dip seems really bad, Identity actually helped win NBC the night, as Identity had the most viewers of any show last night. The 18-49 demographic is doing great, therefore expect to see this back sometime next year.

VH1 takes another step in the, well, in a direction which I’m not sure of by airing the new reality game show “The White Rapper Show” on January 8th. In the show, ten contestants will be living in a crappy tenement in the South Bronx and tested on their music “credibility”, which will basically be knowledge of hip hop culture and their “ideas about progency according to VH1’s press”. The winner will receive $100,000. Watch for it on January 8th at 10:30PM ET. We’re sure taking a jump here from “World Series of Pop Culture”, aren’t we?

Thanks to Mr. Justin Lollie for this.

I have no idea how long ago this was shot, but we stumbled upon rules and pictures for another GSN pilot called “Last One Standing”. This wasn’t shot for Game Show Network, this was GSN, so it had to have been shot not too long ago. The rules are simple. Six players compete, each known by a colorful name, like Ms. Orange. A question appears and each player has 20 seconds to select as many correct answers as they can off of their touch screen monitor. Then they bet, a la poker, that they have more right than their opponents. Round one has an ante of 500 and a max bet of 1,000. In round two, there is no limit to the size of a bet, but there is a twist called the “Lucky Cards”, which are three correct answer cards laid out for all to see. There is no bluffing in the final bet. The bet is the stack of the lowest scoring player. Most money wins the game. Obviously this is a bit rough because we couldn’t get exact information, but this sounds a hell of a lot more entertaining than some of the stuff they’ve put on recently. Jeez, first “Casino” and now this. How many more decent shows are gone?

EDIT: I failed to mention this originally. This may be a pilot for 2007, we don’t know. Just a reminder to people that GSN’s Television Critics Association Winter announcements come in about three or four weeks, and who knows, this may be one. Keep reading as always and we’ll report it here first.

If you are a genius child reading this, or if your son/daughter is the smartest person you’ve seen, NBC is wanting you.  The network’s hit show “1 vs. 100″ is searching for “SUPER SMART KIDS (Ages 9-17) that excel in pop culture and trivia to be on a very special episode of “1 vs. 100″.  They are having an open casting call on December 29th, 2006, from 12PM to 4PM at….

Culver Studios

9336 W. Washington Blvd.

Gate #3

Culver City, CA, 90232.

All you need is a copy of your child’s most recent report card.  Also, if he or she has a work permit, bring that as well.  Of course all children must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.  The show tapes on January 10th, 2007, so be sure to get in there soon.  Contact the casting department for more info.