16Mar2007
Early Details on Syndie 2008: New Bowling Show?
The Hollywood Reporter gave an early glimpse into syndication shows for 2008. Right now Buena Vista is in early stages of development for a bowling-centric game show that revolves around celebrities playing the game. It's being called "Up Your Alley". Magical. Well, let's be honest, we just heard Bingo is coming back to TV. Did we think it would be this long before bowling did? I call FOX's Extreme Tiddly Winks next. Also, it does state that NBC is still very keen on doing a syndicated edition of "Deal or No Deal" in 2008, so I'm crossing my fingers for that one. Twentieth Television is also said to be working on a new game or two, so keep on the lookout as I'm sure details will be flying in rapidly. Am I the only one who would
Read MoreView Comments (8)16Mar2007
“The Power of 10″ Top Prize
Michael Davies is doing a new show for CBS called "The Power of 10" which we briefly mentioned a bit ago. No official announcement about the show has been made (so it may still be scrapped; don't get angry at us), but we're getting reports that they are looking away at giving a top prize of $10,000,000 if you win the game. Michael Davies to Scott St. John's "Deal or No Deal": Eat Me.
Read MoreView Comments (4)15Mar2007
Two New UK Shows: “Identity” and “Dirty Rotten Cheater”
I'm really jealous of the British now. BBC is now casting for their two new game shows "Identity" and "Dirty Rotten Cheater". "Identity" is the hit NBC show that comes back tomorrow night at 9PM ET, following the season finale of "1 VS 100". And then we have "Dirty Rotten Cheater" which was an amazing show with great prizes but stuck on old shitty PAX. Comedian Brian Conley hosts the game of bluffs, lies, and deception. Hopefully we'll get the latter on BBC America, because I really miss "Dirty Rotten Cheater".
Read MoreView Comments (9)15Mar2007
“Fifth Grader” Renewed for 13 More Episodes
America apparently likes to feel stupid. FOX has renewed the hit show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" for 13 more episodes. According to Variety, "Fifth Grader" has averaged a 9.3/22 in the key 18-49 demographic, but can it do it by itself tonight at 8PM ET? For some reason I'm guessing yes, but the ratings are continually slipping. We'll all find out tonight.
Read MoreView Comments (11)14Mar2007
“Jeopardy!” History to be Made on Friday
TVBarn2 posted an email tune-in advisory for "Jeopardy!" on Friday, March 16th. Here's what it says. Dear Media Colleagues-- *This Friday, March 16th, 2007...and for the first time in 23 years, "Jeopardy!" history will be made. * It was such a remarkable event we consulted a Game Theory expert and he said it may never happen again! I wish I could give you more information about this special show, unfortunately, I can only encourage you and your valuable readers to watch Friday's program. Alex Trebek and our producers remain mum and I, myself, have been sworn to secrecy. Any special "tune-in" item for your readers, who are our viewers would be greatly appreciated! Please check your local listings for station
Read MoreView Comments (39)14Mar2007
Talk Show Schedule
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I've had a horrible horrible flu and have been drunk on Nyquil for the past few days and nights. Anyway, quick heads up for the talk show circuit. Merv Griffin, creator of "Wheel of Fortune", "Jeopardy", and "Let's Play Crosswords" will appear on The Late Late Show with Fergie (Craig Ferguson) on Monday, March 19th at 12:35AM ET, but check your local listings. Also, Bob Barker, soon to be former host of "The Price is Right", will appear on The Ellen Degeneres Show today, so check your local listings or YouTube or something. Sorry for the short notice.
Read MoreView Comments (1)14Mar2007
ABC Schedules New Bingo Game Show
Sudden game show announcement: ABC today announced the scheduling of a new game show "National Bingo Night", and I wish I was kidding but it's exactly as it sounds. However, people at home can play along by printing off their own cards from a site at ABC.com, which will be different than the in-studio contestant's cards, and mark off as the show goes along. At-hone players can win prizes redeemed online. Each episode will have three Bingo cards played. Ed Sanders hosts. "National Bingo Night" will air May 18th at 9PM ET, and will consist of six episodes, on ABC. Oh they better make some changes to the format of Bingo, because I can think of nothing more boring than watching this. I'm not sold on the idea, but who knows. Any opinion
Read MoreView Comments (38)11Mar2007
ESPN Classic Picks Up American Gladiators
We just received official word that cable network ESPN Classic has picked up the rights to the cult classic American Gladiators. The show will official debut on the network on March 31st from 1PM ET to 8PM ET for a marathon. The show will debut in its normal time slot, taking the place of the, in my opinion, pretty bad and boring Stump the Schwab, weekdays at 7PM ET starting Monday, April 2nd.
Read MoreView Comments (32)09Mar2007
World Series of Pop Culture Needs an Audience
The new OCA is listing the dates for the tapings of the 2007 World Series of Pop Culture to be seen on VH1. If you want to be a part of it, apply for tickets here. Taping is on March 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. The show is still hosted by the very impressive Pat Kiernan and will take place in The Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios. If you're in the audience on the 22nd or 23rd, you can win many Sony prizes like the far overpriced PS3 and maybe the awesome Nintendo Wii.
Read MoreView Comments (3)09Mar2007
Call In And Lose: The UK Phone Scandal
Thanks to our friend David Howell from England for writing this article on the recent phone game scandal in England. If you'd like more news about it or to see him and others analyze Deal or No Deal daily, please go to the wonderful site Bother's Bar. I'd like to apologize to the people who use our LiveJournal feed, as this is a bit long, but it's extremely interesting and well worth the read. Please leave your comments if you care to and tell David what you think of this issue. The surge of phone-in 'participation TV' games in the US in the last year was perhaps entirely unsurprising, as the UK has seen a similar and stronger trend for at least the last two years. Indeed, at least a couple of the PlayMania clones claimed to be 'based on a British format', and of course PlayMania itself utilised a British host (Mel Peachey) from the start. (Ironically, she is now in charge of 100 Winners, which deviates greatly from most UK call-in games.) This UK trend, in turn, originated from elsewhere in Europe. Arguably, the UK arrival of the trend was with the Endemol format Brainteaser, which began in 2002 and had been used in various forms in several other countries. This involved a series of simple word games being played among two studio contestants, fused with a viewer phone-in (the revenue from which apparently funded all the show's production costs, including the studio top prize of £3,000/$5,800). (more...)
Read MoreView Comments (5)09Mar2007
Play British Game Shows Online!
Sorry for the down time. We had unannounced maintenance, that of which I'm still trying to find out what was changed. Regardless, thanks to reader Dan A. for giving us this terrific link. On WeDigTV, you can play many classic British game shows such as Countdown, Catch Phrase, Family Fortunes, and Blockbusters, and more will come later. You need to have a high-speed connections, though, as they use real clips of the show on the game. I have to say, I am extremely impressed, especially with Countdown. They are the nicest online adaptations of game shows I've seen. What do you all think?
Read MoreView Comments (15)08Mar2007
Fifth Grader Kids Actually Actors
I'm sure if you've read this site or any of game show news site, or even any TV website, you can see that the entire casting process for the show is shady. From getting contestants based their looks to be sure we can laugh at stupid people to hiring child actors, not regular fifth graders, for the Cheats, FOX's new (somehow) hit game show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? has always been in the limelight for brief controversy. Finally, a Floridian lady did some research, and as she casually watched Comedy Central, she saw one of the kids on one of my top three shows for this season, The Sarah Silverman Program. Child Laura Marano plays Young Sarah on the show, and also has guest appearances on Dexter, Without a Trace, and Ghost Whisperer. If you look during the end credits, you will also see that the children are provided materials from which questions and answers are taken from. Basically, it's like Game Show Network's Cram, except the point of the show isn't to cheat beforehand. This is the biography of Laura from FOX.com... Laura, an 11-year-old 5th grader from Los Angeles, CA, loves all school subjects and consistently gets great grades. She has also proven to be quite the matchmaker; she has successfully helped more than one happy couple find love. So not one mention that these are actors, not normal fifth graders. However, until people get sick of FOX's lying and/or start realizing that FOX is pulling the wool over their eyes, the show will be on if not solely for the fact that it is after American Idol.
Read MoreView Comments (14)08Mar2007
UK’s Channel4 Gets Dumped
England's Channel4, responsible for such hits as Countdown and Deal or No Deal is starting a new reality show in which ten British men and women are asked to live on a dump for three weeks on a show called Dumped. The main focus of the show is seeing if people can live off of other people's used items, like things to wear, eat, places to live and things to use. Andrew Mackenzie, the commissioning editor for Factual Entertainment, stated "Some of the tasks may be pretty gross, but in compensation the participants will find that even the finer things of life can be catered for -- with the perfectly-useable luxury goods that get thrown away." The show will debut on Channel4 on its Fall schedule and will be stripped across a week
Read MoreView Comments (1)07Mar2007
Play Full Episodes of “You Don’t Know Jack” Online!
I am a HUGE "You Don't Know Jack" fan (except for the god forsaken ABC series. How could they mess it up so badly?), so when Jellyvision released the daily Dis or Dat, I was very happy. However, now they've upped the ante and they've put in FULL episodes of "You Don't Know Jack" online! It's not daily yet, but it's one of the more impressive games such as this I've seen. They have really raised the bar with the daily Dis or Dat and full episodes. Please click here and enjoy.
Read MoreView Comments (4)06Mar2007
2007 “National Vocabulary Championship” Champion Crowned
Over 49 finalists and 30,000 contestants were defeated to make one high schooler the winner of GSN's $40,000 "National Vocabulary Championship", recently held at the New York Public Library. This event, attended by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, US Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon, Chancellor of New York City Department of Education Joel Klein, and New York Library President Paul LcCerc, as well as GSN's Rich Cronin, Dena Kaplan, and Princeton Review's John Katzman, was hosted by "Chain Reaction" host Dylan Lane. To preserve the drama of the special, the winner is listed under the page break.
Read MoreLeave a Comment