Seems like the shows we rumored about ages ago are coming to reality. Our good friends at Embassy Row asked us to put some notices about casting for The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, revivals of two popular classic game shows. These shows were rumored to be on Lifetime, but no official word just yet. If you want to apply for either of the shows, click here for Newlywed Game, here for Dating Game, or visit our casting page for these two in addition to other new shows like GSN’s Catch-21.
Archive for April, 2008
This is a rumor control, but one I’d bet money on and basically confirm. There’s no official press release out yet, that’s the only thing, but I can basically guarantee this is happening. We’re so confident we’re putting a new category up for it. An extremely reliable source tells and shows us that GSN picked has up the trivia/blackjack show we were previously discussing, and the show is called Catch-21. It’s a remake of sorts of the classic game show Gambit and should be debuting in July 2008. They are now casting.
The show is, essentially, the Casino pilot that Distraction Formats taped ages ago. Casino is, essentially the retooling of the old game show Gambit to fit snugly in a half hour time slot. In Catch-21, contestants answer multiple choice questions to earn cards to add to their blackjack hand. After a right answer, the player can keep the card or pass it off to someone else in hopes that they will bust. Each round won earns a “Power Chip” (another item stolen from World Series of Blackjack) which can be used in the end game to trade out bad cards. Speaking of the end game, after three eliminator rounds, the sole survivor goes against the house with four chances to get 21 and a chance at a $25,000 cash jackpot. This is down from the $100,000 in the pilot but that’s to be expected. The pilot had way too much money involved and seemed extravagant even by today’s standards.
I think when I posted about this pilot a while ago the feedback was extremely positive, so hopefully we have a winner here. It’s a shock it’s taken this long. And if anything this should give hope to the people clamoring for Russian Roulette/Whammy! to come back. GSN’s CEO David Goldhill is obviously willing to look back at past shows and bring them on in full force, as is evident with Russian Roulette and now Catch-21. It’s also nice to see some money being thrown at more originals instead of just one. I’ve said it over and over and this is exactly what they need. If they take some chances on some young, fresh, cool game shows with an interesting concept anyone can love and some money that means something, people will take notice. Again, the show is currently casting (apply for it here) and we’ll try to get some more news as soon as possible. The show is now also up on our casting page.
Russian Roulette is back in full force on GSN. Apparently it’s pretty popular too. It’s getting a lot of airings, it’s the only show beyond Bingo America I see actually advertised on GSN’s website, and there are commercials airing for it as if it’s new or something. It’s like they are testing the ratings to see if a new version could be popular, isn’t it? I often blast America for having severely inferior game shows than other countries such as England. There are only two modern shows I will hold higher over theirs, though. 1 VS 100 (before the season two crappy format came out) and Russian Roulette. Take a look at how they messed up the show and then thank Rich Cronin for not messing the show up this badly.
Here’s a nice little surprise for all you PlayCafe fans out there. Ken Jennings, the Jeopardy! champion who you’d have to be under a rock not to know about, will be making an appearance on the first internet TV network for game shows on Monday at 6PM PT. He will be playing the game along with everyone else at home to see if he’s still smarter than the players. Click here to play along and get involved.
PlayCafe.com streams live, online casual games that let anyone play as a contestant. Members can compete in a variety of games, chat live with hosts and other players, form teams, call the studio, contribute questions, and win a variety of prizes, including iTunes songs, Nintendo Wiis and up to $1,000 in cash. “Ken Jennings is a legend in game shows, and having him play against and chat with people everywhere is a hint of what PlayCafe.com can make possible” said Mark Goldenson, CEO of PlayCafe.com.
This casting notice might be interesting. People who casted for both Show Me the Money and Don’t Forget the Lyrics! are currently looking for contestants for a new game involving both the card game Blackjack as well as trivia. Is RDF, the company that does Don’t Forget the Lyrics!, a part of Endemol? It would make sense to me right now, but I can’t find anything unless I’m missing obvious signs here.
The most famous Blackjack show was called Gambit which ran in the 70s and hosted by Wink Martindale. The most recent attempt to get it on the air was a format from Distraction Formats called Casino, which was essentially the same game. This was pitched to GSN and turned down a while ago, so who knows, it may have popped up again. If you want to be a part of this show, click here to apply.
Being the dirty dirty liberal that I am, I got a large chuckle out of this. As you may know, President Bush appeared on Deal or No Deal on Monday’s show, wishing a contestant luck. The contestant only wound up (prior to the Deal Wheel) with $26,000 so that’s some luck there. But that’s not the fun part. The fun part is Bush’s appearance fell in the show that had the lowest Monday rating in the history of the program. Yeah, the show’s been down this season a bit, but Monday’s show was down 27% from its prior season average. Pretty staggering. Of course we can’t come right out and say that people are so repulsed by Bush that they turned it off. It’s a fun thought in my mind, but we can’t really say. You can watch his shameless appearance on the show here. Did he really think appearing would make him more popular?
Interesting schedule change that may be left open for your interpretation. GSN is replacing the 11:00PM ET airing of Bingo America on weekdays with Chain Reaction. This starts May 26th. Is this a budget saving maneuver to save from giving away another $5,000 to home viewers every night, or did the show’s popularity dip that quickly?
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Apr
UK “Duel” Video
You might know how it is. The TV season winds down and there’s no news. I think you might enjoy this, it’s a very exciting clip of the UK game show Duel which is currently bombing horribly on ABC. It’s amazing how we screwed it up twice and they seemed to get it pretty right so soon. No country can figure out how to get the money to work, though. The whole money handling system is the one thing really hurting this franchise.
We’ll try to find some news sometime soon.
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