19May2008
“Match Game” Revival Begins Casting
It took a while but TBS and Fremantle are finally casting for the pilot of the revival of Match Game. Again, this is just for the pilot so there's no word of a firm pick up just yet. If you play the game you get $250, and as an alternate you'll get $50 to $75. If your pilot episode airs, though, you may be given the full amount you won on the show which looks to be a top prize of $10,000. Appropriate top prize. Match Game is one of the few classics I really enjoy and will watch it when I can. I've seen episodes with a $20,000 top prize which seems like way too much for comedy matching game. $10,000 works perfectly. And hey, it's double what the 90s revival had. Casting directors are making sure to use the old standby of not casti
Read MoreView Comments (16)18May2008
Weekend Replay: “Smush”
One of my favorite shows of the decade was USA's extremely short-lived and extremely underrated Smush. The show was a quirky word game from the makers of the computer game You Don't Know Jack, not the horrendous ABC show. It was relatively simple but took some skill to master: you were given two clues and just had to combine the two answers to make a "smush". For instance, (taking this from Wikipedia), the question could be "New England State + 'Flying Circus' Man". The answers, Vermont and Monty Python, would make up the answer you'd have to give to host Ken Ober, "Vermonty Python". It was a really funny weird word game that was on the wrong network at not the best time for game shows. Nick posted a review of shows he'd like to see r
Read MoreView Comments (10)17May2008
No News Day: The Top Five Game Shows I’d Like to See Revived
There have been many game shows made over the years. Some were just appalling, others were fantastically awesome. Here's a few of the latter ones that I think deserve another chance. (Note: All shows that were considered for this list must have had no run aired in the United States or some version of it must have been off the air in the US for at least ten years.)
Read MoreView Comments (29)15May2008
Upfront Game Show Announcements
It's upfront week and not a lot of game show news has been going around. We've really been over-saturated in primetime and it's time for a short break, which is good because if we keep getting shows like Set For Life, I give up. Anyway, FOX announced their schedule and all three of their game shows survive into the Fall 2008 schedule. They've really benefited fro
Read MoreView Comments (11)14May2008
The Ratings are Updated!
Yes, we've finally updating the ratings page. Honestly, a few weeks ago, there turned out to be so many shows and ratings coming in, and I was always gone and so busy, that it was impossible for me to keep up. But we seem to have slowed down a bit and we'll try to keep it up to date. We restarted to trim the page down, and right now showing is the sadly low rated
Read MoreLeave a Comment14May2008
The Best US “Deal or No Deal” Moment
This clip came from a few weeks ago. Seeing all the worldwide Deal or No Deal clips really makes me wonder how NBC thinks offering massive, sometimes over the mean, offers will get anyone to play on. Look at most versions of the show who have had jackpot winners (except the first Australian one) and you see one common theme: if you want someone to win, you cannot
Read MoreView Comments (13)13May2008
Minor GSN Daytime Schedule Switch
There's a very small schedule change on GSN soon. Starting on May 27th, a Tuesday, Card Sharks (Perry) will air at 1:00PM ET daily and Match Game will be at 1:30PM ET. It was the other way around before.
Read MoreLeave a Comment13May2008
“Celebrity Family Feud” Tapings
The lack of news had me wondering if NBC's celebrity primetime series of Family Feud was going to happen, but apparently it's going ahead. Tickets to see the show are available for May 31st, June 1st, and June 7th. This is part of NBC's All American Summer. Click here to get tickets. Speaking of the All American Summer, American Gladiators is on its last legs. I
Read MoreView Comments (1)13May2008
ABC’s “Opportunity Knocks” Schedule in Fall
Quick update on the show Opportunity Knocks that was discussed a little bit ago. ABC announced it will officially be part of their Fall 2008 schedule. It will air Tuesdays at 8:00PM ET.
Read MoreView Comments (1)12May2008
American Gladiators
Here’s a comment box to discuss the season debut of American Gladiators today at 8:00PM ET on NBC. Network: NBC Airings: Mondays at 8:00PM ET Host(s): Hulk Hogan and Leila Ali Vote for how many stars you think the show deserves to the right, and then leave a comment! American Gladiators is the ultimate televised extreme sports competition. Two men and two women face off against each other and the Gladiators in events of athletic prowess, skill, and determination. By the end of the regular events, each point the leader has equals a half-second lead in the final event: the Eliminator. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins and continues on through the tournament. The grand champions of the season wins $100,000 and a new car. The first season admittedly had a lot of issues. They tried to reinvent the wheel a bit too much. They made some events too easy (see Power Ball and Hang Tough) or they made them far too hard and complex (see Assault and Eliminator). As season two news came in, we were told they made a lot of changes for the better, and it seems that they did. (more...)
Read MoreView Comments (11)12May2008
Two New Game Shows: “Opportunity Knocks” and “The Phone”
Instead of making two different posts about shows we don't know a lot about, why not make one large post putting them together? Two new game shows were recently announced, one for ABC who never seems to give up and one for MTV. The ABC game show is called Opportunity Knocks which is from both Katalyst and 3 Ball Productions. The show, as Cynopsis tells us, is very similar to the old after show audience game from Let's Make A Deal. Hosts on the show travel from house to house asking people questions for cash if they give a right answer. ABC ordered 13 episodes which will probably debut in the Fall. We've really fully come to an age where two-minute segments on shows are the entire program, haven't we? The other show, for MTV, is called The Phone which is being produced by Justin Timberlake and Fremantle who everyone seems to love so much. They are really making sure to call the show "genre-busting", but it's basically a stereotypical competition show. Two people pick up phones at different ends of a busy city. They have five seconds to decide to take the challenge, which could net them a large cash prize, or back down. If they accept, the guide on the phone gives them a mission to complete before time runs out. If they do, they win th
Read MoreView Comments (10)11May2008
Final BuzzerBlog “Deal” Tour Stop: Netherlands
We couldn't possibly end our custom Deal or No Deal world tour without going to where it all started, The Netherlands. It's arguably the most unique version of the show still existing and one of the few primetime versions of the shows not to sell out to the American way completely. The reason why their show is so amazing is because of the gigantic spectacle it is. A 500 person audience is narrowed down to six through an extensive quiz. The six come on stage and play another buzzer oriented trivia game which narrows it to two. The two have to fight over a buy-out to leave the game or play one final question. The sole survivor of the audience plays for 5,000,000 euro. The most money won was around 1.25 million euro, which I saw and was one of the most thrilling events I've seen on television. It's my personal favorite version of the show and the most amazing game show I've ever seen because the cases part of the show seems like what it should, a bonus game. The entire show is made into an event-like program, and it's scheduled only six episodes every few months which gives it off well. Plus, again, they have the best music package for the show out of any country, plus one of the better hosts: Linda DeMol. Take a look. Later we will have on
Read MoreView Comments (3)10May2008
BuzzerBlog’s “Deal” World Tour: Australia
In our on-going weekend series, the second stop on what NBC's Deal or No Deal world tour should have been is the Australian version. The show began in 2003 as a primetime series with a top prize of $2,000,000. The next year the show was reformatted to a half hour daily edition for $200,000. It follows the same format as ours except it's a lot more brighter, a lot more high energy, and contestants hold the cases as they do basically everywhere else on the planet. Take a look at some videos from the Australian take on the show. [youtube z9IPTMeEBjw] [youtube PEOL0CtQR4I] [youtube ZfwdQkU5HFM]
Read MoreView Comments (2)10May2008
Tom Kennedy Visits Shokus Internet Radio
If you're a fan of Shokus Internet Radio and the Shu Shostak show, you might know he often has famous classic game show personalities. On Wednesday, May 14th, Tom Kennedy, host of Split Second, Name That Tune, and You Don't Say among others, will be stopping by at 4:00PM PT. Stu will be talking with Tom about his career as well as taking questions from callers and emails. Click here to listen.
Read MoreLeave a Comment10May2008
BuzzerBlog’s “Deal or No Deal” World Tour
A few writers and I have been talking, and we've been incredibly upset with how Deal or No Deal's world tour has gone. The Philippines episode was fun because there are enough differences to make it exciting. Plus the Dutch theme music they use blows ours out of the water. However, Estonia and South Africa look like bargain basement editions of the show. They really aren't doing a service to the rest of the world. So with that, we decided to do our own Deal or No Deal world tour. We will be showing videos of the best three countries that give a broader perspective and history of the show. The first country we go to is England. Why England? It has the daytime format we are going to use for a bit of a preview, it shows how the game is played usually in a daytime format, and it shows a much more low key version. Take a look at a few videos. [youtube YqufffFvoA4] [youtube PvoA4bz7W3Q] [youtube 3PYsRE9c4_0]
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