30Apr2009
Podcast on Hold Until Next Week
I'm sorry to do it again but due to scheduling conflicts we have told off on the podcast until next Thursday again. Again, really sorry. After the break is why. I'm having a hard time gathering everyone we need at the same exact time and keeping everyone's attention for that time period. I doubt you really just want me talking by myself like a crazy guy anyway. You get enough of that on the site. Plus the video thing just isn't working like I wanted. It's taking too much time and effort to get the graphics and videos and all, and for little return on my end. It was an experiment, it's just not adding anything to the production. We'll probably stick with ustream but just broadcast the audio so you can hear it live. But while this
Read MoreLeave a Comment30Apr2009
“Million Dollar Password” Burns Off Remaining Episode Starting May 24
Fans of Million Dollar Password: here's what will most likely be your last chance to see the show. The Regis Philbin hosted revival of Password will begin airing its final episodes of the season (and probably series) starting Sunday, May 24th, at 8:00PM ET.
Read MoreView Comments (6)30Apr2009
“The Singing Bee” gets 10 New Episodes on CMT
As we previously reported, NBC's The Singing Bee is indeed coming back. This time it's going to CMT. 10 episodes are ordered and will begin airing June 16th right after the annual CMT Awards. The only currently known changes are that the format's music will be 60% country and 40% pop music, the dancers, and the host is still not known.
Read MoreLeave a Comment30Apr2009
Daytime “Deal or No Deal” Coming Back for Season Two and Moving to Connecticut
The top rated new syndicated show (season-to-date) Deal or No Deal has finally been confirmed to be coming back for a second season. Howie Mandel will remain as host. The good news is that if you had the show in season one, you'll probably have the second season as well. It's cleared in 85% of the country, including on the majority of NBC owned stations. The show season-to-date has been averaging 2.6 million viewers and a 1.8 household rating, ahead of The Doctors which is at 2.4 million viewers and a 1.7 rating. The daytime version is exponentially better than the primetime edition, so it's great to see it come back. But it gets bizarre here. Like three other NBCU syndicated shows, Deal or No Deal will move from shooting in Los An
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Interview with Bob Goen and Marianne Curan of GSN Radio
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW If you're a regular reader, you know how I feel about GSN Radio. I repeatedly said over the course of months that it's the best thing GSN's done in an unbelievably long time and it still holds true. If you aren't listening, I'm not sure why not. It's incredibly entertaining, funny, and you can win money for playing a few quick an easy games. You really can't beat that. The show airs every weekday from 1:00PM ET to 5:00PM ET, and you can listen to the show by going to GSN Radio's website by clicking here. It's airing in over 50 radio markets across the country as well, so check your listings and see where you can hear it. I was extremely excited to be given the chance to talk to Bob Goen
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“Millionaire” Plans Famous Names Week for May 4th
May sweeps is approaching and Who Wants to be a Millionaire?'s stunt, at least for now, will be a week of people sharing the name of someone who is famous. Really! During the week of May 4th people who share the name of someone who is famous or a famous character will be sitting in the hot seat playing for $1,000,000 opposite host Meredith Vieira. Here's the list of names of people who will be playing. * James Bond (College Judicial Administrator from Silver Spring, MD) * Bill Murray (Real Estate Agent from Las Vegas, NV) * Barbara Eden (Real Estate Agent from Jersey City, NJ) * Jesse James (Soldier in the U.S. Army from Harlem, GA) * Janet Jackson (Retail Sales from Waterford, MI) * Seth Green (Non-Profit Consultant from New Hav
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NBC Picks Up Poker Game Show “Face the Ace”
It's close enough to being a game show to potentially be interested in, especially if you're a game show fan. NBC has picked up seven episodes of a new poker game show called Face the Ace which will be hosted by Steve Schirippa. It begins August 1st at 9:00PM ET and will rerun on the following Saturday in the same time slot before taking over a Saturday afternoon slot in September. The game sees contestants choosing one of four glass doors, where a poker pro is hidden. The contestant has to face that pro in a heads-up poker match. If he or she wins, the player gets money and can take it or leave or come back the next game and face one of the remaining poker pros. Losing means you leave with $0, but beating three of the pros gives you
Read MoreView Comments (5)28Apr2009
GSN Schedule Changes; “Deal or No Deal” and “1 VS 100″ Get Debut Dates
We've got lots of exciting GSN schedule changes coming up for you. First, let's talk about the awards. As we said before, the 2009 GSN Game Show Awards will debut on June 6th at 8:00PM ET and air through 10:30PM ET. Rerun times are varied. First you can watch a full rerun directly following the awards at 10:30PM ET. A special two hour edition of the awards show, without the red carpet and winner interviews, airs on June 7th at 4:00PM ET. Now onto the big news. Yes, as we reported before, Deal or No Deal and 1 VS 100 will be on the GSN schedule in June. You can see Deal or No Deal Monday through Friday at 7:00PM ET starting June 1st replacing Lingo and Pyramid. It will rerun weekdays at 11:00PM ET replacing Lingo, Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00PM ET replacing Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, and 8:00PM ET on Saturdays replacing Family Feud. I haven't seen the first episodes of Deal or No Deal in ages, and those early shows were miles better than the later ones, so this is a nice change. The one I'm most excited for, and I have a feeling a lot of you are excited for as well, is the return of 1 VS 100. Not a lot of episodes exist but GSN scheduled it nicely. 1 VS 100, NBC's hit quiz show, will air Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00PM ET starting on June 6th replacing Lingo, 6:00PM ET on Saturdays replacing Pyramid, and Saturdays at 2:00AM ET replacing Dog Eat Dog. Any 1 VS 100 is such a welcome addition. There's some daytime shuffling here as well. Whammy! will air weekdays at 11:00AM ET starting June 1st replacing Let's Make A Deal which is apparently now under Fremantle's control. Pyramid will replace The Weakest Link at 4:00PM ET weekdays, and the syndicated version of Millionaire will air weekends at noon replacing Let's Make A Deal. We're still not done, believe it or not. Saturdays get a major redo starting June 13th. The new show 2oQ, which hasn't gotten any good word from literally every single person who audioned that got back to me , will debut June 13th at 8:00PM ET. It's an hour long show stretched to an hour and a half because of GSN's Big Saturday Nights. Again, the initial buzz isn't good for the show but we never know until we see it. The Money List which taped nearly a year ago starts the same night from 9:30PM ET to 11:00PM ET, again because of stretching for the special evening. This is really long-awaited and I couldn't be more excited to see it show up. Starting Sunday June 14th, 2oQ will run for just its hour at 4:00PM ET, The Newlywed Game and Catch 21 air at 4:00PM ET, and The Money List at 5:00PM ET. Not only that we've got a Father's Day marathon of Super Password on Sunday, June 21st, from 9:00AM ET to 1:00PM ET. I know this is a huge amount to digest so we've got a picture of all the changes all scheduled out for you, after the break. (more...)
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Howie Mandel to host GSN’s “Game Show Awards”
Hey, GSN got an actual big name to do one of their things! Howie Mandel, host of Howie Do It and, at least for now, Deal or No Deal, has been tapped to host GSN's 2009 Game Show Awards which tape May 16th and air June 6th at 8:00PM ET. Mandel commented, “I want THE GAME SHOW AWARDS to be unlike any awards show on television. I am trying to convince GSN to hire four co-hosts for the night. We'll see what happens." Howie is nominated for Best Game Show Host. We had a few people commenting around here bitching that they will probably get some D lister who doesn't know game shows; someone from the Kathy Griffin club. I think this should satisfy many. Very good choice for host in my book. One more quote from Howie, courtesy of GSN: "I am trying to convince GSN to hire four co-hosts for the night. We'll see what happens," he quipped, referring to the ill-fated experiment at last year's primetime Emmy Awards which was hosted by the five nominated reality hosts, including Mandel.
Read MoreView Comments (6)27Apr2009
IBM Computer to Take on “Jeopardy!”
This may be a good time for you all to go call Sam Waterson and grab some Old Glory Robot Insurance. IBM will be announcing that it is in the final stages of completing a computer which can compete on Jeopardy! against human contestants. If you're thinking this sounds familiar, you are correct. IBM created a computer in 1997 to play against chess champ Garry Kasparov. The main issue for the programmers is to get the computer to play on the terms of the human players, which according to the New York Times are correct an astonishing 85% of the time. Their goal is to not have a "true thinking machine" but to to have a computer which can understand human questions and respond to them. The rules have been set by the producers of Jeopardy! so it looks like it's going to happen. The computer will receive the question as electronic text while the two human players see the question and hear it from host Alex Trebek. The computer, if it buzzes in in time, will respond with an electronic voice and choose another category. The computer will not be hooked up to the internet during playing; it will just know information it processed before the game much like the human contestants. It is being debated as to what form the computer will take during the show. “We’ve only begun to talk about it,” said Harry Friedman, the executive producer of “Jeopardy!” “We all agree that it shouldn’t look like Robby the Robot.” I don't think this can conceivably and fairly be a regular episode with people who are really in-it-to-win-it. It would probably be better as some special stunt with former contestants. I know I've voiced my issues with just shoving Ken Jennings in absolutely anything where they need someone smart, but this episode is practically begging him to come on. May as well get the "Ultimate Tournament of Champions" $2,000,000 winner Brad Rutter up there as well. Thanks to @theAO from our twitter page for the tip! That's one of our most direct lines for any story ideas.
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Watch “High Stakes Poker” Online
I'm not too big on televised poker anymore but I know a lot of people around here are. If you're a High Stakes Poker fan, you can watch every episode from every season of the show on GSN's YouTube page by clicking here. Check it out when you get a chance. I think the YouTube thing is a fantastic idea for shows that have some PG-13 or R rated bloopers like The Newlywed Game. May be worth looking into.
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Vote in GSN’s Game Show Awards!
I'll have a post with some actual meat on it in later today after I transcribe some more information about the awards I got on Friday. But for now, don't forget to vote for GSN's Game Show Awards by clicking this link. The awards tape on May 16th and air June 6th. We won't play favorites on this blog. That's tacky and, to give myself whatever amount of ego and fake attention I don't deserve, I'd rather not sway the votes in any way, shape, or form. That being said we will probably play favorites on our Twitter page which you can get to by clicking here!
Read MoreView Comments (2)26Apr2009
Weekend Replay: Full Episode of “Millionaire: Hot Seat”
It's been Millionaire mania around here the past few days. The show seems to be booming this year. We posted the first bit of Australia's Millionaire spinoff called Hot Seat early last week. The show was competing directly against Deal or No Deal down under, and Deal is winning the battle. Find out why as you can watch the rest of the episode right here. The entire show just gives a feeling of, "eh". Too soon.
Read MoreView Comments (14)24Apr2009
Colbert takes on Price’s Earth Day episode
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cThe Price Is Right Goes Greencolbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorGay Marriage Commercial Stephen Colbert gives his opinion on Wednesday's episode of The Price is Right the only way he can: by insulting it.
Read MoreView Comments (12)23Apr2009
What Do You Want to See in the ABC “Millionaire” Revival?
Slow news day, so let's do a fun opinion post. This one's all on you ladies and gentlemen. As you probably know by now, ABC confirmed the rumors and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? will be returning to the network on August 9th at 8:00PM ET with original host Regis Philbin also returning. It seems basically everyone is excited, and rightly so. The only statement which left speculation is, "the primetime version will be a hybrid of the original “Millionaire” and the tweaked version that now airs in syndication." What this specifically means is anyone's guess right now. Why not you guess? What would you like to see from this revival? Let's be a bit realistic here. I know some want a giant top prize, but we are in an economic struggle right now. Plus I'd rather see a version of the show where someone could make a calculated gamble to go for the huge money, like with a $1,000,000 or $2,000,000 top prize (preferably the latter). There was no calculated gambles on Super Millionaire. You aren't making a calculated risk with $2,400,000 on the line. and still more game to play. Lifeline wise I could honestly care less. The only lifeline I don't care for in the current syndicated Millionaire is Ask the Expert, but the choosing of the Experts has gotten better later this season so that complaint is dying. There are only three main things I want to see (and don't want to see). I'll start with the one I'd rather not see: the clock. It's fantastic that the daytime and primetime versions seems like different entities so it's not a giant case of the same thing everywhere. Let's keep it like that, preferably. That being said if there's any syndicated Millionaire change I can see carrying over, it's this one. It has to have saved production costs since they don't have to wait an ungodly amount of time for an answer. I think the Fastest Finger deserves a return with this version. Again, it's more of the separating daytime with primetime thing. But more than anything, especially in this economy, the phone game should come back above all. With how the unemployment rate is right now and the whole financial situation, letting literally anyone in America call the line and play for $1,000,000 all in the course of 24 hours makes for unbelievably amazing television. But now I leave it up to you all. What do you want to see?
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