Archive of 2009 August

19Aug2009
See Wayne Brady Promote “Let’s Make A Deal” Live on August 20th in New York City Thumbnail

See Wayne Brady Promote “Let’s Make A Deal” Live on August 20th in New York City

If you're looking forward to seeing CBS's daytime revival of Let's Make A Deal coming in October, you're in luck.  Wayne Brady, the new host, will be on CBS's The Early Show tomorrow so be sure to watch.  However, if you're in the New York City area and you'd like to stop down and see him, Adam Wurtzel, the audience coordinator for the show, has a special offer for all you game show fans.  Here's what he has to say. Fellow game show-fan and Early Backstage host Adam Wurtzel wants you to come see Wayne Brady at The Early Show tomorrow. Wayne will be outside on the Plaza promoting the all-new version of Let's Make a Deal, on CBS premiering in October. If you're in the NY area, arrive at 59th and 5th next to the Apple Store no later than

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18Aug2009
Author
Alex Davis
Category
GSN Radio
GSN Radio Turns One Today Thumbnail

GSN Radio Turns One Today

Edit: I forgot that I wanted to repost my interview with Bob Goen and Marianne Curan from a few months back.  If you'd like to listen, click here and enjoy. If you're around your computer today definitely take a listen to our often-pimped favorite GSN Radio.  GSN Radio feels like it's neglected by the network constantly but it's been just about unanimously praised.  Today' a very special day, as the show celebrates its first anniversary.  Hosts Bob Goen and Marianne Curan keep the show incredibly funny and entertaining and that's reason enough to listen.  But if I were you I'd listen to call into the show and have a chance to win cash up to $2,500 for really doing nothing else but than sitting on your ass and listening to the radio.  Not

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18Aug2009

Big “Millionaire Spoiler + Patricia Heaton’s Worst Nightmare

So Michael Davies, you apparently don't have to hunt down and kill anyone from inside information.  The spoiler information comes after the break.  It's not an earth shattering spoiler and I think you are all safe to read it.  If anything, it makes the remaining shows more exciting. If you watched Who Wants to be a Millionaire last night then you saw Patricia Heaton's moment on the show which can only be described best as embarrassing.  For her $50,000 charity question, she was asked a math question.  I'm sure we'll be asked to take the video down but for now, you just have to see this thing.  The question was: If a euro is worth $1.50, five euros is worth what? A: 30 quarters B: 50 dimes C: 70 nickels D: 90 pennies It's not the easiest thing on earth but unlike the poor contestants who we actually care to see play, she had no 45 second time limit to answer so she should have been able to get this. Even if she couldn't have done 30 x .25 mentally, she could have counted each quarter out and would have gotten it. Or she could have realized that 90 pennies isn't even close, nor is 50 dimes. But instead we got a lot of moaning about the question, complaining about how her charity won't get money anymore, and basically constant blather which probably would have been a good time to count some money. Trust me, this was severely edited from what you saw on TV. So as if not knowing how to count was bad enough then she didn't know the rules to the show.  She thought that the Phone A Friend time limit was thinking time and you could answer after.  She was stunned at the taping when her husband was gone after 30 seconds and complained quite a bit.  Then she thought she couldn't answer the question and she lost once Phone A Friend was gone.  It finally took Regis Philbin to do everything but shove her Hot Seat over and scream, "DO THE DAMN MATH!" before she finally got it with massive assistance from Regis and the audience who were sit of the 15-20 minutes it took to answer.  It was a staggering display I'll never forget.  It's her big nightmare right now because her clip is hitting some big websites and she's looking incredibly dumb right now.  It's awesome for Millionaire because they are getting a lot of extra press they wouldn't have gotten. (more...)

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17Aug2009
Author
Alex Davis
Category
ABC, Millionaire
One Week of “Millionaire” Down, What Do We Think? Thumbnail

One Week of “Millionaire” Down, What Do We Think?

So we've gone through six of the eleven episodes of ABC's 10th anniversary revival of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and admittedly the reactions have been mixed both from critics and the ratings.  I really don't know what to think of it or how to project it.  It looked doom-and-gloom on Wednesday's episode but on Thursday is jumped back up to its highest rating of this series with 8.4 million viewers and doing far better than a lot of ABC's programming this summer and in the time slot in general.  We'll have to see what the ratings look like this week before we get into any long-term plans.  I really hope no one was expecting this to come back to a weekly primetime thing in the Fall because it was almost a given it wasn't going to happen, but if Big Brother can survive in this ratings area for Summer seasons then I'm sure Millionaire could if all parties are interested.  I'm really hoping they all are, too.  This summer season has been a roller coaster ride but it looks like we're finally on the up-hill ramp (in terms of quality.  I can't predict ratings.). I know we were a bit hard on this edition at first, but it's been improving.  By Sunday's episode Regis Philbin is much more at ease with the clock.  Not as at-ease as daytime host Meredith Vieira, but he's not nearly costing people money from slowly reading or joking around mid-question anymore.  We're starting to see some good contestants and just all-around good play.  They really had a rough first two episodes but by now it's back to being a very good Millionaire series.  I don't quite know why those first two or three episodes were that rough but there we are.  We're just about at the great quality of the daytime version currently which is all I was hoping for.  Looking at some of the editions around the globe currently we could have had it so much worse. I also think the criticism comes from the fact, as I've said before, that people (including me) had unbelievably high expectations because of the unbelievably high standards of the show.  It's just for some reason some of the daytime items have not been fully clicking in primetime.  I still think doing the straight translation of the daytime format to primetime wasn't the greatest decision but I'd have to know what ABC's final budgetary call was since I'm taking a pretty great guess that that had a lot to do with what we are seeing.  Basically the only unanimous criticism I've seen has been the clock really should be starting after the choices are read instead of before, something which I agree with.  For the millionth time I do enjoy the clock on each question, but it just took a bit of practice to get Regis up to speed with it.  I was so used to Meredith that it took time for even me to adjust. The fact of the matter is it took a few episodes to get there, but Millionaire's really starting to look up.  By this week we got the awkward beginning out of the way and it should be a really great run until next Sunday.  Hopefully the ratings will stick around in th

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15Aug2009
Author
Alex Davis
Category
20Q, Money List
Tune In: Finale of “20Q” and “The Money List” Tonight Thumbnail

Tune In: Finale of “20Q” and “The Money List” Tonight

Endemol was nice enough to remind me about the very entertaining show 20Q tonight.  Sadly it's the "season" finale so if you're a fan of the quiz show hosted by Cat Deeley, it's most likely your last chance for a new episode.  I've seen the ratings for it and for what I have to believe is due to a pretty bad scheduling and programming decision, I'm regretfully doubting it'll be coming back.  It's sort of a shame.  I spent so much time under the assumption, just from the pilot, that it sucked.  Then the series rolls around and it ends up much better than I ever anticipated.  I mean I don't know if they are going to try to shop it around to other networks or anything, but I'd really like to see them try.  The season finale is tonight at 8:00PM ET. I'd be a jerk not to mention that The Money List apparently has its finale tonight also.  It says it's episode nine but I'm not sure how many episodes were taped.  I hope it's not being cut short.  Again, I inclined to believe it's just an awful programming strategy focused on bribing viewers to watch on a night that's dead for television which caused the poor ratings it got.  Seriously, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to realize that if people don't watch TV on Saturdays to begin with you aren't going to bring in the people with game shows.  I'm not sure of the status of 20Q or The Money List, and I hope they stick around but it's looking unlikely.  The Money List already got a second chance so I don't think we'll be seeing it again.  Fred Roggin hosts it, and he's been doing a fantastic job at it so hopefully we get to see him on a show which doesn't get screwed over.  The Money List airs at 10:00PM ET.

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An Interview with “Family Feud” Host John O’Hurley Thumbnail

An Interview with “Family Feud” Host John O’Hurley

September 7th is a date that no fan of Family Feud will want to miss. The long-running syndicated game show begins its eleventh season, the fourth with current host John O’Hurley. If you’ve been following any game show news at all you are most likely aware that the show is adding a lot of fantastic changes which improves the show greatly. First is the new Bullseye round at the start of the game giving families the opportunity to play the Fast Money end game for up to $30,000. The other big change is the car for any family that wins five games. The thing that hasn’t changed is the fantastic hosting by John O’Hurley. I’ve been a vocal fan of Mr. O’Hurley from the first season and he’s greatly improved since. Even more than a Feud fan, I am a gigantic Seinfeld nerd, so when I got the chance to talk to John on the set of the show I had a minor mental meltdown. He’s just as funny, witty, and nice in person as what you see on television daily. Again, John O’Hurley is on his fourth season and it seems just as fun as it has been since day one for him. “It's been a wonderful show. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen and done in my lifetime and I say that with the full knowledge that I was in Seinfeld.” John continues, “The show feels really comfortable to me, I like the format of the show I like the idea that nothing is scripted. I like the idea to walk on, that trusting the families will be enough to entertain. That's the learning curve. No preparing time. You have to learn and hope that the funny will appear and it does.” While it has been a nice run for John, it does take time to get comfortable. During that first season one complaint issued often was his over-reliance on certain comedic elements such as jumping at the buzzer every show which has gone away. But as John O’Hurley explains, it’s definitely a learning experience. “I had to learn not to keep up. It just comes. You don't have to constantly worry about, "Will I say this?" If it comes, it will. There's a learning curve. I call it an un-learning curve. Every show has its own curve. I loved doing To Tell The Truth, it had a wonderful ambiance and it was one of the most enjoyable experience I had. Great producers and great celebrity panel, but I don't have that. I have my families. This is a whole different experience. The show has its own personality.” He continues, saying that the changes have been fun for him, as a host, to go through. “It's different for me because you have to develop a different flow. I like it because immediately the families were energized. It starts off on a higher level. [Giving away a car] was a great experience].” Something I didn’t realize is that John O’Hurley actually did the show back in 1986 as part of a special soap opera edition. He said, “I was doing a show, Men of ABC Daytime VS Women of ABC Daytime. I don't remember much of the game but all I remember is watching [the host] and remembering, "This is a great gig," and 20 years later I got it.

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12Aug2009
Ratings Update: “Millionaire” Not So Hot Thumbnail

Ratings Update: “Millionaire” Not So Hot

Ratings for the last week of syndicated and network game shows are in.  ABC's 10th anniversary edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire ratings have been a roller coaster which hit the bottom a bit last night.  It started at 7 million and 3rd place, but still respectable on the first night.  On the second night it stuck at 7 million and was at first place.  But last night against reruns of NCIS and America's Got Talent, as well as a new Hell's Kitchen, the show could only muster a 3.9 rating and 5.9 million viewers.  Likewise the most recent ratings for the daytime edition, in reruns, shows Millionaire at 2.4.  I don't know what's happening with it really.  Are the changes to the show not clicking with the primetime audience, or is the show just passed its prime?  I want to see it do really well and come back for more, so be sure to tell people it's back on.  I don't know how much it'll do but we won't be seeing the primetime edition back if not.  Regis is getting a small bit better at the clock, though, and at least contestants are starting to interrupt Regis who continues to crack jokes during the time running costing people time and money. For the other daytime games, Deal or No Deal has been stuck at a 1.4 rating.  It's been frozen around that area for the better part of 2009.  The show's moved to Connecticut to save budget but I still have to think that ratings level has to pick up if we want a third season.  From what I've been told the new season is the same as last one, down to the $500,000 top prize and the set.  Family Feud is also at a 1.4 and if Deal with a far higher budget can survive at that level, I think John O'Hurley will be the longest lasting host of this current edition of the Feud.  Wheel of Fortune continues to put most primetime shows to shame getting a 5.8 and Jeopardy! at 4.8.  Also, did you know Trivial Pursuit is still around?  Apparently not many do, because it dropped to a .5.  Enjoy it while you can, because it'll be gone in the next month.

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11Aug2009

Australian “Millionaire: Hot Seat” $250,000 Attempt

While we here are celebrating Who Wants to be a Millionaire's 10th anniversary on ABC and getting frustrated by Regis nearly costing people $100 questions night after night, Australia's Millionaire: Hot Seat is amazing me and doing well.  If you don't know about the show, six people play the game.  One person sits in the seat at a time.  If a question is answered right they move up the chain but if they get a wrong answer he or she is out of the game and the highest value on the chain is eliminated.  Each player has a Pass they can use just once.  Whoever answers the 15th question correct gets whatever value he or she is on.  I'm not a fan because they really took a different game and shoved the Millionaire branding on it.  I figured it would fail because of it, but I was really wrong as it's catching up to Deal or No Deal in Australia.  Here's a recent moment from the show that shows everything I don't like about the format.  The contestant has not been in the seat the entire show and by the grace of others missing all he has to do is answer one question during the entire half hour for $250,000.  Can he do it?

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10Aug2009
“Millionaire” Opens at Number Three in Debut Thumbnail

“Millionaire” Opens at Number Three in Debut

The debut of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the tenth anniversary specials came in.  It came in third place with around seven million viewers and a 4.4/8 rating.  It lost to an NFL preseason game which isn't all that shocking, but it even lost to Big Brother which stuns me.  It didn't lose by a lot, but still.  I just want to note that even though it came in third place it's not panic conditions.  It's only the first episode.  Wait to see what happens tonight before we send off flares.  It's going against CBS's How I Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement which looks to be its only real competition.  NBC's Great American Road Trip is apparently a show that exists at the same time, and FOX has the Teen Choice Awards.  Millionaire is all but guaranteed to come in 3rd or 4th place in the key demographics which destroys so many shows, but in terms of overall ratings I can't imagine it having a ton of issues anywhere else. I tracked what people said about the show last night live on Twitter and read it this morning when I got to my office, and the general consensus is that the clock was a mistake for primetime.  A vast majority of emails I've received about the show also agree.  The idea I got is that Regis Philbin seems to have been made obsolete by this updated format.  Syndicated host Meredith Vieira picked up on the clock quickly, but Regis didn't much care about interrupting or taking a lot of time away from the contestants by chatting or anything else.  And the part that bugs me is that we really didn't get many more questions than in a half-hour long daytime episode.  Regis just could not handle the clock well, and it still rang true in episodes I saw in the second week of the show.  They basically sacrificed Regis's personality and the intense drama of the original version to get out of the studio quicker.  It helps with the budget obviously, but it's also a bit weird to focus on all these great moments in the past that had a good chance of not happening with the item they are promoting the most: the clock. On the positive side it's fantastic seeing Fastest Finger back, Regis is entertaining as always, the camera work and directing was fantastic, and it was set up as well as they could have done it.  It's just great seeing the show back in primetime.  We all know the positives of Millionaire so it's senseless to blather on endlessly about every great aspect.  I think that's why the negatives are coming out so much more.  This show has such a gigantic track record and such a high standard that it's almost impossible to keep up. 1 VS 100 had the best idea for a clock.  They gave contestants around ten minutes, and after that the producer or host said they've got another minute to answer or they are gone.  That would have solved all kinds of problems and not lose Regis's personality.  I like the clock and Meredith handles it perfectly in daytime.  It just does not sit well at all with Regis and his style.  And just for the final time so there's no false assumptions

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09Aug2009
Author
Alex Davis
Category
ABC, Millionaire
“Who Wants to be a Millionaire” Returns to ABC Tonight; What’s Your Favorite “Millionaire” Moment? Thumbnail

“Who Wants to be a Millionaire” Returns to ABC Tonight; What’s Your Favorite “Millionaire” Moment?

Tonight's the night.  We're hoping many of you are getting excited, as Who Wants to be a Millionaire makes its triumphant return to ABC for its special tenth anniversary edition.  It starts tonight at 8:00PM ET and runs Sunday through Thursday for eleven nights.  That final Sunday episode has a surprise that you aren't going to want to miss.  If you're remotely a game show fan it's really not something to miss.  And who knows, the more people that watch it the better the chance we'll see it back later. What is your favorite or most memorable moment in Millionaire history?  I'm sure many will say John Carpenter, the first million dollar winner, but I'm curious how many others have different favorites.  For me, my favorite moment, and one of my favorite game show moments ever, is Ogi Ogas's $500,000 win which you can find on YouTube in various places.  The tension getting to the answer and decision was unreal, and his reaction to winning the money was priceless.  I understand the reasons for the clock, but it's why I really have issues with it.  It speeds things up and adds some excitement in some places, but it sacrificed so many great moments such as Ogi's.  What sticks out in your mind as the best?  Feel free to share them and post YouTube clips in our comment section showing them.  Also you can feel free to discuss tonight's show after it airs in your area.  There will be spoilers so just be ready. But for now, there are ten contestants tonight ready to sit in the Hot Seat  and take their shot at $1,000,000.  And they are... 1. Gary Cousins, Flint, MI 2. Teresa Reitmeyer, Danville, PA 3. Jessica Gerber, Fairfield, CT 4. Linda Sweeney, Acworth, GA 5. Neil Schwartz, West Bloomfield, MI 6. Stephanie Millien, Baldwin, NY 7. Brad Abbey, Tampa, FL 8. Ralph Cambeis, Staten Island, NY 9. Rob Placek, Alliance, NE 10. Kristen Williams, Cedar Hills, UT Alleged singer Katy Perry will play one question for $50,000 tonight at the final act of the show, and  ABC News' Sam Donaldson will be the Expert for the lifeline Ask the Expert.  You can play along with the show tonight by going to ABC.com and playing their old enhanced TV game.  We may throw up a chat room here for the show tonight so watch out. Don't forget that after Millionaire is the new show Shark Tank which is worth checking out.

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08Aug2009
Author
Alex Davis
Category
NBC, New Show
“Face the Ace” Contestant Don Topel Goes for $1,000,000 Tonight on NBC Thumbnail

“Face the Ace” Contestant Don Topel Goes for $1,000,000 Tonight on NBC

Last week NBC debuted its new poker game show Face the Ace and if you watched it you were one of the few.  Only around a million and a half people saw it.  Can you believe that a Saturday night poker game show failed?  At least unlike other recent Saturday night games, this was semi-watchable.  If you like poker and can stand watching it on TV, then you'll enjoy it a bit.  If you don't, you won't.  It's why this show just did not do well and why I'm really amazed the fact that the crappy ratings shocked anyone.  I'm not a big televised poker fan, but it was more watchable than some of the other game shows that have been out.  It's just a bit slow and without the high action that I enjoy in most game shows.  I also can't really watch poker for more than five minutes without feeling I'm wasting my life, so I could really only watch on fast forward. However, tonight may have more action.  Last week contestant Don Topel won his first game worth $40,000.  He decided to risk his money to play another game and possibly multiply his money by five.  He succeeded and won $200,000.  Amazingly he risked it all and tonight you will see if Topel is TV's newest game show millionaire, as he plays for $1,000,000 or nothing at all.  He just has to beat one more poker pro at a game of head's up.  Check it out if you get a few free moments and see if he wins.  Face the Ace airs tonight at 9:00PM ET on NBC.  Again, it's not the greatest thing on earth but if you're not doing anything tonight and there's nothing else on you may as well take a peak if for nothing else than to see someone win $1,000,000 or lose $200,000.  Or you can sit in darkness.  Whatever floats your boat.

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06Aug2009
Author
Alex Davis
Category
Video
Classic “Hollywood Squares” Added to Hulu; Other Game Shows to Watch Thumbnail

Classic “Hollywood Squares” Added to Hulu; Other Game Shows to Watch

If you're a fan of the classic version of Hollywood Squares and wish there was a way to watch it, you're definitely in luck.  Hulu has recently added a lot of great game and reality shows, and Hollywood Squares is one of them. It's the classic version featuring host Peter Marshall and center square Paul Lynde.  Episodes come from all over the show's history of the 60s and 70s.  The earliest show they have looks to be the 2nd episode ever aired, way back from 1968.  It's an incredible treat to watch that episode from 1968, as well as all the others.  Click here to do it. Thanks to MGM for uploading those.  It's a fantastic look at one of the all-time classics and no game show fan should miss it.  Take a look and be sure to say what you think.  Isn't it really nice?  I haven't seen any of those before. There's also lots of other game show choices available.  One of my favorites from Fox Reality Channel, which is quickly moving up my list of stations to turn on, is Solitary, and I'm glad to see the third season is available.  It's a really interesting game/reality show and if you've never seen it before I really encourage you to give it a show.  Another one of my favorite games of all time, The Mole, is featured. They've uploaded the full first season featuring host Anderson Cooper.  It's truly one of the best. You can find other shows there also like Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, Cha$e, both the classic and new versions of American Gladiators, and so much more.  Stuff looks like it's being added often, so keep an eye out.  Supposedly Who Wants to be a Millionaire will pop up eventually, from ABC.  Are there any other MGM game shows which we could see up there?  It's apparently the production companies that are placing them up.

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Behind the Scenes of “Family Feud”, the 2009 Show to Watch For Thumbnail

Behind the Scenes of “Family Feud”, the 2009 Show to Watch For

It's really amazing to me that Family Feud, in its current version, is the longest running of any version of the show in the country.  Of course they go through hosts like crazy but they finally found the perfect fit with John O'Hurley.  My first visit to the set at the very end of last season was incredibly fun.  I'm a fan of the show and I love doing these set visits, so seeing it in person was pretty amazing.  I was more excited about going this season because of the changes.  These are some of the most extensive changes the show has made in a while, increasing the top pay to $150,000 potentially and adding a car for five day visits.  How'd they work out in-studio? To me, Feud is really the show to watch for in the Fall 2009 season, in terms of game shows.  For years I as well as countless others have said Feud could stand to get a tune-up.  It's been the same old thing from day one and the excitement was wearing thin.  I didn't expect as many changes as we got, but they are really welcomed and fantastic.  The best part about the changes made is they don't change the show much at all.  The core is still there, but the changes just help bring some excitement and freshness to a show which rested for ten seasons.  We've gone through behind the scenes of Feud before, so I'll touch on the big parts with you. First off, at the start of the show is a Bullseye round.  Each team gets a $15,000 bank to start and host John O'Hurley will ask five questions, each one with the value increasing by $1,000.  If you get the number one answer in that Face Off you add the money to your bank, and a wrong answer means the other team has a chance to steal.  This round is genius for a number of reasons.  For one, they added a potential $10,000 to the scores which is great.  Yes some teams will have less than the original $20,000 bank, but you'll see quite a few with far over $20,000.  This is most genius because it allows them to advertise a higher top prize, bring in more excitement, and really give away less money in the long-run.  It doesn't seen like  a big loss when you see a team go for $18,000 or $19,000.  Meanwhile it gets extremely exciting to see teams go for $25,000 which you will see.  This round also moves very quick which works in its favor. The fit in the Bullseye round, the gameplay has switched to three rounds with the first round being worth Single, the second Double, and the third Triple points.  I prefer this so much more than to the previous seasons.  I'm hoping most people noticed, but you were really unlikely to win the game in three rounds with the former Single/Single/Double/Triple format.  They had the illusion there that it could be won, but it rarely was except for some fluke accident.  With the updated format and Bullseye, that illusion is gone so there's really no frustration of a Double points round worth less than a Single.  They trimmed the fat and needlessness, smoothed out the format, and streamlined it to fit perfectly.  I'll also note that by doing this

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CMT Acquires “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” Thumbnail

CMT Acquires “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”

There are really three shows I'm sure if you turned on your television at any time you'd almost find on every hour: Family Feud, Seinfeld, and Law and Order.  We may be adding Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? to that mix.  CMT has announced that they have acquired the Jeff Foxworthy-hosted series which I affectionately (?) call Millionaire f0r dumbasses.  The show will premiere as a daily strip starting Monday, September 21st.  As part of this deal, the show will produce special theme weeks with things obviously like Country Music Week or something like that. No word if these are the primetime reruns, the new syndicated reruns, or a mix of both.  Also don't forget that MyNetwork is going to be airing the syndicated version every Tuesday night for an hour starting on September 28th.  So mix this with the show airing daily around the country, and if you're a fan of the show you're going to be hard-pressed not to find it. Has anyone seen any advertisements for Fifth Grader yet, or a show website?  I've been searching and trying to hunt down information, but I can't get anything.  I know we've been hard on the primetime version because frankly it is just Millionaire with easy questions.  But the daytime version completely redid the gameplay to make it more of a bank-building show, with more strategy, and it works so much better.  I'm actually looking forward to seeing it and I've not seen much about it.  Usually when I don't find any information about a show debuting so soon, I just imagine it's going to be a disaster like Temptation or Crosswords or Trivial Pursuit was, but counting that this thing will basically be airing all day everywhere, I don't see that happening.  But I am curious to see a battle in the ratings between this show and Deal or No Deal, since they battled so much in primetime. Anyone want to make guesses as to which one will come out victorious: Deal or No Deal or Fifth Grader?

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04Aug2009
It’s Official: “Let’s Make A Deal” to CBS Daytime Schedule Thumbnail

It’s Official: “Let’s Make A Deal” to CBS Daytime Schedule

As people have commented a couple dozen times since I've been in New York for the Who Wants to be a Millionaire anniversary, I figured I may as well say something about it. CBS has officially picked up a new hour-long edition of Let's Make A Deal for the daytime lineup. The show will premiere October 5th (check your local listings) and is hosted by Wayne Brady. "I am honored and ready to go; it is not every day that you get to be a part of a franchise like LET'S MAKE A DEAL," said Wayne Brady. "I think it is a perfect fit." "We are delighted to have LET'S MAKE A DEAL back on the air with CBS," said Monty Hall. "I know the audience is going to welcome the charming and engaging Wayne Brady as the new host." First off, I think Wayne Brady is a great pick for host. But I'm still not exactly sold on this. There are several positives and negatives. The positives definitely include how well it fits The Price is Right. It fits it like a glove. It also can do a ton of product placement, as does Price, bringing in more money which is obviously necessary. The show will tape in Las Vegas so it's a unique setting at least. The main negatives I have are that it's almost too similar to The Price is Right in look and feel. Second I can't help but think some people who have never seen the classic version will think it's a giant ripoff of Deal or No Deal. That one may be a stretch, but I can see it happening. But to be perfectly frank I'd much rather have had Pyramid on the lineup. And I have no problem saying favoritism plays a role in that. I simply like Pyramid more and at least for me it would make me watch. To be frank, I'm glad we're getting another game show in the daytime but this is just simply not something I'll be watching freely. For me this is more of, "Well there's nothing else on," viewing, but I know for others that it's different. So there we go. I'm not really thrilled but hey it's better than another talk show I guess.

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