I got an email today from the fantastic people (basically partners at this point) at Hollywood Junket who have recently visited the final days of taping at GSN’s new original Catch-21.  GSN could really use a hit game show badly.  They haven’t had anything in a while.  This show seems like it could be a big player for them.  Was it?  I believe it is, but judge for yourself from the information given.

It’s multi-player blackjack with questions thrown in basically.  A question is given; buzz in to answer.  If you’re right, you get a card which you can either keep or pass to an opponent.  You can freeze if you want, protecting your point total, before you hit 21.  The goal is to, as the title suggests, catch 21 before your opponents do to win the round.  Highest total at the end also wins.  If you bust, you’re out of the round.  Lowest score at the end of two rounds leaves the game, but the winner of the third round plays the end game for $25,000.  You’re dealt three hands of blackjack and just have to catch 21.  If you catch 21 once, you get $1,000.  The second 21 nets you an additional $5,000 for a total of six grand.  Getting that third and final 21 gives you a total of $25,000.  It’s tough, but possible.  You can stop at any time but if you bust, you leave with nothing.

Some interesting notes.  The host is the former co-star of Fresh Price of Bel-Air Alfonso Ribiero and the card handler is Mikki Padilla.  The questions are multiple choice; 3 choices.  If two players miss, they just move on to the next question; the third player does not get the card by default.  They are actually making you earn your cards here which is a very interesting and cool twist.  The set, also as you can see, is incredibly colorful and basically the opposite of everything on TV today.  Thank god someone went outside of the box for a change.  So in review, this is the Casino pilot from more than five years ago that we covered on this site last year if you were around then, just with the budget divided in four everywhere.  It looks to be very fun, but how does it play out on TV?  We’ll show you soon.

It’s a full news day here, guys.  Coming up later today we have a set review of Celebrity Family Feud again from the great people at Hollywood Junket as well as more casting notices for Trivial Pursuit: America Plays.