Sad day in the game show world today. Famous Match Game panelist Brett Somers died Saturday at her home of stomach and colon cancer, her son said. She was born Audrey Johnston in New Brunswick, Canada, and grew up in Portland, Maine. She ran away from home at age 17 and headed for New York City, where she settled in Greenwich Village. She changed her first name to Brett after the lead female character in the Ernest Hemingway novel “The Sun Also Rises.” Somers was her mother’s maiden name.
GSN is planning a special Saturday marathon celebrating Brett Somers consisting of, of course, Match Game. Various episodes featuring the best of Brett will be shown Saturday, September 22nd, from 9AM to 4PM ET. Directly after that GSN will show the Match Game documentary, Behind the Blank, from 4PM to 5PM ET. Also, on Sunday, September 23rd, at 3:30AM ET, an episode of Password from 1971 with her and her then-husband, Jack Klugman, will be shown.
All marathon information courtesy of GSN.
Michael Bevan
CBS today announced that the first Drew Carey season of The Price is Right will air on October 15th at 11AM ET on CBS. Quoting the press release, “The new season will start out with some exciting wins, as several contestants make some lucky spins on the big Wheel. Others have the chance to win some of the most expensive cars ever given away on the show, as well as trips to exotic locations and more amazing prizes. In addition, the familiar set has been refreshed to give it an updated look while keeping the recognizable PRICE IS RIGHT theme and appearance.”
Noggin, two seperate channels that shared one, are going to be spliting up into their own channels, and Nick GAS ’s slot gets one of them. The channel used to have such a variety of shows, blocks, and segments with hosts such as Dave Aizer, Vivianne Collins and Mati Moralejo. A network that used to show 20-25 shows a week, now only shows 6 shows a day with each host being dropped from the network, with it being a sign that Nickelodeon just doesn’t care anymore for this channel. They have not announced when this will be happening although I expect it to happen within the next year. It had a great run, but I think laying it to rest is for the better now.
Very sad news today. Merv Griffin, creator of Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, and Crosswords; radio personality; and host of The Merv Griffin Show has passed away at age 82. Mr. Griffin also had a brief film career, in which he appeared opposite Doris Day and Kathryn Grayson. After Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! became the hottest game shows in television, Griffin sold the rights to them to the Columbia Pictures Television Unit for $250 million, retaining a share of the profits. He started spreading the sale money around in treasury bonds, stocks and other investments, but quickly became bored, leading to the creation of Crosswords which debuts September 10th across the country in syndication. Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his the family that was released by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment.
Horrible news just came in. One of television’s greatest icons, Merv Griffin, is not doing well with his second round of prostate cancer. The game and talk show idol was revealed to have prostate cancer in late June, and according to ET as of now sources are saying it “isn’t looking good.” Mr. Griffin’s representatives could not confirm nor deny. Merv Griffin is the creator of worldwide hit game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! as well as his newest show Merv Griffin’s Crosswords which debuts September 10th across the country. I am doing a bit of publicity for Crosswords and have direct contact to people connected to him, so they do read this blog. If you have any good luck wishes, please post them as comments. We will post some in the near future. Good luck and get well very soon, Mr. Griffin.
THIS JUST IN: DREW CAREY IS REPLACING BOB BARKER AS HOST AS THE PRICE IS RIGHT. FULL STORY IN SHORTLY.
GSN’s president and CEO, Rich Cronin, is resigning from the network at the end of July. Until then, he will be working closely with GSN and its clients to insure a smooth transition. Cronin joined the network in 2001 and in his six years. During this time, GSN’s distribution has expanded from 31 to 64 million homes, helped pioneer interactive and participation television, and transformed GSN.com into a destination for gaming instead of just a promotional site. Under Rich Cronin, GSN developed several hit game shows such as Lingo, High Stakes Poker, World Series of Blackjack, and the National Vocabulary Championship. In addition, Cronin brought the World Poker Tour to the network in 2008 and has worked closely in launching new and returning shows such as Without Prejudice?, Grand Slam, and That’s The Question, all of which debut between July and September. Also, Cronin saw the rebranding of Game Show Network to GSN. Commenting on his decision, Cronin said: “I am honored to have led a great team of creative business people in pioneering interactive television games and in growing GSN so dramatically. Together we have built a strong business that combines GSN television, GSN.com, mobile/text participation and other digital media.”
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