As a trade off during this special crossover week, co-host Tiffany Coyne will be appearing on The Bold and the Beautiful on Tuesday, January 17th.  Wayne Brady will appear on the 18th at himself, choosing two of the show’s cast members to make deals during the program.  Then, on the 20th, cast member Jack Wagner will appear on Let’s Make A Deal to give away a walk-on role onto the show.  He’ll also help with the quickie deals at the end of the program.  Jack Wagner previously appeared on The Price is Right as a special guest.

I’m guessing many of you are excited for the season debut of The Price is Right, though.  Drew Carey and George Gray return along with an updated set featuring a large new monitor, new lighting, and a few other things you’ll see today.  It’s the show’s 40th season and they’re celebrating by updating the historic cash figures on some games, bringing in big new prizes, and new celebrity guests.  The Price is Right typically airs at 11:00AM ET on CBS.

Be sure to write in the comments what you thought of the season debuts.  I’m curious to see what you think of the new looks and updated features for both shows.

*Millionaire fans: be sure to check out host Meredith Vieira on Live with Regis and Kelly this morning (typically 9:00AM ET).  Check your local listings.  She’s there to promote the 10th season of the quiz show currently airing in syndication.  From the clip I saw Regis had a funny reaction to the new format last year.  Let’s see what happens this time.

*Speaking of Millionaire, the crew has restarted their “Backstage Pass” feature, showing fans videos of highlights or rare behind the scenes look at the show.  The first of the season is a look at highlights from the 9th season.  Check it out.

*Let’s Make A Deal has been updating a producer’s blog recently which seems to have been hidden until a tweet went out yesterday.  Little details are being let out, including details on bigger cash and prizes.  The most interesting thing to me?  Let’s Make A Deal celebrates its 500th episode this season in 2012.  Congratulations to them.

*Channel 4′s Deal or No Deal is going live.  For two weeks at a date announced soon the Noel Edmonds hosted show will pick its contestants live and it could be you, if you’re in the United Kingdom.  You won’t know you’ll be playing until you’re in the game.  Sounds like a cool gimmick.  We’ll give you more details when they’re out.

*MTV debuted a new game show this week called The Substitute.  It airs daily at 4:30PM ET.  It’s another surprise on-location game show where unsuspecting students find out their substitute teacher is actually a game show host and they’ll be playing challenges to win up to $5,000.

*No confirmed word what this is yet, but a new family game show is casting for contestants.  They need a family of both parents and kids aged 8-16 who live in Los Angeles.  You can win up to $10,000 so it’s looking like it’s for a cable network.  If this fits your bill click here to check out the casting notice.

For one thing, the prizes have been dramatically increased it seems.  Host Wayne Brady is attempting to bribe people with thousands as opposed to hundreds when it started.  We’re seeing bigger trips, prizes, and cars.  We’ve seen lots of new games which we’ve already gone over.  But more than anything we’re seeing the dynamic between Wayne and co-hosts Jonathan Mangum and Tiffany Coyne.  You rarely see a combination as great as this.  Honestly, when is the last time you saw three people blend together so well in a show?  They’re all funny, they all get involved, and they all play off each other.  It’s nearly impossible to get a trio as good as these three on TV right now.

Check out the third season debut of Let’s Make A Deal Monday, September 19th, on CBS.  Check your local listings.  It can vary between 10:00AM ET and 2:00PM ET, I’ve noticed.

*Family Game Night debuts its second season on September 2nd.  You can read our preview of the second season here.

*The Hub’s other two game shows, Scrabble Showdown and The Game of Life, will be showcased in a special preview on September 3rd.  We’ll have a feature on Scrabble Showdown soon.  We’ve been told nothing but great things about it so I’d be on the lookout for that.  Before the inevitable questions get asked: no, it’s not the 80′s version.

*Who Wants to be a Millionaire begins its 10th syndicated season earlier than most: September 5th.  New this season are “Double Your Money” days, prizes to questions occasionally, and Club Millionaire.  You can click here to read about all the new features we showcased first.

*Family Feud sees its newest season, the second with popular host Steve Harvey, on September 12th.  The only change is moving to Atlanta to accomodate host Steve Harvey.  When you raise the ratings as much as he did, you do whatever makes the host happiest.  We’ve got some features and exclusive set pictures coming soon.

*The other two syndicated shows, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, debut September 19th.  Not changes have been announced for either of these.

*The Price is Right and Let’s Make A Deal both start their new seasons on September 19th as well.  Both CBS daytime game shows are getting updated sets, upgrades in money, and specifically Deal will be getting some big new games like “Go For a Spin” and “Strike A Match”, which you can see below.

Did we miss anything?  Let us know.  What are you most looking forward to?  I’m definitely looking forward to Feud and Millionaire.

Here’s the list.

Saturday, August 27: Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival from 12:00PM ET to 5:00PM ET
112 Renaissance Lane West Newton, PA 15089

Saturday, September 17:  Minneapolis; Minnesota Renaissance Faire from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
169 & Highway 41 Shakopee, MN 55379

Friday, September 23: Detroit; Michigan Renaissance Festival from 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
12600 Dixie Highway Holly, MI 48442

Thursday, September 29: New York; Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway from 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM
810 Yonkers Ave. Yonkers, NY 10704

Saturday, October 1: Dallas: Bankston Honda at times TBD
601 Waters Ridge Lewisville, TX 75057

Two people from each location will be sent to Los Angeles to see the show.  While that prize is nice enough one of the people will be called on to make a deal with host Wayne Brady, and that could lead to thousands of dollars in cash and prizes, or even a car.  Visit the show’s website for more information.  Good luck.  If you go let them know BuzzerBlog sent you.

*We announced yesterday that former talk show host George Lopez is going to be on The Price is Right in September to present a Showcase.  We’ve got another guest, and this one is interesting.  Rapper Snoop Dogg will appear on the show.  He taped his appearance yesterday.  This should be fun.  I got to meet him briefly when he was a celebrity guest on Who Wants to be a Millionaire‘s tenth anniversary on ABC, and he was great there.  Can’t wait to see this one.  I’ve not listened to his music nor do I really enjoy rap, but come on.  It’s Snoop Dogg.  You can’t not like this.

Go For A Spin on Let's Make A Deal, courtesy CBS

*Let’s Make A Deal is bringing back an element of the past updated for 2011-2012.  If you watched Deal during the 80′s you may remember their special feature “Door Four”.  It was essentially a giant wheel one randomly selected audience member played.  The current CBS version hosted by Wayne Brady looks to be bringing it back under the title “Go For A Spin”.  I can almost guarantee it won’t be under the same format but it’s cool to see them going back to past ideas and updating them.  This current version of the show has been really good at that.

*ITV’s big money event game show Red or Black has a debut date.  The series will bow September 3rd and run through September 10th.  The series sees a large number of contestants predict the outcome of various stunts.  Eventually one person will survive and, every night, that person has a shot at winning £1,000,000 by answering just one question from a roulette wheel: red or black?  Here’s a trailer ITV provided. You know we’ll be covering it once the series debuts.

Photo courtesy Valleycrest Productions Ltd

*As previously reported, the Ghost Hunters will be making a repeat appearance this season on Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  In exchange Meredith Vieira made an appearance on the SyFy series.   Check out a picture of her appearance below, courtesy of Valleycrest Productions Ltd.

Did we forget something?  Let us know.

*The Canadian version of Cash Cab had a major, tragic accident over the weekend.  The famed taxi cab, which gives contestants cash for knowing trivia questions, struck and killed a man in Vancouver on Saturday.  The 61 year old man died just before midnight.  It should be noted that the show was not filming at the time and the host of the show was not the driver.  The accident happened after the show completed filming and a producer was driving.  No charges have been filed yet.  Click here for more.

*Who Wants to be a Millionaire is set to tape for their tenth syndicated season.  The long running quiz show, still hosted by Meredith Vieira, has listed their first tape date and people living near or close to New York City, or people planning on visiting, can start requesting tickets.  The tickets page can be reached by clicking here.  Only one date is listed as of this writing but more will be listed soon.  It’s a good time.  Check it out if you’re there.

*Speaking of Millionaire, ITV’s newest live edition was broadcast this past Friday.  Someone actually made it into the final giant money tier.

*Planning on seeing a taping of Let’s Make A Deal soon?  If you’ve seen the show then you know at the end of each episode the cast goes through the audience asking people for various items for small amounts of cash.  Be sure to follow the show’s Twitter account which gives you a preview as to what to bring.  Smart idea if you’ll be there.

The first very noticeable thing is that the set is much darker.  It’s nearly at current Millionaire darkness levels.  There’s also a new trading floor, dividing walls from the traders to the floor with lights, and lots of new lighting effects everywhere.  There’s also now, at least some of the time,  a DJ or musician there to provide some live music for Wayne Brady and Jonathan Mangum to interact with.  They’re both used to that from their improv shows so smart thinking on their part bringing it in.  The set and changes look very nice.  It was just shocking, at first, to see them.  Take a look.

*I’m not trying to beat a dead horse, but it does need repeating.  GSN’s ratings are regularly published on the blog Son of the Bronx.  We’ve discussed the disappointing ratings for their new shows Love Triangle and Improv-A-Ganza already.  I think some positive mention needs to be made of Catch 21 and 1 VS 100.  The shows air daily at 5:00PM ET with no alert from the network.  If you don’t read here or don’t regularly check the schedule, you had no clue.  Catch 21 regularly gets better ratings than just about everything, except The Newlywed Game, that GSN heavily promotes.  1 VS 100 is at least tied but often beats it, and again with no promotion.

It would be a massive, massive bonehead decision not to renew these two (or at least Catch 21) while all the other shows are tanking.  It would really seem like a no-brainer.  Given the ratings history I can’t imagine a block of Catch 21, 1 VS 100, and Lingo doing poorly.  I don’t think anyone is asking for the moon.  Just to put some resources on shows that are actually attracting viewers.  Catch 21 has new episodes and you’d never know it.  People apparently want to see it.  Just saying.  Again, click here for a massive list of GSN ratings.

*Interested in seeing live versions of The Price is Right and Let’s Make A Deal?  The live casino versions are still going strong all around North America and many shows are going through the next few weeks.  The Price is Right is actually in Canada this weekend and for the next few weekends, as well as in Las Vegas with Emmy nominated host Todd Newton. Click here to visit Ticketmaster and get in.  If you’re in Canada, this is a great way to take part in a classic game show.  Let’s Make A Deal is also live at The Palace Theater in Atlantic City.  It’s hosted by Alan Thicke.  We’ve got some friends involved with the show, so click here to get tickets and support them.

*I’m a long time musician and VH1′s Save the Music program is something very important to me.  Seeing programs like this taken out of schools isn’t good, so I’m glad to see TrivWorks, the New York City based live trivia team, and the Bell House presenting a special “Night of Pop Culture Trivia” to support the cause.  It’s taking place at The Bell House in New York City on Tuesday, June 14th and it will be hosted by Grand Slam and World Series of Pop Culture‘s Pat Kiernan.  Tickets are just $20, it’s for a great cause, and it’ll be a lot of fun.  Click here to learn more.

*Channel 4 in the United Kingdom has picked up the quiz show Quiz Trippers.  The show follows five pub quiz enthusiasts who spend a week traveling Britain, taking part in pub quizzes and trying to earn money.  They’ll be given basic food and water but can spend their winnings on whatever they choose.  This is actually a pretty interesting concept for a show so I’ll be looking for this one when it airs this summer.

*Today is a very, very big episode of Deal or No Deal for Channel 4.  @OfficialBanker has been teasing it, and apparently something never done before will happen, on Friday the 13th of all days.  He’ll be live tweeting the game and is asking others to do so also with the hashtag #dealornodeal.  We’ll have a look at what happened later today, so be on the lookout.

Nominated for best game show host are Ben Bailey of Cash Cab, Wayne Brady of Let’s Make A Deal, Meredith Vieira of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and, shockingly, Todd Newton of The Hub’s Family Game Night.  Only reason I say shockingly is because I didn’t see that one coming.  I’m not talking about his talent or anything.  I just didn’t expect to see it.  Out of that field, I’d love to see Meredith get it.  She got a massive second wind with the new format of Millionaire and is at the top of her game.  I haven’t seen her this good in a while, if ever.  I’m a little shocked not to see Steve Harvey up there, though.

Best game show nominees are Cash Cab, Jeopardy!, The Price is Right, and Wheel of Fortune.  I will never understand how and why Cash Cab gets the award so much beyond the fact that it’s very low key in a world of over-the-top games, but that’s not enough for me.  That show bores me to death.  Out of that field I’d have to imagine Jeopardy! would win, especially with the whole Watson situation earlier.  Part of me would get a laugh out of The Price is Right winning, though, to see a core group of fans go crazy.  I don’t watch these awards, or any awards at all really, so it may as well make me laugh.

As we also previously reported, Alex Trebek and Pat Sajak will be getting Lifetime Achievement Awards.  The ceremony takes place June 19th on CBS.

*Want to be a game show host?  I’m sure you’re very aware by now, but it’s harder than it ever has been.  If you’re not a major celebrity or don’t know someone,  you’re basically screwed.  Some networks won’t even take pitches without a big name attached.  A great friend of the site, British television host Greg Scott, has had his experienced with this and shared his stories and opinions on the matter on the blog “So You Want to Work in Television”.  You can click here to read that.  If you are remotely interested hosting television, this is a must-read.

*Two game shows are currently casting contestants.  Fans of Antiques Roadshow may want to apply for NBC’s new game show It’s Worth What.  The show asks people to try to appraise items and win up to $1,000,000 by doing so.  I can’t imagine this going over well so if this show is up your alley, I’d apply as soon as possible.  I’ve got extreme reservations over the format.  The one show I don’t have reservations over is Family Game Night, The Hub’s popular game show hosted by Todd Newton which brings board games to life.  It’s coming back for a second season and needs contestants.  You can click here to apply for that.

*Who Wants to be a Millionaire is continuing their major social networking push this year.  They have published the 2nd “Ask Meredith” segment, where host Meredith Vieira answers questions submitted by viewers.  Check it out below.

*Let’s Make A Deal is the latest game show getting the Facebook treatment.  Gamehouse got the rights to the CBS daytime show from Fremantle and hopes to bring it to the social networking platform soon.  No launch date has been set.

*If anyone is interested, this is the new Lingo logo.

*Italy is getting their own version of The Cube.  It’s been getting many new adaptations around the world, so we’ll see where else it ends up.  In the meantime, if you are an Italian living in the United Kingdom that thinks you can beat The Cube, click here to email casting producers.

Let’s Make A Deal will join in on the Earth Day 2011 special as well.  The Wayne Brady hosted game show will only feature eco friendly cars such as the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, and Ford Escape.  Other eco-friendly prizes such as appliances and others.  The Big Deal will also feature environmentally conscious prizes.

I’m a very vocal supporter of all green initiatives and love getting involved in environmental issues, so it’s always nice to see shows like this Fremantle duo doing what they can and promoting the cause with this special.