*The Price is Right is getting set to tape for its upcoming 40th season, which is just a staggering number.  Host Drew Carey tweeted a picture of some of the season’s upcoming set changes.  It’s extremely noticeable for anyone who has watched the show for even just a few minutes this year.  The show has installed a large new video wall in the back of the set where a flat screen TV previously sat.  The wall is surrounded by a new neon light strip which goes around the set, much like its sister show Let’s Make A Deal.  New logos are also hanging in the corners of the set.  Click here to check out the picture.  This portion of the set looks great and I can’t wait to see it in action.  Hopefully we’ll be lucky enough to get a look at the second half of the set soon.

*ABC has been casting for its game show You Deserve It, where someone plays a trivia game for another person who doesn’t know it.  It’s a mix of a primetime quiz show with a show like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  Hollywood Junket was on the set of the show.  Click here to look at some pictures of the set and what to expect from the show.  Doesn’t necessarily sound bad, but it just doesn’t sound like anything that appeals to me that much.

*Did you not get a chance to see the new syndicated version of Don’t Forget The Lyrics! for the one season it was on?  Interestingly, Netflix has acquired the entire series.  You can watch each episode of the show instantly in HD on the Netflix streaming website.  You can also check them out on most mobile devices and any gaming system.  These are only the syndicated episodes and not the primetime version hosted by Wayne Brady.

*We’ll have more ratings later today when they become available, but for now we do have some GSN ratings from June 13th and 14th.  Lingo continues to perform under the bar, with Tuesday’s episode staying at its current close-tonormal level of around 310,000 viewers.  It tends to get around 300K-400K viewers on average, mostly on the lower end of that scale.

We’ll have more ratings when they come in.

Neither show has done that well in the ratings this season.  Fifth Grader started strong in season one, peaking near the 2.0 area, but it nosedived this season.  Actually it was almost identical to what happened with Deal or No Deal during its second syndicated season.  Most recent rating figures have Fifth Grader frozen at a 0.9 rating, roughly one full point lower than it was for many weeks last year.  It has been announced, though, that The Hub has picked up the entire run of Fifth Grader to rerun starting this year. Lyrics never set the world on fire.  The most recent rating for the Mark McGrath hosted game was a 0.7.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader began in February 2007 on Fox as a million dollar game show.  It made the leap to syndication in Fall 2009 with a quicker, streamlined format and a $250,000 top prize.  Don’t Forget The Lyrics! aired with Fifth Grader on Fox for most of its life.  The million dollar music game debuted in July 2007 before leaving the network in 2009, taking a year off, and coming to syndication with a $50,000 top prize in 2010.

For the past few years whenever one syndicated game show left, another took its place.  We started with Deal or No Deal and got Temptation, Crosswords, and Trivial Pursuit.  It looks like no new game shows will be entering the market in Fall 2011 this time around.

I don’t really understand why the people behind the show waited so long to do such improvements.  The pacing has picked up dramatically.  One way or another they are getting multiple couples a show and averaging about three or four more questions per show.  The couples recently haven’t made you want them to lose.  I don’t know exactly why they thought the show would be accepted with the extremely slow first few episodes, but regardless they are at least listening to viewers and it’s becoming a much better show for it.  Keep it up.

Syndication didn’t have much of anything to report beyond some season highs for the two highest performers.  Wheel of Fortune rose to 7.8 and Jeopardy! to 6.4.  Jeopardy! has been getting a lot of promotion for the Watson computer match, so we’ll see if that does anything for them next month.  Who Wants to be a Millionaire stayed level at 2.3.  Family Feud was down just a little bit to 1.8.  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader shrunk to a 1.0 and the worst news came for Don’t Forget The Lyrics!, down to a 0.8.

We’ll update the ratings with the rest of the shows as they come in this week.

Jerry Springer, Host of Baggage

GSN’s Baggage entered a ten market test run this past Monday.  The ratings are out for the first two days and while it’s not lighting the world on fire, in the grand scheme of things it’s doing fine.  The first two episodes scored an averaged 0.9/2 rating.  It’s down 10% from its lead in and down 25% from this time last year.  If nothing else, it’s tied with Don’t Forget The Lyrics!, which is also at a 0.9, and Baggage has had practically no promotion and is only airing in one top-ten market.  Not to mention the fact that Baggage has a very low budget, it’s cheap for them to do, and it’s giving GSN a lot of extra publicity.  I don’t know if it’s enough to keep it in syndication, but it’s not that bad.

The rest of syndication was generally up.  Wheel of Fortune and its sister show Jeopardy! bumped up 3% and 4%, respectively.  Wheel grew to 6.9 and Jeopardy! to 5.7.  Don’t forget that the show’s special IBM Challenge will air starting February 14th.  Who Wants to be a Millionaire gained 5% to 2.3.  They’ve still got the notoriously huge money Million Dollar Movie Week to look forward to, so maybe a $500,000 win (or more?) can get a bit more of an audience for them.  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? has been rebounding the past few weeks.  It added 10% to a 1.1.  Don’t Forget The Lyrics! lost

Anna and Anthony on Million Dollar Money Drop

the same amount, down to a 0.9.

We’ll update this post with ratings for Wednesday and Thursday when they come in, but Tuesday’s edition of Million Dollar Money Drop had a very nice increase after last Tuesday’s slightly worrying total.  Tuesday’s 9:00PM edition of Money Drop, which memorably featured a couple losing a full $1,000,000 on the very first question, scored a 3.3/5 rating.  Most importantly it was up 38% in the adults 18-49 to a 1.8.

We’ll update when ratings for Minute to Win It come in.

GSN recently added black and white game shows to the overnight 3:00AM hour for a two week period.  If classic fans wanted them to stick around then people needed to watch.  They’re apparently doing so.  On Friday, December 17th, What’s My Line, at 3:00AM ET, had 228,000 viewers and I’ve Got A Secret got 164,000 viewers.  I’m not sure if that’s enough to keep them around but they clearly aren’t bombing and there’s clearly an audience that wants to see them.

And in syndication, for the week ending December 12th, Family Feud continues to be in the forefront this season.  The show this week stuck to its season high from last week of 1.8.  The show’s been having one of the best critical and commercial seasons in a while with Steve Harvey as host, so we’ll see if it keeps up.   Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! dipped very slightly to 7.3 and 6.1, respectively.  Who Wants to be a Millionaire has remained pretty steady this season, now at a 2.3.  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader finally saw some additional viewers, up to a 1.0.  However, Don’t Forget The Lyrics stuck at its 0.9 rating it’s had most season.

The biggest percentage increase for any game was for Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, which went up 11% to a 1.0 rating.  In the grand scheme of things going up 11% for a rating that low isn’t some massive increase, but any double digit increase helps the struggling second season.  Fifth Grader has lost nearly half its rating from the first season to now and it’s just not looking that good for the show unless it can keep rising.  Its sister show, Don’t Forget The Lyrics!, has been stuck at a 0.9 rating for a while.

The rest of the shows saw some increase except for Wheel of Fortune.  However, Wheel dropped only 1% to a 7.4 so that’s practically nothing.  Jeopardy! saw a 2% increase to a season high 6.0.  Who Wants to be a Millionaire continues to stay in it, rising 5% to a 2.3.

Ratings courtesy of Broadcasting and Cable.

Incidentally all the other shows remain unchanged.  Jeopardy! stuck at a 5.6, Who Wants to be a Millionaire at a 2.2, Family Feud at a 1.6, and both Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader and Don’t Forget The Lyrics at a 0.9.  I don’t see either of the bottom two coming back for another season unless the numbers pick up, but you never know.  Family Feud has been riding a big positive wave of publicity thanks to new host Steve Harvey, increased ratings in key markets, and the show going viral with some strange answers that we’ve posted.  Glad to see that doing well.

GSN’s season debut of 1 VS 100 looks to be attracting some big viewers.  The first episode on November 15th at 7:00PM ET saw 568,000 viewers.  That was GSN’s most watched show of the day.  It grew by a few thousand viewers from its lead in Baggage and it retained all its demographics.  Pretty good start for a pretty good show.  We’ll see if it can keep it up.

Let’s Make A Deal begins its second season as well.  The first season did pretty well for CBS all things considered, and the on screen rapport between host Wayne Brady, announcer Jonathan Mangum, and model Tiffany Coyne was received extremely well, so let’s see if they can keep their momentum for season two.

Not only that but the second season of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? in syndication begins.  The only change we heard about is supposedly fifth grade questions from the main game have been eliminated (only the bonus question is fifth grade), so now there are only nine questions per half hour and the fourth grade level is worth $7,500 each.  It was fun in its first season, though.  I just hope this change, if it’s there for long or at all, doesn’t slow things down enough.  Don’t Forget The Lyrics! also starts its first syndicated season.  If you liked the Fox version, you’ll like this.  If you like karaoke music, you’ll like this.  If you just don’t care for the music they play, much like me, you’re out of luck.  But that’s the price you pay with any music show.  If nothing else I’ve said over and over I prefer it to most other music shows and it’s always nice to see more game shows out there.

Be sure to let us know what you think of each show.

*We haven’t had a look at the ratings in some time.  We’re still waiting for the specifics of this week to come in and unfortunately that won’t be for another week or two, but we do have the ratings for the final week of the summer season in.  The only show to have any sign of life is @Family_Feud which is always great when a new host is coming in.  One of the final weeks with former host John O’Hurley gained 7% to a 1.6.  It’s been a pretty good year for the show.  It’s pulled far ahead of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? who has a 1.2 rating.  They better be careful next year.  It’s looking very similar to Deal or No Deal.  Millionaire scored a 2.2, Wheel of Fortune a 5.8, and Jeopardy! a 4.8.

*Don’t Forget the Lyrics debuts its new season next week.  I have to be honest, I’ll be amazed if this thing lasts longer than a season.  It’s been virtually silent beyond its original announcement and it doesn’t carry the same energy that Fifth Grader did about coming into syndication.  I could be wrong, but I’ll be floored if this makes it past a first season.

*Who Wants to be a Millionaire promised some backstage clips on their homepage when it debuted.  They delivered today.  You can take a look at the production of the new set and look of the show by clicking here.  At the end is a time lapse of the tearing apart of the old and the addition of the new.  It’s interesting to see.

*This one is a bit more speculative, but it’s a safe guess.  Judging by some casting posts looking for Santa Claus for a game show, 1 VS 100 appears to be taping a Christmas special for its GSN revival.  If we go by that it’s probably safe to guess a late November/early December debut.  No idea who the host is yet but last we were told, Arsenio Hall had an offer out.  No idea if he took it but he was at GSN’s offices not too long ago.  GSN has an aggressive original slate coming and a few will make people pretty happy, so stay tuned.

*For our British friends, The Cube makes its triumphant return to TV this Sunday on ITV.  It’s big with critics, but hopefully the ratings can stay decent.  One of the flat out best shows anywhere, QI, also starts its “H” series on Friday.  We’ll have video of both for you.

Basically if you want to be a contestant you can give it a shot on the Don’t Forget The Lyrics casting page on MySpace.  You can visit the page by clicking here. This partnership will allow for integration between the show and MySpace, including on-air callouts; special videos from the show and the Karaoke; and a social networking platform so that fans of Don’t Forget the Lyrics! can interact with each other.

Mari Bower, General Manager of MySpace Karaoke says “Partnering with DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS! offers MySpace Karaoke tremendous opportunities for audience expansion given the show’s devoted viewers. Furthermore, the MySpace Karaoke user base is filled with emerging talent aspiring to be discovered and our partnership will enable interested singers to submit online performances to DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS! through the MySpace Karaoke site for possible inclusion on the show.”

Don’t Forget The Lyrics! debuts in September in syndication, MyNetwork, and VH1.  The show is hosted by Mark McGrath, former singer of Sugar Ray.

*More celebrities will be appearing on some of your favorite game shows this upcoming season, starting in September.  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, which uses a large number of celebrity contestants a season, is adding on another.  And finally it’s not someone from freaking country music.  Joan Rivers will appear on the Jeff Foxworthy hosted quiz show.  She’ll play for up to $250,000 for charity.

*Meanwhile, Don’t Forget the Lyrics! first syndicated season will add at least one celebrity game.  Mark McGrath, the new host, will welcome the popular 90s boy band Backstreet Boys to the stage.  The group will try to finish the lyrics to popular songs for up to $50,000 for charity.

*Not a lot is known yet but The Price is Right is getting a new pricing game called Pay The Rent.  The top prize is a massive $100,000.  It’s the biggest money game the show has.  When more information comes in I’ll let you know.  Information comes from various Price fan sites, so thanks for that.

* Not really a game show but a game within a non-game.  Craig Kilborne of The Late Late Show returned with a new show The Kilborne File.  I’m a bigger fan of Craig Ferguson, but Kilborne is great as well.  He has a fun game he plays during his show which is essentially musical chairs with stupid trivia.  It used to be called Yambo but it’s now Kilbayashi.  Take a look at it.

And no, I don’t know anything about CBS daytime so it won’t do much good to ask.

The game play is the same as before.  A song stops in the middle and you have to complete the next line of lyrics without messing up.  The money chain on this version starts at $1,000 (which is the least someone leaves with) and goes to $2,500; $5,000; and finally $10,000.  If the player can get the $10,000 Lyric correct he or she has the option to go for the bonus “Encore” category to turn that into $50,000.  If a player misses a song at any time he or she isn’t out of the game but the Encore category is gone.

Logo courtesy of RDF Meda

Instead the player is frozen there for the time being and has a chance to double the final money level achieved on one final question if the player reaches the end.  One Lifeline, called a “Back Up” is allowed.  It’s the multiple lyrics option where three choices are presented to the contestant and one is correct.  That is carried over from the primetime version.

Other than that, it’s just a few cosmetic changes.  The set was apparently changed and the band has been replaced by the “MySpace Karaoke”, from a social networking site that stopped being cool four or five years ago.  Hollywood Junket said that the host, Mark McGrath did a good job but that’s to be expected.  He’s had some hosting experience and you really can’t front a popular band without being personable.

My issue isn’t so much the game but how it was put together.  Twentieth Television streamlined Fifth Grader to, quite literally, perfection in the syndicated version.  Don’t Forget the Lyrics looks like it was messed with a little too much and sounds cheap and streamlined.  The four step money chain stunned me.  I’m trying to think this out, but I find it hard to believe they can only fit five songs in an entire show.  How long does it really take to get through each one?  I knew the budget was obviously going to be slashed from the $1,000,000 primetime version, but the $50,000 top prize shocked me.  I really don’t completely care what the budget is, but I just got stunned.

So I’m asking you to do another one of these on-face-value reviews.  What do you think of the updated format and idea of the game?  It doesn’t sound remotely bad.  It still sounds fun…as fun as the Fox version.  All of the combined changes just make it feel a lot cheaper, though, and its companion show Fifth Grader never had that issue.

Family Feud, as mentioned often, is moving to Orlando this season.  They are packing up and moving as we speak.  The show begins taping July 10th.  Guests of the park will get in, obviously.  If you aren’t going to be at the park but still want to go just head to the Sharp AQUOS Theater.  Click here for full details.

The news most people are waiting for (and quite a few apparently on verge of a nervous break down to hear about given the comments

Image courtesy of IGN

everywhere)  is Pyramid.  The audience notice is out now, and you can get tickets here. As we reported a few days ago by us the taping will be for an hour-long show.  I just want to make sure to warn those foaming at the mouth…the show hasn’t been picked up yet.  It’s just a pilot.  Don’t jump to giant conclusions.  I heard from multiple people a big reason the last pilot didn’t sell was the tone was incredibly different from The Price is Right and they wanted something that was more of a companion show.  I don’t know what they are specifically looking for this time.

Don’t Forget the Lyrics! started taping the first season today.  We should be getting reports soon.  If you want in for that, click here. Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? starts tomorrow.  The show is apparently keeping the same, giving contestants a chance to win up to $250,000.  Click here if you want in for that. Finally Let’s Make A Deal starts taping its second season in July.  If you’ve got a costume and can head to Hollywood to win cash and cars, click here.

We should have details about Catch 21 soon.  I’m hearing through the pipeline that the show apparently got the largest order GSN has ever given an original; pretty close to some syndicated shows.  We’ll see soon.

LOS ANGELES
Saturday, April10th
12-4pm
ESPN ZONE @ L.A. LIVE
1011 S, Figueroa Street
Ste B101
Los Angeles, Ca 90015

IRVINE
Saturday April 17th
12-4pm
Dave and Busters @ Irvine Spectrum
71 Fortune Drive
Irvine, Ca 92618

VEGAS
Saturday April 24th
Location: TBD

SAN DIEGO
Saturday May 1st
Location: TBD

SAN BERNARDINO
Saturday May 15th
Location: TBD

The application is pretty standard. Just be able to hold what can liberally called a note and be what they are looking for and you’ve got a shot. Especially since they’ll need a lot of contestants. For $100,000, why not?

*Hasbro’s takeover of Discovery Kids, called The Hub, will hit the air on October 10th, or 10-10-10.  Again it’s not going to be a game show network but they hired some of the best in the genre for that department, so they are clearly wanting some good ones.  What a novel cable concept: good game shows.  There’s a block on the network called “Family Prime”, a later-in-the-day slot where parents can watch with their kids, and if I had to take a wild stab I’d say you can probably find some game shows there.

*Ratings for the week ending March 21st for syndication are in, and the only game show looking OK is Family Feud.  It held flat at a 1.3.  Everything else was down rather intensely.  Deal or No Deal, which hasn’t had a rating in a while, barely has a rating still.  It’s down to a 1.0.  Wheel of Fortune was down 14% to a 6.3, Jeopardy! down to 5.3 (down 16%), Millionaire down 12% to a 2.2, and Fifth Grader down the least, 6% to a 1.5.