09Aug2010
ABC Renews “Shark Tank” for Eight Episodes
We're going to play a little bit of good news/bad news. The good news: ABC's critically lauded reality show Shark Tank has, shockingly, been renewed for another season. I say shockingly because despite the praise it got ratings ranging from mediocre to bad. It was never certain to come back and it was more of a wait-and-see thing each time. We've waited, and now we'll see some new Shark Tank in 2011. The relatively bad news: Jeff Foxworthy will be joining for at least three episodes. Read on for all the information.
Read MoreView Comments (13)29Jul2010
News Flashes: Skinny Drew Carey, “Million Dollar Mind Game”, and “Liars”
Not a lot going on today but there are a few smaller news flashes buzzing around the web. Let's check out a few. The biggest today, without a doubt, is how freaking skinny Drew Carey got. Reports are saying that Drew Carey has lost 70 pounds in just a few months. We've got a lot of questions regarding ABC's logic based Russian quiz show import Six Minds and how I've been referring to it recently. I just want to be sure to alert people that, as far as I know, the show is now called Million Dollar Mind Game which is a much nicer title than the other. Just a small alert that tonight is the season, and probably series, finale of GSN's Late Night Liars. Read on for the full details for all of the stories.
Read MoreView Comments (19)27Jul2010
Rumor Control: ABC Picks Up International Dating Show “Take Me Out” for Pilot
Can't completely confirm yet but this is all but positive right now. It looks like ABC has picked up the internationally successful dating game show Take Me Out. The show has been seen in England on ITV and around the world but it's currently showing new episodes on RTL in the Netherlands. Learn about their version here. They are currently looking for women to appear on the show. If you are interested click here. If you get selected you get $275 plus a trip to Amsterdam so you can't lose. The real sign that this is Take Me Out is that the listing says it's a Fremantle show, which this is, and that they are taping in Amsterdam where they have the set up and running currently. Can't imagine it's not it. It's a pretty straight forward dating show with a twist. Read on for full details about the show and a clip of the British version.
Read MoreView Comments (13)16Jul2010
“Downfall” Season Finale July 20th; Clarification on Season Finale
Fremantle's very good game show Downfall, hosted by the remarkable and equally very good Chris Jericho, has its season finale next Tuesday, July 20th. The show was scheduled to run six weeks but it's running five. We need to clarify the loss-of-an-episode and "season finale" thing here. A lot of people are thinking this is the series finale because the ratings haven't been incredibly good and, again, they lost an episode. I've heard it from multiple sources that after the reception to the first episode Fremantle went into the edit bay and re-edited the show. Namely, they sped the show up. That's why you are seeing one less episode. Read on for more information and commentary.
Read MoreView Comments (5)14Jul2010
New Season of “Shaq Vs.” Begins August 3rd; Celebrities Announced
ABC's summer reality competition program Shaq Vs. is coming back for a second season. The new season begins on Tuesday, August 3rd, at 9:00PM ET; directly after Wipeout on ABC. The show sees basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal face off against various celebrities, usually in the sports world, at what they do best to see if Shaq has what it takes to compete. Last season stuck to Shaq performing sports, playing against people like Michael Phelps, Ben Roethlisberger, and Serena Williams. This season opens up the competition to see if Shaq's drive and enthusiasm can help him beat other figures in pop culture. The list of people Shaq will face off against along with what he will have to do is after the break. They've lined up some major sports stars as well as other great personalities so this won't be one to miss. Click Read More to see the list.
Read MoreView Comments (8)09Jul2010
Previews for BBC One’s “101 Ways to Leave a Game Show”
The new BBC One game show 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show, from Endemol, debuts Saturday, June 10th (tomorrow), at 18:30. The show will be interesting to see for a multitude of reasons. The first being it seems like a pretty interesting idea to take quiz shows to a brand new level. The second reason it's interesting is that ABC is shooting a pilot for this show and is currently casting for it. So, if nothing else, we'll get a preview of how it'll go for us. BBC has posted several videos showing off the kinds of ways to leave a game show. Read and and watch people free falling, rolling, and cycling off a 100 foot building on this new quiz show.
Read MoreView Comments (5)09Jul2010
Ratings: “Wipeout” Still Strong, “Downfall” Dropping
Wrapping up an extremely uneventful week, it's time to look at some of this week's ratings. Starting with the ABC shows, Wipeout still continues to do very well even when adding a second episode a week this year. The usual Tuesday edition saw 8.8 million viewers tune in with a 4.8/9 rating. ABC's very good game show Downfall, from Fremantle Media, is dropping to very ugly lows, sadly. This past Tuesday's episode saw only 3.77 million viewers. It lost around 5 million viewers from Wipeout. Read on for commentary and other information.
Read MoreView Comments (3)07Jul2010
The Final Answer for “Millionaire”
The Walt Disney Company lost a $270 million jury verdict for "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," in favor of Celador. The case was first filed way back in 2004. Celador claimed that ABC and Buena Vista Television violated a complex deal to produce and distribute "Millionaire" in North America by brokering deals among themselves that cheated Celador out of its share of millions.
Read MoreView Comments (13)06Jul2010
“Wipeout” and “Downfall” With Fake Prizes Tonight
So as you can tell this is quite possibly the slowest news week I've seen in quite some time. This seems as good of a time as any to remind people that ABC's game night is tonight at 8:00PM ET. First is Wipeout. It's a special couples edition where two people will be playing together on the course. Not that kind of playing together. It'll apparently be like the really fun Blind Date edition they did a few weeks back. After that is Downfall at 9:00PM ET. The show's been very fun and I'm hoping ratings can increase or stay remotely steady for a slight prospect of another summer run, but who knows. On tonight's episode both Chris Molles and Yolanda Allen play a fast paced trivia game against the clock along with host Chris Jericho,
Read MoreView Comments (6)30Jun2010
“Downfall”, its Ratings, and its Prizes
Downfall had its second episode last night. Let's get the ratings out of the way before I move on. The show, sadly, dipped 23% from last week to get a 2.7/5 rating. It held just 54% of Wipeout's audience which continues to do well every summer, getting a 5.0/8. Basically all shows dip week-to-week, but given the ratings weren't that great from the start it's troubling. We'll see how it does in the future. It's got the usual perks of being on in the summer where expectations are really low and the show's pretty cheap to do, but still. I'd love to see it stick around. But given how, apparently, completely ignorant audiences watching the show are maybe it shouldn't be a huge shock. Read on to find out why.
Read MoreView Comments (26)29Jun2010
An Interview with “Downfall” Host Chris Jericho
ABC's Downfall debuted last week to pretty decent numbers and the next episode will air tonight at 9:00PM ET on ABC, directly after Wipeout. The show gives contestants the chance to win a million dollars plus some great prizes. The catch is the show takes place on a tall building in Los Angeles and if the contestant loses the contestant will drop off the edge. It's a fun show and most other people agreed. Another thing agreed on was that the host, Chris Jericho, did a great job out of the gate. I recently got the chance to talk to Chris about his job as a quiz show host, being an entertainer, and what it's like on the set. He also tells us if he took the drop or not. Be sure to watch Downfall tonight at 9:00PM ET on ABC. Read on for the full interview.
Read MoreView Comments (3)23Jun2010
Ratings: “Wipeout” Returns High, “Downfall” Debuts Medium
ABC debuted the new game show Downfall last night as well as the return of summer favorite Wipeout. Ratings are in for both and it's a mixed bag. Wipeout continues to entertain people (and rightfully show) during the hot summer nights. The show averaged 9.5 million viewers and peaked at 10.03 million during the final half hour. The key demographic of adults 18-49 rated a first place 3.1/10, so 10% of the people watching TV at that time were checking out Wipeout. Downfall's debut was middling at best. The show lost a little less than half of Wipeout's viewers, dropping to 5.86 million viewers. Frankly that's not that bad for summer and for how cheap this show has to be, but it obviously could be better. Comparatively, the more expensive Who Wants to be a Millionaire scored at least a million more viewers each night. The troubling thing is Downfall lost more than a million viewers through the hour, so next week should be interesting. Read on for more commentary.
Read MoreView Comments (2)22Jun2010
“Downfall” is Pretty Good, But Should Have Learned from “Russian Roulette”
Downfall: 7 out of 10. Downfall debuted tonight on ABC. I liked the show, but what did you think? The game is pretty simple. The game works very well. It's fun to play along with and very tense and dramatic. The idea of speeding up the belt for each pass is nice, too. The game's simple but works and that's the best kind of game. The show looks nice. Chris Jericho is actually a pretty good host. I mean, really, there are very few complaints I have with the actual game or anything like that. There are a few tonal issues, though, which hurt the show a bit. Incidentally each of these issues could have been seen by watching the other drop show Russian Roulette. There are some cardinal rules that would have been wise to look over when comparing them. Most of these rules come from the fact that they really just could not seem to figure out how to play the show...as a comedy or a tense, scary show.
Read MoreView Comments (29)22Jun2010
“Downfall” Debuts Tonight on ABC at 9:00PM ET; “Wipeout” Returns
It's always exciting when a new game show debuts, isn't it? Especially one of this magnitude. ABC's brand new quiz show Downfall finally debuts at 9:00PM ET on ABC. The specific rules aren't out there but it appears to be like this: get a group of friends, play the board game Outburst on a roof, and shove the losers off. Sounds fun already. Up to $1,000,000 in cash plus some amazing prizes can be given away to either Nicole Breed of Ferndale, WA, or Martin Mullen from Boston, MA. Of course the cash, prizes, and their bodies may be dropping off the side of a skyscraper also. Either way it looks to be a ton of fun. Chris Jericho hosts. We were supposed to have an interview with him but "there were issues", so there we
Read MoreView Comments (15)18Jun2010
Photo Gallery for ABC’s “Downfall”
Less than a week until ABC debuts the newest million dollar quiz show Downfall. You can see it Tuesday, June 22nd, at 9:00PM ET. The show can't be more simple. Answer trivia questions against a clock to save prizes (and yourself) from literally falling off the edge of a skyscraper. It looks fun, terrifying, tense, entertaining, and hysterical. In other words it looks like anything you could really ask for a game show. ABC loaded up their press site with some pictures from the show so you can see what you're in for. One thing is the money chain. The money will progress $5,000 to $10,000 to $25,000 to $50,000 to $100,000 to $250,000 and then the top prize of $1,000,000. You can also check out what appears to be a category board.
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