Remember, GSN debuts their new interactive live call in show, GSN Live, today at noon which is excessively soon. What do you all think of the show? I’m sure a certain network would love to hear.
Archive for the 'Reader Input' Category
25
Feb
GSN Live Today!
GSN’s debuting a new show tonight! It’s not a word game! Their new strategy game How Much Is Enough? sees the light of day (or night) tonight at 9:00PM ET. In the show, contestants basically buzz in to stop a money clock counting from $0 to a predetermined value or from a predetermined value to $0. The catch is the person who banks the most in the round (or the most AND least in the final $5,000 round) gets nothing for that clock. The two players with the most money have their scores combined and play for it all in the Final Face Off. The clock counts from $0 to their combined total. Whoever stops the clock first takes home whatever is on it. Again, if you go into this show expecting a half hour with high action and fast gameplay then you are going to be disappointed. If you come in expecting a decent little show with a terrific host (Corbin Bernsen) and a bit of drama, you might be pleasantly surprised. I know I was. But I liked Friend or Foe? so what do I know? Be sure to check it out and tell us what you think. As always, spoilers are permitted in the comments.
“You don’t have to be the smartest person in the world; just the smartest person in the room.”
Jason Luna proved he was the smartest (and gutsiest) in the room by being the first player in US 1 VS 100 history to defeat the Mob and win the $1,000,000 top prize. Above is the video of his big win. Enjoy! Congratulations to Jason. Fantastic start to a fantastic season.
1 VS 100’s new prize system, while I still think it’s not as good as last season, really isn’t that bad. It’ll get people to play on for a longer period of time making for more exciting wins like this. I still think letting contestants only stop once in each money level would work a better and make it flow quicker, but the producer in me says what they have now is just fine. Now let’s just hope the ratings match the excitement for the show’s return.
The crowd favorite, NBC’s 1 VS 100, returns with its long-awaited second season tonight at 8PM ET. We’ve gone over the prize ladder (which I’m slowly warming up to), but remember tonight is a Battle of the Sexes episode. One man versus 100 women and then one woman versus 100 men. Be sure to watch as well, something special is going to happen tonight. What did you all think of the new prize ladder and season?
Warning: Minor, tiny spoilers from December 10th’s Deal or No Deal ahead:
Confession time: I haven’t watched a single minute of Deal or No Deal this season at all. I’ve just been bored sick with it. Last season seemed to be a breaking point, where they just tried horrible gimmick after horrible gimmick. It got frustrating, tiring, and nauseating. Then we come to the new season and I hear of the Million Dollar Mission. That put more dread, and with ratings really starting to sag I figured the primetime version was slowly coming to an end with the syndie version rolling around. However, all of a sudden, out of no where, Endemol is getting back into the gear of things and making the show fresh, exciting, and fun. Most noticeably, they had Winner Takes All last night.
If you didn’t watch it, you missed what was probably the best episodes of Deal or No Deal I’ve seen in the US and probably in my top five around the world. The game, in short, is that three players played three separate games. The person who left with the most money in their game took home everyone else’s money while the other two went home with nothing. On paper this sounds good, but I had a horrible feeling that Endemol would do something stupid, like let the other contestants see what the previous ones got. Look at what they did to 1 VS 100.
Wow was I wrong. They did everything as perfectly as humanly possible. All the players and family members were sequestered in different rooms in isolation the entire time they weren’t playing. They either got a new audience or really coached the current one to play the game straight, because they did not do anything hinting at strategy. Howie acted as neutral as he possibly could have, and was very convincing. Even the Banker got into it!
The Banker is what made the episode for me. For people watching it a lot, has the Banker been giving good offers recently? For instance, when we were down to $50,000 and $300,000; I figured we’d be seeing $180,000 to $200,000 knowing our habits. However, we only offered $146,000. Fantastic and perfect. We did this for the rest of the show too. Why did it take them so long to realize that if you want a contestant to play a game to the end, you cannot offer a gigantic sum of money? You have to offer a lesser amount that makes it tempting to go on. The Banker was fair in offering tough dollar values to every contestant also.
Yeah, the winner didn’t leave with a ton of money, but who cares? The entire episode was incredibly enjoyable and just about perfect. They chose some fun contestants who were over-the-top but still lovable (at least in my eyes). They finally got the offers to where they should be, and they played the competition factor perfectly. I truly hope this was the beginning of many more Winner Takes All episodes. The one reason I love the Dutch version of the show the best is because they have the massive audience competition to see who plays. Adding some strategy to the briefcase game like they did today made it a whole new show. It increases the possible top prize while not screwing with the board. Now I just strongly hope they don’t revert back to old ways, but it amazes me that they are finally getting the picture with Deal or No Deal. It only took them three years, but they finally found out what makes it work. I’m hoping to tune in much much more, now, and see something as exciting, fun, and competitive as I did today. What did you readers think of Winner Takes All? Am I alone in sharing the feelings of this episode?
The Price is Right had a big event on the 28th: the first disqualification in 243 shows according to Golden-Road. Contestant Christopher Francis, a television producer from Tuscon, AZ, was disqualified from The Price is Right and lost his $2,500 in cash and prizes when it was found that the station he works for, KOLD, is a CBS station. If you know anything about eligibility requirements, it’s that if you are connected closely with a certain network or station, you cannot appear on a game show by that network or station. His episode has aired and he has been venting about it, as you can read here.
I’d love to know what this guy was thinking. I’ve been working with GSN for a few years now. I know that I cannot try out for anything GSN related because of this. I knew this without even reading the requirements for shows. Nor can I for most others. It’s common sense. He told them he works for CBS even. This sentence in his post is what got to me:
“What weighs on me is how my honesty didn’t mean very much to the CBS brass.”
What this sentence said to me was “I told the truth and got no reward, that’s not fair.” Honestly, my take on the situation is that he doesn’t deserve anything. He wasn’t told by casting people and it wasn’t on the website that affiliate networks can’t be on the show, I’ll give him that. It’s still common sense that if you work for a CBS network, you can’t appear on CBS shows. I mean did he actually think he was going to get away with it? He’s being very insisting on the fact that his station is not owned or controlled by CBS. However, go to KOLD’s website and the logo for the site has the CBS logo right beside it. That’s enough of a hint for me. A lot of his points are trying to grasp at straws and defend himself when he has no defense. I’m sorry, but he just should have known better. There’s no way any smart and knowledgeable television producer would not know they were ineligible. If he truly didn’t maybe we need some new television producers. What do you all think of the situation? Did CBS do the right, appropriate thing, or did Mr. Francis get screwed by the system?
I think it’s safe to say that today is one of the most anticipated days for game show fans such as you all in quite some time. Today on CBS, we will see Drew Carey officially become the new host of The Price is Right. Reviews are coming in and they are quite glowing as of now. But critics don’t count. The viewers do. What did you all think of Drew’s hosting?
Last night’s exciting (and rather depressing) episode of CBS’s Power of 10 marked the end of its summer series with its return date in the next few months. It’s actually sad to see it go. In a market crowded of shows for the dumb who such as Deal or No Deal, which I’ve just grown completely sick of, Power of 10 was a high sign of relief for me. It’s nice to see that the market isn’t being over saturated with Deal clones.
Sure, Power of 10 is derivative of a few older game shows, but Michael Davies and the rest of Embassy Row took the correct basic ideas and made a show that’s more exciting than anything I’ve seen in a while. The contestant coordinators did a fantastic job of finding contestants that are likable and exciting, but in a good way. You won’t find people begging for ponies or flipping out for guest hosts every five minutes. You’ll find regular, natural people showing their true colors when playing for $10,000,000 which was incredibly refreshing.
When thinking about it, this show is set up a lot like Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, which Davies is the executive producer of. You have the natural contestant who is not over the top but exciting enough to care for. The basic feel of the game play is there too. Davies is a master of taking a small amount of game and making it a big, fun event. I seriously don’t think Scott St. John and his Endemol lackies could have done half the job Embassy Row did. My biggest fear when this show started was that it would be too easy to win. The first episode really started to worry me, as I’m sure it worried production members as well. Luckily we’ve seen it’s a lot harder to win more than $100,000 than it seems.
Power of 10 did a few unique things that no other show has done for me. This show has the biggest play-along factor to come out since Millionaire. A viewer’s game isn’t over when they know the answer. On this show, you never know. You’re always second guessing myself. I don’t think I’ve shouted at the television more in my life than on this. Also, I didn’t actually wish any contestant would lose. On Deal or even 1 VS 100 there were a few contestants who I wished would leave with nothing. I wanted everyone to leave with $10,000,000 on Power of 10.
All of the good does not come out with a few bad points. My first one they corrected quickly. Part way through the season, the audience started helping out in the elimination round which could easily hurt another contestant. Luckily this was fixed a show or two later, so no problem here. My second issue is with Drew’s dialog. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an amazing host and probably the best one since Meredith Vieira. However, if I have to hear him explain the elimination round as “X eliminates Y and Y has to eliminate X”, I’m going to throw a sandal at the TV. Drew’s fantastic at improv. How about either letting him come up with something or switching the lines every now and then. The concept of an elimination round is nothing new and not worthy of that long explanation every single time.
The final complaint deserves a bit more time. The $10,000,000 question rubs me the wrong way a bit. We start out showing the percentage for all the answers, and then all of a sudden we don’t show you if you’re right? Seems a bit of a swerve there out of no where. Surely there has to be some way to do the final question better than “Guess which of the eleven percentages it is and you win.” The rest of the game involves some skill while that last question is essentially pure luck. Maybe just give the contestant one more 5% question. Or at least let the audience vote again for that final question and throw up a bar graph. Few will gamble the million for $10,000,000. Let’s at least give someone a remote virtual shot at it. Maybe give the contestant an extra percentage on the final question for each main game question they answered correctly?
All in all, these few complaints don’t even equal a quarter of the sheer enjoyment that was Power of 10. Embassy Row’s been on a huge roll recently. Pop Culture, Grand Slam, and this have all made me forget about Chain Reaction. Sure, it’s not the smartest show on earth. However, it is quite possibly the most exciting and the easiest to get people talking, which is essential for any show to exist. Power of 10 is definitely a power player for CBS.
Now for you all. What did you think of this series. Also, if you could make a change or two without completely reformatting the game, what would you do?
The new season of That’s The Question was going to be interesting to say the least. If you saw the first twenty episodes you may know there were a few, uh, issues. The set was odd, music and sound effects were god awful, the writing was poor, too many factual errors, the show felt like it was missing something, and the show was horribly cheap. I was a fan of season one, but there was some fear for season two. Nothing against GSN, but recently they haven’t exactly had the greatest track record for originals. A huge sigh of relief came when I found that they fixed 75% of the issues.
We already saw pictures of the set, and it is extremely nice; one of the best ones GSN has put together. It’s not a Millionaire clone like Chain Reaction and it doesn’t feel like the set is five feet wide like Camouflage. Luckily they fixed the spelling and factual errors. It’s also nice to see that the show has more than pop culture questions which has become a trend recently. Host Bob Goen (Who we will have an interview with next week, stay tuned) is as good as ever, which is very good. He’s honestly the channel’s best host currently. The music is a bit better this season if not a bit too upbeat to a level of almost the first two seasons of Lingo. The main reason I enjoy it is because it’s something we have very few of anymore: a fast paced buzzer quiz show with two people competing against each other.
Now for a few issues. I think I’ve said it about 50 times, but every time I still hope I can give some hint to a production company or to GSN: do we always need easy to win bonus rounds for $5,000? Can’t we have a tiny bit of originality? The Dutch version has interesting rules. When you win the bonus you have the option to gamble your money and come back next show or stop. If you come back and lose the game, you lose all your money. However, if you come back and win, you double your money and you can be on three shows max. What is it with GSN and refusing to do returning champs? They air episodes in order, so come on. The only other issue I have is that the game can be a bit repetitive after a bit. Some sort of change mid-show, like a bonus puzzle or something, would be nice.
Beyond that, it’s easily one of the best shows they’ve done in a while. It’s amazing that they’ve been on an amazing track record recently with shows like Grand Slam, Without Prejudice?, and That’s The Question. It blows Camouflage (Insider FYI: I wouldn’t count on it coming back, as least as of today) out of the water for sure. However, all I ever feel when I’m watching the show is that there is something missing. It’s mainly in the bonus area, but something is missing. Other than that, they improved the show from season one exponentially. Fantastic host, fantastic set, fun game, good contestants (at least for now); other than a few tiny issues which were mentioned above, the show is more enjoyable than most game shows that have come out anywhere recently, and that includes both syndication offerings.
Tonight GSN will begin a new season of their hit trivia show That’s The Question at 9PM ET. We already went over the new set and logo and all that stuff. Also, don’t forget there are actual decent writers this season, which makes it thrilling enough. Obviously this will be waiting until it airs, but what did you think of the show? I’ll throw my opinions in here later, but I’d love to hear what you all think. Remember, the new season of That’s The Question is tonight at 9PM ET on GSN.
Edit: I’ll have my final thoughts, some ideas for a new season, and, for lack of a better term, “good will messages”, on Monday. We won’t devote a separate article on the championship until then, as to not spoil people. If you’d like to be spoiled, feel free to go to the comments.
GSN’s popular summer series Grand Slam comes to a close with the championship game today, Saturday, September 8th at 7PM ET. The first contender: Jeopardy! super-champion with a 74-game winning streak and over $3,000,000 in total prize winnings to date. He was only one win away from being the most winning contestant in worldwide game show history. That man is Ken Jennings. The last finalist: the brain science graduate student who was almost the first $1,000,000 winner on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in four years if he pulled the trigger and uttered those two magic words: “Final Answer”. The opponent is Ogi Ogas.
Both have something to prove. Ogas was visibly shaken when he did not win the million dollars. Jennings would probably still be on Jeopardy! today and have beaten every record on earth if a few mental handicaps didn’t occur in his final game. The finale of Grand Slam will truly be filled with competition unlike anything seen on television. Ogi has already defeated Brad Rutter. Can he defeat Ken Jennings? The semi-finals really showed what each is capable of.
With Ogi Ogas versus David Legler, David never had much of a chance. Ogi stayed calm, cool, collected, and rarely missed a beat. The same happened with Ken Jennings against Michelle Kitt. No offense to either losers, but both were basically mental bitchslaps. The stage is set and the final match is just days away. Look for some gameplay changes, like a fifth round which could be a huge advantage in gaining a massive lead. However, it could just as easy take away a lead. We will be showing some video clips of Ken Jennings and Ogi Ogas throughout this week. Ogas VS Jennings: who do you think will win Grand Slam and why? Pre/post game thoughts?
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