23Jun2010
“Pyramid” and “Late Night Liars” Updates
Two updates for you right now. First for Pyramid. We're waiting for all the details of the Pyramid pilot which taped today to get in, but we're getting pieces. I'll update this post as stuff gets in. To start: Mo Rocca and Betty White were apparently celebrities for the taping. Probably two of the better ones they could have chosen. More information should be in soon. Late Night Liars will be getting an additional airing this week, Friday at 10:00PM ET on GSN. Also we have an interview with Meredith Vieira about how emotionally connected she gets to contestants on Millionaire.
Read MoreView Comments (12)19Jun2010
Syndicated “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” May Be a Bit Too Streamlined
Info courtesy of Hollywood Junket. As we previously reported, the new syndicated edition of Don't Forget the Lyrics! is coming this September to syndicated stations as a companion show to Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?. It's also going to air on MyNetwork and VH1. This new version, hosted by former Sugar Ray singer Mark McGrath, has been streamlined to fit the half-hour syndicated model much like Fifth Grader was. The issue is Lyrics may be just a bit too streamlined. 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.
Read MoreView Comments (17)12May2010
“Trust Me, I’m A Game Show Host,” Seems Out of Place
A contestant from the show Trust Me, I'm A Game Show Host came to us with the rules of the show. He wished to remain anonymous for this. We basically knew the rules of the show to begin with, but we've got more specifics. We've also got Hollywood Junket's report. It's a pretty basic show, and seems very out of place for primetime TV.
Read MoreView Comments (14)02Apr2010
Trust Me, “Trust Me, I’m A Game Show Host” Sounds Interesting
As we've been discussing recently casting for the ABC game show (pilot?) Trust Me, I'm A Game Show Host, from executive producer Mark Burnett, has been underway. I was lucky enough to have someone be there. For the sake of, well, not getting that person screwed over in casting we're going by the BuzzerBlog username ten96lt. Here's a summarized bit of information given about the process. It had the standard questions: name, age, occupation, what you would do with the money (it asked for $25,000 and $250K), and something interesting about ourselves. It also asked for references and if there was a time we trusted someone and we were let down. There were also the releases and waivers we had to sign and on the back it had five lists of two
Read MoreView Comments (6)05Feb2010
US “The Cube”, At a Glance
We didn't plan on it, but we had a small army arrive at The Cube's studio yesterday for the pilot shot for CBS and hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris. First off, we were apparently name-dropped by some audience members at the taping so now that we're internationally famous as of this moment, I thank you greatly. But here are a few notes from the emails and Facebook and Twitter comments we received. REmember, you can usually find information the quickest on there.
Read MoreView Comments (35)18Jan2010
Report of “Minute to Win It”, or Why I Don’t Like American Game Shows
We've finally got some concrete information in on NBC's new stunt game show Minute to Win It, debuting March 14th at 8:00PM ET. Previously we were just saying that it was a ripoff of the great British show The Cube because it sounded identical, but we had no concrete proof. The presentation is what may have changed everything. We've finally got some concrete information courtesy of our friends at HollywoodJunket. Calling Minute to Win It a ripoff of The Cube is being nice to ripoffs. It's a blatant reproduction of it under a new name that makes me wonder how much of a case ITV, the network airing The Cube, would have in suing NBC for this.
Read MoreView Comments (78)08Jan2010
“Our Little Genius” Update: Audience Reports of Questionable Activity
The situation on Fox's now-canceled quiz show Our Little Genius is pretty bad. It would have been larger news if the NBC late night ordeal wasn't happening at the same time. To bring people up to speed if you are behind: Fox pulled Our Little Genius less than a week before its debut because there was an, "issue with how some information was relayed to contestants during...pre-production," according to executive producer Mark Burnett. Some audience reports from Hollywood Junket are shedding some more light on this.
Read MoreView Comments (77)07Dec2009
Fox’s “Our Little Genius”: Swing and a Miss
Say hello to your replacement for The Cube on Fox! In really just a few weeks we'll be seeing the debut of Fox's new quiz show Our Little Genius, on January 13th at 9:00PM ET which is directly after American Idol. Unless the country suddenly stops watching Idol, we're going to see Genius back for more episodes after its initial short run no matter what. If we saw the return of The Moment of Truth, even if I liked it, we're going to see this thing come back. The difference with Genius is that it's not really awful. It's just bland, boring, a direct copy of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader which itself is a direct copy of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and is just irritate confuse and infuriate people. So in other words it'll sadly p
Read MoreView Comments (24)05Aug2009
Behind the Scenes of “Family Feud”, the 2009 Show to Watch For
It's really amazing to me that Family Feud, in its current version, is the longest running of any version of the show in the country. Of course they go through hosts like crazy but they finally found the perfect fit with John O'Hurley. My first visit to the set at the very end of last season was incredibly fun. I'm a fan of the show and I love doing these set visits, so seeing it in person was pretty amazing. I was more excited about going this season because of the changes. These are some of the most extensive changes the show has made in a while, increasing the top pay to $150,000 potentially and adding a car for five day visits. How'd they work out in-studio? To me, Feud is really the show to watch for in the Fall 2009 season, i
Read MoreView Comments (34)09Jul2009
A Look at CBS’s “Let’s Make A Deal” Pilot
Our friends at Hollywood Junket were on the set for the pilot of Let's Make A Deal. It looks to be pretty good. The show, from Fremantle (same people who do Family Feud and The Price is Right) is hosted by Wayne Brady. I don't think Wayne's the absolute best choice but it's hard to argue that he's popular and apparently a good host. Plus this show brings him more back to his "interacting with the audience roots" which he does excel at. Amusingly the executive producer of the show is Mike Richards, who is the executive producer for The Price is Right as well. I'm a bit stunned they aren't being taped on the same set and just redressing the doors for each show, but there we are. The game is the same as everyone knows, if you remember
Read MoreView Comments (42)25Jun2009
Set Report from “The $1,000,000 Pyramid”
CBS recently shot a pilot for their new daytime game show The $1,000,000 Pyramid, an update of the classic 80s game show The $100,000 Pyramid. Again, like most news-worthy things, it happened while I was on vacation. Many of you may already know about it but for those that don't, you'll be very happy to know the show was updated perfectly from the old version to today." Thanks to audience member Mitch J. for the info and pictures. This entire pilot and potential show is just validating my point that Embassy Row is the only production company I place all my trust in to make a good, exciting, fun game show anymore. The game is exactly like the old version. Two teams of a contestant and a celebrity pick one of six categories. Your cel
Read MoreView Comments (139)15Jun2009
How to Play Syndicated “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader”
Regular readers know that I'm a vocal critic of FOX's Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader and figured that the initial report of the crew essentially leaving the show as it is for the syndicated version debuting September 2009 was a giant mistake. Let's be honest, like 90% of quiz shows out this decade it's a gigantic clone of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? except essentially for dumbasses. The fun part, though, of running a semi-popular crazy rambling website is audience members can tell me what goes on during the tapings and you all can digest it. After hearing how the new syndicated edition of Fifth Grader plays, I have to tell you, I'm actually sort of interested in the show. Thanks to the audience members from this past weekend who
Read MoreView Comments (26)28May2009
Inside Look at Becoming a Contestant on “Family Feud”
Family Feud is going to start taping its record eleventh season of the show in a few weeks with the top prize climbing to $30,000 this season, and the cast and crew is deep into the casting process. More than any other question I receive, people want to know how to become a contestant on all the different game shows. A majority of those want to know about Family Feud. When I was in Los Angeles a week ago, I got to a casting day the show held in Hollywood and see how families are casted, what they need to do, and what families did to prepare for their big day. I had a chance to talk to the great contestant casting producer Sara Dansby about the entire process. I asked her what the families do in the audition. For all those wanting to
Read MoreView Comments (6)25May2009
Inside Look at GSN’s 2009 Game Show Awards Red Carpet
You'll be hearing a lot about GSN's 2009 Game Show Awards, which debuts on June 6th at 8:00PM ET, for the next few days. We've already shown you some pictures of the actual awards themselves. You haven't seen anything from our red carpet experience yet, though. I've never sat through a red carpet event before. Really, how many times will a game show fan have to be on a red carpet? Some big game show celebrities, and some personal favorites of mine, walked the carpet. GSN personalities like Heidi Bohay and Fred Roggin (GSN Live and The Money List, respectively) walked as well as comedians like Nicole Sullivan (Rita Rocks). One of the biggest thrills I experienced at the awards was talking to Monty Hall, host of Let's Make A Deal. H
Read MoreLeave a Comment10Apr2009
A Look at “20Q”
You know before a post was asked to be taken down I vaguely remember hearing that some network was picking up a game show based off the handheld game 20Q which looks to shoot around 10 episodes in May. A pilot was shot some time ago for it. As with all of the set visits and pilot reports, I want to give you the inside scoop so you can see what you may be in for wherever that show may pop up in the near future. Note that this payout scale is for a major broadcast network version, like NBC. This budget isn't for a smaller network. 20Q as it stands now is a half-finished idea that basically figures if you just take the 20Q game and shove money in it people will watch. Once the game gets going, three contestants face off against each ot
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