05May2011
Morning Buzz for May 5, 2011
Good Thursday morning. Here are some updates and videos to kick off your day. We'll start you off with videos from Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Family Feud, give you some updates on the British shows Pointless and Deal or No Deal, and discuss GSN's recent troubles with Love Triangle and Improv-A-Ganza. Click here to read each story.
Read MoreView Comments (4)27Apr2011
News Flashes: Ratings, Casting, and Facebook Games
There isn't a large amount of big news going around, so here are some smaller stories making the rounds. First, the syndication season is winding down so ratings are doing their typical dips. The week ending April 17th saw some drops. Next, East coasters have two chances to be a part of a game show. First off, Family Feud will be coming to Atlantic City to cast soon. Also MTV2 is getting into the game show genre with a quiz show based on hip hop. Finally, We recently discussed the new Jeopardy! Facebook game, and already another is out. The previously announced Deal or No Deal game is out. Click here for the full story on all three news flashes.
Read MoreView Comments (5)07Apr2011
“Deal or No Deal” and “1 VS 100″ to Get Facebook Games
Two things are evident from this story. One is that social games are here to stay and that will be good for fans like us. The second is that 1 VS 100, in some version, is never going to die. Ever. Endemol and iWin announced that the popular game shows Deal or No Deal and 1 VS 100 will be getting the Facebook treatment. This comes right after Who Wants to be a Millionaire launched their own popular game. Click here to learn about both games.
Read MoreView Comments (10)28Jan2011
The British are Better Than Us: Most Exciting “Deal or No Deal” Ever?
Deal or No Deal, Channel 4's hit game show, can almost be defined as an unscripted character drama. Yes, the game is there. However, the experience of seeing the contestants for weeks leading up to their battle against The Banker is just as thrilling. I don't think I've seen an entire episode of Deal as thrilling as this past Wednesday's edition with Dale. Click here to see the conclusion to this heart pounding game.
Read MoreView Comments (11)09Jan2011
This Week in Dirty Game Show Moments
Game shows, for the most part, are PG rated. Very little goes on that can be construed as dirty. If something slips by it's generally by accident, and if others catch it the ensuing reaction is priceless. A shocking amount of that happened this past week all over the world. We picked out some of our favorite moments of innuendo. Click to see the moments.
Read MoreView Comments (4)05Jan2011
“Deal or No Deal” Kicks Off 2011 With New Graphics and Big Games
Deal or No Deal is still airing on Channel 4 in England and is still one of the most tense versions in the world. Not to mention it's probably the best use of the briefcase/box opening edition of Deal or No Deal done. The show made a few slight changes for the start of the new year. The show is now broadcast for 65 minutes. Second, Deal went through its first large graphics revamp in its six year history. The new silver graphics look strange with the wooden set, which could now use a revamp, but it all still looks great. More importantly, though, is the fact that they've had some very thrilling games to start the year off. Today was up there in the history of the show. Our clip starts with the contestant mulling over an offer of £26,000. Check it out after the break.
Read MoreView Comments (10)06Dec2010
UK Christmas Game Shows Preview
As Christmas draws near, the UK networks go mad with their game shows, with many shows having celebrity specials. Here is a guide to what is happening on the major networks through Christmas and New Year. BBC One As a yearly Christmas tradition, Celebrity Mastermind will be shown from Monday 27th December through to Friday 7th January with ten celebrity specials. Some of the celebrities sitting in the famous black chair include Red Dwarf's Hattie Hayridge (Holly) and Robert Llewellyn (Kryten) who will be appearing on separate shows. Comedians Rhys Thomas, Kirsten O'Brien and Richard Herring. Decathlete Dean Macey, food critic and brother of Only Connect's Victoria Coren, Giles Coren and the inventor of Reggae Reggae Sauce (as shown on
Read MoreLeave a Comment02Nov2010
Ratings Report: “Millionaire” Hits Season High
Ratings for the syndicated game shows have been updated, and for the week ending October 24th, Who Wants to be a Millionaire came out on top. It rose a very nice 10% to a 2.3. It's the highest rating the show has had in nine weeks, according to Broadcasting and Cable. I think the ratings have gone on long enough right now to cement the fact that the people flipping out about the format change and crying doom are wrong. It's doing just fine. Ratings for the rest of syndication, plus more comments, are after the break. Click "Read More".
Read MoreView Comments (3)30Oct2010
Weekend Replay: Halloween “Deal or No Deal”
Halloween, my favorite holiday, is upon us so I won't be around much at all this weekend. I wanted to be sure to give you a really good video for the holidays. We lucked out by having Channel 4's Deal or No Deal celebrate Halloween this week. They always do great themed weeks and this was no exception. The set is themed like a forest and the players (and Noel Edmonds) are dressed accordingly. I had to edit some of the clip out because the last few minutes are great, but they are doing a special twist. When the game is down to five boxes, the player chooses one of two eyeballs (repurposed from the other British Endemol show Golden Balls). One says Trick and the other Treat. If the contestant picks Trick, they get an offer after every box (instead after every three) and they get a vacation. If the contestant chooses Treat, though, the Banker gets to see what is in the contestant's box. The contestant chose Treat. Watch to see what happens after the page break; click Read More. I hope everyone has a great weekend.
Read MoreView Comments (6)15Sep2010
News Flashes: Syndication, Videos, and More
Nothing big today beyond the very exciting Jeopardy! from last night, so here are a few news flashes. As a teaser, by the way, we'll have exclusive interviews with @Family_Feud host Steve Harvey and Who Wants to be a Millionaire executive producer Rich Sirop coming very soon. In this news flash we look at the final ratings for the summer season, a behind the scenes video of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, a small 1 VS 100 update, and the return of two popular British shows. Read more to find out everything.
Read MoreView Comments (6)30Jun2010
The British are Better Than Us: Dramatic UK “Deal or No Deal” Finish
Time for another installment of our most popular series: The British are Better Than Us. We're going back to a show we haven't seen in quite some time. The British version of Deal or No Deal is still going strong. This past Sunday's episode was, in particular, a very dramatic ending. The main part of the show ended when the contestant took a £7,000 Deal with the third highest figure on the board, £75,000, still available. They play out the rest of the game to see what could have happened and...well, just watch and see what happens. It's pretty great that even this far into the series the show can still create dramatic moments the US version could never dream of. If there's one giant example of a show that the British have stomped Ame
Read MoreView Comments (14)05Jun2010
Weekend Replay: Big Winner on Aussie “Deal or No Deal”
The Australian version of Deal or No Deal has been on the air for seven years daily now and they've only had one $200,000 grand prize civilian winner. That was far back in 2004. They had a celebrity win $200,000 in 2007, but it's more exciting to see a regular player win.
Read MoreView Comments (15)13May2010
Noel Edmonds Signs for Two More Years of “Deal or No Deal”
Noel Edmonds, the host of the popular and fantastic Channel4 game show Deal or No Deal, has signed a new two year contract to keep the show in England through 2012. A few months ago there was a bit of uncertainty about the show due to Channel4 and Endemol UK about budget cuts.
Read MoreView Comments (6)06Apr2010
This Weekend’s Intense Dutch “Deal or No Deal”: What Would You Do?
If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you know the Dutch Deal or No Deal hypothetical we gave out. For those who haven't seen when we've shown off their version, called Miljoenenjacht, it's to me the absolute perfect game show. You will have trouble convincing me that there's a better game show out there, let alone a better version of Deal. A 500 person audience is brought to one by some various trivia rounds. That person gets to play the famous briefcase game, treated more like a bonus round and sans Banker, for five million euro. They don't get sappy or emotional. They don't make players feel like crap with prove-outs. It's treated like what it is, a bonus round, and it's just simply the best version of the show. Very few have
Read MoreView Comments (18)30Mar2010
News Flashes: Lyrics, The Hub, and Family Feud
*Twentieth Television's syndicated edition of Don't Forget the Lyrics! is still casting for its first daytime season. It's been off of Fox's primetime lineup for around a year now. The top prize will be $100,000; and it's hosted by former Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath, taking over for Let's Make A Deal host Wayne Brady. Be sure to know all the music you can: from the 50s to current hits. All you have to be is at least 18 years old. Have a great, fun personality and love to sing and you've got a shot at being on. Click here to apply. I'd be expecting it to be a retread of the primetime version, and that's fine by me. Oh, Fifth Grader was also renewed but we already knew that. *Hasbro's takeover of Discovery Kids, called The Hu
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