BuzzerBlog

Time for some more ratings.  Nothing that big so I’ll keep it brief for a change.  Check out all the results by clicking here for the full listings. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are the only shows to increase ratings for the week ending February 28th.  It’s the final week of sweeps also.  It’s very important for each show to bring in those advertising dollars around now.  Wheel went up 3% to a 7.4.  Overall during sweeps, which got a little screwed up because of the Olympics, the show was down just 2%.  Jeopardy! was also up 3% and saw a 6.4 rating.  Jeopardy! actually broke even during sweeps period and appears to be the only show that really has, so good job for it.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire sank 4% to 2.6.  It was down only 4% and only down one-tenth of a ratings point, so good job for them.  Look for another theme week, “Dancing With the Stars Week”, at the end of March.  Family Feud did the next best thing to going up; it froze solid at a 1.3.  Overall during sweeps it was down 6%, but again only down one-tenth of a point so no worries.  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? also froze at 1.5.  Just like Feud it was down 6% and just one-tenth of a point.  Deal or No Deal didn’t even bother with the ratings during the Olympics period because of so many preemption, and regardless it was probably the best for them.  So all together, given that it was the Olympics, it was a very nice sweeps period for game shows.

Also updated on the ratings page are some network shows like Amazing Race, American Idol, Survivor, and The Marriage Ref.

It’s time for a ratings report for the week ending February 21st.  It’s still sweeps period at this time, so all the shows are needing a boost.  The Olympics definitely hurt most, though.  By the way, as always, be sure to visit our often updated ratings page. We’ve got all the syndicated shows in there with ratings backed up, as well as percentages they gained or lost.  We’ll add more game shows once results get in.  But for now, in terms of syndicated game shows, Who Wants to be a Millionaire was, comparatively, the king this report.

Millionaire was the only show to not lose any viewers at all, which is nice.  It stuck at a 2.7 rating, where it’s been sitting comfortably for the better part of five weeks now.  With how people’s viewing habits are just keeping your viewers is good enough.  But, again, Millionaire is the only game show to gain viewers year-to-date.  These past few weeks where Millionaire has been at the 2.7 rating have been pretty uneventful, with most people struggling to get close to the $25,000 prize level let alone huge money.  These past two weeks, with the Real Housewives week plus this week’s Million Dollar Movie Week, have picked up the money some so we’ll see how that goes.  Not to mention next Monday we have a returning contestant who may be my favorite Millionaire player in years: Susan Filer.  We’ll have more on her later this week.

Like I said before, the rest of the shows were down.  Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! only lost 3% each, to a 7.2 and a 6.3, respectively.  Is it just me or are these two shows suddenly a lot closer than ever before?  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? had its first pretty large down week that I can remember on record.  It sank 12% to a still decent 1.5.  Family Feud lost 13% and hit 1.3.  Deal or No Deal had some decent news this time.  They didn’t even bother tracking the ratings during that week so there’s no record of it going down!  How fortunate.

In network shows, The Marriage Ref, a very loose pseudo-game show, (which is remarkably unfunny, given that it’s Jerry Seinfeld’s show), debuted to an impressive 8.7/15.  But note it followed the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics so we’ll see how it does in week two.  The Amazing Race continues to do well, getting over ten million viewers with a 5.2/9 rating.  I’m going to start adding ratings for some shows I consider to basically be game shows, like Amazing Race and Survivor and that stuff, so check out the ratings page constantly for updates.

A new ratings report came in yesterday.  As the headline says, all you can think is, “Poor Deal or No Deal,” whenever you see the ratings these days.  No matter what the other shows do, even if everything else increases, Deal cannot seem to get any momentum whatsoever.  It’s almost like the viewers know it’s canceled and aren’t bothering to stick around anymore.  It had a not-so-nice drop for the week ending February 14th.  It went down 8% to a 1.1 rating.  It just can’t do anything no matter what they throw out there.  It went down 8% last ratings report also, so we’re down 16% during the sweeps period.  Not too good.

I really do like Deal or No Deal, so it’s a bit distressing to see it go out with a huge whimper like this.  Again, I do like it, I just don’t like what the American version became.  Apparently many who aren’t familiar with the international versions got equally as sick of it.  It started out on NBC as a nice, suspenseful, dark show.  Watch the repeats on GSN.  It’s a totally different show back then than it is today.  Deal can be summarized most easily today by a constant, never ending half hour of top-of-the-lungs screaming.  It’s become a circus.  Watching the show’s progress, it seems like the success of the show got out of the staff’s hands and they lost control of it somewhere along the line.  They held it back fine for the first few years, when it was most popular.  But again, somewhere along the way the brake lines were cut and it hit a brick wall.

As I said before, though, the other game shows did well.  Wheel of Fortune, always the top dog, slid barely enough to note.  It’s only down 1% to a 7.4.  Jeopardy! is doing nicely, up by 2% to a season high 6.4.  Millionaire is getting a new breath of life this season and went up 4% to a 2.7.  Those changes, plus the ABC season this past summer, seem to be working.  Speaking of that, anyone else shocked we haven’t heard about another primetime season of Millionaire since the last one did well for the summer?  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? continues to impress, staying flat at a 1.7.  Family Feud had the nicest increase; up 7% to 1.5.

We’ve got ratings for the week ending February 2nd coming up.  First, though, we got reports of ratings for the premiere of High Stakes Poker.  Given how popular the show has been in the past, the ratings are shockingly low.  We’ve got reports that the show sixth season debut only got a .2 rating.  It’s very down, by that show’s standards.  I wonder what happened.  Has interest just died down?  I’ve been hearing from a few people that there really was practically little attention given or huge support, showcasing what is probably the channel’s most valuable show (and rightly so).  The show always does well in the key male demographics, something no other show on that network can do, so that has to help a bit but this is a bit troubling.  High Stakes Poker is pretty important to that network and it’s been reported that it’s one of the only shows advertisers actively flock to.  Let’s see if they can pull any tricks out of their sleeve and help the show survive.

The rest of the game shows we’ve got ratings for, in syndication, didn’t do that well for the week ending February 2nd.  This includes the first two days of the important February sweeps period, so we’ll see what it looks like better next week.  The shows pull out all the stops for sweeps.  Wheel of Fortune just slipped back a tiny bit; down 1% to a 7.5.  Wheel will be doing a special Sandals Resort Week starting February 22nd so check that out.  Jeopardy! dropped a tiny bit more.  It lost 2% and got a 6.3.  Who Wants to be a Millionaire is still hanging in strongly, down 4% to 2.6.  Millionaire will have a special “Real Housewives of Millionaire” week during sweeps, starting February 22nd.  The “You’re In the Hot Seat” game is still going on which seems to be popular as well.  Not during sweeps for some reason but starting March 1st will be the annual “Million Dollar Movie Week” which historically gives out giant money each season, so it’s not to be missed.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? continues to do great.  It went back 6% to a 1.7.  They really don’t have the option for a sweeps stunt since they seem to have exhausted all of their episodes before December somehow.  Family Feud was the only show which didn’t lose any viewers.  It stayed flat at a 1.4.  Again, I don’t see any sweeps stunts coming up for that.  Deal or No Deal continues drifting into the grave, losing the most viewers.  It’s down 8% to a 1.2.

Sorry about no updates yesterday.  I had a small situation to take care of.

Family Feud has finally launched a new website. That only took four years, but at least it was worth it.  The site’s first update since essentially the start of the John O’Hurley run features some clips of the show from today and the past, surveys to take, updates on the games, and news flashes.  It’s a cool new site.  Check it out.

Time for another ratings update, which you can get more coverage of by clicking here.  The headliner this week is surely Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, which was recently renewed for a second season.  The show went up 6% to a nice 1.8 rating.  One thing to note with this is that this isn’t solely the syndication rating.  This is factoring in other things, like the MyNetwork airing (which became a programming syndicator this season).  When the show first came out the original episodes in syndication-only got around a 1.0 or less.  But the show’s success has been because of a fantastic marketing plan by Twentieth.  I originally scoffed and said airing the show on MyNetwork and CMT would be overkill, but it’s brought in a lot of money and kept the show around.  Not to mention it is genuinely a fun format.  If they can keep up this momentum and actually build anticipation for a second season, which Deal or No Deal chose not to do, this show may run for some time to come.

Let’s look at ratings from one year ago (week ending February 1st), and we’ll do that for the rest of the post.  We’ll start with the canceled Deal or No Deal which chose just to speed to the grave this season for some reason. Deal or No Deal was at a 2.0 then, so that’s a loss of 35% from a year ago.  It did the worst of the game shows from the year-ago vantage point.  I’d argue it’s an age thing, but the reruns on cable do well so it can’t be the main factor.  It probably doesn’t help that you can’t tell a rerun from years ago to a new episode.  Again, it’s part of the whole “speeding to the grave” thing.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire saw a season low 2.4 rating, but believe it or not we’re up to a 2.7.  It’s been in this general range the entire time.  I’ll have to check more but I think the show may be up from a year ago, all averaged together.  It’s the only show to be either level or up from last year regularly.  The show went through a massive transformation the past year, and as much as I love the show it frankly got pretty cheap with the prizes given away in recent times, but people are still flocking to it.  As a huge fan of the show that’s a big relief.  The “You’re In the Hot Seat” home game seems to be bringing some extra eyes in.  Look out in the next few weeks for “Real Housewives of Millionaire” week which will apparently have some tie-in with the Bravo reality series.  In March will be Million Dollar Movie week, and that week tends to give away the most money out of any season.  Last season there were three $250,000 winners right in that area, so don’t miss it if you miss seeing the six figure sums thrown around.

Family Feud last year at this time was at a 1.5, and this season it’s at a 1.4.  Only a loss of around 6% or so, which in the grand scheme of things is fine.  There’s always a core group of fans who get terrified when shows make changes from their holy/sainted original formats, but Feud needed it when they brought back Bullseye and a new car for winning five games.  The fans accepted it clearly, it has to be saving a bit of money overall, and the ratings haven’t been suffering this season at all really.  It’s been in that 1.5 area most of the time.  We’ll see what happens once established host John O’Hurley leaves and is replaced by Steve Harvey.  If nothing else I’m guessing Steve works for cheaper than John, and I do think Steve will do fantastic so the cheaper they can make it the longer we’ll see it stick around.

Finally, the two reliable shows.  Wheel of Fortune is down a bit, just 5%, from an 8.0 last year to a 7.6 this past week.  Jeopardy! was only down 3%, from last year’s 6.6 to last week’s 6.4.  The longevity and stability of these two shows is amazing.

Just a small site update.  You know the Contestant and Ratings pages which were never updated for some reason and horrendously broken.  Fixed them finally!  We’ll be making more tweaks to them as time goes on but they actually lead to new content which is updated regularly, that’s readable, and stuff that you can actually use.  Sorry for the delays in those.  I think after five years I’m starting to understand how to run this website

New ratings for syndicated game shows from the week ending January 24th are in and it was a good week for nearly everyone.  I’m well aware that my writing isn’t the most upbeat, praise-heavy stuff.  If something’s good, I’ll say it is.  If something sucks or is dumb, I’ll say so.  I prize this place on brutal honesty.  However, and especially more recently since we’ve had more crappy news than good news, it can be a bit cynical.  I also noticed that for things like the ratings report the comments seem to be more doom-and-gloom than anything, with any small tick down in the ratings equaling the end of the show.  So in an effort to try something new, let’s have an All Positive Edition of the ratings report!  It’s not even sarcastic niceness.  It’s genuine positive comments.  We’ll all try to avoid saying anything negative about the shows or any adjustments, and it won’t be hard given the most recent ratings.

At the top, as always, is Wheel of Fortune.  It rose 7% to a 7.5 rating.  It’s a rating most broadcast networks would dream for these days.   In slot two is Jeopardy!, up 2% to 6.4.  I started on this idea a bit ago, but I think it can be brought up again.  I truly think these two shows could be the only shows that never get canceled.  I don’t think people necessarily watch for the hosting.  Both are hosted by true pros and are hard to even think of replacing, but I think people watch it for the game.  It’s almost like a Law and Order episode; if you get started you’re going to get sucked in.  Wheel is especially great in finding small little twists they can throw in each season to keep it fresh without making people run away from change.  It’s due to the brilliant producing by Harry Friedman.  These shows have absolutely no end in sight.

In third place for game shows is my personal favorite, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which is up 8% to a 2.7 rating.  It’s the same rating the show has been averaging for a very long time, and it’s a pretty good area to be at.  People have accepted the changes by now, and I see no reason not to.  None of the lifelines, except the removal of Phone A Friend, have changed the show that much beyond a few circumstances.  I mean sure I’d love to see more big winners.  However, let’s face it: the bad economy hit essentially every show this season.  The fact that they gave away the million in some form with the Tournament of Ten was good enough for me.  It’s still incredibly enjoyable to watch, it’s still my favorite game out there currently, and apparently people still love watching it.

Fourth place went to Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? which had a 6% boost to a 1.7 rating.  I say a lot of positive things about this show often so I’ll keep it to the basics: they managed to turn this game into a really fun afternoon quizzer.  It was initially a bit scary but it worked out better than I could have ever expected.  Fifth was Family Feud up a nice 7% to 1.5.  Again, it’s another show I say endless positive things about because it deserves it.  It’s sad to see John O’Hurley leave this season, but I’ve got a good feeling about new host Steve Harvey in the 12th season.  It’s amazing the show has lasted longer than any other American version.  In last place is the soon-to-be-departed Deal or No Deal, flat at 1.2.  The one big positive we have about this show is they managed to make it a more engaging game than the primetime version.  The bank offers make you think more, it’s a quick version, and when the big parts for the show come it usually produces some of the most exciting moments on television.

I’ve got a relatively delayed ratings report, but I’ve got it now and I made an effort so give me an A for effort at least.  These are for the most recent reports, the week ending January 17th.  It wasn’t a good week for any game show except Jeopardy!, which doesn’t happen too often.  The quizzer actually rose by 2% to a 6.3.  It puts it pretty close to Wheel of Fortune which is always nice to see.  As far as I’ve been reading they’ve had some exciting relatively-big-money games with some long running contestant streaks so that doesn’t hurt.  It’s one of the shows that truly has no end in sight.  This thing could go on forever.

The other one that could go on forever is Wheel of Fortune.  It was down 8% this week but still ruled over everything else, with a 7.0  rating.  The budget definitely took a small dive this season from what I’ve seen, but luckily people really don’t care.  Just an aside while I’m on the topic since I don’t get the chance to talk about the show much: is that set barren or is it just me?  There’s like nothing on it.  Anyway, other ratings were down just as much.  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader shrunk 11% to a 1.6 rating.  As we figured a while ago and what’s finally been reported, the current only-syndicated rating, whatever it may be, is not strong enough to get a second season.  However, the reruns on CMT and MyNetwork have made the show very profitable, and it’s why we’ll see it coming back.  It was a genius move which they could be commended for.  It’s companion show Don’t Forget The Lyrics! debuting in September, follows the same model.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire went down by 11% as well, to a 2.5 rating.  The removal of Phone A Friend which has made it remarkably hard to even get to the $25,000 milestone hasn’t affected ratings whatsoever which is nice.  Family Feud lost 7% and got 1.4.  Deal or No Deal, which is nearly officially canceled, fell by 8% to a 1.2.  They fixed the show in the first season and had a chance to knock it out of the park in season two, but for some reason decided to let the aged format rest.  It benefits GSN who is bound to pick that show up instantly.  They need it insanely badly.

Don’t we all love lists?  Well, not really, but this one’s pretty interesting.  Television Business International recently compiled a list of the ten most popular game show formats of 2009.  This wasn’t based on their personal favorites or what the few random readers chose in a poll.  This is all based off of which shows got the most eyeballs around the globe last year.  A lot of the choices aren’t surprises at all, but a few are really shocking.

Coming in at number one is actually Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  I expected it to be Deal or No Deal after the huge few years it had across the globe, but apparently not.  This year was really interesting for Millionaire.  It’s the year the movie Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture at the Oscars, which definitely rose more awareness about it.  It’s also the year you could sense some age on the format and basically every country around the globe changed the format.  The norm these days is either the British 12 question format, the US clock format, or the Australian Hot Seat format.  The show was apparently the runaway winner this year.

Number two was indeed Deal or No Deal.  This also seemed to be the year that format showed some age.  Really…how long could a format as simplistic as this go without being changed?  Interesting, essentially all the US style versions of Deal around the globe are starting to dwindle away but the more original, location-specific versions are doing better.  Even the Australian version is changing when the new season starts on February 1st to try to battle Hot Seat.

Number three was one of my personal favorites: Wipeout.  It’s definitely a guilty pleasure that exploded around the globe, and has every right to.  It’s fun “turn-off-your-brain” viewing.  Number four is Wheel of Fortune which somehow, after all these years, is still knocking everyone else out of the park in ratings.  Five is Family Feud, still going pretty strong here and goes through yet another transition in 2010, with Steve Harvey becoming host.  Six is Don’t Forget the Lyrics, seven is somehow Hole in the Wall which blows me away, and eight is Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? which beyond my best wishes has turned into a very enjoyable daytime quiz.  Number nine went to Jeopardy! which keeps going nicely despite no major stunts or twists like every other show, and in the final ten spot is something I’ve never heard of: I Love My Country.  Anyone have any idea what this is?  Again, here’s the list.  How do we feel about it?  Agree or would you make some changes?

1. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? ITV (UK) 1998 Sony Pictures TV
2. Deal or No Deal Nederland 2 2002 Endemol
3. Wipeout ABC (US) 2008 Endemol
4. Wheel of Fortune NBC (US) 1975 CBS Studios International
5. Family Feud ABC (US) 1976 FremantleMedia
6. Don’t Forget The Lyrics Fox (US) 2007 RDF Rights
7. Hole in the Wall Fox (US) 2008 FremantleMedia
8. Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? Fox (US) 2007 Mark Burnett Prods
9. Jeopardy NBC (US) 1964 CBS Studios International
10. I Love My Country RTL4 (Netherlands) 2008 Talpa Media

Photo courtesy of Valleycrest Productions Ltd.

Sad news to start the day off with.  John O’Hurley has announced this is his final season on the popualr syndicated game show Family Feud.  Amazingly he follows the line of the previous hosts of this version (Louie Anderson and Richard Karn) of hosting the show for four years before leaving the game.  Unlike the others O’Hurley is leaving on his own will.

In a statement, John said, “The time has come to try something new, and while I have prized my time on Family Feud, I’ve decided to set a course for new adventures,” said O’Hurley in a statement. “This includes immediately heading into rehearsals for the U.S. touring show of Chicago, launching my new company Energy-Inc. which focuses on renewable energy solutions, debuting an original golf apparel line in the J. Peterman catalog, and visiting our troops overseas.”

The new host will be comedian Steve Harvey, who actually may be a fantastic fit.   Steve had a hit sitcom which ran from 1996 to 2002 and currently hosts his own radio show.  He also hosted a short-lived variety show.  Steve will begin hosting in Fall 2010 when Family Feud begins its record setting 12th season.  It becomes the longest surviving series of the show in the history of the franchise.

“With his talent, authenticity and innate ability to connect with audiences from all walks of life, Steve exemplifies the spirit and appeal of Family Feud,” said Fremantle President Cecile Frot-Coutaz in a statement. Fremantle produces the long-running Family Feud, while Debmar-Mercury distributes the show.  This is all according to Broadcasting and Cable.

On a personal note, it’s very sad to see John go.  I’ve visited Feud several times and met John often.  He’s one of the nicest people in the business and a true pro.  He’s without a shadow of a doubt the best host that show has had since Richard Dawson and they are losing a major reason why the show is so enjoyable.  He’s been a great friend to the site over the past few years and an integral part of why the show still exists to this day.  He will deeply be missed.  However, I think Steve may be a fantastic fit.  He has the personality to do it, the comedy skills, and the name recognition.  Good luck in the Fall.  We’ll definitely be on the set for this one.

I really don’t watch Wheel of Fortune unless a media alert comes on because I know the drill.  Each episode tends to have three dimwitted contestants who can clap and scream well, who have an elementary understanding of the English language, and who luck their way into large five-figure sums of money.  With a few exceptions that seems to be how the show goes.  Last night during Armed Forces Week the casting producers decided to switch it up a bit and have three people who replaced their excited with even more dimwitted-ness.  Sure, Regis Philbin is a television icon and Kelly Ripa is his well known co-host.  We can’t expect everyone to know how to pronounce their names, right?  Oh, the entire board was full of letters and there was no way they should have mistaken the “B” in Philbin for another letter?  Are contestants chosen by ability to not choke on their own saliva on camera in lieu of reading?  However, if nothing else, at least we know they are too busy working and can’t watch television.  I feel so much safer.  Take a look at the video below.  Just ignore the actual gameplay and bonus and the other filler.  Between the Jeopardy! two-time contestant in 2009 and this bunch Sony is really on a roll with casting for contestants this season!

But in the intentional comedy department, Family Guy had an episode this weekend with Family Feud as the main story device.  Incredibly funny episode and good parody.  The show does a lot of game show related plots perfectly.  You have to think someone over at the show enjoys game shows quite a bit.  Here’s a look. You can catch the full episode on Hulu.

We’re winding down on the countdown for the year, and we move to number three.  Family Feud hosted by John O’Hurley went through probably the biggest change it’s had in decades, if not ever, the last year.  A round called “Bullseye”, allowing teams to play up to $30,000 instead of the old $20,000 top prize, was brought back into the show since it disappeared in 1992.  Not only that any team winning five games in a row retires with a brand new car added, something never done before in the format.  There were some fears, but at least in my eyes they implemented each of these features just about as well as they could have.  This is mostly due to the incredible crew they have over there, including executive producer Gaby Johnston.  Instead of me talking on and on about the show as I normally do, Gaby was nice enough to do a guest blog for us about how the changes came about and more information.  Be sure to read, it’s really great.  Thanks very much to Gaby for doing this for us, and thanks to the entire Feud staff for being so great with us the past few years.

First, as you know, Family Feud has a long history on TV. The format has proven to be a winner over the years. Easy to play along and fun to watch. One thing that never changes is that the key to the show has always been the families. A funny moment with a family member while playing Family Feud is always great TV.

Last year when we looked at what could be done to “freshen” up the show, we focused on the game play. Our goal was to quickly engage the audience in the game. To accomplish this, we brought back a fast paced version of the “Bulls Eye” round to open up the show. It has really worked out well.

Also, we thought it would be fun to have the families introduce themselves rather than have John walk down the line of family members on stage. The families really had fun with this and tended to be a bit more animated without the pressure of being on stage.

And of course, the “CAR.” I guess no game show is complete without giving away a car at some point in its lifetime! This addition gave John the ability to build up the drama during the game and create some new enthusiasm. Again, not a huge change…but a really fun one.

We has some fun over the past summer traveling to various cities and holding live family tryouts. It is great to get a diverse mix of contestants for the show.

As for feedback, there is a risk anytime you change something. But, this year the ratings have shown that viewers like the show even more with the changes we made. In fact, we are picking up a younger demographic…which is very exciting for us.

We look forward to a bright future. We are hopeful we’ll continue to get upgraded time slots, with strong lead-ins, from our stations as they realize what the show can deliver.

Again, thanks for your interest and support. And thank you to all the Family Feud fans.

Our genre has been doing extremely well the past few weeks in the ratings.  Two shows the week ending December 13th, the two to watch the most this season in reality, hit season highs.  First is Who Wants to be a Millionaire which gained a great 13% to a 2.7.  It shows how much I know about predicting this stuff.  I mean looking at ratings and you almost wonder why a lot of shows bother with big money Sweeps stunts, since middle of December ratings did better than that big period.  Always glad to see Millionaire do well.

The other nice gain was Family Feud, up 8% to a 1.4.  Again, it’s a season high.  I blather on and on with praises on Family Feud, so I’ll skip that and just say I get such a smile when I see the show do better or just as well than other bigger money shows.  I don’t see how we won’t be seeing it for an amazing 12th season.  If they do and you live in the LA area I can’t recommend seeing Feud in person.  It’s a great experience.  See Millionaire in person as well, if you have the chance.  You won’t be at a more exciting taping, and Meredith is great.  Deal or No Deal also gained a fantastic 8% to a 1.3.  We’ll see if it’s enough for another season.

Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy continue to chug away with gains each.  Both gained 3%, with Wheel at 7.5 and Jeopardy at 6.3.  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader froze at a 1.6.  Finally, in what can liberally defined as network news, MyNetwork is actually doing pretty decently now.  If you’re not aware they air Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? and Deal or No Deal on Tuesdays.  The shows have helped the network increase by 75% on that night.  With that sort of growth you’d have to figure they’d think about doing more game shows in the future.

Time for a ratings update from the first week of December.  I wasn’t a fan of the primetime edition of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader because, well, it was a complete ripoff of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, but I understand why it has its fans.  It’s why I was a bit excited to see the current daytime edition since they have a relatively unique game now that isn’t falling into the trappings of a million dollar game show, which a comedic quiz game like Fifth Grader felt bizarre under.  It’s why I’m actually happy to see the show continue to do really well.  It grew again; up 7% to a 1.6.  It’s not at the levels that Deal or No Deal hit but it’s far exceeding my expectations and it’s against much tougher competition.  I’m really rooting for Fifth Grader to continue its success and stick around.  It’s really shocked me in a positive way.

I think we’re seeing the effect that Regis and especially the Tournament of Ten had on Millionaire, as it shrinks just a bit to a 2.4 rating, which should still be comfortable enough for them.  They will be rerunning the Tournament for the next two weeks, and after that Phone A Friend disappears.  I don’t know what barometer we’ll have to see if that affects anything at all.  I almost feel silly saying removing it will affect the show’s ratings in any way but I’ve never gotten more messages about the show, nor have I seen Millionaire attract as much attention on Twitter, than about, “Why was Phone A Friend removed.”

Sweeps really don’t seem to affect Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy! whatsoever.  They were at a 7.3 and a 6.2, up double-digits from the last week of Sweeps.  Go figure.  Just for shiggles and comparison, NBC’s The Jay Leno Show can only attract a 3.6 rating, usually at most.  Family Feud and Deal or No Deal stayed the same yet again.  Perpetually boring Deal (which really just needs something to generate a small amount of excitement) stuck at the lowest of games, a 1.2.  Family Feud is around a 1.3.

Like game shows and are a big Mac snob like I am?  A lot of companies have been releasing some great game show games for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  We did some reviews of past ones, and it was a mixed bag.  A lot of companies were just figuring out how to really utilize what tools they have at their fingertips.  They’ve got it all figured out and I haven’t seen a real dud out of the last few released.

The one I urgently press you to pick up is Who Wants to be a Millionaire 2010.  The new version (it’s not an upgrade; you’ll have to pay again) is a total redo of the past versions.  Graphics have been updated hugely for the better.  You still have the actual graphics from the show and all the real music like before.  The view of the game has switched from the vertical view to landscape mode which, again, works in its favor.  But that’s all technical.  Probably the largest change is they added Fastest Finger to the game.  You can keep playing until you get it right or skip it.  But the rest is the same.  The odd things are that they use the old money chain that people actually remember and still reference, and they also kept Phone A Friend in there, but those are really minor.  It’s the best iPhone game show app out there and it’s worth the $4.99.  There’s a Lite version also for free so may want to check that out.

GSN has finally wised up and released an iPhone app for one of their shows; Catch 21 has been released.  It’s not the full show.  It’s essentially just a transplant of their WorldWinner game to iPhone.  But amazingly no one has really released that sort of game to the App Store yet and GSN created a really nice one.  Your only goal is to place cards in four different columns to reach 21 in each.  The faster you do it (and the better too obviously) the more points you get.  Pretty simple.  The best addition is if you have a GSN account your score can be on the leaderboard and you may earn Oodles.  I played last night and made the top spot, so 100 Oodles for me.  Furthermore it’s free so you can’t pass that up.  Definitely worth the download.

The other new one I’ve been playing with is Family Feud, released just a day or two ago by Ludia.  I hate to be picky, but for how nice the graphics were on Ludia’s Price is Right game, and how nice Capcom made Millionaire, I’m a bit stunned how sketchy the Feud graphics are.  I mean it’s fine and miles better than the Wheel of Fortune game, but it’s a bit shocking.  The game plays how you’d expect, though.  Just type in your answers on the iPhone keyboard and hope it makes it on there.  Nice and easy.  If you like playing the show at home you’re going to like playing the game.  If you’ve played the computer or Wii version you know how the iPhone game works.  It’s only $2.99 right now so at this price definitely get it.  It’s 40% off for now so get it while you can.