31Dec2009
Top 09 of 2009: Number One
It's our top moment of 2009, and it really shouldn't come as a big shock. It's, of course, Ken Basin's memorable loss on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. When ABC brought back the show this summer to "celebrate the tenth anniversary", they essentially took the entire package of the syndicated version and added Fastest Finger. We saw a few issues, like Regis not handling the clock well at all and the fact that the daytime difficulty is a bit of a damper in primetime since no one can win barely anything anymore. It definitely got better as the series progressed, but Ken Basin saved the best for last. He made it to the $1,000,000 question which was the following:
Read MoreView Comments (22)31Dec2009
Top 09 of 2009: Number Two
I think I can speak for many by saying I never expected a game show to appear on daytime television again. I don't watch soap operas and I don't know that genre of television in the slightest, so I had no idea the industry was going down for them. One got canceled, and I figured its time slot would just go to another court or talk show. To my surprise and the delight of many (It's still our most popular thread ever), it was announced that a game show was a serious contender. The $1,000,000 Pyramid was thought to be it, but in the end the winner of the afternoon slot, and the first daytime game show in over 15 years, was Let's Make A Deal.
Read MoreView Comments (14)29Dec2009
Top 09 of 2009: Number Three, With Guest Blog from Gaby Johnston
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 m
Read MoreView Comments (25)28Dec2009
Top 09 of 2009: Number Four
Winding down on our countdown and we go over to England for not really a moment, but a show. We talk quite a bit about The Cube and, well, how much better and more inventive and more fun and more revolutionary it is compared to any other show that has come out probably since Deal or No Deal. The show has its roots dug deep into the history of game shows. If we want to get down to it the show is the classic game Beat the Clock. But the extra high tech surroundings they put around it didn't make the show into a traditional overblown primetime game show. It transformed it into something a bit revolutionary and redefines what a game show can do. The Cube bends the rules of game shows. Some people like the pure, more live-to-tape feel,
Read MoreView Comments (1)27Dec2009
Top 09 of 2009: Number Six
Edit: I apparently forgot to set the time to publish. My mistake. Number six on our countdown of the year is relatively new and we've covered it so much I don't know how much discussion we can do. It's Jeff Kirby, the man who made national headlines by cheating Jeopardy!. It should come as no surprise to any of you that you can only be a contestant on Jeopardy! once. Jeff Kirby was originally on in 1999 and, well, he lost. Somewhere along the line he thought he could bend the rules a bit and try again. He made it on in October and lost yet again. But he got caught by some readers who emailed me. I hate parading myself around but we broke the story first, and it caught massive attention. Comcast put it on the front page news, var
Read MoreView Comments (4)25Dec2009
Top 09 of 2009: Number Seven
Before we hit number seven, I just want to wish you all a great holiday weekend. You all are so loyal and understanding of my neuroses and long crazy rants and I cannot pay you back enough. I owe you so much in the future. I appreciate it more than you know. But enough of this. Onto number seven. I swear we'll have a happy moment soon, but we just can't hit one yet. Remember GSN's 2009 Game Show Awards? Yeah sadly not a lot remember specific things about it. I don't know what happened. At first it sounded interesting. They made it seem like a cheesy 1970s game show style event. Something happened along the way and it became modernized and lost any sense of style. It was fun to be there and experience it, and I'm eternally gra
Read MoreView Comments (23)24Dec2009
Top 09 of 2009: Number Eight
Number eight on our countdown involves a specific person to me but it's a generalized topic. This was definitely a year of god awful celebrities on game shows. We saw it infest so many shows. Catch 21 and Newlywed Game got pounded by celebrities in a negative way. Jeopardy! is doing one show a month which isn't bad, but it's been really embarrassing for the CNN anchors constantly losing to comedians. Without a doubt, though, the most agonizing celebrity I've ever seen or experienced on a game show was Patricia Heaton on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. This summer on ABC's special series of Millionaire at the end of the show a celebrity was invited to come on and play one question for $50,000 using one lifeline only. I was physically
Read MoreView Comments (11)23Dec2009
Top 09 of 2009: Number Nine
It's time for our fourth annual countdown of the most memorable moments of the year. This one is the top 9 moments of 2009. When we were making this list, we really realized that this wasn't that good of a year for game shows. Not a ton of good. Budget slashing, tons of shows going away, unnecessary changes, and so much more just plagued shows this year. It's essentially the Year of Crap. But a lot of interesting things did happen all across the globe. Number nine on our countdown goes to Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and one man in particular: Alan Carver. To say Alan Carver was the most hardcore Millionaire contestant ever is an understatement. For the entire first season when the show added the clock we wondered why no one e
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