Let’s start with the positives, though.  With the meteoric rise of Family Feud, Who Wants to be a Millionaire has accidentally been pushed to the side for a bit.  However, they had some great news for the week ending January 22nd.  The long running syndicated quiz show hosted by Meredith Vieira hit a new season high of 2.7.  It’s been doing very well the past few weeks and it’s good to see some numbers close to where the show used to be.  It’s been a little frozen over the past few months.  Fun fact: we’re almost approaching ten years without a $1,000,000 winner (through actual game play).  It would be really nice to even just see a million dollar question.  We haven’t had one of those in about four years.  I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the 11th season then to, you know, prove what the title of the show actually means.

Speaking of Family Feud, this past week it froze at 3.2 which, again, is unbelievably good.  Remember: next season the show will switch to HD.  Steve Harvey’s talk show is taping in Chicago so could we be seeing another location change?  The top two as always are Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! with 7.7 and 6.4, respectively.

Broadcast ratings weren’t anything to scream about, but not that terrible either.  The series finale of NBC’s Who’s Still Standing? scored a fourth place 1.7/5 in the key demographic and a fourth place viewing total of 6.48 million viewers.  An unbelievable number of things were wrong with the show so I’m frankly amazed it managed to basically stay at the same exact place week in and week out.  I appreciate the effort at trying to make a fast paced quiz show, but the Minute to Win It-ization of the format made it practically unwatchable.

In England, the viewing figures for ITV’s quiz show The Exit List are depressingly low.  Last night’s very tense episode, which saw a team bail out with £17,000 after believing they could not escape the Memory Maze with £115,000, only scored 1.8 million viewers.  This is a show that really should be far, far more popular than it is and I’m not quite sure why numbers are dipping even lower than High Stakes.  Frankly, as I’m watching, I’m not even sure why this isn’t airing on the weekends like planned.  It’s got it all and I’ve yet to see a show that didn’t feature some exciting moment.  Massive shame.

Photo courtesy Valleycrest Productions Ltd

You voted Steve Harvey’s run on Family Feud, and its meteoric rise, as the second most memorable moment of 2011.  It’s not even a moment, per-say, as much as it is a collective group of moments that made what you voted for.  The rise of Family Feud is nothing short of unbelievable.  Yes, they benefitted from an adjustments in the ratings system but the 50%+ increase in ratings regardless is amazing.  Has a host change ever worked out this well before?  I can’t remember anything like this.  The last ratings still have it at a 3.2.  It had about half that two years ago.

Family Feud has been on for over twelve years and it just now exploded.  It’s beating Who Wants to be a Millionaire for the first time and I don’t think many expected that to happen.  In addition to Steve Harvey, the social networking has been a major force in the rise in popularity.  From multi-million viewed YouTube clips to the incredibly popular Facebook and iOS game, Feud‘s exposure is constantly growing.  It’s actually being talked about and getting noticed.  Something like this just doesn’t happen often, and it’s showing no signs of growing.  It’s incredible to watch and I hope it continues.

Gaby Johnston, the executive producer of the show, wanted to give a message to all BuzzerBlog readers and fans of the show:

I wanted to take a few moments to both look back over the last two seasons of Family Feud and also take a peek forward. As you can probably guess…we are very excited about the future!

We are really enjoying working with Steve Harvey. His quick wit, the great families and the format of Family Feud have proven to be a great combination!

First, as many of you may have figured out, our primary goal is to entertain our viewers. Our fans have helped drive our ratings to new highs these past two years. We really appreciate our loyal audience…and the NEW viewers!

We also want to take a moment and thank Alex Davis at Buzzerblog for keeping his eye on our show…and writing very kind words ;-) We were honored to be included in the “Best of 2011” Buzzerblog poll.

We have enjoyed putting funny moments on the Family Feud YouTube channel and have enjoyed “tweeting” with our fans. It’s also been fun to see more people enjoy playing Family Feud on their mobile phones and game consoles.

We are actively interviewing families for next season. We’ll be visiting various cities in the coming months to meet new families. We’ve also setup a page on Facebook for families to submit a video audition to us. So, if you want to have some fun with us on Family Feud, please try out! For all the latest details please visit: familyfeud.com.

As for the future, the show has been picked up through 2015 and this next season we’ll tape the show in HD! More fun to come! Thanks again for another great year.

Gaby Johnston

It’s not all good for game shows, though.  ABC’s charity based quiz show You Deserve It inexplicably drop again.  It sank 10% to a new low of 0.9/2 in the key demographic and a 2.3/4 overall.  It’s definitely a goner.  Viewers just aren’t connecting.  Given that this is bombing horribly and ITV’s Holding Out For a Hero did the same, can we put a nail in the coffin of charity-based quiz shows?  They aren’t working no matter if the game works or not.

Syndication perked up for nearly all for the week ending December 4th.  The stand-out as always is Family Feud which grew 19% to a 3.1.  Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! increased to 7.6 and 6.2, respectively.  Millionaire stayed steady at 2.5.  Not bad for anyone in that group.

The rest of the syndicated shows are having a good year as well.  Wheel of Fortune grew 3% year-to-date to a 7.4 rating.  Jeopardy! saw a 7% increase to 6.2.  Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which just ended its viewer incentive program “Club Millionaire” very abruptly, was up 14% from last November to a 2.5.  Good news for all of them this November, so congratulations to all.

Really the only bad news is for ABC’s You Deserve It, which is just not having a good run.  The show clocked in a fourth place 2.5/4 rating overall and barely fourth place 1.0/2 rating in the 18-49 demographic.  It only beat The CW by two tenths of a point.  Total viewers were 3.56 million.  If you’re in that 3.56 million and enjoy watching the show, I’d be saving all the episodes as you can because it won’t be around much longer.  No show will last like this.  I repeat again: good game wrapped in a bad package.

I’m having trouble finding a higher rating for the show in syndication ever, so this could be a series high unless someone can correct me.  The show has firmly taken the third place slot behind Wheel of Fortune (7.0) and Jeopardy! (5.9).  It now has a comfortable lead above Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which also hit a season high of 2.6.

“Stations have wasted no time in securing this franchise well into the future with these long-term renewals, extending Family Feud through 2015 and making it a viable alternative to off-network sitcoms for many stations seeking strong early fringe and access programming,” said Debmar Mercury co-president Ira Bernstein.

We’ve got this Steve and this lady to thank for getting the ball rolling.  Congratulations to the crew.  They’ve brought new life to the show out of no where and I hope it sticks around for a long, long time.

*Who Wants to be a Millionaire is getting its first Super Mix-format console game.  The current format will be jumping to the Xbox courtesy of its new Kinect system.  You’ll be able to interact with the game with your body and your voice.   Millionaire features more than 2,500 questions and follows the rules of the current format.  The mixed up format will guarantee each game is different, and you’ll get to Ask the Audience and Jump the Question like real contestants.  The game will be released on November 1st exclusively for Kinect for Xbox 360. Click here to order the game.

*Family Feud has been experiencing a major explosion this year, and Ludia is bringing you more ways to play with Family Feud 2012.   You can play over 2,000 surveys in various game styles like challenge or party mode.  You can also unlock videos featuring popular host Steve Harvey depending how well you do.  Family Feud 2012 came out yesterday, October 18th, for Wii and Xbox 360 so pick if up if you haven’t yet.  Click here to order the game.

*Hole in the Wall, based on the Japanese YouTube clip more popularly known as Human Tetris, has seen great success recently.  It’s primetime Fox version was critically blasted and low rated, but it made a logical switch to Cartoon Network, where kids play it, and it’s been going strong ever since.  Hole in the Wall: Deluxe Edition features 800 different walls you and your friends can try to squeeze between.  The game utilizes Kinect for Xbox 360 better than most games, so if you’re looking for a fun party game this seems like a great one to try.  It comes out November 20th exclusively for Kinect for Xbox 360.  Click here to order the game.

*This year is the 40th anniversary for The Price is Right.  Ludia also created a The Price is Right: Decades game for the long running CBS game show.  This one will interest a lot of hardcore fans.  You can play through the various decades with the set going back all the way to 1971 and progressing through the 80s, 90s, and the look of today.  Games like Plinko and the wheel will look like they did back in the day.  Not only that, but retired pricing games which you’ve never had a chance to play until now are being included, like the long-forgotten Professor Price, which you can see by clicking here.  The reviews I’ve heard for the game have been incredibly good, so this looks to be a must-have for game show fans.  The Price is Right: Decades came out yesterday for Wii but if you can hold out until November 15th you can get it for the much better Xbox 360 with Kinect compatibility.  Order the game by clicking here.

Which of these are you looking forward to most?  I have a feeling I’ll be picking up Hole in the Wall. Sounds like a great party game.

*ITV is finally debuting their new game show High Stakes on October 11th, a Tuesday.  It’s a relatively strange day for it which doesn’t send signals of strength our way.  We discussed the show before, and you can read that here.  But, in summary, there’s a grid of numbers.  You step on a number on a row and if you’re right you get cash; wrong and the floor very slowly lowers like an elevator eliminating you from the game.  We’ll be sure to let you see some of it whenever the show debuts.  If you want to.  That remains to be seen.

*The new Ludia game show video game The Price is Right: Decades has a debut date.  The game, which takes you through the various decades of Price, will be released October 18th.  Click here to take a look at screen shots of the XBox 360 version of the game.

*We’re always very happy to see BuzzerBlog readers make it onto game shows, especially ones where they can win a boat load of money.  Chad Mosher, who also blogs occasionally at About.com, plays Millionaire tomorrow and Friday, September 29th and September 30th.  He’s playing on Double Money week so one of his questions could be worth $50,000.  Be sure to check it out.  We’ve got another reader, Dave Ramos, playing in October.  We’ll alert you as to when that happened.  Buzzer has a shocking amount of million dollar readers from various shows.  I’d love to see another.

*Now that the game show season is officially on, we’ll be looking at some of the ratings again.  Most recent figures come from the week ending September 18th.  Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Family Feud both had a fantastic week.  Millionaire grew 4% to a 2.4 but the big winner is Family Feud increasing by 8% to a 2.6 rating.  I’m interested to see how high it can go before the end of the season.  It grew massively last year.  Could it get to a 3.0 rating?  Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! scored a 6.1 and 4.6, respectively.

*Speaking of Family Feud, the show uploaded more bloopers from the new series on their YouTube page.  It helped their ratings skyrocket last season.  We’ll see if it helps this time around.  It always seems to be the innocent, sweet ones that say the outrageous answers you don’t expect.

The show is moving to Atlanta, where Steve Harvey is based, for its new season.  The look of the show will remain the same as it did last season in Orlando.  The show’s look still resembles classic Family Feud while updating it for 2011.  The show provided us with some behind the scenes pics of the set, including a unique look from the director’s booth.  Take a look below.

As we get prepared for a second season with Steve, we have to look back at his first season which is just about as good as you could ask for.  I think he exceeded everyone’s expectations.  There were many memorable moments.  Did you have a favorite moment from Steve’s first season?  Let us know.  Mine still has to be the entire “crack” exchange.

*Family Game Night debuts its second season on September 2nd.  You can read our preview of the second season here.

*The Hub’s other two game shows, Scrabble Showdown and The Game of Life, will be showcased in a special preview on September 3rd.  We’ll have a feature on Scrabble Showdown soon.  We’ve been told nothing but great things about it so I’d be on the lookout for that.  Before the inevitable questions get asked: no, it’s not the 80′s version.

*Who Wants to be a Millionaire begins its 10th syndicated season earlier than most: September 5th.  New this season are “Double Your Money” days, prizes to questions occasionally, and Club Millionaire.  You can click here to read about all the new features we showcased first.

*Family Feud sees its newest season, the second with popular host Steve Harvey, on September 12th.  The only change is moving to Atlanta to accomodate host Steve Harvey.  When you raise the ratings as much as he did, you do whatever makes the host happiest.  We’ve got some features and exclusive set pictures coming soon.

*The other two syndicated shows, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, debut September 19th.  Not changes have been announced for either of these.

*The Price is Right and Let’s Make A Deal both start their new seasons on September 19th as well.  Both CBS daytime game shows are getting updated sets, upgrades in money, and specifically Deal will be getting some big new games like “Go For a Spin” and “Strike A Match”, which you can see below.

Did we miss anything?  Let us know.  What are you most looking forward to?  I’m definitely looking forward to Feud and Millionaire.

*It didn’t take long for NBC’s Who’s Still Standing, to get into some problems.  According to Hollywood Junket, someone may have already been hurt on the drops.  The quiz show sets one person against ten others in a quest to win up to $1,000,000.  Whoever misses a question drops through a hole in the floor.  The drop has no real significance in the show, but it’s there and we like stuff like that so we’ll take it.  However, according to audience reports, one contestant was supposed to drop but, instead, three others dropped.

They reset, let the audience out for lunch, but as they tried to re-enter they were turned away.  Crew told the audience members rejected that something was wrong with a contestant and they cancelled production of the show that day.  Dropping three wrong people, instead of just one, is one hell of a mistake.  Still waiting to hear exactly how the American version goes.  The report that people standing on the drop zones were dressed in costume like their profession worries me.  We can’t just have a regular quiz show, can we?  The massive failure of the 1 VS 100 and Millionaire and Password and other stuff like that apparently proved that.  Oh, wait…

*We wrote about it before, but there’s a new interview out with Steve Harvey about taping Family Feud in Atlanta, his current location, this season.  The show will tape at Harvey’s Green Screen Studios.  The show won’t be green screen so don’t jump to conclusions.  You can read the interview here and in the sources at the bottom.

*I like to throw links out to websites we get along with whenever we can.  Big Brother is coming back to the United Kingdom soon, on Channel 5.  They may not be the only country getting it back, though.  It could be making a comeback in Australia.  The website bbspy focuses on updates of the British version plus news of other countries.  If you’re a fan of the show, returning this summer to CBS, definitely check it out.

*We discussed the Travel Channel pickup Scream If You Know the Answer, based on the British game show, previously.  A reader, David M., was there and gave us a report of what went on.  Click here to read it.  Could be a fun show.  We’ll see if it goes anywhere.

*With Weakest Link coming to an announced close in in the future, it’s nice to look back and see some funny moments.  Watching the British version, it’s staggering how much America screwed it up.  Here’s two really funny moments with Anne and contestants.  Anne is awesome.

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*Here’s today’s schedule:
ABC: The Bachelorette at 8:00PM ET (new)
CMT: The Singing Bee at 8:00PM ET (rerun)
Fox: MasterChef at 8:00PM ET (season debut)
GSN: Baggage at 7:30PM ET (season debut); Lingo at 8:00PM ET (season debut)
NBC: Minute to Win It at 8:00PM ET (rerun)