CBS Brings Back “Password” in Million Dollar Form
I’m not a big classics fan. I really enjoy the more modern shows to the old rusty ones. However, there are three shows which I really adore from the old days: Pyramid (Not Donny Osmond’s version), Match Game, and Password. A long time ago we first reported that a remake of Password was in the works, which excited us. However, we just got three words about the new Password revival which is making us really afraid: Primetime, Fremantle, and $1,000,000.
Yes, the production company that brought you amazing US formats like Temptation somehow think that they can mask the fact that people are guessing words at a relatively slow speed by throwing Password in primetime on CBS for $1,000,000. Hosted by Regis Philbin, the show, now called Million Dollar Password, has been picked up and will probably air in midseason. This new edition will combine all three editions, meaning the classic version and the puzzles. It’s still the two teams of contestant/celebrity, but the winner can risk their money in the bonus for $1,000,000.
Sorry for judging a show before it airs, but this just downright scares me. I really enjoy Password and think it would work fine as a syndicated daytime show, for like $10,000 to $20,000, paired with Family Feud. However, a $1,000,000 version? I do enjoy big money some times, don’t get me wrong, but this is a simple guess the word game. Some word game shows can easily pull off a $1,000,000 version, like Pyramid. However, Password? What this means is that they are going to make a simple, fun word game extremely hard to win and drawn out. I’ll hold out some hope and who knows, this may work out. However, I just have a horrible feeling. Is it just me?
Regis hosting Password? I understand strange choices for hosting game shows (John McEnroe with The Chair, Chuck Woolery with The New Dating Game), but Regis? He doesn’t have any experience with word games at all. Better to go with an old reliable, like Chuck Woolery. He hasn’t been on primetime TV since Greed. Or Dick Clark. He hasn’t been on a primetime game show since Winning Lines, and he hasn’t worked with Mark Goodson since Missing Links in ’65.
Well James….let me just say this, I read your post, and this time instead of going nuclear on you, I will just say……..
YOU ARE OVERREACTING! I DO NOT AGREE WITH YOU, ONE IOATA! YOU’RE WRONG!
Thank you.
Someone find me an application link, stat!
I am IN on Password…’specially for a million bucks.
Greg Palmer- “What do you think?”
I think you’re high! Roger Freakin’ Lodge?! Really?
And the game layout you suggested breaks the game show credo: “Keep it simple!” You’ve got WAY too many rules and too confusing a pay-off. The Power of 10 and Millionaire are perfect examples of how to do a big money game show right…easy to play, hard to win.
Greg, aren’t you forgetting something? Dick Clark suffered a stroke about three years ago. When he made an appearance on his New Year’s Eve show after that, he was an exceptionally courageous man, and was cited as being nothing short of “an inspirtaion” by many of the critics who saw him. On the other hand, he’ll be 79 next month. Even if he were in better shape than, say, Barker, he’d still likely be disqualified by that sneaky form of discrimination…age.
Having said that, I’m impressed with everyone’s comments, ideas, suggestions, and hopes. FOr the most part, they look to be very well thought out, indeed. And while I’ll be the first to say I’m a fan; not an expert, unlike many of you, I grew up with PASSWORD. I actually played it in school DURING CLASS in Third Grade (it was being used as a teaching tool). As much as I loved the CBS original, when ABC brought it back, I thought the few improvements (least of which being, the “defending champion”) made this game as close to perfect as could be. Then came PASSWORD ALL-STARS, and it was like the whole floor, rug amd all, was pulled out from under it. I know you fans of PASSWORD PLUS/SUPER PASSWORD will call me blasphemous, but sorry; those two versions represented the dumbing down of a certified classic.
If I were FreMantle, I’d look into recruiting Bob Stewart as a consultant. If any one person knows this game show almost bnetter than their own name, it’s him.
Sigh….I guess people still don’t understand that Pearson was bought out by Fremantle and nobody from Fremantle ever had anything to do with MG98, CS01 or TTTT2000 (which arguably was not that bad, compare it to the dismal period TTTT90 had with Swann at the helm, or Ward’s, which most consider the worst TTTT of them all. Oddly enough, I actually LIKE Ward TTTT so bleah)
I concede Gameshow Marathon was deeply flawed. Ricki was not a good choice overall, and a couple of the games—TPIR and Let’s Make a Deal in particular—were botched. But you’re forgetting the good points—GSM Beat the Clock blew Kroger’s version out of the water, the PYL recreation was amazing, and we haven’t seen such a decent pure MG ‘revival’ arguably since Gene laid down the mic for the last time on the Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour in 1984. (I’m not counting Shafer MG, which was good, for the simple fact of the bizarre Match-Up rounds, but had it followed the format of the Bert Convy pilots, things may be different) And by the end of the series, particularly on PYL and MG, Ricki hit a sort of stride and pulled off pretty decent work.
I am amused by the fact people are saying Million Dollar Password will suck because Temptation sucks. Is Fremantle the only company to ever have a bad show? I don’t think so. Bob Stewart practically invented the unsold pilot with his plethora of bizarre formats (I’m looking at you, The Riddlers. And Caught in the Act ’82. And Jackpot ’84 too) Barry/Enright gave us such gems as “The Hollywood Connection.” Merv Griffin, who created the two biggest syndicated games in history, was involved with a game so bad—”Joe Garagiola’s Memory Game”—that he ultimately demanded the show air without any on-air acknowledgement of his involvement. Even the king of game shows, Mark Goodson, sometimes put out stinkers like, say, “Choose Up Sides” and “What’s Going On?” and tried to reinvent the proverbial wheel by turning Hollywood Squares inside out once he got it for the MG/HS Hour.
Oh, Mr. Butler…
As for Merv Griffin’s failures, you overlooked 1965′s LET’S PLAY POST OFFICE; 1967′s REACH FOR THE STARS, or ONE IN A MILLION; 1990′s MONOPOLY? an unquestionably, one that couldn’t have been only a failure, but an outright embarrassment…RUCKUS. As for WHEEL, it became a monster only AFTER it went into syndication; the NBC/CBS versions never were anything to write home about, ratings-wise; I heard somewhere (can’t remember the specifics, so please bear with me) that during the “Chuck Woollery” era, the show had come close to cancellation more than once.
As for Goodson-Todman miscues, you’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg: How ’bout GET THE MESSAGE (1964); MY BLUFF (1965); DOUBLE DARE (1976); THE BETTER SEX (1977); the Monty Hall-hosted version of BEAT THE CLOCK, and MINDREADERS (1979). PLAY YOUR HUNCH (1958-63) had been bounced around by CBS, and ABC, before NBC took a chance, and the show finally hit its stride.
May I also refresh your memory with a few more of Bob Stewart’s “boners” (yeah, they STIFFED, too-LOL!!) BLANKETY BLANKS (the thing tha slays me most about this horrible show, was the fact that ABC brought it in to replace reruns of “The Brady Bunch.” 13 weeks later, what replaced “BB?” RIGHT YOU ARE! Reruns of “The Brady Bunch!!!” There were also WINNING STREAK; PASS THE BUCK; and YOU’RE PUTTING ME ON. After having seen GSN’s version of CHAIN REACTION, I wonder if Bill Cullen isn’t shitting in his grave?
You also forgot to mention such forgettable Barry & Enright shows as BLANK CHECK; HOT POTATO; and HOLLYWOOD’S TALKING
Yes, I do know of such shows, there are reasons I left them out.
Many of Merv’s shows I have not seen. Wheel and Jeopardy are the only two that have really been around in my lifetime. Monopoly was, yes, but I never saw it (twelve weeks ain’t much..) and I hate to say it, I had a strange affinity for Ruckus. Sue me. :P
I agree Get the Message was bad; I’ve seen it and it’s nothing more than a dreadfully boring Password wannabe. However, Double Dare ’76 I consider quite a good show despite its short run… a few fixed flaws would’ve made it a quizzer for the ages. Ditto for Monty’s BTC, which I actually consider the BEST (yes, I said best) version of the show….I have always found Collyer’s version dreadfully dull, and Narz’s very disorganized and poorly structured.
As for Bob Stewart, I bow to you in that regard—I was only mentioning his unsold pilots. The rest you named I haven’t seen, though the clips of Pass the Buck I’ve seen have seemed rather intriguing to me.
What I’m trying to get at is that a short run does not necessarily make a bad show. True, many bad shows have short runs (naturally) but there are plenty of circumstances where good games have had short runs, too.
Mr. Butler…I have to respectfully disagree with you on BEAT THE CLOCK, which is one of my personal all-time fave’s. While I was too young to remember the primetime version (the Bud Collyer episodes aired on GSN), it eventually went daytime in 1957. I remember that version almost as if were five minutes ago (in a manner of speaking). You’re entitled to feel the original version was boring. But, keep in mind, these episodes cover 1952-57. And boring as they may be to you, keep things in perspective; back in the day, THESE shows represent what made BTC the durable classic it became; the original ran for nearly 11 years between primetime and daytime. I didn’t think much of the Monty Hall version, myself. While it didn’t exactly suck, like it or not, there was definately something wrong when the show switched from civilian contestants to celebrities playing for the studio audience a la TATTLETALES. In short, 13 weeks and this version was history. (the “Bonus Shuffle” segment was the real killer of this version.)
Part of the reason for the Jack Narz/Gene Wood era’s problems (despite a five-year run; not bad at all by game show standards)was those versions had a very prohibitive budget after it relocated from NYC to Montreal. Jack Narz left the show because he was actually losing money, as he had to pay his own way from his home base in L.A. (even though he would buy his plane tickets in Canada, where their dollar was cheaper than the U.S. dollar) that along with a relatively paltry salary…well, do the math. Also, I understand that in Canada, the government imposes some kind of tax on TV shows. It had reached a point where the taxes were getting just high enough for someone in the Goodson-Todman organization to say, “enough!” and pulled the plug.
I gotta tell you, it works. They haven’t worked out every single kink yet, but they’re close. I played the game in runthroughs yesterday–and even with only play-money on the line, it was as stressful as it would be with real cash. It’s classic Password, and there is a million dollars on the line. They’re doing it right, so far as I can see.
I’m very pleasantly surprised.