“Crosswords” Renewed for Season Two
A good struggling show just got another life. Program Partner’s Crosswords has been renewed for a second season according to TV Week. The show has been averaging a 0.8, but got a 1.0 recently. However, the market might be a bit tougher next year having the inclusion of sure-to-be-a-hit Deal or No Deal and potentially Trivial Pursuit into syndication. “‘Crosswords’ ratings are building continuously and now hitting season-to-date highs,” said Ritch Colbert of Program Partners. “This renewal is a testament to our amazing production team and to the power of Merv Griffin’s original vision.”
The show has been renewed in 40 of the top 50 markets including NBC O&Os, Belo, Four Points, Gannett, Gray, Guardian, Hubbard, McGraw-Hill, New Age, Raycom, Sarkes Tarzian and SagamoreHill groups. Show representatives said they are planning to bring more excitement into the show next season. How about giving away a tiny bit more money?
I’m not really one to bitch about a budget, but my god is this show’s absolutely tiny. The spoiler system could use a bit of work too. I like it, but it just comes off extremely unfair in some situations. What would you change for a second season? And be relatively realistic?
Number one on my list? New theme song. The thing they have right now is a bit annoying.
Also, no word on Temptation‘s renewal, but I wouldn’t count on it. NATPE is this week, so be expecting a lot of news.
I agree, H.R. the 2001 version of Card Sharks really did suck. One set of cards instead of both contestants getting their own set of cards? Proof that they fix something that wasn’t broke. And I saw an episode of the austrailian version of Temptation on Youtube, and it was better than the one here, better host and all. Plus, it reminded me of the old SOTC. And, Mike is right, Reg Grundy Productions as well as Mark Goodson Productions has absorbed to Fremantlemedia (so, for all you Scrabble and Match Game fans who want to see a revival, I wouldn’t count on it, at least not anytime soon).
Oh, and thanks, Nevelle, for the FYI. And, Measles, I wasn’t chewing you out, I’m just pointing out ways on how to improve his hosting skills.
devares: I, for one, would love to see a Scrabble revival. Also, check the main page – Fremantle is working on a new Match Game! I won’t get my hopes up, though, because the Match Game revival I remember seeing in the late 90s (I think) wasn’t all that good, although I liked its theme music.
Back to the matter at hand. If there s one thing I’ll give crosswords that I’d only give to one other show, that would be EFFICIENCY. Unlike many of the other game shows on the market today, especially those in network primetime, Crosswords manages to fit an ungodly amount of questions into their 22 minutes on air each episode. Heck, it might even be more efficient than Jeopardy! However, judgng from the popularity of shows such as Deal or No Deal and Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader, the public doesn’t care about efficiency at all, just money.
Honestly, there’s only one change I’d make that really solves a lot of problems. All five contestants play for the entire week. Each player takes two turns as a main contestant and three turns as a spoiler. Literally they just rotate so everyone gets a chance. It gives returning champs which this show sorely needs as well as making the spoiler system much much more fair.
I’d suggest a tweak for sub-$0 scores too. It seems like it caught them by surprise and they didn’t have time to do anything to it.
Note to MikeSant318: I did not know that Grundy was absorbed, I did know about Goodson however. Basically my point was that if they want that particular show to survive, they should go back to their roots (either Aussie “Temptation” or 80s SOTC). Cause now I fear for the newly planned revival of Match Game, will it be like the 90-91 season, the 98 season, or will they actually get it right and do it the way it’s suppose to be done?
But we’re coming from the same place on this I believe.
CROSSWORDS: I just really believe that if the budget is to remain as small as it is, they should just jump to GSN and call it a day. We all know that GSN has become (at least over the past few years) the network for Casino and Word games, so they might as well add another. At least this would be a good back to back pairing with Lingo, and some parents may actually let their kids watch that block of television just to say that it’s helping their kids vocabulary.
Oh, come on! Most game shows are effecient! And people do care about it, for crying out loud.
I’ve heard about GSN’s revival of MG, hr. More than likely they’ll go with the popular ’70s format.It’s more popular than the 1990 or the 1998 version, and definately more popular than the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour (which sucked so much, it never been seen on any network since it got cancelled).
Now as far as Crosswords going to GSN is concern, yes, it would be a great pairing with Lingo, but producers, and especially Merv Griffin (may he rest in peace) wanted the show to go into syndication. I think if Merv was still alive, he would change the format of the show and persuade stations that air the show late at night to move it to a better time slot. There’s at least 1.0 of the show’s ratings there.
I agree with you on the efficiency, neville. When you compare Today’s game shows to the game shows of the ’70s and ’80s like Password, Tic Tac Dough, or Card Sharks, They all became successful because of efficiency, something, as you say, people don’t care about today. Now it’s all about the money. If your show gives away $1 million, people will watch (we can blame Millionaire for that), which is mostly the reason why there are no game shows on Daytime TV, at least not on Network TV, and why so little game shows survive past the first season (consider Crosswords and, should it survive, Tempatation the lucky ones).