30May2007
“Grand Slam” Audience Needed + Host
Today, OCA posted audience searches for the taping of GSN’s Grand Slam. Grand Slam will see 16 of the greatest game show champions going head to head in games of trivia, logic, and math as they race against the clock. The winner of the entire tournament will win $100,000. Contestants from Jeopardy!, Millionaire, and more will be there, so this may be an event not to miss. If you live in New York City and want to see the taping of this historic game show event, click here. Tapings are on June 6th, 7th, and 8th. Grand Slam is being hosted by comedian and talk show host Dennis Miller. We’re also being told that Power of 10 tapes in late July, but we are not positive.
Dennis Miller as host? I can definitely see him pull this show off. I’d love to see a taping of this show – if only I wasn’t 3000 miles away…
It sounds like “International Gladiators” to me, except they’re all smart and it doesn’t involve strength. Is Ken Jennings going to be there?
Like the logo, like the host, if it’s a success, we should see more than one tournament!
Yeah, I’ll agree to Dennis Miller. If he was in better health I think Dick Clark would have been an awesome host.
I found out that the CBS Game Show The Power Of 10 is starting up on July 1st. I found this out on http://www.ask.com by typing in Game Show The Power Of 10 and then I went to http://www.tv.com. I don’t what time though on July 1st hopefully at 8/7 central though because I wanna watch this.
hmm…I think Miller going to be more of an interviewer/commentator, and they’ll probably get an offscreen person to read the questions (since the format is so time sensitive), should be good though.
What the heck does ‘Rant’ mean? LOL
I will note that the official start date and taping dates are not confirmed and TV.com cannot be trusted. It’s 10 times worse than Wikipedia with users editing articles at their own free will. I’ve been told that taping for Power of 10 will start in mid to late July. I’ve contacted Embassy Row and they said they aren’t sure yet.
Our version of Grand Slam had an off-screen questioner, Nick Rowe. He was exceptionally good. Seriously, I’d hope he’d be used for this too.
On another matter any predictions as to who the 16 contestants will be? My picks would be:
Ken Jennings
Brad Rutter
John Carpenter
Kevin Olmstead
Nancy Christy
David Legler
Thom McKee
Bob Harris
Robert “Bob-O” Essig
Curtis Warren
Daniel Avila
David Madden
Frank Spagenberg
and the other 3 will be memorable champs from uk’s countdown.
I’m calling a Lingo champ to somehow be thrown in.
Avila would fit, we had the first £218k loser from Millionaire in ours.
I’d like to see Chuck Forrest thrown in their somewhere.
I know Legler won a lot, but, the new “21″ to me seems like it was way too easy a show to win big amounts of money in.
If they aren’t too old now (70s+), etc, some old school 60s/70s champs might be interesting.
I would count on GSN wanting a Lingo contestant and perhaps a WSOPC contestant as well, for Embassy Row’s sake.
I would pick:
Thom McKee
Ken Jennings
Brad Rutter
John Carpenter
and other big winners from assorted game shows
For hosts, I’d take Alex Trebek as question asker, with Mike Adamle as color commentator/reporter. The great Charlie O would be announcer (with John Harlan as alternate).
Oh a Trebek/Adamle combination would have been quite fun.
Our Grand Slam had three faces involved in hosting on some level – questioner Nick Rowe (who was never seen, barely known but utterly brilliant), the main host Carol Vorderman, and analyst James Richardson (who was known at the time for Channel 4′s Italian soccer coverage, his selection implied the show was treated almost as a sport rather than a quiz). I reckon Miller’s there for the same reason as Richardson and judging by the fact his name alone has been mentioned, he might be the sole studio host… I’d count on an off-camera questioner though, and I’d also count on him being an unfamiliar voice (ideal world, they’d import Rowe, but perhaps some specialist voice-over artist might be a possibility)
Dennis Miller is a great find…a smart guy to host a smart show. He will add a “hipness” factor to the show for sure!
Specialist VA? Well, I think some of the best ones might come from Saban Entertainment. I came up with Trebek because he’s from “Jeopardy!” (the king of quiz shows) and Adamle because he’s from “American Gladiators” (one of my favorite shows). Al Michaels, Brent Musberger, or Dick Enberg might do fine as well.
David Howell, I bet you didn’t know who Mike Adamle was before this post.
If you did, I’m sorry.
Well Mike Adamle fronted International Gladiators over here in the UK, so he probably did.
That’s right! I almost forgot he went to GB.
Here are some names that I thought of that could be on this show…
Mrs. Ruth Horowitz (yes, she’s still alive) (Concentration ’58-’73 Champion)
Leland Yung (P+ and Blockbusters)
Kit Salsberry (Tic Tac Dough)
Kim Hunt (Millionaire)
Bob House (Mill.)
Joe Dunn
Elaine Joyce
Hal Shear ( kicker…….He brings that “Lucky Suit” From long ago)
Rob Griffin ( Jokers Wild)
Robin Glover (History IQ)
M.C. Mccormick ($100,000 Pyramid)
…and for the record….any $64,000 Question/Challenge champion that was NOT given the answers in advance…(i.e. Robert Strom, Teddy Naddler, Joyce Brothers etc.).
….oops, I meant “M.G.” Mccormick from $100K Pyramid.
I really don’t care that much about the contestants. Ken and Thom would be great for me. It’s the hosts I’m concerned about.
I am sure Dennis Miller will find it very hard not to make fun of Ogi Ogas’s name!