GSN Adjusts Schedule in January; Vieira “Millionaire” Moved Around
It’s been a while since GSN’s done any schedule shakeup, and January apparently seems as good of a time as any. All of this takes place starting January 5th. Starting that Monday at 9:30PM ET, Tic Tac Dough is being replaced by the Bob Eubanks edition of Card Sharks. Tic Tac Dough is one of the lowest rated classics on the network according to some figures I recently found, so it’s not a big shock. It gets well below 100,000 viewers basically every episode save for a freak occurrence that occurs with a long time champion.
Most of GSN’s changes come in primetime. Meredith Vieira’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire hour long block is being broken up. At 8:00PM ET is now the Richard Karn edition of Family Feud followed by an episode of Millionaire. Next at 9:00PM ET is the John O’Hurley edition of Feud and another episode of Millionaire. Donny Osmond’s Pyramid will be seen at 10:00PM ET with Chain Reaction at 10:30PM ET.
Late night is also seeing a few adjustments. An hour long episode of rickety old Regis Philbin’s edition of Millionaire is at midnight, replacing the reruns of Vieira Millionaire. I guess it must not be doing that well in that slot. Jeopardy! is at 1:00AM ET, Wheel of Fortune at 1:30AM ET, John O’Hurley’s Family Feud at 2:00AM ET, and finally Match Game at 2:30AM ET. So really, not much of a schedule change; more of a reconfiguring.
PDFs of the schedules have been updated and are available for you to the right, on the sidebar above MiniBuzz.
Crap, crap, crap. Beginning January 5 (early 1/6), “Now You See It” is dropped in favor of “Match Game ’7x”. NYSI was only a few weeks shy of the finale.
I really liked staying up at night watching NYSI. I was too young to remember the show, but from watching it, it was a great show. Replacement is fine, but they oughta have Match Game PM instead of Match Game 7x. Also disappointed that Tic Tac Dough is being replaced by Eubanks CS. Always loved Jack Barry showsd….these were my all time favorites(TJW, TTD and Bullseye).
Oh dear.
This doesn’t bode well for the hardcore game show fans (like myself). Much as I like Card Sharks (especially the Eubanks and Rafferty versions), I’d much rather have Tic Tac Dough remain on the schedule. If they’re taking it down, I suppose it may be awhile before we see The Joker’s Wild or Bullseye return to the lineup ( or any other much-requested classics, if ever).
Frankly, I think GSN should split up into two separate networks, with one showing classic reruns and the other focused on more original and recent content (much like Cartoon Network and Boomerang) (failing economy be damned). Hell, what’s the difference between getting 100K and 200K viewers on average? I’m sure there are other cable network that would kill for such ratings.
That is a horrible schedule change. Shifting Millionaire out of its primetime block is a horrible decision. Getting rid of the Millionaire reruns later in the night is also a bad move. I still think Regis’ Millionaire is better, but I was enjoying catching up on the older syndicated episodes. Are they really not getting good ratings on GSN?
I agree with you, insaneben. Split GSN into two seperate networks, sort of like ESPN and ESPN2. GSN should show original and most recent game shows like Catch 21, Chain Reaction, Millionaire, Weakest Link among others, while GSN2 should show classic game shows like Now You See It, Match Game 7x, Dawson’s Family Feud, Tic Tac Dough or the original H2.
The only reason that TTD is not getting as many viewers as it did (when TTD went back on GSN earlier this year) is because they put it in an earlier time slot. Think about it…it started at 11:30 E (right before lunch time…and, for some…actually lunch time). But, now, it’s at an obscure time…when people are either sleeping, getting up, or working (depending on the time zone).
If GSN replaces it, why not replace it with…wait for it…Now You See It? So many people on this website have stated their love for their show. If that be the case, I am sure that others (who don’t go on this site) love it too. Plus, Jack Narz recently passed away. I say keep the show on for a while as an homage…or maybe put on one of his other shows…how about HIS version of Beat the Clock…and, I mean the one where he hosts…not that awful (IMO) version with Monty Hall as host…I never really cared for that one.
I have to admit: Card Sharks with Bob Eubanks is good…but (IMO) the version with Jim Perry was better. Plus, his version is already in the 9:30 slot on weekends…do they really want to have it in the same slot 7 days a week?
Lastly…and those that have seen my posts probably won’t be surprised by this…how about bringing back the classic Pyramid episodes…no matter what version they put on?
Why… Why does GSN insist on forcing us to relive that dreaded 02-03 season of syndie game shows?
I am surprised that TIC TAC DOUGH is leaving the GSN lineup again after having only survived one full year on the schedule despite four time slot changes. The Eubanks CARD SHARKS is at last coming back to the GSN weekday morning lineup, but they could have waited until the repeats of Perry’s CARD SHARKS finishes it run next year and could have replaced one version of CS with another version of CS.
As I commented on the GSN board, this looks like a conservative, batten-down-the-hatches schedule change. I disagree with Alex – I don’t think this is just another more or less trivial shuffle, as we’ve seen so often lately. I think this is a wide and deep change in response to what will almost certainly be a very tough year in 2009 for the economy in general and advertising spending in particular.
Look at the shows getting more slots: Regis Millionaire, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Match Game, Family Feud, Card Sharks. Each is a tried and true, long-running ratings-getter on GSN.
Now look at the shows leaving: Tic Tac Dough, Now You See It, Monty Beat the Clock, That’s the Question, Camouflage. All are fringe specialties with a spotty history (if that) on the network and no consistent record of luring viewers.
The lesson is clear: with ad dollars much harder to come by, GSN won’t mess around with shows that might be beloved by a few hardcore fans but have little appeal to the much broader game show audience. The network can’t afford to toss away timeslots on little-watched rarities.
As for GSN starting another network, forget it in this economic climate. GSN is even eliminating its west coast feed to save a few bucks. And there’s zero evidence that two game show networks could prosper even in better economic times.
Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in the afterhours? o_O Ok that’s weird but I’m just hoping we get to see some rarely aired seasons like an 80′s Jeopardy and maybe either the 90-91 or an early 80′s WoF. Match Game I’m hoping is either PM (classic or blue set) or the 90′s version. Only then it will be worth watching.
I hated it when they changed from having the two in a row last year and split it up. I don’t spend all day watching tv but do like millionaire even when I know the second one is usally a rerun. Your getting too many game shows and reality shows. I’ll just watch a movie If I want to watch tv.
Why does “Match Game” look so weird today at 9am EDT? It looks either as if it was being converted from PAL to NTSE, or had FilmLook applied. Yecchh!