“Let’s Play Crosswords” Cleared in 30 of Top 40 Markets

19 Mar

Posted by Alex Davis as Crosswords, Syndication

Program Partners, Merv Griffin Entertainment, and the William Morris Agency today announced major markets and group clearances for Merv Griffin’s new “Let’s Play Crosswords” in 30 of the top 40 markets. This new deal gives “Crosswords” the 65% it needs to establish it a firm go for the 2007-2008 season, the first syndicated game show firm go since “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”.

“What you’re seeing here is a flight to quality,” said Ritch Colbert of Program Partners. “The response of top shelf stations to Let’s Play Crosswords has been overwhelming and a statement of the high regard they have for Merv Griffin, his incredible track record and this exciting new show.” Also, Merv Griffin stated, “My challenge was to translate this satisfying pursuit into an entertaining television game. I couldn’t ask for a better endorsement than these early commitments from so many major stations.”

“Let’s Play Crosswords” debuts Fall 2007 in High Definition (HD) where available and is a presentation of Merv Griffin, Program Partners, and the William Morris Agency. BuzzerBlog has obtained a list of the stations “Let’s Play Crosswords” will air in as of now. Please go under the break for the list.

New York (WNBC), Los Angeles (KNBC), Chicago (WMAQ), San Francisco (KNTV), Dallas (KXAS), Boston (WHDH/WLVI), Atlanta (WXIA/WATL), Phoenix (KTVK/KASW), Seattle (KING/KONG), Minneapolis (KSTP/KSTC), Cleveland (WOIO/WUAB), Denver (KUSA/KTVD), Orlando (WFTVWRDQ), Sacramento (KTXL), St. Louis (KPLR), Pittsburgh (WPXI), Indianapolis (WTTV/WXIN), Charlotte (WCNC), San Diego (KGTV), Hartford-New Haven (WTIC/WTXX), Raleigh-Durham (WLFL/WRDC), Nashville (WZTV/WUXP), Cincinnati (WKRC/EKRC), Milwaukee (WDJT/WMLW), Salt Lake City (KTVX/KUCW), Greenville-Spartanburg (WLOS/WMYA), West Palm Beach (WFLX), Grand Rapids (WWMT/WWMT-DT), Harrisburg (WPMT), Las Vegas (KVCW/KVMY), Memphis (WPXX), Oklahoma City (KOKH/KOCB), Buffalo (WGRZ), Jacksonville (WTVL/WJXX), Wilkes-Barre (WOLF/WSWB), New Orleans (WGNO/WNOL), Albany (WTEN/WCDC), Little Rock (KTHV), Dayton (WHIO), Mobile (WPMI/WJTC), Tulsa (KJRH), Charleston-Huntington (WSAZ/WSAZ-DT), Wichita (KSAS/KMTW), Tucson (KMSB/KTTU), Portland (WPXT/WPME), Spokane (KREM/KSKN), Syracuse (WSYR/ESYR) and Chattanooga (WRCB). Affiliates include stations from the NBC O&Os, Belo , Clear Channel, Cox, Gannett, Gray, Hubbard, McGraw-Hill, Pegasus, Raycom, Scripps-Howard, Sinclair, Sunbeam, Tribune and Young groups.

28 Responses

Julia
1
March 19th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

Anywhere in the Philadelphia, PA market going to be showing this show? Anywhere like Allentown’s WFMZ, which shows Family Feud?
Joe_Mello
2
March 19th, 2007 at 3:00 pm

Evidently not. According to the Media Infor Center, Philly is in the top 10.
Brandon
3
March 19th, 2007 at 7:56 pm

Of course Norfolk’s not on the list. :-P

I noticed Belo and Sinclair are both on the list of station groups, so I’ll cross my fingers for that, being they both have stations in the market.

Leaning more towards Sinclair, since Norfolk’s Belo station does quite well with the syndicated shows they have, including Wheel and Jeopardy!
Ben Williams
4
March 19th, 2007 at 8:27 pm

Im surprised that WOIO picked it up…if the show is cleared for all access, it may run at 9am for the departing Greg Behrdnt show (but before the Feud hour), maybe paired with Temptation…if it’s prime access, I’m thinking 7:30 post Millionaire, HOWEVER, can this show run against Wheel and J?
Justin
5
March 19th, 2007 at 8:40 pm

I am surprised to see WHIO pick it up… WHIO is going local HD news on 04/01/07 (estimated date) which means Wheel Of Fortune will be going HD. I am excited that we in Dayton will be able to watch Let’s Play Crosswords in HD as well.

I would assume that this would be in the 7:00PM/7:30PM slots across the country… Except Wheel is on at 7:00PM and Entertainment Tonight is on at 7:30PM and it has been that way for over ten years.

WHIO has a extremely strong syndie lineup at all times with Dr. Phil @ 10:00am… Ellen @ 4:00PM… and Wheel and ET at 7:00PM and 7:30PM… All of which are doing extremely well in their slots… Wonder where this one will go.
Adam
6
March 19th, 2007 at 10:29 pm

I see this is airing on Fox 29 in West Palm this fall, but not in Miami, yet. Hmmm. If it does air in Miami, I hope it’s on NBC 6 and not WSVN-7. WSVN-7 stinks. They interrupt regular programming constantly, and I can’t believe they’re still airing Family Feud and now Millionaire. Does Miami Really hate both Feud AND Millionaire?
Steve
7
March 19th, 2007 at 11:45 pm

In Miami, it will probably be on whatever station Sunbeam owns there, because Channel 7+56(WHDH/WLVI) are owned by Sunbeam and have a sister station in Maimi, unfortunately for you, ’tis WSVN-7. It will probably end up on WLVI56 unless Fox opts to run Temptation alongside Family Feud, heck they could buy out distribution from Debmar/Mercury for the Feud and package it as the Feudin’ Temptaion Hour if they wanted to, Temptation already marks the first time Fox has syndicated a TV Game show in a while (since 100K Pyramid in the 80s until Carolco took over)
Tyler
8
March 20th, 2007 at 12:29 am

I’m surprised Louisville (KY) isn’t on the list, we’re a pretty big market (from what I’ve been told)
Mark
9
March 20th, 2007 at 9:22 am

Columbus, OH also isn’t on the list (we’re in the top 20), which is surprising because we’re usually a test market for *everything*
Adam
10
March 20th, 2007 at 9:46 am

I see KING 5/KONG 16 in my neck of the woods is picking up the show. Hmmm, I wonder what time of the day this is going to air? Hopefully 7:30 PM at night so it can displace that godawful Inside Edition show although our ABC affilate runs wheel and jeopardy from 7 to 8 PM at night so it’s anybody’s guess i suppose.
l.e.
11
March 20th, 2007 at 10:35 am

I’m hoping my local Gray-owned station might air it. They’ve got Wheel, Jeopardy!, and Feud, so it’s likely.
James
12
March 20th, 2007 at 10:43 am

I’d be interested to see which of the Atlanta Gannett duopoly will air *Crosswords*. WXIA (NBC affiliate) currently airs last-season episodes of WWTBAM at 12:30pm (this season’s episodes air at 4p, followed by J! at 4:30p). I could see Crosswords filling the gap between the noon news and Days of Our Lives.
Paul
13
March 20th, 2007 at 11:01 am

Well originally I thought KXTV channel 10 will be airing Crosswords but now it seems that KTXL will be airing the show and hopefully it airs at 10-10:30 AM since Greg Berhendt Show airs at 10 AM and that’s cancelled and KGPE has decided to pick up this show too that will likely replace Dr. Keith Ablow’s show because that too has been cancelled.
Dan
14
March 20th, 2007 at 11:34 am

hmm, don’t see WDIV Detroit on there. Wonder why not, Grand Rapids is there!
Pierre Kelly
15
March 20th, 2007 at 2:08 pm

Sweet! I’ll be watching that!
Intelligentfan777
16
March 20th, 2007 at 7:41 pm

Nice. It’s official, we have another smart new game (along with “Temptaion”) coming to syndication!

Boy, this Fall is going to be H-U-G-E for games!
Steve
17
March 20th, 2007 at 8:30 pm

And, of course, Wash DC is another big city nowhere to be found. This market is infected with too much “gotta show local news and infomercials to make MORE MONEY!” disease.
Intelligentfan777
18
March 20th, 2007 at 11:02 pm

A confession….

I just now saw the trailer for the show. I’m happy with what I saw. This is going to be a game for SMART people. Q&A/Puzzle with a good hint of J! intellect. I think this show proves that in the long run, when you get right down to it, game shows are still pretty much headed in the right direction.
Brad Hasbrouck
19
March 21st, 2007 at 2:39 pm

I’m hoping my local Hubbard-owned station might air it.
Brian W. Moore
20
March 21st, 2007 at 2:55 pm

According to gscentral.net the webmaster pointed out the following…

“Is anybody else a bit confused by the total lack of information on Let’s Play Crosswords? The show has no pilot and only a vague promotional pitch film on the ‘net…and yet it’s been given a firm go for next Fall. I know Merv Griffin carries a lot of clout in the industry (and rightfully so), but as a station manager, wouldn’t you want to know some basic info about the show before clearing it? It’s certainly not like every Merv show has been a hit (I’m looking at you, Headline Chasers and Monopoly).”
Anon
21
March 21st, 2007 at 8:52 pm

I was hoping KSDK (5-HD) would pick it up… The’ve got J! @ 3:30 & Wheel @ 6:30 [the prime access slot is 6:30, so no J!+Wheel...] They could’ve put it on to replace the reruns of the local access show after “Today @ 10″… but the Today show is expanding to 4 hours this fall… KSDK is the only HD station in St. Louis… hello distorted picture… :(
Anon
22
March 21st, 2007 at 8:56 pm

oh yeah, I forgot to mention that by “hello distorted picture”, I meant that there would be those “letterboxes” at the top & bottom of the screen… are any of your stations showing “Crosswords” in HD? I HATE those letterboxes. HATE THEM!!!!
Anon
23
March 21st, 2007 at 8:57 pm

Oh yeah, I forgot something. Brian, “Headline Chasers” was a show by Wink Martindale, not Merv
Brian W. Moore
24
March 21st, 2007 at 10:06 pm

Well, I think he co-produced it.
Roland Taylor, Jr.
25
March 22nd, 2007 at 12:15 pm

OH, BOY! I live in the Charleston (WV) area, and I saw WSAZ has picked up the program! YIPEE! I’m just wondering though if the show show will actually air on channel 3, or its digital subchannel MyZ?
Zach
26
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:51 pm

Who is going to be the host? Merv will probably pick a local Chicago TV personality who will be unknown to the rest of America. But hey, Pat Sajak was unknown outside of LA and Nashville when he started doing Wheel so who knows?
David Davenport
27
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:25 am

Has any station in Houston picked it up?
Chris
28
March 25th, 2007 at 1:49 am

Guys I Dont see “Crosswords” being put up against Wheel and J! as why would Merv have one of his shows beating up on another?