Quick update on Trivial Pursuit. One of my favorite hosts, Mark Walberg, is currently being named host of the show by TVWeek. Denbar-Mercury is looking at a Fall 2008 debut of the interactive trivia show. As we talked about a while ago, also be looking out for Power of 10, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, and many more for syndication next year. Hopefully it’s better than this year’s disappointing new syndicated game roster.
18 Responses
Scott
1December 19th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Gee, and we haven’t even seen the Moment of Truth yet…this show is a better fit for Wahlberg (everything he has done to this point is edgy)
Neville
2December 19th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I think Mark L. Wahlberg is a great host, and I look forward to the return of the ‘Trivial Pursuit’ game show - I’m interested to see what format they choose. Now, as far as ‘this year’s disappointing new syndicated game roster,’ I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you, Alex. If I recall correctly, the last year we had syndie game show premieres was 2002, with Meredith’s ‘Millionaire’ and Donny Osmond’s ‘Pyramid.’ Those remembring ‘Pyramid’ will also remember that it only lasted two seasons, but I feel sure we all know that ‘Millionaire’ is still on. What I’m saying is, right now, returning from last season, we’ve got J!, WOF, The Feud, and Millionaire. This is the first time that I can remember in FIVE years that we’ve seen an attempt to get back into syndication, which is very difficult, especially with the return of so many courtroom shows and going up against talk giants such as Oprah, Ellen, and Regis. Now, I know that ‘Temptation’ is not a great show by any means, but ‘Crosswords’ is at least fun to watch. Note that as the months have gone by, they’ve fixed some of the problems - especially those in the prize department. Sure, ‘Temptation’ and ‘Crosswords’ probably won’t be around ten years from - at least not in their current formats - but they’re paving the way to bring in more game show in the coming seasons, showing that it can be done, even by a show like ‘Temptation.’ I personally believe that it’s better to see one new show with some promise come out in one year than to have nothing come out.
Scott Meckley
3December 19th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Mark L. Walberg I agree with Neville is a great host. He knows how to be serious and yet can crack a joke once in a while. I will check out both The Moment of Truth (which I have my doubts about ) and Trivia Pursuit. I really think though that a primetime network ought to revive Russian Roulette into primetime and have the top prize $250,000 risking $25,000 to play for $250,000 and also have returning champs and the questions worth more money (1st round $500 and that is the amount to start off the game with) 2nd round $1,000 3rd round $2,000) I think that Russian Roulette would fit in very well in primetime because of the trivia luck and strategy. Russian Roulette to me was Mark L. Walberg best gameshow. I hope this Trivia Pursuit has good gameplay because if it does I think it will get good ratings.
Alex Davis
4December 19th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
By new shows, I mean Temptation and Crosswords. The others are returning.
When 50% of your new shows are total crap, I do call it rather disappointing, sorry. Crosswords isn’t that bad because it has fantastic play-along. However, even factor in how many shows we were supposed to have, like Catch Phrase, Deal or No Deal, Guess Who, and more. It turns a bit bad. I can verify that I was told at least one of the shows I just listed was all but confirmed to come on, but something happened in the end.
Mark L. Walberg
5December 19th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Hi gang!
Just wanted to say that I agree with Scott on Russian Roulette. It would have (would still) work in primetime and I LOVED that little show! As for Trivial Pursuit, i think it’s a really clean format and could be pretty good. And as for M.O.T., it may feel a little more talkshowish than you gameshow diehards (like me!) may like, but I’m telling you..it is riveting! And don’t let the promos fool you. It has some salacious moments, but it has some pretty hearfelt ones too!
Happy Holidays!
Walberg
Your humble host
insaneben
6December 19th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Well, Mark L. Walberg, I don’t mean to rag on Moment of Truth (I really do), take away the game element and what do you get? Maury “You are NOT the father of the child!” Povich.
Still, I’m happy to hear you’ve got a back-up plan in the form of Trivial Pursuit. Just be sure to say “Hi” to Wink Martindale next time you see him (oh, and ask for some advice, since he did host the short-lived 1993 version).
shelly
7December 19th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Schweet news indeed. *nods* Good luck, Mark! :)
dropzone5
8December 19th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
I guess it comes as no surprise that I was (and still am, thanks to Mr. Wetterberg’s YouTube posts) a HUGE fan of Mark L. and Russian Roulette. I really wish that show would come back…as Mark himself said on an RR promo (referring to the hole gimmick):
(chuckling) Oh, man. That never gets old!
Good luck with these two new shows, Mr. Walberg! I hope they do really well. I’ll be on the lookout for them.
Wheelloon
9December 19th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
I gotta like Mark Walberg as TP host, he and I share the same name! ;)
Heh, that’s not only why, I have really liked the work he’s done on RR, and am happy to hear he’s got two new gigs coming. I wish him the best of luck. He’ll blow all the first season GS hosts clear out of the water.
Moment of Truth has me intrigued, surprisingly, as I’d usually place it with other shows (i.e. The Chair, Without Prejudice…) in their own cateogry called “SMUT TV,” but it strikes me differently, I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the lie detector concept, maybe it’s the type of questions contestants will have to answer to win, maybe it’s Mark… I dunno, lol…
As for Trivial Pursuit, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this version NOT supposed to be based off Wink’s version? I believe I read that in an article awhile back on here. Either way, it has great potential, and unlike the starter syndie games from this year, it seems to already be on semi-solid footing. Temptation has gone nowhere as the season has gone on (even though Rossi has improved, IMHO), and even though I enjoy Crosswords, watch it regularly, and feel it and Ty have markedly improved (tonight I just saw the first episode with the quadruple value clues in round 3), it is still flawed and needs some work. If its ratings can’t scrape past 1.0 starting next year, it can’t be expected to return for a third season, sorry to say…
For next year, I’ve heard about DoND, Po10, and 5th Grader. If Password does well, I see it being a potential candidate, and (lord willing) 1 vs 100. For this past year, I heard about DoND (debunked of course), Crosswords, and Temptation, of course, and a few others. One of the EARLY ones I ended up hearing about was Catch Phrase, but until you just mentioned it Alex, I had completely forgotten about it!
Catch Phrase would be a solid format to bring from England, IMHO, and it brings a new concept into the seeming repetitiveness recent GS’s have been suffering from (it might also appease some Concentration fans, like me, who like the concept of picture puzzles). I don’t know how much you can reveal, but my guess is that CP was the show that got canned at the last minute. Maybe we’ll see it this coming season *crosses fingers*. Either that, or NBC can just bring Concentration back itself. They’ll have plenty of airtime to fill, and it’ll cost them next to nothing being in-house… ;)
captparis1
10December 19th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Mark L. and Scott should talk to Gunnar W. (show’s creator) about selling the show to the CW network. Beauty & Beast gives away $250,000 and it gets that net in quiz game wars-without blowing their meager budget. PLUS, as Russian… was a tough quiz with a great amount of luck involved, it would rarely have to pay out the grand prize.
Mike B.
11December 20th, 2007 at 12:54 am
This is wonderful news. Mark L. Walberg is definitely one of the best modern-day hosts and it’s so great to see him get a syndicated show that isn’t a smut-fest.
Intelligentfan777
12December 20th, 2007 at 12:57 am
YO MARK! What is Up?!
Great to have you on the board. The Moment of Truth is definitely one of those “You either LOVE it, or HATE it” types of shows. But I think we will check it out. Also, congrats on getting the Trivial Pursuit gig, this show could be great next season, and we hope you succeed with it, big time! Lord knows, you deserve to be the host of longer running game show. You are long overdue.
Before I go for now, one question………Do you miss “Shop ‘Til You Drop” at all? ;)
Chris
13December 20th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
$250,000 is not much on the CW line, remember they did a 6 week gameshow where they guaranteed and paid out $777,000 at the end of the 6 week gameshow run, and had Pat Kiernan host it too. But I agree, get Gunner on the line, RR is too good of a show to leave off USA tv, you’d think with him posting on YouTube that GSN’s oprtion(s) Are LONG GONE to the show.
captparis1
14December 20th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Thanks, Chris. I think you’re confusing the now dead WB (Buffy, Dawson’s Creek) with the CW ,what’s left of the WB (Smallville, Supernatural) combined with the “best” of the also decayed UPN (Smackdown, Everybody hates Chris, Top Model.)
Otherwise, someone Gunnar quick and get a great quiz game back on the air.
Mark L.
15December 20th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Intelligentfan, to answer your question about STYD, I will alwasy have fond memories of that experience. It was so early in my career and I made a lifelong friend in Pat Finn, so for that I’m grateful. Many of you may not know it, but Pat Finn is a truly great man- dedicated to other people’s personal development- and has been a close friend and mentor to me since we met on STYD.
Besides, we all had so much fun working on that show!
dropzone5
16December 21st, 2007 at 1:58 am
And I’m sure you had just as much fun on RR, as well. Although, one question for ya Mark: I know, that at the end of one show, you jumped down one of the holes. But did you actually stand on that trapdoor and let it drop you?
Scott Meckley
17December 21st, 2007 at 8:29 am
I’d like to talk to Gunnar W. and i went to the website but couldn’t seem to find any way to contact him and suggest it. I think that NBC would be the right network to do Russian Roulette because NBC seems to do well with gameshows or even CBS. I am going to send an email to the creator of Russian Roulette and tell him that i think he should revive it in primetime on one of the four networks (ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX)
Paul
18December 21st, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Well mark, I mean since you have hosted a lot of Game show in recent years, it should be noted that you were a talk show host once from 1995-1996 which is distributed by New World TV I remembered that you had Drew Barrymore and awatermelon eating contest winner on your talk show once, do you know when that occured?
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