Neil Patrick Harris Hosts “The Cube” Pilot for CBS
Developing story and I’ll add more to it as I read more, but the always great TVMoJoe at the equally great The Wrap has confirmed that CBS is the new home for the hit UK game show The Cube which is shooting a pilot next week. To add to it, Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met Your Mother is the host. So CBS has bested NBC’s ripoff Minute To Win It in format and host. In addition to hosting, Harris will be executive producing the hit show, which says to me he’s a fan of it and helped it get to where it is.
The pilot will tape in London next week, and I know we have a few people going who will report back. For those not familiar with it, The Cube sees a contestant face a variety of challenges inside a large, intimidating plexiglass cube for large sums of money. The challenges may look easy but every becomes harder inside The Cube. The Cube was originally with Fox who dropped it for Our Little Genius. It took a mere month before CBS picked it up. It’s a great format, and CBS looks to be the perfect home for it. CBS doesn’t make bad game shows. They’re very picky, and they see the potential. Be expecting to see this show up this summer.
Edit: By the way, doesn’t the host of the UK version look like Neil a bit? A bit funny.
So after the pilot tapes next week CBS will have the option to move forward with the series or not, but as I said I expect them to. For those not familiar with the show, take a look below. How exciting is this? The prospect of The Cube just got incredibly exciting. Congratulations to Objective TV who found a fantastic place for it. It’s the future of game shows and the best since Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
NPH with a very good chance of hosting?
CBS…PLEASE! !!
I'M BEGGING YOU!
GREEN LIGHT THE CUBE!!!!
NPH with a very good chance of hosting?
CBS…PLEASE! !!
I'M BEGGING YOU!
GREEN LIGHT THE CUBE!!!!
I could argue that CBS hasn't had a "pretty good track record" with prime time game shows in 50 years… when panel shows were king. If you remove Survivor and The Amazing Race (which I don't consider to be game shows in the strictest sense…they're in that gray area called "reality/competition") and look at the list of prime time traditional game shows that were attempted on CBS in the last ten years or so…it's a pretty short list.
Winning Lines
The Power of 10
Million Dollar Password
The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular
Game Show Marathon
(are there any I've forgotten?)
Ratings-wise, only Winning Lines truly bombed. TPIR usually won or was competitive in its time slots. MDP got good ratings, just not in the younger demos. The Power of 10 might still be on in some fashion today if CBS hadn't thrown it up against American Idol AND Deal or No Deal at its peak. GSM was never intended to be anything but a stunt. CBS's best success with game shows was in Daytime in the 70s and 80s. Hopefully, they'll repeat that success with more shows in Daytime.
That said…LOVE the Cube!
NPH enjoys game shows, as we know, so it is appropriate for him to host one now. We have finally reached the point where solid talent does not feel it is a "shame" or "taboo" to host a game show. Maybe that will extend to celebrity appearances like Pyramid one day…
CBS is notoriously picky when it chooses summer fare — the amount of first-run summer series it runs tends to be significantly less than the other "Big 4" networks, as their reruns of scripted fare tend to hold up quite well during the summer.
If "The Eye" opts to pick up Cube USA, I'd like to see it premiere in late May once TAR ends its next tournament. Sunday nights at 8 ET between the end of TAR and the start of BB (late May to early July) would work — MDP had good numbers in that slot during the summer of 2008.
CBS' big issue will be finding a slot for Cube USA if the show does well enough over the summer to warrant a slot during the "regular season." The Eye doesn't have many holes to fill on its schedule — Wednesdays at 8p, Fridays at 10p and possibly Sundays from 9-11p are their biggest issues.
If I were the Eye and Cube USA succeeds in the summer, I'd slot it on Thursdays at 8p between Survivor tournaments. NBC and ABC are having problems in that time slot, and FOX will likely be in reruns (Bones) during the time Cube USA would air.
CBS is notoriously picky when it chooses summer fare — the amount of first-run summer series it runs tends to be significantly less than the other "Big 4" networks, as their reruns of scripted fare tend to hold up quite well during the summer.
If "The Eye" opts to pick up Cube USA, I'd like to see it premiere in late May once TAR ends its next tournament. Sunday nights at 8 ET between the end of TAR and the start of BB (late May to early July) would work — MDP had good numbers in that slot during the summer of 2008.
CBS' big issue will be finding a slot for Cube USA if the show does well enough over the summer to warrant a slot during the "regular season." The Eye doesn't have many holes to fill on its schedule — Wednesdays at 8p, Fridays at 10p and possibly Sundays from 9-11p are their biggest issues.
If I were the Eye and Cube USA succeeds in the summer, I'd slot it on Thursdays at 8p between Survivor tournaments. NBC and ABC are having problems in that time slot, and FOX will likely be in reruns (Bones) during the time Cube USA would air.
I could argue that CBS hasn't had a "pretty good track record" with prime time game shows in 50 years… when panel shows were king. If you remove Survivor and The Amazing Race (which I don't consider to be game shows in the strictest sense…they're in that gray area called "reality/competition") and look at the list of prime time traditional game shows that were attempted on CBS in the last ten years or so…it's a pretty short list.
Winning Lines
The Power of 10
Million Dollar Password
The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular
Game Show Marathon
(are there any I've forgotten?)
Ratings-wise, only Winning Lines truly bombed. TPIR usually won or was competitive in its time slots. MDP got good ratings, just not in the younger demos. The Power of 10 might still be on in some fashion today if CBS hadn't thrown it up against American Idol AND Deal or No Deal at its peak. GSM was never intended to be anything but a stunt. CBS's best success with game shows was in Daytime in the 70s and 80s. Hopefully, they'll repeat that success with more shows in Daytime.
That said…LOVE the Cube!
I could argue that CBS hasn't had a "pretty good track record" with prime time game shows in 50 years… when panel shows were king. If you remove Survivor and The Amazing Race (which I don't consider to be game shows in the strictest sense…they're in that gray area called "reality/competition") and look at the list of prime time traditional game shows that were attempted on CBS in the last ten years or so…it's a pretty short list.
Winning Lines
The Power of 10
Million Dollar Password
The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular
Game Show Marathon
(are there any I've forgotten?)
Ratings-wise, only Winning Lines truly bombed. TPIR usually won or was competitive in its time slots. MDP got good ratings, just not in the younger demos. The Power of 10 might still be on in some fashion today if CBS hadn't thrown it up against American Idol AND Deal or No Deal at its peak. GSM was never intended to be anything but a stunt. CBS's best success with game shows was in Daytime in the 70s and 80s. Hopefully, they'll repeat that success with more shows in Daytime.
That said…LOVE the Cube!
For the second half of the summer, that is reserved for Big Brother, IIRC. But the first half of the summer… That would be golden.
…No, the host of the UK version is a dead ringer for Dick Clark. At least in that particular photo he is.
There was a contestant call for UK-based American ex-pats sent out initially to all the audience members for the pilot next week, so any series is presumably to tape on the London set too.
My advice to CBS…
Keep the ITV theme music, get Peter Cullen (aka Optimus Prime) as the voice over,
get a rather appealing Body, and DON'T F- UP WITH THE TIME SLOT!!!
(Oh, and get a new Pyramid to replace ATWT…)
My advice to CBS…
Keep the ITV theme music, get Peter Cullen (aka Optimus Prime) as the voice over,
get a rather appealing Body, and DON'T F- UP WITH THE TIME SLOT!!!
(Oh, and get a new Pyramid to replace ATWT…)
@ David Howell: Makes sense to shoot the pilot in London, but, I hope the series itself is shot in either L.A. or New York because, as evident by The Money List, it will hurt them in the long run.
This is great news for the Tiffany Network.
AMEN!
Anyone who is not familiar with "The Cube" can look it up on YT. Best results are to look under Philip Schofield.
Showed the premiere to my friend Chuckles Gardner last night, and he warmed to it after the first game, which he thought was too easy.
I'm familiar with NPH from his voice-over work. He's young enough that he should work out fine in this role. Wonder if he discovered the show on YT.
Wish CBS all the best with this, especially if they keep the ingenuity of the games at a high level, as ITV did.
Anyone who is not familiar with "The Cube" can look it up on YT. Best results are to look under Philip Schofield.
Showed the premiere to my friend Chuckles Gardner last night, and he warmed to it after the first game, which he thought was too easy.
I'm familiar with NPH from his voice-over work. He's young enough that he should work out fine in this role. Wonder if he discovered the show on YT.
Wish CBS all the best with this, especially if they keep the ingenuity of the games at a high level, as ITV did.
No, I think NPH is west coast mostly (HIMYM tapes out here). And obviously they'll probably build the Cube set out here as well after the initial pilot.
No, I think NPH is west coast mostly (HIMYM tapes out here). And obviously they'll probably build the Cube set out here as well after the initial pilot.
Unlike most of you here, I'm not a big fan of British and European game shows (with some exceptions such as Millionaire, DOND, Weakest Link and such). That said after watching the episodes on You tube id have to say that this is a really good game show. Hopefully CBS, Fox, or whoever will pick this one up.
Unlike most of you here, I'm not a big fan of British and European game shows (with some exceptions such as Millionaire, DOND, Weakest Link and such). That said after watching the episodes on You tube id have to say that this is a really good game show. Hopefully CBS, Fox, or whoever will pick this one up.
I just saw a promo for Minute to Win It. The creators of The Cube should sue.
Have just been to the recording of the pilot – should stand a good chance of being picked up!
Id also like to add that I've looked around for what people though about this show, and i see a lot of people bagging on it because some think it's the replacement for As the World Turns. Little too early for assumptions like that i would say.
Id also like to add that I've looked around for what people though about this show, and i see a lot of people bagging on it because some think it's the replacement for As the World Turns. Little too early for assumptions like that i would say.
I was at the pilot last night – Neil seemed a little nervous at first but soon got into his groove though the whole taping was very tiring – it went on for four hours! Best contestant was Michelle who got to the $75,000 stage but lost all her money building bricks, and another contestant who lost out early on when he couldn't bounce a ball into a container. I would say it might get picked up but i think the pace of the show is very slow for U.S audiences. Neil mentioned he had been watching tapes of the UK show all week and it did seem like they have tried to copy the UK format in every way.
I was at the pilot last night – Neil seemed a little nervous at first but soon got into his groove though the whole taping was very tiring – it went on for four hours! Best contestant was Michelle who got to the $75,000 stage but lost all her money building bricks, and another contestant who lost out early on when he couldn't bounce a ball into a container. I would say it might get picked up but i think the pace of the show is very slow for U.S audiences. Neil mentioned he had been watching tapes of the UK show all week and it did seem like they have tried to copy the UK format in every way.
I was at the pilot last night – Neil seemed a little nervous at first but soon got into his groove though the whole taping was very tiring – it went on for four hours! Best contestant was Michelle who got to the $75,000 stage but lost all her money building bricks, and another contestant who lost out early on when he couldn't bounce a ball into a container. I would say it might get picked up but i think the pace of the show is very slow for U.S audiences. Neil mentioned he had been watching tapes of the UK show all week and it did seem like they have tried to copy the UK format in every way.
Been watching UK episodes of The Cube on YouTube…it's seriously addicting, especially for the build-up and tension factor.
I will love it if CBS picks this show up.