New Blackjack Game Show Casting

24 Apr

Posted by Alex Davis as Casting, New Show

This casting notice might be interesting. People who casted for both Show Me the Money and Don’t Forget the Lyrics! are currently looking for contestants for a new game involving both the card game Blackjack as well as trivia. Is RDF, the company that does Don’t Forget the Lyrics!, a part of Endemol? It would make sense to me right now, but I can’t find anything unless I’m missing obvious signs here.

The most famous Blackjack show was called Gambit which ran in the 70s and hosted by Wink Martindale. The most recent attempt to get it on the air was a format from Distraction Formats called Casino, which was essentially the same game. This was pitched to GSN and turned down a while ago, so who knows, it may have popped up again. If you want to be a part of this show, click here to apply.

15 Responses

J M
1
April 25th, 2008 at 2:21 am

As an FYI- Endemol did Show Me the Money, RDF DFTL. If you notice, it says “The people who casted”. These shows hire different casting people for various different shows. This new game may very well be from a company we have never heard of, but the casting people wanted to give it credibility, so they mention they casted for the two bigger shows. That is at least my thought on it.
jaymich
2
April 25th, 2008 at 9:55 am

I am quite pleased to see this announcement. Gambit was a great show, and I can’t understand why networks (especially GSN) have turned it down…unless what they have now is completely different from Gambit.

I hope it comes back…and with the Gambit board. The Big Numbers is great, but it belongs on High Rollers…not others, like Las Vegas Gambit.

However, I noticed that the top prize is $25,000. They should raise the stakes, a little bit (IMHO).
Chris Parsley
3
April 25th, 2008 at 10:36 am

if its for a cable outlet or gsn, 25k is fine… if syndie who knows anymore…
Marc Power
4
April 25th, 2008 at 10:51 am

I’ve seen the pilot for casino and I thought it should have sold, albeit a few flaws and the host was a little stiff, but it was great compared to many of the originals GSN has put out since. the main problem was the prize budget was way too high for GSN, The winner failed to win the bonus round and still took away over $20,000, $25,000 would fit in GSN’s budget, but I would have gone $21,000 just to fit in with the whole blackjack theme. that’s if it’s for gsn, if it’s for network go $210,000.

any word on Wink possibly making his comeback to game shows for this? it seems like after he did the pilot for telethon and a one week stint on GSN live that he still wants to work.
James
5
April 25th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

With the recent popularity of casino games on TV (WSOP, WTP, World Series of Blackjack), I’m surprised we haven’t seen any casino-themed game shows in development until now.

Based on the general description, it does sound like an update on Gambit but, again, it’s a general description, so there may be some bells and whistles that differ greatly from Gambit.

Maybe it’s me, but “23″ sounds very random for a minimum age requirement, unless they are specifically casting people who are out of college or are post college (undergraduate) age.
Neville
6
April 25th, 2008 at 7:38 pm

James said: “Maybe it’s me, but “23″ sounds very random for a minimum age requirement, unless they are specifically casting people who are out of college or are post college (undergraduate) age.”

Yeah, that’s what I was wondering, too. I guess they just don’t want me on the show! :P
MikeSant318
7
April 25th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Sounds like a good idea, but just hope it doesn’t take away too far from Blackjack like that godawful Nashville Network show from the 90’s (and I must be the only one who remembers this) “Top Card”: pick a subject from the board, answer the question and earn the card behind it. If you don’t like the card, you can take the Top Card from the deeck by the attractive dealer. Three players took part with the 1st round winner going to the final and the other 2 playing off to be the opponent (like the final HOH contest on Big Brother). “There are no ties in the game of Top Card, and aces count as 1.” (Don’t remember the host or dealer.)
LaJuan
8
April 26th, 2008 at 2:04 am

I remember Top Card! That was the only reason I watched TNN. I kinda liked it.
LaJuan
9
April 26th, 2008 at 2:05 am

It just came to me that I think our boy Jim Caldwell hosted that show too.
Chris Parsley
10
April 26th, 2008 at 2:15 pm

I’ll keep you updated as I emailed em Thursday night and they called me on Friday asking if I wanted to tryout and when I could do so. Just call ahead and they’d pencil in a spot for me.
MikeSant318
11
April 26th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

Thanks - the host was Jim Caldwell, and the dealer was Blake somethingorother…
I also think it has 2 different formats for the bonus round - one with a shopping angle, and one with a trivia angle…
LaJuan
12
April 26th, 2008 at 10:01 pm

I found two “episdoes” (Both have the first round and the bonus round, no second round) on youtube. Just put top card and TNN in the searchbox and you’ll find them.
James Greek
13
April 28th, 2008 at 9:17 am

The hostess for Top Card was Blake Pickett. And I happenedc to enjoy Top Card and I am glad that Blackjack is coming back to TV.
MikeSant318
14
April 28th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

And for the second series, the team was Dan Miller and Paige Brown (thank you, LaJuan for the clips)…
devares
15
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:22 pm

I like the idea of the new game show.