New Syndicated Game Shows Shopped

21 Nov

Posted by Alex Davis as New Show

I think it is fairly safe to announce a few things finally, since B&C announced them. NOTE: THESE ARE NOT SOLD OR FIRM GO’S. THESE ARE BEING SHOPPED AROUND AND WORKED ON CURRENTLY.

*THIS was hard to keep a secret. Yes, the rumors are true. A pilot for “Temptation”, the Australian update of “Sale of the Century”, has been shot in Australia a few weeks ago. The format is relatively faithful to the Australian format. No word on host.

*This was a long time coming also: a pilot for “Catch Phrase” has been shot, and sources tell us it went very very well. The first pilot was hosted by Todd Newton, but we heard it was since redone and turned out better.

*Fremantle shot a pilot for the show “Connections”. We don’t know a damn thing about this one.

*We already know about “The Joker’s Wild” and “Combination Lock”

*The daytime NBC rumors for “Deal or No Deal” can be put to rest: it was basically announced for syndication. Also, B&C stated that Arsenio Hall, who was scheduled to host, has parted ways and other people like “Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush” host Mark Curry is being talked to.

*A new “Match Game” is being looked at. Thanks Game Show Marathon!

*Merv Griffin is pitching a few formats also, one of which is a word scramble format.

What’s funny is that NBC feels that “Deal or No Deal” will be a success in syndication, while CBS feels that cutting it down will make it look chintzy compared to the primetime version. Uh, isn’t that the point? Don’t listen to him anyway. We’ll have more info when we can.

16 Responses

Intelligentfan777
1
November 21st, 2006 at 12:20 pm

Hi. Long-time reader…first time commenter.

Let me be the first to that’s it is great to see so much action again on the game show front in syndication. Yes, these show’s aren’t firm “GO’s” yet, but just to see Execs. recognizing that now is the time to delve back into the genre is a refreshing site. I hope most (if not all) of these shows get picked up because these are solid formats that work, and they will bring much-needed variety back to weekday syndicated television.
TheKid965
2
November 21st, 2006 at 2:29 pm

A new [i]Match Game[/i]… oy.

I hope it works out, don’t get me wrong, and if it does I [i]will[/i] watch it regardless… but I sure don’t have a good feeling about this. All we can hope for is that it strives to erase some of the bad memories of the ‘98-99 version.
myke25
3
November 21st, 2006 at 3:04 pm

I think a new Match Game can work…but not necessarily on a network or in syndication. A late night version on GSN or Comedy Central could work real well.
Scott Meckley
4
November 21st, 2006 at 4:03 pm

Im just happy to see some game show hopeful will fill up a daytime lineup on NBC again because I love game shows more than talk shows. a new Match Game that would be great. I just wish now they would revive Card Sharks like the perry or the eubanks/raffety version .Mark Curry hosting the syndicated version of Deal Or No Deal i think will be interesting. Sale Of The Century i wish would come back to USA. not sure about combination lock, catch phrase or connections but the joker’s wild coming back will be great as long as the game play is good.
Nick
5
November 21st, 2006 at 5:54 pm

Not to be picky, but for accuracy’s sake could you mention that all of the above came from Broadcasting and Cable?
Alex Davis
6
November 21st, 2006 at 5:59 pm

Whoops, I thought I did for some reason. Sorry, that was my fault. I wrote B&C somewhere I thought. I’ll get that up right away.
William
7
November 21st, 2006 at 8:49 pm

First of all about the Connections pilot, Fremantle must be making an american version of the UK game show hosted by Sue Robbie. If you don’t know about it, then visit ukgameshows.com to find out. Second of all, with Joker’s Wild & Combination Lock’s comings, I think those potential new series should wait til 2008 to find a place in syndication. Other than that, it is a pleasure getting our old game shows back. Third of all, it looks like all American contestants will be in Australia playing the new Sale of the Century. Or will they?
Wheelloon
8
November 21st, 2006 at 10:20 pm

I REALLY hope Temptation sells, and I’m getting good vibes it will. Supposedly, however, IIRC, the Craigslist posting for it, a few months ago, asked only for potential female contestants to apply, so I guess I’m out of luck… lol

When I first saw Merv’s “scramble” game show, the first thing that popped in my mind, for some odd reason (yeah right) was Scrabble (my ideal world). Now, that would be a stretch, calling it a scramble show, but if this is, otherwise, another original idea out of Merv’s vault, I’ll be very interested to see what’s made of it. Heck, it’s not like his past track record with word games has been all that bad… ;)

Joker and Combination have a good chance of selling, coming from the “dream team” of Harry Friedman’s, and DoND, almost no matter who hosts, will also probably pass through pretty easily. However, I could be wrong, wouldn’t be the first time…

As for Catch Phrase and Connections, those caught me by surprise. I think they have the potential, and the current GS boom should help them out. I’d be interested to see, however, where they’d be slotted on the stations. They probably won’t be as good as Deal’s or Joker’s though, unfortunately, but with all that free time with the multiple talks going off, and the CW now in the daytime syndie lineups, there will be a lot of empty room, come next season…

As for Match Game… wow, I never saw that one coming. If any of the GSM shows, Press Your Luck would’ve been tops on my list, to return. I’d like to see MG return, but whether or not it will click will be a different story. IMHO, the reason the 70’s clicked was b/c of all the double entedre and risque humor, that was risqué THEN. Watching it now, a lot of it is not nearly as risque or double entedre-esque as it was 30 years ago, even though it still gives a good laugh or two.

To make MG work, I think a strong host, like Tom Bergeron, Jimmy Kimmel, or possibly another established comedian, would be needed, along with BETTER THAN D-List guests, like some established comedians. People won’t watch MG for the game, but for the comedy. How about, just giving it some preliminary thought, guests along the lines of Howie, Saget, Wanda Sykes, Dave Chappelle, Kelsey Grammar, and Martin Mull? Betty White, Vicki Lawrence, and C.N. Reilly could also make appearances, they’re still in good enough shape, as far as I know. Plus, there’s no reason Peter Marshall, Bob Eubanks, Jim Lange, and Chuck Woolery couldn’t unite with Barker and have classic GS’s week!

Just my thoughts. Either way, this is OUTSTANDING news, I can hardly control myself!!!
Wheelloon
9
November 21st, 2006 at 11:35 pm

Well, William was correct about the game Connections. Go to http://www.ukgameshows.com/page/index.php/Connections_%281%29 to find info on the gameplay. On the very bottom of the page, you’ll see a comment where it says something to the effect of “Bizzarely, a pilot for this show was shot in America in 2006.”

Sounds mildly interesting, though I don’t know if it’ll do so hot here in the states. We’ll have to wait and see.
Brig Bother
10
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:55 am

Sorry, I wrote that assuming it’s the same show because of the Granada connection.
byrd
11
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:42 pm

When I read of Merv Griffin pitching a “word scramble” format, I was thinking of his first game show creation in 1963–a year or so before J!–entitled “Word for Word”, based on anagrams, that ran on NBC daytime.
Tom
12
November 27th, 2006 at 12:20 am

I hope DoND isn’t show on a nightly basis for it will kill the ratings. Look at Millionare and Weakest Link. They did good when they were only a couple nights a week. But if they start putting it on every night I don’t think the ratings will do so hot.
Intelligentfan777
13
December 3rd, 2006 at 12:30 am

Uh, Tom….

We’re talking about syndication here, not primetime. DoND is still only on once, (or on some weeks twice) a week. Don’t worry about that, for now anyway.

In syndication it’s perfectly alright to have a hit show on five days a week.
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