News Flashes: Lyrics, The Hub, and Family Feud
*Twentieth Television’s syndicated edition of Don’t Forget the Lyrics! is still casting for its first daytime season. It’s been off of Fox’s primetime lineup for around a year now. The top prize will be $100,000; and it’s hosted by former Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath, taking over for Let’s Make A Deal host Wayne Brady. Be sure to know all the music you can: from the 50s to current hits. All you have to be is at least 18 years old. Have a great, fun personality and love to sing and you’ve got a shot at being on. Click here to apply. I’d be expecting it to be a retread of the primetime version, and that’s fine by me. Oh, Fifth Grader was also renewed but we already knew that.
*Hasbro’s takeover of Discovery Kids, called The Hub, will hit the air on October 10th, or 10-10-10. Again it’s not going to be a game show network but they hired some of the best in the genre for that department, so they are clearly wanting some good ones. What a novel cable concept: good game shows. There’s a block on the network called “Family Prime”, a later-in-the-day slot where parents can watch with their kids, and if I had to take a wild stab I’d say you can probably find some game shows there.
*Ratings for the week ending March 21st for syndication are in, and the only game show looking OK is Family Feud. It held flat at a 1.3. Everything else was down rather intensely. Deal or No Deal, which hasn’t had a rating in a while, barely has a rating still. It’s down to a 1.0. Wheel of Fortune was down 14% to a 6.3, Jeopardy! down to 5.3 (down 16%), Millionaire down 12% to a 2.2, and Fifth Grader down the least, 6% to a 1.5.
Wow…I was expecting Deal to have half its current ratings — I expect them to continue free-falling, though, with any "gains" being trivial at best. By the time its Summer repeats end in September, we will probably see Temptation-level ratings. Or lower.
Unless, of course, Deal suddenly becomes mega-popular within the next five months. Which I doubt rather heavily.
I'm sad to see the syndicated Deal leave so soon. Has NBC thought about putting it back in the 4PM time slot and switch Ellen back to 3PM? The ratings there before the switch were substantially better.
I'm sad to see the syndicated Deal leave so soon. Has NBC thought about putting it back in the 4PM time slot and switch Ellen back to 3PM? The ratings there before the switch were substantially better.
What a novel cable concept: good game shows. Apparently The Hub is doing something the people at GSN refuses to do. And they’re having a block called “Family Prime” where the parents can watch with their kids, so I’m assuming they’re gonna make a Double Dare-esque game show. On the ratings front, Family Feud at 1.3 is good considering that’s their average, which isn’t a bad thing. At least Deal or No Deal’s ending with better ratings than Temptation, Crosswords, or TP:AP.
So, "The Hub" is what happens when Hasbro takes over Discovery Kids, eh? This could mean a lot of things. On the debit side, it could men endless reruns of "Transformers", "G. I. Joe", "My Little Pony", and other animated shows based on Hasbro toys.
On the credit side, Hasbro has a large library of games that they could adapt into shows. I'm not merely thinking of currently-available games, but ones from the back libraries of Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, both of them now controlled by Hasbro. ("Black Box" anybody?)
Conversions of board games don't always have the best track record. But consider the fact that there are more game shows aimed at British kids than at American kids, and it makes you wonder what is wrong with us!
So, "The Hub" is what happens when Hasbro takes over Discovery Kids, eh? This could mean a lot of things. On the debit side, it could men endless reruns of "Transformers", "G. I. Joe", "My Little Pony", and other animated shows based on Hasbro toys.
On the credit side, Hasbro has a large library of games that they could adapt into shows. I'm not merely thinking of currently-available games, but ones from the back libraries of Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, both of them now controlled by Hasbro. ("Black Box" anybody?)
Conversions of board games don't always have the best track record. But consider the fact that there are more game shows aimed at British kids than at American kids, and it makes you wonder what is wrong with us!
So, "The Hub" is what happens when Hasbro takes over Discovery Kids, eh? This could mean a lot of things. On the debit side, it could men endless reruns of "Transformers", "G. I. Joe", "My Little Pony", and other animated shows based on Hasbro toys.
On the credit side, Hasbro has a large library of games that they could adapt into shows. I'm not merely thinking of currently-available games, but ones from the back libraries of Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, both of them now controlled by Hasbro. ("Black Box" anybody?)
Conversions of board games don't always have the best track record. But consider the fact that there are more game shows aimed at British kids than at American kids, and it makes you wonder what is wrong with us!