27Mar2009
Preview of “The Newlywed Game”
Sorry for the delay. We’ve got some new stuff brewing for the site, including a long-delayed updated look and a podcast, that’s been occupying the usual writing time recently. But we’ve got something very interesting for you. We’ve got some clips of GSN’s revival of The Newlywed Game for you to enjoy. Some of it is funny, but they didn’t choose the funniest stuff to put up there yet. I’ll have a bit more to say about the finished shows, which I saw last week, coming up later; the finished shows confused me a bit. But for now here’s a look. The Newlywed Game premieres April 6th at 6:00PM ET on GSN.
I’m on the same boat with Taylor…..even with the weak@$$ eHarmony promos on the cards. eHarmony’s sponsorship makes me hate them even more. You could have just aired this and forgot about the rest of those earlier clips, Alex.
Tim, I think that whole uncomfortable aspect comes from the demeanor of the couple. While I didn’t take the first “ex” question as such, I can quite easily see how somebody would think that that it’s tense. The second clip, just because of how the hubby answered it, made it seem more traditional NWG to me.
Oh, trust me, the mood definitely lightens. Alex has told me about THE running gag the new version has, which is what I believe he refers to as “the funniest stuff.” One husband starts it, and it just snowballs from there. That’s all I will say.
eHarmony.com…such is the world we live in, folks. The networks don’t run things, the producers don’t run things. The advertisers run, rule and reign, and that’s just the way it is, and we just have to deal with it and accept it for the obnoxious BS that it is.
With that said…I really gotta say I love the idea they put forth of having the montage of digital photos behind each couple. That is a really cool touch.
I won’t judge this show on a few clips…let’s see the finished product and find out if it’s about the couples or if it’s just a bunch of cattiness and “3′s A Crowd” type of bottom-of-the-barrel-scrapage.
Quincy Hughes does have a point. Advertisers controls (and by controls, I mean pimp) the networks and the shows. Notice that every show has its changes. Everytime, it’s “Let’s do this” and “Let’s change that” just to please the advertisers, and if it doesn’t get what it wants…..goodbye show and goodbye ad money.
As for the show itself, I’m not gonna judge it based on some clips, I’m going to watch the first show next week and hand my verdict in on it.
I don’t mind the advertising – that’s how it used to be back in the good old days. And I’d honestly rather see the watermark on all of the cards than have Carnie say eHarmony.com 87 times an episode. Sponsorship makes the world go round :)
With regard to the actual show, it looks good, though I think that the set kind of deadens the light-hearted mood that I’ve always thought that the show had. I’ll give it a watch when I go home for spring break.
Sponsorships, sponsorships; ah, what goes around, comes around, I guess.
A mega-crash course on sponsors and their relationship with TV (game) shows. Now, class…pay attention. I’ll be asking questions after this.
In the olden days of television, sponsors all but owned the airwaves. Since they footed the bills, there was the belief (much of it true), that since it was their money, they pretty much called the shots. This was especially true in the era of the original big-money game shows, like THE $64,000 QUESTION/CHALLENGE, and TWENTY-ONE. In the case of the former, the sponsor (Revlon, the cosmetics company) would monitor the ratings, and if they weren’t “up to par,” they’d blame it on a particular contestant, and make sure that the producers knew it , and were told to “do something about it.” If the ratings were to their liking, they make sure the producers knew it as well, and and do whatever it took to keep them on the show. As for 21, their first show was a debacle. Their sponsor, who was Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the original makers of Geritol, and Aqua Velva, to name two) complained to the producers, and this was, supposed to have stared the coaching of contestants on that show.
(As for “$64K? ” contestants weren’t coached, per se; rather, during their initial interviews, the producers would essentially “fish” for what these people had knowledge in. If they were “contestantworthy,” they’d be subjected to what was purported to be a mock game. When they finally appeared on the show, they’d be asked the same questions they were given in the mock version).
Of course, today, that’s illegal. And in the wake of the quiz show scandals, virtually all sponsors began to have considerably less and less power over shows. This is at least in part, why there have been no (or very, very few) dominant sponsorships on TV, as opposed to this time many years ago.
However, that doesn’t mean that there can’t be (as DeVares aptly put it) an element of “pimping.” As a matter of fact, within given context, and from what I’ve gathered some of the overall comments about this new version of the show have been, that’s just about exactly what’s going on, here. And, considering eHarmony’s reputation as being, well, less than forthright (to put it mildly)…am I smelling something stinky, here?
It’s not that I’m against advertisers, I’m against those that don’t make sense (I see where you’re going with it, MrQuiz). Come on, eHarmony.com sponsoring The Newlywed Game? A f***ing dating site sponsoring a game show with married couples? Why not have Who Wants to Be a Millionaire sponsored by AIG? or The Price is Right sponsored by Wal Mart? I’m for it if it fits the show(s) like Polmolive use to sponsor most soap operas back in the day. If they were going to do it right, they should have it like The Newlywed Game sponsored by Super 8 or The Newlywed Game sponsored by Hotels.com, see, it makes sense (let that marinate for a moment). But many sponsors today steer away from not just game shows, but all other shows because of fear of controversy.
Let’s call this (for want of a better way of putting it) “Conspicuous Gratuitousness.”
Having said that, I also believe that because the double-entendre, politically-incorrect suggestiveness of the past, has given way to a more permissive, “all-but-no-holds-barred” candor, disguised as entertainment, I don’t give any hope for this version. In fact, I think that partly because our society has become crueler, meaner, and nastier, THE NEWLWYWED GAME’s time (sadly, for many) has come and gone. And the sooner it goes away, the better! I’m hardly a prude. But, like everything else in life, there’s a time, and a place. And there is neither here.
I don’t see why there’s a fuss over eharmony.com sponsoring the show. They are a relationship site, that promotes in its adverts when marriages/LTR’s form!
And the Palmolive sponsoring soap operas? (notice the spelling) Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
The discussion of exes was even present in the 80′s version…granted it may make some uncomfortable, but this is the times we live in, folks.
Love the set, and love carnie thus far.
I think everyone here is totally missing the irony of where exactly the term “soap opera” came from.
What are the prizes for this show anyway? Is it just a "second honeymoon" (a cheesy vacation) or actually money? If anyone can let me know that would be great!
Thanks!