“Pyramid” Replaces “Russian Roulette” on GSN
Ever get one of those emails where you say “Are you kidding me? I’m hoping this is a dream.” I did once GSN sent out the advanced schedules for the next few weeks. Russian Roulette is sadly gone except for weekends at 4:00PM ET. Replacing it starting July 21st at 6:00PM ET daily is Pyramid. Not the good Dick Clark kind. It’s the crappy Donny Osmond version. The 2002 revival of the classic will also be on daily at 10:30PM ET following reruns of Catch 21 on July 22nd.
GSN will be airing season one in daytime and season two at night. Incidentally the episodes will be shown in order unlike what we got back then, so you’ll see celebrities for multiple days in a row. The first showing on July 21st at 6:00PM will feature celebrities Julia Sweeney and Kerr Smith. At 10:30PM ET, starting on July 22nd, the show’s celebrities will be Giuliana Depandi and John Salley. If this is not a huge example of a downgrade than I don’t know what is. But hey, it was nice to see Russian Roulette for a while.
Catch 21 reruns will be shown at 10:00PM ET. Lingo is at 11:00PM ET and finally Whammy! is at 11:30PM ET.
^And even with $100K Pyramid, they really only wore out the second season. It’s been a while since the third season aired, and even longer since they aired the first.
The bad: Russian Roulette’s gone. ‘Nuff said. That added to the fact that they could’ve picked up far superior seasons from the good ol’ days.
The good: FINALLY, something my wife will watch with me! She ain’t too fond of game shows in general, but she used to rush home every day after school so she could catch Donnymid.
Say what you want about this version of PYRAMID. But, don’t blame Donny Osmond for the format changes, the set design/style, the choice of celebrities, WHATEVER! Like it or not, he wasn’t half bad as an emcee. Comparing Donny Osmond to Dick Clark (or even Bill Cullen, for that matter) is as unfair as can be; for those of us who remember the original JEOPARDY! we (to some extent, still think) of it as Art Fleming’s show; Alex Trebek didn’t quite seem like the same kind of fit. But, we were wrong. True, some emcees associated with given shows are irreplaceble (textbook example: Gene Rayburn/Match Game). I know people will snipe “yeah, but what about TPIR, huh? Drew Carey dosen’t hold a candle to Bob Barker!” Well, think of it this way: truth be told, TPIR was never really Barker’s show , to begin with, Originally, it was Bill Cullen’s show. Barker merely took a virtually totally reformatted classic, and made it his own. MG, with its original and revised formats (60′s & 70′s-era) on the other hand, had only ONE emcee, Gene Rayburn. Here’s another thought: who’s to say if Allen Ludden had lived, he wouldn’t have hosted “Super Password,” instead of Bert Convy (who didn’t do a bad job, either).
So, go ahead and stick with your opinions, pro or con. You’re entitled to them. Just try to be fair about it, and place whatever blame where it really belongs-in this case, Sony, who now owns Pyramid, and all of Bob Stewart’s old shows, for green-lighting the “need” for changes (other than the host, who as I understand it, is generally the last piece in the puzzle).
I just thought of something else (bear with me on this one, please): If Allen Ludden were alive today (he’d be 90+ years old), do you think having him make an appearance at the opening of “Million $ Password,” and passing the torch to Regis Philbin, might, or could have “validated” things? (Granted, with the show turning out to be the success it did, this is all moot; hypothetical, or not). But, for say, the sake of “Sentiment,” “tradition,” or respect for the show’s heritage, what’s your opinion? And, thanx most kindly for letting an “old skool purist” impose his two cents worth to this blog from time to time. We may agree, disagree, or even agree to disagree on any given topic. But, we are all in lockstep with our shared passion, pleasure, and care/concern with TV game shows-past & present! (right?)
two words… EPIC FAIL.
I am a huge Pyramid fan, but I think that the Donny Osmond version fell short. If GSN wants to start replaying classic episodes, they should bring back The Jokers Wild, Bullseye, TPIR, and Bill Cullen’s Pyramid from the ’70′s. But I am looking forward to seeing the premiere of Catch 21.
i like russian roulette i am sad to see it get replaced with pyramid i dont know if ill like it as much russian roulette is the best please dont take it off
“Open Donny’s drop zone.” (CHUNK!)
I find it amusing how the image for Pyramid in the slideshow contains the URL pyramidgameshow.com, which redirects to ION’s website. I guess they acquired that URL when they got the rerun rights to the show, and they haven’t give it back to Sony.