12 Responses

1. DeVares

   1

   November 21st, 2008 at 12:00 pm

   I’m thinking 3 networks.

   ABC- It needs to break the Curse of the Philbino (meaning it hasn’t had a hit game show since Regis’ Millionaire).

   Fox- Knowing its history of copying game shows and reality shows, it’s the almost (notice I said “almost”) perfect network (because the show is, as A.D. said “1 vs 100 Lite”)

   And (of course) GSN.

2. Devon

   2

   November 21st, 2008 at 12:46 pm

   I’d be shocked if this ends up on GSN.

3. James D.

   3

   November 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pm

   I could see GSN picking this up, although I have my doubts if they’d want to produce two big money shows simultaneously (The Money List being the other).

   All of the major networks, with the exception of CBS (with MDP) are probably looking for the next big thing in cheaply-produced game shows to put on air. As DeVares hinted, I can’t see NBC picking this up, as this is a variation of a show they’ve already canceled. ABC and FOX are the likely candidates — FOX needs another summer hit to work alongside So You Think You Can Dance, especially now that Hell’s Kitchen has been promoted to the “regular season”. Perhaps it could pair the show with burned-off episodes of Moment of Truth.

   ABC is in good shape summerwise with Bachelorette, Wipeout (legal issues notwithstanding) and Japanese Game Show, but the Alphabet always seem to be the most active with summer fare.

4. David

   4

   November 21st, 2008 at 8:29 pm

   this is a rough translation of the rules for the Russian show- the amounts of course will be less here:

   Before the show, the 50 Blondes are given a test of several hundred questions in multiple categories. They are then seperated into 8 groups based on how well they scored on the test.

   The solo player is given a board with 10 categories. The first group of 7 Blondes steps forward- these are the ones who did the worst overall on the test. The solo player picks a category, and is given one of the questions the blondes answered earlier on the test with four answers. If the solo player is right, all the blondes who gave the wrong answer are out of the game, and the player gets 1000 rubles for each player eliminated. If the solo player is wrong, all 7 stay in the game. The next 6 groups come in one by one- each group having done better on the test than the ones before it. The money also increases (2000, 3000, etc. up to 7000) The blonde who did the best on the test plays last and alone. If the player gets the question right and the #1 blonde gets it wrong, the money is doubled. But the trick here is that the player MUST eliminate at least 25 blondes in this part of the game. If he doesn’t, he’s out. So after seeing each set of blondes, the solo player has to try and pick a category he knows well but the blondes did poorly in.

   In the 2nd half of the game, The player is given three categories, and then given a question with no options. The remaining blondes then write their answers down. If the player gets the question wrong, all the blondes are safe, and the player loses a category option for the remaining questions- miss 3 times and he’s out. If he gets the question right, he then can start picking blondes one at a time. If the blonde is wrong, she’s out, and the player can continue picking blondes. If she’s right, the player is stopped for that question. The solo player has a maximum of 10 questions to knock out enough blondes to get to three or less after any question. If they do, they can take the money they won in round one and quit, or risk it on one last question for the million ruble grand prize. To win it, they have to choose a category (they may have one, two, or three categories available to them), answer the question correctly themselves, and then have all the remaining blondes miss. If any one of them gets it right, all the remaining blondes win and split the players bank.

5. MrQuiz

   5

   November 22nd, 2008 at 10:37 am

   This almost looks like “1 Vs. 100″ meets “The Weakest Link.” Having said that, it looks like it belongs on Fox; it deserves to be on Fox; I hope it bombs on Fox! As much as I love game shows, the genre has “headed South” for some time, now.

   Again, you have every right to disagree with me. But, please understand something: I’m likely as not, very jaded about this. remember, I’m a midle-aged Boomer, and I guess I was lucky enough to have grown up in the era of when Goodson-Todman, Heatter-Quigley, Hatos-Hall, Merv Griffin, Ralph Edwards, Bob Stewart, Ralph Andrews, and (the “second coming” of) Barry & Enright were collectively cranking out at least noteworthy and memorable (if not certified classic) game shows. To be sure, for every classic, there were plenty of “clinkers & stinkers,” too (for every “Pyramid” or “Jackpot!” there was a “Pass the Buck,” or a “Blankety Blanks.” For every “Let’s Make a Deal,” there was “Chain Letter.” For every “Jeopardy,!” there was “Ruckus” And for every other G-T icon, there were shows like “The Better Sex,” and “Split Personality.”) You get the idea…
   So, with what you younger fans see on GSN with “Match Game,” and the original “FF,” along with “TPIR” on CBS, I hope you can understand where I’m coming from.

6. David

   6

   November 22nd, 2008 at 12:42 pm

   Actually, I always thought this show would eventually make it here, but it would be called “Beat the….” and it would change every game to a different group- one game it could be “Beat the IRS” and have IRS employees, another it could be “Beat the Millionaires” and have people whose net worth is $1 million plus, and another could have a solo contestant be a UCLA student and that person would have to “Beat the Trojans”- USC students, etc.

7. MrQuiz

   7

   November 23rd, 2008 at 1:09 am

   All right, you leave me no choice…if we’re going to take that path…what about a chicken farmer, pitted against a team of PETA representatives, in which case they (the PETA team) would play “Beat the Cluck!”

   So sorry, boys ‘n girls; but, it’s late, it’s the weekend, and the writers are off. Soooo, I’m left to my own devices!!

8. Jay

   8

   November 23rd, 2008 at 2:32 pm

   Mr. Quiz: I agree with both of you posts. While not a boomer, I’m in my mid-30’s, so I grew up with those classics, too.

   As for your second post…what about “Beat the Fockers” (yes, I’m referring to the movie).

9. Todd

   9

   November 23rd, 2008 at 9:21 pm

   Hosted by … Tom Arnold? That’s interesting…

10. DeVares

    10

    November 24th, 2008 at 10:33 am

    To MrQuiz: I agree with what you’re saying. Seeing that I’m 31, I do remember some of them that aren’t the obvious shows you see on GSN (like Bullseye, the original Jackpot, and Ruckus). But other shows like “The Better Sex” and “Blankety Blanks” were well before my time, but I have heard of them.

    I also agree that the ’80s (not discrediting earlier decades) was the best era. you knew the producers by the announcers. Prime examples:

    Gene Wood or Johnny Olsen (Goodson-Todman)
    Kenny Williams or Dean Goss (Heater-Quigley)
    Johnny Gilbert or Charlie O’Donnell (Barry & Enright or Bob Stewart).

    So I know where you’re coming from.

11. Craig

    11

    November 28th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    I actually went to the casting call they had for 11/24.
    The game is still in the development stages, and they’re looking for people to help them test it out to the producers.

    What I’ve gathered so far is that there are 21 people in the “bunch” and the one person is trying to eliminate them all for a $50,000 top prize. It seems pretty interesting to me, and I know they’re currently working out some more kinks in the show.

    Still pretty fun to be apart of the creation of a “new” show…

12. Todd

    12

    November 29th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    Did anyone see Tom on Letterman last night? He looks a TON like Johnny Olson now.