Rumor Control: Embassy Row Picks Up “Newlywed Game”?
We haven’t done a Rumor Control in a while. We’ve seen lots of postings recently for contestants needed for The Newlywed Game. We were looking at Craigslist today and spotted one with the email of @embassyrow.com. Has Michael Davies gone game crazy and picked this show up too? Honestly, I’m not a fan of this show at all and I’m hoping there’s some misunderstanding, but who knows.
Edit: We just found enough information to make this a major story. Apparently he picked up The Dating Game too. Didn’t this happen in the early 90s? Some company remade both of the shows? I can’t quite remember. Anyway, if you want to be a contestant for what is probably a pilot of The Dating Game or The Newlywed Game for what I’m guessing is GSN (could be wrong), click here for Daters or here for Newlyweds.
Is Bob Eubanks hosting TNG?
I remember both. Brad Sherwood of “Whose Line” fame hosted on of those (I’m thinking Dating Game) and then the guy that announced Whammy hosted the other. But I remember Bob coming back too for a season.
Both were syndicated from 1996-99 (with an additional season of syndication reruns in 1999-2000) The first season of Dating/Newlywed was hosted by Sherwood and Gary Kroeger, respectively, and featured radically altered concepts. They switched back to the classic formats in season two, and Chuck Woolery took over The Dating Game.
I just hope Davies doesn’t use mood lighting for these two shows. :-P
I e-mailed Embassy Row for the Dating Game, just now.
I’m scared of Embassy Row remaking those classic game shows.
Remember how Davies poorly redone “Chain Reaction?” The game play is not the same. To my understanding, I think Davies probably misunderstood the rules for the original game play. I have a bad feeling he might mess up those revivals as well.
I thought Sony bought the Newlywed Game from Chuck Barris.
I’m not a big Chain Reaction fan, but the gameplay is pretty close to the Cullen version…just dumber contestants. The scoring is different, but I think that was done to insure that an entire game is played out in the half-hour…not cut off in mid-game. And I kinda like the Speed Chains. The IQ level of the players is astoundingly low, though. That said, as long as Davies learns from the Sony mistakes in the past revivals and doesn’t try to change the games too much, they should be fine. At least it’s not “The Million Dollar Newlywed Game!”
So long as this deviates from the Millionaire template it could work. I hope it does…
If this is for GSN, I’m surprised they didn’t do this sooner sooner. They fit with GSN’s budget, and classic NG has been a reliable performer for GSN. I’m not the biggest fan of these shows, but they could work well with the combination of a witty new host (think Bil Dwyer or George Gray), the classic format, a set that has brings just the right amount of tackiness, and questions that have a modern edge to them without being flat-out vulgar.