Comments on: Rumor Control: “Rich List” Revival

By: David Howell

David Howell — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:11:34 +0000

OK, get ready for this. Some pretty big shocks here.

* It’s for GSN.
* It’s going to be hour-long episodes, unless I’m severely mistaken, with two full games per hour.
* And there’s returning champions. We could be seeing the biggest winners in GSN history here.
* It’s got (another) new title. It’s now known as ‘The Money List’.
* And yet the format – and graphics package, and set – are identical to the UK version, which in turn was practically identical to the Australian/US show (except that had the show’s title in big letters on the set and I think the endgame looked a bit different, it’s not the same as from the US show as screencapped in this post).
* The host is Fred Roggin of NBC Sports. He seemed pretty good to me. Definitely not Dylan Lane stiff that’s for sure.
* “I think we can be guaranteed we won�t get lists like �Countries that Lie on the Meditterranean Border.�” Consider yourself corrected – one of the lists was ‘countries with a star in their flag’. That was in the endgame, and it’s one to watch out for. It’s truly dramatic.
* Other lists include ‘Michael Jackson top 40 US singles’, which causes a tricky judge decision, and ‘Saturday Night Live male cast members’ which was a perfect way to alienate the London audience.
* I think the episode I saw is episode 3 or 4. I know they had one recording on Thursday and this was the second scheduled for Friday, but they also had one that followed (which I wasn’t able to see because I had to get my coach back home) which wasn’t mentioned on the ticketing site. For what it’s worth, the first ‘new’ couple that appear on my episode are called Laurie and Rebecca, and the second (who turn out to be really entertaining contestants) are Brad and Megan.

By: David Howell

David Howell — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:47:57 +0000

Just to let you know, I’ll be at a taping of this on Friday! It’ll be the third taped episode, the first is Thursday. Wish I could have gone to the first but am very happy to be going to any of them.

I’ll have a report in on Saturday.

By: Martin P.

Martin P. — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:44:58 +0000

I agree with the people who say that this show has ABC’s name written all over it! I think it is time that ABC had a hit game show, and if they keep true to the format I think it will actually be successful. I think that is one of the thing that made WWTBAM successful – they stuck to the British format and the level of questions weren’t dumbed down. That is my issue with a lot of other game shows — you win either on luck or really dumb questions. I like the show..I think twice a week and a producer who realises that it’s primetime run is over and move to syndie would do great on ABC. I also never saw this show on FOX. I thought I saw all the shows on FOX including that ridiculous Chamber show.

By: Scott Meckley

Scott Meckley — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:51:31 +0000

ABC if you read this please put this on after Dancing With The Stars. A twice a week run would be great. $50,000 as top prize with returning champs would be great. If ABC doesn’t pick up this show then I have some games ABC ought to pick up

By: Devon

Devon — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:47:50 +0000

I never got to see The Rich List on FOX. If this is coming to GSN, I’d expect a press release soon. If not, then who cares. I’ll watch it wherever it goes.

By: James D.

James D. — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:02:19 +0000

If this is GSN (and all likelihood is that it is), it’s doing the same formula it’s done with the first seasons of Lingo and That’s the Question — tape the first season in Europe where an established version is being filmed, then move filming to Los Angeles if all goes well.

It also helps that you have plenty of Americans living in Britain — college students, businessmen, expatriates, etc., — who can fill the contestant pool for the first few episodes.

Count me in on the small group who liked the original “Rich List” on FOX. Call me a geek, but I got a kick out of being challenged to name, say, as many Best Picture Oscar winners or Stephen King novels as you can.

GSN needs a smart quiz on its schedule — you had that with Russian Roulette and Grand Slam. Hopefully, it can do the same here.

By: MrGameShw

MrGameShw — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:52:45 +0000

It’s for GSN. If you know the right people, all you have to do is ask.

By: Douglas Crawshaw Jr.

Douglas Crawshaw Jr. — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:32:57 +0000

I think $50,000 as a top prize per show is a great idea. That way, to be a millionaire, you have to work for it; John Hatten style.

By: Marc Power

Marc Power — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:06:26 +0000

I doubt this is for GSN, ABC sounds more likely, especially with the $50,000 prize, that seems to be a number they like to work with.

By: Shon

Shon — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:19:24 +0000

I�m a little worried��..OK I�m cautiously optimistic about this ^___^ .

Just as long as anybody takes this show but GSN it will do all right but if GSN takes it�.

Well I don�t need to explain their track record. One of the problems is when they offer a top prize that is more than $5,000 it is very hard to win. For example Bingo America, there are 75 numbers and they don�t tell you how many numbers the $100,000 is behind. Also on �Catch 21� winning that $25,000 is difficult and basically boils down to luck. I�m worried that if GSN picks up this show they�ll make the bonus round unnecessarily hard. Plus the other problem is if they do pick this up there won�t be returning champions (which is what the gimmick to the Rich List was suppose to be about).

By: devares

devares — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:26:19 +0000

I’m going to take a guess and say this show has ABC written all over it. Reason: ABC hasn’t had a hit game show since Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, and seeing its recent string of failures (Show Me the Money, Set For Life, National Bingo Night, and Duel), they’re due for a hit game show. Besides, it’s too classy for Fox and definately too rich for GSN. And KBGUY09, the host of 5th grader is Jeff Foxworthy.

By: KBGUY09

KBGUY09 — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:27:59 +0000

I never saw the one episode that aired here in the US so I’m only basing this post on the Aussie video.

First of all, if GSN does take this show, I hope they do what the Aussies did and have an unlimited amount of money to win.

Secondly, after watching this version, I can’t imagine any version in the US competing with it. Truthfully I see this working MUCH better on a primetime major network, but they’d make it $1,000,000 which I think I wouldn’t like. However, whether its on GSN or ABC or FOX, I think we can be guaranteed we won’t get lists like “Countries that Lie on the Meditterranean Border.” Hell, we probably won’t get “Animals that start with the letter I.” So in that sense I’m already disappointed. I hate the stupidity of Americans that we can’t have a smart TV show on the air. WWTBAM and Jeopardy are the only two and they can’t even make it on primetime anymore. I guess we gotta watch stupid 40 years olds prove they don’t know more than 5th graders. Ugh…

If the America version is like the version I just saw, I will be happy. I just don’t want extreme money going on, I want smart questions and smart contestants, and I don’t want any focus on the host—this show should focus on the contestants, so we just need a game show host–not Christopher Knight, not Regis Philben (though I liked him on WWTBAM) and for god’s sake not the guy from 5th grader…I don’t even care enough to research his name real quick.

I can’t believe I’m being so negative on a show before it even aired…but I bet we screw this show up…or at least it won’t be as good as the Australian version.