GSN’s relatively popular word game, That’s The Question, is no longer rumored to be renewed for a second season: it has been. The second season will start on September 10th and will air Monday through Friday, states GSN. No word on tape dates or tape location just yet, but more information about the renewal can be found when GSN announces all of their news at the Television Critic’s Association meetings during this week. On That’s The Question, contestants have to answer questions while trying to uncover a question to an answer given. It’s a weird mix of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune and, to be honest, it’s one of their best shows since the rebranding.

GSN’s had no great luck with original programming recently. Currently, GSN’s highest rated show is High Stakes Poker and that only manages to get a .4. Shows like Chain Reaction and I’ve Got A Secret, while attracting some audience, haven’t exactly caused droves of people to be tuning in. In fact, the last time this happened was back in 2003 with Who Wants to be Governor of California?: The Debating Game. GSN needs a hit badly, and it’s no surprise they are pushing their new original program Without Prejudice? into the limelight more than any show they’ve ever aired. To be exact, they are using a $5,000,000 advertising campaign to get word out about the show and draw eyeballs in. This is 30% more than any for anything else they’ve ever done. What are they using this for exactly? Read on after the break for information courtesy of Multichannel and GSN.

“This show could do for reality shows what All in the Family did for sitcoms, in terms of initiating a dialog on prejudice,” said network CEO Rich Cronin at the taping of the promotional campaign about Without Prejudice?. Part of the main challenge of creating the show in the US was trying to recreate the Emmy award winning game that was the British version. GSN’s vice president of programming, Jamie Roberts, was familiar with the UK version of the show and quickly jumped on the chance to do the show in America, especially with game shows being popular yet again. “We can’t compete in dollars but we can compete in drama,” he said of GSN’s decision to recreate the English reality/game show. “There are real emotional stakes here.” $25,000 will be awarded to the winner of each show. A good deal of the emotion had to be cut out as well. The first episode, which will be a 90 minute special, was edited down from its original five hours.

One of GSN’s CEO Rich Cronin’s biggest fear was that the panelists would freeze up and not say what they really feel in front of the camera. This is completely opposite of what happened. The panelists, who are not awarded any money, just a trip to Los Angeles to tape, were chosen from around the country and show a deep variety of race, religion, personality, political stance, and more. They also shed everything in front of the camera. This is very obvious by a contestant saying he doesn’t like someone “Because he’s black” on the first episode.

The important nature of this show has GSN pumping out big bucks to get the word out and to make sure people see the show. $5,000,000; 30% more than any other show; is spent on marketing alone. This is very evident by watching GSN currently. The air waves are currently filled with commercials asking if a person is one or another from just looking at their picture. Most of the pictures of people are actually GSN workers, actually. Look for one that says “President or Polygamist?”. That’s GSN’s CEO Rich Cronin. They’ve also shot several ads in black and white with people coming on screen asking similar questions. This alone has some people up-in-arms. One lady, a retired flight attendant, asks “Do you think I’m rich?” The network wanted her to say “Rich Bitch”, but they were told Southern advertisers would not air the spot if they had that in there. They’ve already discovered the name of the game.

GSN, with the help of Zogby International, recently conducted polls of 20,000 Americans across the country to create a national prejudice report card. The results will be posted in weekly releases, and they are also pursuing outlets like USA Today and other various Sunday newspapers to print them. The network is also using the racy and thought provoking conversation to get attention and partnerships from places such as AARP, GLADD, and the NAACP. The network is also realizing the majority of their audience are females. More females watch the network than males on all days except Fridays for some strange reason. To get more female audience, GSN will be attempting to air spots for the show on syndicated shows like Oprah and various court shows.

GSN has had success with word games and acquisitions such as The Amazing Race, a reality competition from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer, which first appeared on CBS. But to be really noticed, it must “wave the flag” with shows such as Without Prejudice?, Roberts said. “It may not be everyone’s cup of tea; it may infuriate some people, but it begs to be noticed,” he said.

Without Prejudice? will begin on July 17th at 9PM ET on GSN. I know I repeat the same information over and over and over, but this is a show that truly needs to be watched. It’s a very important show for how the country is today. It’s thought provoking and makes you show real emotion without a large left-or-right slant. It’s something that virtually no show on television does today, and this show deserves attention. It’s honestly one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.