Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Catch-21 Review

Tonight was the premiere episode of GSN's Catch-21. Let me just say now that the show is lots of fun and a good way to spend a half-hour if you are not doing anything else. Now here are my thoughts on the show.

Right now host Alfonso Riberio is hosting this show as a plain Game Show Host. He is not doing a bad job at all, but he could do Much Better. Other than this, he is a fine host and could go a long way in the Game Show Biz.

The set is wonderful. It is about time a Game Show gets out of the Dark, gloomy sets, and into a set with color and lots of action. No complaints at all.

The Game Play is great. It's fast, fun, and engaging. At first I thought I would hate the whole "Passing" Option, but now I love it. This ensures that the game is not all about luck, but about strategy. Merrill Heater made a good decision with that. I think it would be cool if the contestant would be able to continue to play after freezing. It would be increase their chance of winning, and it would be pretty exciting to see.

My big complaint is the Bonus round. If you are an absolute unlucky person, you have no chance of winning the $25,000. But I really see no way of making this different. And looking around Game Show boards and other blogs, no one else knows either. So I guess they should keep it the same unless they think of some other way to make it a little easier.

So pretty much the Game is fun and engaging. It is not as great as shows like Lingo and Russian Roulette, but it is way better than some of the things GSN has come out with lately. I hope it does good for them, because they really need a hit Game Show.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Some Deal or No Deal News


Not much going on today, so why don't we look at Deal or No Deal. At the TCA Announcements, NBC announced that the show would be moved up in its premiere. On Monday, August 25th, the show will premiere with a one hour episode. The episode will be another one of their "Million Dollar Mission" episodes. If you don't know, this is when they add more Million Dollar cases to the board so it is easier for the contestants to win the Million. This time they will have 4 Million Dollar cases on the board. But of course, if the show can't give it away when there are 13 cases, there is no way in hell anyone will win with 4. Deal will then debut their Wednesday and Friday episodes sometime in October.

The Syndicated version of the show is almost here. The show is 48 days from premiering. If you don't know, the show will be hosted by Howie and have only 2 models. Those models will be Patrica (#9) and Tamieka (#21). The money will also go down from $1 Million to $500,000. And the best part of it, there will be no Family Members to help the contestants.

The show now has its own website. You can visit it here: http://www.dealornodealtv.com/. Not much to it yet, but you can get tickets to attend the show.

Deal Or No Deal (Primetime Version) - Premieres Monday, August 25th at 8:00pm on NBC

Deal Or No Deal (Syndicated Version) - Premieres Monday, September 8th in Syndication. Check your local listings

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Price is Right, Season 37 Changes. (And you were all worried)


After 16 days of guessing and all of the rumors on the web, we finally have answers to what is going to change on the 37th season of The Price is Right. And the main change is, the Wheel. Here are the changes.

-The first change is the set. They are bringing in the fantastic Million Dollar Spectacular set. The only difference will be it will not have the black floor.
-The Big Wheel has been slightly remodeled. The Wheel will have purple spaces instead of the Black spaces. However, Drew said that the Wheel would be like this for only this week. Next week, the wheel will be painted black once again.
-The side panels of the Wheel are now Purple instead of the traditional red. The sides will also have 2 huge silver $ signs.
-Staying with the Wheel, the show is also upping the bonus money on the wheel. Now when you land on the .5 and .15 spaces during your bonus spins, you will win $10,000. If you land on the $1.00 during that spin, you will win $25,000! It is not known yet if the first time landing on a dollar bonus has been upped.

And those are the major changes. Now of course things could change during this whole season and the whole "American Idol" redo of the show could happen. But for now Game Show fans, lets be happy for now that this is all the changes!

Special thanks to Golden-road.net member corbinq27 (who attended the show today)., for the info.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT SEASON 37 - PREMIERES SEPTEMBER 22nd AT 11:00PM ET ON CBS.

Catch-21 Premieres Tomorrow!

I just want to give everyone a heads-up that tomorrow will be the premiere of Catch-21 on GSN. The show is a revival of the classic Game Show Gambit that was hosted by Wink Martindale in the 70's (even though GSN says the game is based soley on their online game).

Here is a little sneak peak at the show with a little behind the scenes footage of the show.



CATCH-21 WITH ALFONSO RIBERIO - PREMIERES TOMORROW NIGHT AT 7:30PM
REPEATS AIR TUESDAY-SATURDAY AT 10:00PM AND SUNDAY NIGHTS AT 10:00 AND 10:30PM

Friday, July 11, 2008

Schedule Alert!


Just giving everyone a heads up that PBS will reair its Pioneers of Television special that looked at the world of TV. And I would highly suggest the one about Game Shows because it is really, Really good. It talks about the Radio days of Game Shows, to The Game Show Scandals of the 50's, then it goes into the 60's and 70's of Game Shows. It also takes about 2 minutes to focus on the Greatest Game Show Host of all time, Bill Cullen.

It is really good. Check it out tomorrow.

Pioneers of Television: Game Shows - Airs Tomorrow Night at 10:00pm on PBS

Game Show Clip of The Week!

For this week's Game Show Clip of The Week, we will take a look at Ray Comb's Version of Family Feud. This is the first part of the premiere episode of this version of Feud from 1988. This clip helps celebrate Comb's return to GSN starting on July 21st at 10:30am! Enjoy!

Thanks to Mtiller2006 for the clip.



Family Feud (Combs) - Returns July 21st at 10:30am on GSN

Thursday, July 10, 2008

GSN B&W Overnight Change!


I just wanted to post up a little reminder that GSN will be making a trade starting on Late Sunday night/Early Monday Morning. On Saturday night, the classic B&W Game Show I've Got A Secret will end its run. On the next night, GSN will replace it with the classic Robert Q. Lewis Game Show The Name's The Same. What's My Line will continue to air in its regular place in the B&W overnight slot.

What's My Line - airs everynight at 3:00am

The Name's The Same - starts Sunday Night at 3:30am

I've Got A Secret - airs for the next 3 nights at 3:30am

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Game Show Moments Gone Bananas comes to DVD!


BCI, the people who have brought you DVD's including Match Game and The Price is Right, are coming out with a new DVD. This one will consist of the 5 episodes of the VH1 original Game Show Moments Gone Bananas. The show, hosted by Ben Stein looked at the crazy world of Game Shows and included clips from Games across the world, Classic B&W Game Shows and newer Game Shows clips like Distraction. The show also played different classic game shows with its audience.

The DVD will come out on September 23rd and the cost looks to be $14.98. So if you did not get these episodes on tape when they aired on VH1 and GSN, then this looks to be a good buy.

Wheel of Fortune Million Dollar Bonus Round for season 26!



The Game Show, Wheel of Fortune that has been in Syndication for 26 years is getting ready for a big season starting this fall. Wheel will now be giving its contestants a chance to play for $1 Million Dollars in the Bonus Round. Here is how a contestant can win it.

In the first 3 rounds, there will be a wedge on the Wheel with One Million being between two bankrupts. The contestant will first have to land on it, call a letter, and if the letter is in the puzzle, the million will be put in their bank. They will keep that Million for the whole game. The contestant cannot hit a bankrupt at all during the rest of the game. If they are lucky and win the game without hitting a bankrupt, A One Million Dollar slot will be added to the Bonus Round Wheel. The contestant will then have to land on it and solve the puzzle to win the One Million Dollars.

This is very tough, but it will be very exciting to see if someone does do this. I have a feeling it won't ever happen, but then again who knows? Wheel is now the second Syndicated Game Show on TV that is trying to give away $1 Million Dollars. No one has won a million in Syndication since Nancy Christie did in 2003 on Millionaire. Millionaire is the only Syndicated show to ever give away a Million Dollars.

Wheel of Fortune - Season 26 premieres on September 8th in Syndication. Check your local listings.

Monday, July 7, 2008

GSN Aquires Pyramid plus other schedule changes.

Some strange news from the GSN camp today. GSN has aquired the 2002-2004 version of the Game Show Pyramid. The show, hosted by Donny Osmond, was a revival of the old Dick Clark versions of the show.

I am kind of mixed on this news. Part of me is angry that it is not any version hosted by Dick Clark and the other part of me is happy that we have at least some kind of Pyramid. This show also had some good weeks including having legendary game show panelist Betty White and former host Dick Clark playing the game. Of course GSN could have gotten a horrible show like Card Sharks 2001. Things could be worse.

The sad news is, GSN will be taking Russian Roulette's 6:00pm airing with this show. It will also air at 10:30pm after an encore airing of the new GSN original Game Show Catch-21. They are also making a few other nightly changes. Here is the full nighttime schedule for Tuesday-Fridays.

6:00pm: Pyramid
6:30pm: Lingo
7:00pm: Bingo America
7:30pm: Catch-21
8:00pm: Millionaire
9:00pm: Family Feud (Karn)
9:30pm: Family Feud (O'Hurley)
10:00pm: Catch-21
10:30pm: Pyramid
11:00pm: Lingo
11:30pm: Whammy!

Thanks to Buzzerblog for this news.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Price Producer is Fired!

I think everyone knows right now that longtime Price is Right Producer Roger Dobkowitz has been fired from Fremantle Media because the company wants to take Price in a new direction.

Right now, there are no known changes that have been announced. There has been a lot of speculating on the internet game show boards and blogs, but nothing has been proved to be true. The first taping of the new season begins on July 20th, and if any news breaks on what changes are being made, I will be sure to let everyone know.

Now my opinion on all of this mess. This weekend has been a weird one for Game Show fans. After 3 years of being apart of the Game Show community, I have never seen so much anger and sadness over anything. Roger was a beloved producer who many said was the nicest person around. We will all miss him on Price. But there comes a time when you can be sad, and a time when you can be an all around fanatic. The head of Golden-road.net, Marc has decided to take time off and take all of the G-R threads with him. He seems to me to be a complete cry-baby. He seems to find one little thing and decides to take his boards with him. A few months ago he did the same thing after someone from the google groups continually put him down. All I say is get over it, and take it like a man. But this guy decides to let this get to him, and he does this kind of crap. Grow up Marc.

But all we can do now, is cross our fingers and hope that Fremantle does not go overly crazy on these changes.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Catch A Game with GSN!

Today, GSN has premiered a new look and feel to the network. After about 2 months of debuting new logos and bringing back the whole "GSN: The Network for Games" look, GSN has finally found themselves a new look and slogan. The slogan is "Catch A Game". They have also redid all of their bumpers and promos to coincide with the new look. They have also promoted in one of their bumpers the new GSN Radio. Right now they say go to GSN.com/Radio to win. But for right now, no page exists.

The song that comes with the new look is very annoying, but if this is what GSN wants to do, then go ahead and do it. GSN really needed to find their niche, and here it is. Hopefully they can change up the song and look real soon, because that one song is annoying.