The Game Show Thread!

[bellcurve]

I read that too. But they don't have the same producers.

The UK version now employs the use of a clock with every question but the final four or five.

This revamp is quite extensive.

[DRW50]

Promo for 1986-era Card Sharks at the end of this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVWmH4dHCCk&feature=channel

In this fan luncheon thing from 2000 Michael Park talks about his stint on Hollywood Squares.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD7pmmFJd74

[DRW50]

From the December 1976 SOD

[bellcurve]

Pyramid Revived...on PC/Mac and major gaming consoles!

http://buzzerblog.flashgameshows.com/ludia-developing-pyramid-video-game/

And Alex from BuzzerBlog also just tweeted that Arsenio Hall met with GSN Execs to take over the low-budget revival of 1 vs. 100.

[All My Shadows]

Because Don-Don's the first one I think of when I see Pyramid. Just as well, Dick nor his worshipers seem to remember his 15 years hosting the show...

Thanks for that article, Carl, I'm just seeing it. Once upon a time, daytime television was filled with such life! Soaps and game shows on their own just gave it an excitement, and it's evident in all those reruns on GSN.

[DRW50]

So did Jim Peck go on to anything else?

[All My Shadows]

Yes, he had a string of short-lived games throughout the late 70s, my favorite being the infamous 3's a Crowd (It's the Newlywed Game!! plus Three's Company!!). Delicious trash, but of course, most game show purists deride it.

Last I heard, he works at Marquette University.

ETA: Oh, and a fun fact about JP. He was going to replace Jack Barry on The Joker's Wild in the early 80s after Jack's retirement, but then Jack died, and Dan Enright went with Bill Cullen instead.

[DRW50]

That's interesting stuff. Joker's Wild -- I think I saw that in reruns on USA. Can't remember who the host was.

[All My Shadows]

Probably Jack Barry. He was heavily involved with the quiz show scandals of the 50s. He and his partner, Dan Enright, produced Twenty One, which Jack also hosted. They also created Tic Tac Dough (hosted by young Gene Rayburn) and several other hits. Enright was actually the one responsible for the rigging, but Jack kept quiet once he learned about it. Nevertheless, they were both essentially banished from the industry throughout the rest of the 50s and the 60s. They were slowly welcomed back in the early 70s, though, and TJW was their big comeback in '72. The show was also one of the three game shows that marked CBS's return to the daytime game business (Gambit and TPIR being the other two). The original pilot had been shot in '69 with Allen Ludden as host because Barry didn't want his onscreen presence to work against the format, but it wasn't picked up. He tried it again two years later on a local station in California, but he decided to host since Allen was busy with ABC's Password revival. The show did well, so CBS picked it up, and it ran for a successful three years. A few years later, TJW came back with Jack as host in first-run syndication alongside the new TTD with Wink Martindale.

Jack's story could have easily ended as a sad, sad tale, but it's really great that he was able to come up out of the drama of the scandals and reestablish himself as a good producer and host.

[DRW50]

That's a great story. The game show industry often has such great stories.

If the quiz show scandal happened today I wonder if a lot of people would shrug. Then again I wonder if the public ever cared that much or if it was just the same voices in the media and grandstanding politicians we get now.

[DRW50]

I thought this belonged here more than the Texas thread. It's a game show within Texas, hosted by the character Virginia Graham played. 12/21/82 SOD.

[bellcurve]

New Millionaire Website with online game preview below. I don't know how I feel about this...I think this is the jump the shark moment. I also think this will yield less big money winners as a result.

http://www.dadt.com/millionaire/special/game/index.html

[All My Shadows]

It's a nice play for a computer game, but as a TV show? Ugh. They're gonna go through contestants faster than Meredith goes through panties.

[bellcurve]

I agree.

But no thoughts on the music? The music is so bad and uneventful.

[bellcurve]

New Millionaire aired earlier today in my local affiliate. My quick assessment:

They have to do something about this awful music. The Strachan score was everything to this show and it's almost sacrilegious to not have that score or a variation of it in the music.

The gameplay is okay. Alot better than I thought it would be, but I highly doubt this is gonna yield more winners and more big money winners.

And I hate that the contestants stand and all the weird free motion shots(as well as being able to see the audience more thanks to the brighter lighting), but Meredith has never looked better. She's more relaxed, they dress her in more "sexy" outfits(or as sexy as you can get for a 60ish woman on a gameshow). Funny thing is that Meredith has at least 8-10 years on Vanna White and Vanna looks like sh!t in comparison to Meredith. She and she alone may keep me watching this show.