The Game Show Thread!

[All My Shadows]

Well, to be fair, LMAD has the potential to be more profitable than Pyramid. LMAD is just like TPIR in that even when the show isn't on a commercial break, all types of crap is still being hawked non-stop.

CBS has put up their LMAD website, and it actually looks pretty good:

http://www.cbs.com/daytime/lets_make_a_deal/

They seem to be going with bright TPIR-style lighting instead of the dark and shiny look, which is such a freaking plus for me. I hate the dark and shiny look with the heat of a thousand suns.

I want a remake of Split Second, damn it. There are five episodes from the original early 70s run on YouTube and I've devoured them all. Excellent concept for a game show. I can't say enough good things about it.

[cct]

Great thread idea! Loved game shows growing up. Didn't know so many existed on youtube. I caught a Tom Kennedy Split Second and a Monty Hall. You're right, Shadows, very clever idea for a game show, and just when I was tired of the concept, in comes the lightning round to spice it up. Lame bonus game, though.

One of my favorites was Hot Potato with Bill Cullen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuv19P3K5qI&feature=related

Great game, good audience participation potential, no need to be trivia expert, clever idea to have each team share a quality (usually career if I remember correctly) and the cheesy steam coming out of the logo in the opening credits is the creamy icing on the cake!

[All My Shadows]

GOD, I thought I was the only person in the world who thinks that Spit Second's bonus game was lame. I generally prefer for the bonus game to be some kind of variation of the main game, and most shows follow that formula, so I don't know...maybe they just couldn't come up with something that incorporated the main game or whatever. I like the whole "pick a car and hope it's the right one" idea, but it's kinda random for Split Second.

What does everyone think of the new LMAD? I actually liked it a whole lot. There were some cons (60 minutes is too much...it should have just been a half-hour show; ONE person doing the Big Deal at the end?), but there were also some pros (Wayne was great; the audience was great; the set is well-lit; the audience deal is a GREAT concept; the energy was definitely there). I'll be tuning in often. It sure beats The Price is Right. Someone like Drew is better fit for LMAD than TPIR. LMAD enables the host to talk more and show off his personality and interact more with the contestants. TPIR should just be left up to "game show" types like Todd Newton, Dylan Lane, etc.

[bellcurve]

Let's Make a Deal wasn't AWFUL...

Wayne Brady's a good host. No doubt he'll add another Daytime Emmy to the mantle.

But Let's Make a Deal is so cheap and it's such a tiredass concept. I would have much preferred Pyramid.

[All My Shadows]

A half-hour of each would have been perfect, IMO. One thing I like about the new Deal is that it adds some excitement to the afternoon, TV-wise. The syndie games that usually air in the afternoons here are all pretty tame in terms of crazy contestants, so it's good to see some BSC people on TV past noon.

[bellcurve]

So, did you guys hear that they are doing away with the "Phone A Friend" lifeline on Millionaire? I think this will be the nail in the show's coffin.

It's bad enough that they've changed the money tree and that they are doing this weird "Play For a Million" tourney during November Sweeps, but now the show wants to do away with the only remaining original lifeline? And for what? Ask the Expert has never been great help for the contestants. Ali Wentworth was on the show about a month or so ago and she sucked ass as an "expert." So have some of the other "name" experts, like Ken Jennings(thinking Tyra Banks spoke at Tulane's Commencement Ceremony ). And I'm sorry, but on what universe is Renee Syler an "expert"?

[All My Shadows]

Millionaire is nearly unrecognizable now with all of the BS they've added to it. I used to not understand why people would get so excited for the short runs of Regis's Millionaire, but now I see why. They've changed a lot of the show and it's more complicated that it ever needed to be.

[Chris B]

I watched Let's Make a Deal and was so disappointed! The promos loooked so much better than the finished project. I don't want game shows much, but I do love The Price is Right. This looked cheap, the music was terrible and the concept didn't seem like something I can see lasting. This looked like a cheap revival I could accept on GSN, a smaller network or in syndication. But for CBS they did a poor job. Even the people in costumes weren't as exciting as the contestants on TPIR.

Strangely enough...Wayne Brady was the only thing that worked. I guess it's just like soaps, a lower quality is what TV is going for.

[Soapsuds]

The show does look very cheap. I hope it doesnt do well.

[ClassicsSoapFan]

I agree.

I like Wayne Brady and always liked everything he is in.

Maybe a 30 minute format would have been better.

[Chris B]

The worst thing is that good game shows HAVE been launched, so whats the excuse? It's like they gave this no thought. Barbara Bloom is a failure in every way. The quality of her programs isn't a major concern.

[bellcurve]

I think alot of it has to do with the fact that the show is taping in that small, crappy Las Vegas hall instead of a real production studio. I know they were trying to do this show on the cheap, but I don't get WHY they had to do the show in Vegas, when they could have easily done the show on Price's offday in their studio. I know it was to accomodate Wayne Brady, but you mean to tell me they couldn't pick a bigger or more vast space in Vegas than that crappy convention center?!

If they are more concerned about product placement, SONY is the queen of product placement(Wheel and Jeopardy are all one big, complicated ad these days anyway) and advertising and Pyramid could have done that very easily. Certain clues could have been sponsored by People Magazine or Pine-Sol or something. A Super 7 with a cash prize could have been sponsored by any Procter and Gamble product. I mean, the show was an hour pilot anyway.

[Chris B]

I watched again today and the music when they announced the deal of the day was so underwhelming. I was like, that

s it??? I also don't like how everything happens in the middle of the audience. Why not pluck those people from the audience and bring them on the stage? Do SOMETHING? Just standing there gets boring.

I'm not sure if the problem is their studio space either. There is so much wrong with the execution of this show that have nothing to do with space. I need to see the original show to see how this show was when it was good. I have a hard time believing it was a good show based on this. But I do know that if you saw a modern episode of Guiding Light you may think the same thing. Do they show reruns on GSN?

[bellcurve]

I think they were in the audience even during the original.

Now thinking back on it, do we see the actual stage? Or are all of those prizes shot post-production? Could that be it?

Also, FREEmantle has their hands on it, so I'm not surprised there is anything underwhelming about Let's Make a Deal. Card Sharks Revival, anyone?

[All My Shadows]

The classic LMAD from the 70s (I've only seen a few episodes of the early 80s version, so I can't comment too much on it) usually had all of its interactions strictly in the audience area. I honestly can't think of a single time when Monty and a contestant actually went on stage, so the few times we've seen contestants on stage in the current version are actually more than what the old show did.

BTW, GSN took off the reruns a little earlier this year. They were airing both the 70s and 80s versions most of last year, but dropped to just the 70s version until they dropped it altogether. I miss it! Some things are different between the two versions, but it's mostly the same. The 70s studio was actually a little smaller, I think. The audience area was definitely smaller, and instead of all of the potential contestants sitting all together, there were two areas: one area at the back made up of audience members who weren't contestants (I'm guessing they were all pre-screened and those people didn't make the cut) and the front area, where Monty was free to pick whoever he wanted to do deals with. Still, the whole set-up seemed a little closer back then, just a little more intimate. I think that probably added to the audience energy because everyone was basically sitting on top of each other.

Oh, and the current LMAD's music SUCKS ASS. It's just boring, bland, lame, and it's just the type of crap you'd expect to hear on a GSN original. Ugh.

But yeah, this should have been a half hour of Deal followed by a half-hour of Pyramid or something. I like the show just fine, but the hour is much too long.