TVSquad

On the theory that it worked for another actress who play Tracy Turnblad, Marissa Jaret Winokur is going to star in her own daytime talk show, just like Ricki Lake before her. (Can Nikki Blonsky be next?)

Marissa J, who's currently spinning, twirling and trying to look graceful on Dancing With the Stars, will be developing a syndicated yakker (industry talk for talk show) for Sony Pictures Television. The fact that another company is also doing the same thing for Marie Osmond means one thing: producers think that if you can dance, you can talk. That's a show business axiom, isn't it? Her show, if it flies, will be for fall 2009.

Sony has dipped in syndication before with the Wayne Brady Show, which failed to click but did win the star a Daytime Emmy. Marissa is already an award winner, grabbing the 2003 Tony as Best Actress in a musical for playing Tracy in the Broadway version of Hairspray opposite Harvey Fierstein.

(S01E07) In my opinion, it's pretty hard to mess up a game like Family Feud. Sure, you could have a bad host like Ray Combs or Louie Anderson, but that usually doesn't deter from the game play of the families who participate on the show. So it's no surprise that Game Show Marathon chose this particular classic to be the Championship Game. That, and the fact that it could easily be played in an hour and not feel awkward like some of the other games that were played during the series.

Oh, and it certainly didn't hurt that both finalists, Kathy Najimy and Brande Roderick, had actually been on Feud in the past:  Najimy back in 1981 with host Richard Dawson, and Roderick back in the late 90's with host Louie Anderson. Pretty convenient, don't you think?

(S01E06) This review was performed via IM chat, and has been edited for clarity.

Richard Keller: Good evening, everyone! And welcome to a 'very special' review of Game Show Marathon. I'm here with someone I've known for, well, most of my life. My dear brother Joel.

Joel Keller: Howdy.

Richard Keller: We're diverging from the usual review format because tonight we are going to watch an episode of GSM that features a game show that was viewed religiously in the Keller household during the 1970's. We're talking about Match Game.

JK: The previews of this show looked OK... some oddities... but I'm keeping an open mind; yet, I'm going to be really critical of this episode, considering Match Game is my all-time favorite game show. What are you expecting, Rich?

RK: Well, from looking at the previews from last week I'm not too sure.  They seem to have gotten the feel of the mid-70's set down. What it will really come down to is how the celebrities play. So, without further delay, here we go.

(S01E05) Before we begin I have a correction to make. At the end of last week's post about the Press Your Luck episode of Game Show Marathon I mentioned that the version of Card Sharks they were playing this week was the Bob Eubanks hosted version that ran on CBS from 1986 until 1989 (Ironically, replacing Press Your Luck in the timeslot). However, I was wrong. After watching the introduction to tonight's show it was clearly the Jim Perry version which ran on NBC from 1978 until 1981. So, apologies all around.

Come to think of it, the original version of the show was much better than the Eubanks version. Eubanks, who hosted The Newlywed Game for several decades, made the show more personality based. And, that wasn't his fault, since he spent years trying to get newlyweds to open up about their most intimate secrets to millions of television viewers. But, adding that element to the show made the game move a bit slower. The original that was hosted by Jim Perry (who went on to host the popular $ale of the Century shortly after Card Sharks ended) was a much faster paced game. In the end, the producers over at Marathon made the right choice by going with the original.

(S01E04) It could be my imagination, but I could swear that the remaining three celebrities vying for the last seat of Game Show Marathon semi-finals were having a good time. Maybe they were finally warming up to each other after four games, maybe it was a 'I don't care what happens, I'm going to have fun' belief. Or, maybe it's the fact they were playing Press Your Luck and, dammit, they really had a competition going on.

The original Press Your Luck, which aired on CBS from 1983 until 1986 was such a cool concept that the show is still a favorite to this day. So, it was great to see it in all it's glory on Game Show Marathon. Other than the late Peter Tomarken all of the elements were there, the spinning set, the big board, the theme music, and, of course, the Whammys. In addition, it was probably the best episode of the series so far.

(S01E03) Much better! After the awkwardness of The Price is Right and the emotionally robotic Let's Make a Deal, CBS's Game Show Marathon finally came up with a game that was fairly enjoyable:  Beat the Clock. There were two reasons for that. First, it's always good to watch celebrities knowingly make fools of themselves in front of an audience. Second, they didn't have to guess the friggin price of Aspercreme to win a prize!

Add to that the fact that Beat the Clock is one of those quietly classic game shows that has endured since it first premiered on television in the 1950's. In this game there's no getting close to the actual dollar amount, no pressure to choose what was in the box or what was behind door number three. It's basically a game of teamwork. And, if the team works really well then riches abound. The concept has been used other shows such as Double Dare and, Lord help us, Fear Factor.

There also one more reason why I could tolerate this episode a bit more than the last two:  Paige Davis is just so spunky!

Ricki Lake will be returning to television on May 31 to host a new CBS summer series called Gameshow Marathon. The series, which airs at 8 p.m., will pit celebrities such as Tim Meadows, Lance Bangs, and Kathy Najimy against one another in recreations of classic games such as Press Your Luck and Let's Make A Deal. One celebrity will be eliminated during each episode. Speaking of Press Your Luck, I had a teacher in high school who used to tell us not to "press our luck" all the time, so naturally a friend and I drew "Whammies" and displayed them on our desks whenever she said it. This is not a good way to learn, that's what I'm saying.