gameshow-related stories
Posted Oct 1st 2009 6:50PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Game Show, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Think
Deal or No Deal is too easy? Want more interactive for that big prize? NBC might have the answer. They've ordered
Perfect 10, a one-hour game show where contestants have 60 seconds to complete ten tasks for $1 million; tasks like unraveling an entire roll of toilet paper with your body.
Producers say they've developed easily replicated challenges because they want us to play along at home, like how we yell prices to contestants on
The Price is Right. There are no prizes for participating at home, unless you count having to figure out what to do with an entire roll of toilet paper strewn about your living room.
They're even going to set up a website where we can see 50 demonstrations of tasks people on the show might be asked to perform. Which means we can start right now trying to figure out what those might be. Fold a basket full of inside out shirts? Match 50 pairs of socks with your feet. Stack empty bottles of laundry detergent on top of one another on top of a running dryer. Sound off with your ideas!
Posted Oct 1st 2009 5:00PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Video, Game Show
Terry Kniess, the Double Showcase winner on
The Price is Right who got his bid right on the money, may have been
a "dark day" for Drew Carey, but he's no cheater.
In fact, there have been more egregious and blatant attempts to guarantee a win in a pricing game by skewing the odds in their favor, sometimes right in front of the host's eyes.
For instance, here's a "Shell Game" contestant who does something so outrageous, so ballsy, so completely devious that Bob Barker can't help but rip her to verbal shreds in front of the entire nation. And not only does she get away with it, but she actually wins the game!
Continue reading The Price is Right has had much squirrelier contestants
Posted Sep 15th 2009 11:02AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Game Show, British TV
Normally I wouldn't do a post about a show that's hard for us Yanks to see, but this game show addition to the Brit's ITV Network merits special attention because it shows just how far ahead of the curve they are when it comes to kicking our asses on television.
The Cube sounds like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill challenge game show, designed to humiliate people on national television by making them look stupid for not being able to complete menial tasks for cash and/or prizes. That's because on the surface, it looks like every single game show you've ever seen since executives realized that crushing the human spirit on live television would score them lets of cash and/or prizes.
But when you watch an entire episode, its stylish look and dark feeling matched with the complexity of the game's concept make for an hour of television that sucks you in and never lets you go for a second. Compare that to just about every recent American game show that pushes you away and makes you run as far as you can from your TV set.
Continue reading British game show The Cube is far from square
Posted Aug 29th 2009 3:35PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Game Show, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
ABC's newest stunt game show
Crash Course looks exactly like the kind of show that bloggers and critics watch just so they could put their "Suck Extinguishers" to good use.
And yet 45 minutes of TV viewing later, I'm not even feeling the need to break the protective glass. On the surface, it appears to be just another reality/game show with typical contestants having their ids scared for life for cash and/or prizes and most of it is just that.
And even though it met those stereotypical expectations, I still didn't hate it. Part of me actually kind of (gulp) enjoyed it. Did I just swallow my brains along with my pride?
Continue reading Is it wrong that I don't hate ABC's Crash Course?
Posted Aug 3rd 2009 11:27AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Game Show, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Game show fanatics will be pleased to learn that network game shows are returning to daytime television. Finally, people who take actual sick days will have something else to look forward to other than another mind-bending dose of NyQuil.
CBS has confirmed they are replacing the outgoing
Guiding Light with a remake of the classic
Let's Make a Deal.
The ex-Tiffany network has already shot a test pilot of the updated show with smiling crooner Wayne Brady in the host's chair. Brady hasn't officially won the job, but he's the front-running favorite. CBS executives are expected to make Brady's deal official later today at
the Television Critics Association hoedown, unless, of course, he chooses to go for what's behind Door Number Two. Don't do it Wayne! It's just a lifetime supply of goat feed!
Continue reading CBS makes a deal for Let's Make a Deal with Wayne Brady
Posted Apr 7th 2009 12:02PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Game Show, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Now that
Guiding Light is destined to become another sad memory of lonely housewives nationwide, CBS is hoping
an old daytime tradition will pull them away from their housework.
And for those of you now engulfed in hate flame who've found the fuel to write some snide comment about my
Mad Men-ish view of soap opera viewers and women, please calm the #*$& down. One, I realize this is not the 1950s and women don't all strive to stay at home barefoot and pregnant. And two, who the hell else watches soap operas? Only male hair salon stylists and hospital patients who don't have the physical ability or cognitive capacity to operate a bed remote.
I hope this means more game shows are on the way.
Continue reading Are more game shows headed to daytime? I hope so
Posted Apr 7th 2009 11:00AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Game Show, Reality-Free
There are some forces in the universe that should never be messed with: the sun, black holes and
Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek. Take it from
someone who knows.
The man has the unholy ability to make ANYONE look stupid on national television. He can make an Ivy League PhD appear as though he went to city college. He can turn a Midwestern elementary school teacher into someone no parent would entrust their child with for eight hours a day. His trademark "Oh, sorry" alone can make a world renowned neurosurgeon look like a jabbering mental patient who doesn't know the name of the bone that houses the human brain.
So it's no wonder that politicians are scared to be seen in the same camera shot with the man.
Continue reading Alex Trebek says politicans are scared of him, and they should be - VIDEO
Posted Mar 4th 2009 2:00PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Game Show, Reality-Free
The hours of preparation have been grueling. The amount of studying has been tedious and boring. The sacrifice required to reach this moment has been great and punishing. I didn't shower for two days and the smell almost set off the fire alarm in some of the smaller rooms.
Now the only weapons I have at my disposal are my nimble fingers, my rapid comprehension and my ability to remember everything I've read in the span of four days. We're about to go head-to-head with the razor-toothed man eater that is the
Jeopardy! contestant test.
We're gonna need a bigger brain.
Continue reading Trebek, I must break you: Taking on the Jeopardy! test
Posted Feb 12th 2009 7:03PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Game Show, Software, Reality-Free
It's more than a little ironic (or tragic, depending on how much you give a rat's ass) that the most successful game show in the history of American television has never had a truly worthy home game. One worthy enough to give to loser contestants so they can win against their own friends and family at home because God is a cruel comedian.
Seriously, God should get his own
Mark Twain Prize.
Now after more than 35 years on the air, there is such a game:
The Price is Right video game. And it's so well done and fun that it could crush the soul of a 300-pound linebacker from Obetz, Ohio who lost out on his chance to be the only guy in town who owns a Chrysler Crossfire.
Continue reading The Price is Right - video game review
Posted Jan 31st 2009 10:02AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: OpEd, Game Show, Reality-Free
The way that game show fans feel about
Wheel of Fortune is so well-documented it has sort of become a cliche.
Wheel of Fortune is for a certain type of person, and shows like
Jeopardy are for another type. I don't know if I agree with that.
There's something for game show fans in each show, whether you're solving a letter puzzle or trying to answer a question about ancient Rome or literature, though I can certainly see why one would appeal to a person and the other wouldn't. But I have to admit that I
drifted away from
Wheel of Fortune for many years because of contestants such as the one from last night's episode.
Continue reading Wheel of Fortune contestants make me sad/crazy
Posted Jan 29th 2009 1:01PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Web, Game Show, Reality-Free
Studying was never my strong-suit. I always got by in college on my looks; that would explain why I was a C-student. Come to think of it, planning isn't either. Neither is getting enough REM sleep, keeping a clean house or (as you can see by my picture) sticking to a regular skin care regime.
So when it came to preparing for my
Jeopardy! test, the same substandard habits applied. I could have started cracking the books at least a month ago when I first heard the website was holding
online contestant tests at the Jeopardy! website. It just seemed like a huge mountain of knowledge to tame in one sitting. Plus, I had about 15
Tales from the Darkside episodes that my TiVo had taped and were about to go to waste.
So when it came time to crack the books and cram in as much information as my brain could hold, I not only had to make up for lost time.
Continue reading Danny hits the books for his Jeopardy! test, and the books hit back...hard
Posted Jan 27th 2009 2:04PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Interviews, Game Show, Reality-Free
Every apprentice who aims to journey on a quest fraught with peril and self-realization must seek someone with experience in facing it. He must consult with a man who not only has walked that road many times before, but has beaten it into submission until he emerged triumphant.
Hercules had to consult the Delphi Oracle if he wanted to avenge his family's death.
Rocky had to learn to trust Mickey if he wanted to defeat Apollo Creed.
Luke Skywalker had to find Yoda if he wanted to become a Jedi.
So if I wanted to achieve victory over the daunting behemoth of knowledge that is the
Jeopardy! contestant test, I, too, would have to find an equally experienced and successful "Yoda" from the game show shire.
In short,
Ken Jennings wasn't available but the Mace Windu of the
Jeopardy! Council was.
Continue reading Jeopardy! champion Bob Harris gives a lowly blogger some advice
Posted Jan 26th 2009 1:02PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Web, Game Show, Reality-Free
If you've ever wanted to be a contestant on the legendary
Jeopardy!, then get in line. It starts behind me. I already called dibs and stamped it.
Jeopardy! will conduct national online contestant tests this week
on their official website. The tests will take place by timezone: Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern for people on the East Coast, Wednesday at 8 p.m. Central and 7 p.m. Mountain for residents in those time zones and Thursday at 8 p.m. for Pacific Coast, Alaska and Hawaii viewers.
As part of this annual game show tradition, I, your humble (not-so-much) TVSquad blogger Danny Gallagher, will also be one of the many, many people trying out for the most hallowed game show in the history of American broadcasting. And as always, you get to come along for the ride. Please keep all hands and arms inside the vehicle until my ego comes to a complete stop.
Continue reading This could be you next to Alex, but first you'll have to get through me
Posted Aug 21st 2008 10:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Game Show, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
When I read
AOL's Top 20 Best Game Shows of All Time, I pretty much agreed with all the choices. I might have moved
Password up a bit, and dropped
Who Wants to Be A Millionaire to a lower slot, but the one selection that really made me glower was
The Price Is Right as number one.
No, no, not to me. For me, the only choice for numero uno is
Jeopardy. It's not a game of chance or luck or random spins of a wheel. It's all about brains and thinking on your feet. And maybe having really fast thumbs. Merv Grifffin's creation remains the best gameshow ever in my book.
As I was thinking about
Jeopardy, I realized that for me, the best
Jeopardy is not today's Alex Trebek version. I mean, it's great -- don't misunderstand me. It's the one I still prefer to watch today, but my favorite
Jeopardy remains the pre-syndication edition, the one that played on NBC daytime from 1964-1975. No, I'm not nuts. I have five very good reasons why I prefer the original, classic
Jeopardy.
Continue reading Five reasons I prefer classic Jeopardy - VIDEO
Posted Jul 10th 2008 2:00PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Game Show, Casting
Hole in the Wall, this summer's
latest Japanese game show ripoff, has announced its hosts. Actress Brooke Burns and L.A. weather anchor Mark Thompson will be presiding over Fox's version of human Tetris. Both have game show experience, with Burns having served as the host of
Dog Eat Dog and Thompson providing the voiceover for
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?Hole is being brought to America by
American Idol producers FremantleMedia North America and came to be after clips of the Japanese version became hugely popular on YouTube. Ellen DeGeneres also got a kick out of the Japanese competition, not only featuring several clips on her talk show, but even going so far as having audience members participate in her own version.
Continue reading Hole in the Wall finds its hosts
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