So now we have a shiny new, 21st century edition of Let's Make A Deal. How does it stack up to the Monty Hall classic?
For the most part, the show hasn't changed a bit. Sure, some of the prizes are different now: satellite televisions and HDTVs. But there are still three doors and small boxes and big boxes and trading cash or prizes for what's behind or under those doors and boxes (and most of the prizes are the same: furniture and appliances and trips). We still have people dressed as cowboys and bananas and clowns and chefs so that hasn't changed.
But what about the hour-long format? The old show was 30 minutes. Does expanding it to an hour ruin things?
I guess if there's one good thing about Guiding Light being canceled is that CBS replaced it with a game show. I'm not sure if Let's Make A Deal is the game I would have chosen to remake, but it's better than having another Dr. Phil-ish show on the schedule. Here Price is Right host Drew Carey welcomes LMAD host Wayne Brady to the network. It starts Monday.
At first I thought that a new Let's Make A Deal wouldn't go over well in these oh-so-hip, ironic times. Who wants to go on television in front of millions of people dressed like a hot dog or a robot and embarrass themselves? And then I remembered that people go on TV nowadays to eat bugs, frolic naked in hot tubs, and showcase their children to the world, so dressing up like food products and fire hydrants will probably seem quaint now.
Once the panel for the new Let's Make a Deal was announced, you knew that at some point someone was going to ask Wayne Brady if he was going to have to choke a bitch.
That line, from the hilarious Chappelle's Show bit where Brady made fun of his squeaky-clean image, came up halfway through, when a critic asked Brady the question, "submitted from one of our readers on Twitter." I wonder if that reader was one of us critics, who all burned up the Twitterverse with the line as soon as we heard Brady would be here today.
Brady, who can improvise a song on the spot, just sat there in semi-silence. "That was a great choice of question," he said sarcastically. He isn't running from the bit, he said, and he's heard ten-year-olds try to say the line back at him at airports. But he's promoting a daytime, family-oriented show and just wanted people to talk about that.
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!
I've been a strong believer in bringing game shows back to daytime television. If soap operas continue to die, I certainly want to see game shows in there instead of another daytime talk show about nuns who cheat on their transvestite cousins.
When it was announced that Guiding Light wouldn't be coming back, it was rumored that game shows might be taking its place on the CBS lineup. Now it looks like that's true.
First there was word that a new $25,000 Pyramid could replaceGuiding Light when it ends in September. Now comes word that CBS might do an updated Let's Make A Dealinstead (or perhaps "too"). Monty Hall is even doing host auditions this week.
What would you like to see replace Guiding Light? And no, "keep Guiding Light on" is not an option.
If you go by all of the various stories in the media, it would seem that TV viewers just aren't into award shows anymore. The ratings are often down year to year, and if people are tuning in it seems to be more for the fashions, the red carpet, and maybe to see a particular category/performance by someone on the show.
So it's interesting that there are so many new genre award shows popping up. TV Land has had their own awards (The TV Land Awards) for a number of years now (the latest airs next week with Neil Patrick Harris hosting), and Bravo has The A-List Awards, whatever they are (it aired earlier this week). Now GSN is getting into the game (no pun intended) with The Game Show Awards, a show dedicated to giving awards to game shows, game show hosts, even game show sponsors!
I love GSN, but there are several things wrong with it.
I don't know about you, but I've had it up to here (hand planted right around nose height) with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The network airs the show way, way too much. I'm sure it's popular and there are probably promotional considerations involved, considering it's actually a show that's still on the air (GSN airs both the older Regis Philbin episodes and the newer Meredith Vieira ones), but we really don't need the show on as much as it is.
What would I put on instead? More classic game shows!
If you watch a lot of TV like I do, you often go through patterns. You'll drift away from a show for many months or even years, and then you start watching an episode one night and find yourself watching the show on a regular basis again (I'm talking about watching the shows on TV, not DVD). Here are a list of shows that I've found myself watching again recently, usually at 1 in the morning when I should be in bed.
1. Home Improvement. What a good show this was, and the type of show you don't see much of anymore, a sitcom shot on video in front of a live audience (most filmed-before-a-live-audience sitcoms today, like Gary Unmarried and Old Christine, have that film look). I think a lot of people dismiss this show because it was about a guy who was more into cars and tools than reading and emotion, but the show was a lot deeper than that.
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
Jeff MacKay: He was a veteran character actor who you know as Mac from Magnum, P.I. and his role as Bud's father on JAG. He was also a regular on Tales of the Gold Monkey and Baa Baa Black Sheep and appeared on other shows such as Diagnosis: Murder, Outlaws, Airwolf, The Greatest American Hero, Hardcastle and McCormack, and the original Battlestar Galactica. He also appeared in such movies as All The President's Men and The Wild,Wild West Revisited. He died of liver failure at age 60.
Once the panel for the new Let's Make a Deal was announced, you knew that at some point someone was going to ask Wayne Brady if he was going to have to choke a bitch.
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. 
I've been a strong believer in bringing game shows back to daytime television. If soap operas continue to die, I certainly want to see game shows in there instead of another daytime talk show about nuns who cheat on their transvestite cousins. 
If you go by all of the various stories in the media, it would seem that TV viewers just aren't into award shows anymore. The ratings are often down year to year, and if people are tuning in it seems to be more for the fashions, the red carpet, and maybe to see a particular category/performance by someone on the show.
I love GSN, but there are several things wrong with it.
If you watch a lot of TV like I do, you often go through patterns. You'll drift away from a show for many months or even years, and then you start watching an episode one night and find yourself watching the show on a regular basis again (I'm talking about watching the shows on TV, not DVD). Here are a list of shows that I've found myself watching again recently, usually at 1 in the morning when I should be in bed.
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
The TV Squad Podcast: Vik Sahay of Chuck, Oprah talk, brutal timeslots, and more!
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Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
