TVSquad

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?

Yes, I'll admit it. I love Wipeout. Last night I was thinking there should be a Celebrity Wipeout. Wouldn't that be great? I can think of some celebs I'd like to see get wet, whacked in the face, or fall down hard.

But the ABC game show isn't the first game show to be called Wipeout. There was a short-lived syndicated game show in the late 1980s with the same name, hosted by Peter Tomarken (Press Your Luck). Here is an entire episode, thanks to YouTube.

It's difficult for any summer reality show to emotionally connect with the audience, because there's less effort to watch. Unlike American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance has no big dance related prize. Don't tell me that touring with Celine Dion is anywhere near a multi-album contract. Dancers will eventually have to retire because their bodies can't take it.

The show finally made the cut from 32 to our top 20. I'm a little surprised how laid back Lil' C looks, and how he votes against these dancers. Most of the cuts were obvious and no one really has me emotionally tied at the moment, but I've made some snap decisions on what little impressions I got.

The other day we told you about the amazing exact price showcase bid on The Price is Right. A lot of fans thought it was really bizarre that someone would bid $23,743 on the showcase and get it exactly right. Was it luck? Was he getting help from a fan in the audience? Was a mistake by the show? Well, now we know what happened.

In a radio interview, contestant Terry Kniess says that it wasn't someone in the audience (he doesn't hear well and says it's really loud in the studio) it was just that he is a huge fan of the show and knew the prices of the prizes really well, plus a little luck.

Have you ever come across an old TV show that you probably wouldn't have remembered on your own but when presented with video or audio evidence that the show actually existed makes you say "Oh, that's right, I remember that show!?!" This is one of those TV shows.

The Magnificent Marble Machine was a short-lived game show in the mid-70's that involved a gigantic pinball machine. Art James was the host and Johnny Gilbert the announcer. Celebs would team with ordinary citizens and answer questions in the early rounds (the dull part of the game) and then go on to play the big pinball machine. Actually, that turned out to be rather dull too. I thought this would turn out to be cool but even as a kid I was bored. This show was the Supertrain of game shows.

Someone has uploaded an entire episode of the show to YouTube (thank you web!). After the jump, the episode, in five separate videos. That Opel Manta looks kinda cool.

Endemol USA, the production company behind such shows as Big Brother, Deal or No Deal and 1 Vs. 100, is developing its first project for BET.

Take the Cake will premiere July 9 at 11:00 p.m. The new series not only allows contestants to answer pop culture questions, but also allows folks at home the chance to call in and answer questions (or text their answers) and win a cash prize. The series, hosted by Tocarra and Joe Clair, will also feature guest stars, comedy bits and performances.

Endemol has has success in the past, and it's nice to see the company joining forces with BET. Still, a similar idea, Midnight Money Madness, wasn't quite strong enough to warrant a second season on TBS, so it will be interesting to see how this one fares.

GSN has bought the rights to the (very) short-lived ABC game show Show Me The Money, hosted by William Shatner. That's a total of seven episodes, including two that never aired.

Wow, what a get! Seven episodes of a lame TV show that lasted for five episodes. Did GSN get some sort of great deal on this? Are they that hard up for shows? It will run Tuesday night, but maybe it should be a daily show, so they can go through the entire run of the show is a week. Maybe they'll have a week long marathon and show the same seven episodes over and over and over again.

A network buys a short-lived game show but no one is currently running Kate and Allie or The Odd Couple, both of which lasted years. Crazy.

Back in November, Julia gave her five reasons why she was going to miss Bob Barker, who is retiring from The Price Is Right this year. Just in time for his tribute on CBS tomorrow comes this list from Best Week Ever, the reasons why they're going to miss the silver fox.

Among the reasons are the women who kiss Bob on the cheek when they come up on stage (I think I saw a guy do it once) and the $100 bill that he keeps in his pocket that he gives to bidders who get the contestant's row price exactly right.

I remember several years back when he used to have the contestant actually reach into his pocket to take out that money. Thankfully they changed that.

My first inclination was to scoff at the idea of a primetime gameshow based on Bingo, but the more I think about it the smarter this idea sounds.

Think about it: one of the most popular and enduring game shows of all time is essentially based on the children's game hangman. Sometimes, the simplest approach can work quite well.

As I said last week, I've picked six winners from the last contest for some cool prizes. And here they are:

Sixth prize -- emily.: "In order to keep the internet from being a tool of mass political revolution, the Pentagon has a full-time staff of forum trolls posting comments on key websites from several independently-operated bunkers throughout the U.S."
Fifth prize -- Allen: "With Hamlet completed, the writing staff revolted when they learned their next assignment was writing jokes for Regis Philbin and David Hasslehoff."
Fourth prize -- Chris W: "In this rare, behind the scenes picture, you can see the writing team hard at work on an episode of "According to Jim.""
Third prize -- Fred: "These PSP games suck! Next time, we rob Mark-Paul Gosselaar's hotel room."
Second prize -- Bus: "As a kid I always loved the Macy's store front windows, but they must be running out of ideas when this is their Easter display."
First prize -- Carl Winslow: "FOX executives demonstrate the new "CANCELTRON 4000" at the TCA Press Tour."

Congratulations all! I'll contact everyone individually for your addresses and prize choices. And since I was on vacation all week, I've got no new contest for you today. Until next week...

Last week's winners:

1 star to Tucker: "I spy something.... BLACK!"
2 stars to erroneous_nick: "A photo from the newest reality series, "Who Wants To Be A Hostage?"
3 stars to Bus: "A little known fact about cooks. Like alligators and horses, they can be calmed by being blindfolded."

This week, we have a very special contest for you. Rather than give out measly, do-nothing (so far) stars to the winners, we've got actual prizes to give away! This time I'll be picking six winners with the following prizes at stake:

1st place: Choice of one of the following: Battlestar Galactica season two DVD set, Ghost Hunters season two DVD set or The Triangle mini-series DVD set.
2nd place: Choice of one of the DVD sets the first place winner doesn't pick.
3rd place: Whatever DVD set is left.
4th, 5th and 6th place: A SciFi Channel Eureka T-Shirt.

So, it's only appropriate that this week's image comes from the latest episode of Eureka. The image is after the jump. Good luck!