Memories

I think Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday. Nah, that's Christmas. So it's Number 2. I think back to 5 Years ago tomorrow, as I will be on the coast hiking. I think back to the Viewer's Choice Marathon GSN did back in 2007. Happened around Thanksgiving. This was a few months before I joined the boards. Users voted for their favorite shows. Being that most of them were old fans, all old shows made the lineup. Smelling the turkey gives me memories of rare shows that never get time on the network. One of these shows is Bullseye.  A show that was a combination of Tic Tac Dough and The Joker's Wild that was hosted by Jim Lange. Very good I might add, good music, actually good premise. Jim was always confident, and, well.. I enjoyed it. Not because it's old, but because it's good. Plus the Celebrity format wasn't too bad.

Also, I'd like to think about Hot Potato hosted by Bill Cullen. Good show, music, host, and more. Also aired on that marathon. Kind of a Family Feud style show. I enjoyed it. Bill did good, and the contestants were good. The celebrity format killed it though. Oh well.

Well, happy Thanksgiving.

Longing For a Return

Here's another convo from the boards

A Poster:
So, I have a question here that I think we all want an answer to.

Why were game shows like Greed, Twenty-One, Weakest Link, That's The Question, etc. removed from the GSN schedule line-up in early 2009?

Was it all because of ... what was that woman's name... Kelly Goode ... that's it...?

Were these shows performing THAT poorly in ratings, that GSN just decided to cut them off altogether?

Or was it that GSN lost the rights to airing them?

And why did it specifically happen at the end of March 2009, instead of, let's say, November 2010 or June 2011? What was so special about that date on the calendar?

Is it possible GSN will start airing them again, considering they've been off the schedule for ALMOST 3 YEARS now?

Another Poster:
I honestly think that a certain someone (who is no longer with the network but whose initials are KG), allowed that lease to expire, because it wasn't in the fake reality and Alley Cat garbage vein that she wanted to go in. Clearly, Carnie's little medical docudrama and Drew's not-ready-for-Whose-Line improv act were not the future (well, duh!), considering that this is a game show network with a core audience who prefers that genre. And we are going to see the ramifications of her choices for a while.

All of the shows you listed were removed during somewhat big changes:

Greed left in September 2008, when Bingo America debuted, Greed was pretty much a dead horse being beat.

That's the Question left in January 2009, when shows like Tic Tac Dough, and Now You See it left and changed out for Match Game 74 and Eubanks Card Sharks were added to weekdays.

Twenty-One left in January 2009, after being on for 2 years, I think the rights expired. Of course it had weekend late nights.

Both versions of Weakest Link left when Deal or No Deal debuted. Russian Roulette and Monty's Let's Make a Deal left at this time too. However a Halloween episode aired in October 2009.

A 3rd Poster
What GSN needs right now is the addition of more classics. Match Game, $25,000-$100,000 Pyramid, Card Sharks and Dawson Family Feud aren't enough. GSN has enough money right now to buy or lease more episodes of all those shows, plus bring back more classics like Love Connection, Blockbusters etc. on weekdays.


The only show I would love to see back is Password Plus. If they brought that back I would be a happy man. Of course Russian Roulette would make me happy too.

Speaking of older shows, just caught a glimpse of some Flashback Fridays. Caught the end of the 7:30pm episode of Match Game 74. I have this episode in my archives. Doesn't bother me. I enjoyed seeing it again. Also caught a glimpse of The $25,000 Pyramid with Bill Cullen as a guest. Probably have this too, but still good to see. I DVRed Dawson Family Feud and The $100,000 Pyramid. Loved them. Good to see them somewhere other than mornings or Latenights. For those that whimper and whine about the schedule, look at it. Please

Keep on Rollin

While GSN boardies complain about not having Match Game 76, I complain about something else. Barley any existing episodes of High Rollers. Practically no 1974 episodes exist. On't a couple and they haven't been seen ever. Only a few 1978-1980 episodes exist. Debuting on April 24, 1978 (familiar date) on NBC (no I'm not talking about that) this fun dice game was a blast. In the game you rolled a dice to take numbers 1-9 on a board. By clearing a column, you won prizes. It was a best 2 out of 3 match. The winner got to play Big Numbers clearing numbers on a board for more prizes. Rolling doubles got you an insurance marker. If you rolled a number that could not be cleared, that was it.

Unfortatley only a few episodes exist, including a 1978 episode, a couple 1979 episodes, and a couple 1980 episodes, including the finale.

The show lasted until June 20, 1980. It was revived in 1987 with Wink Martindale. I never cared for Wink's revival, just way too many mini games. Shame little of the Trebek episodes exist.

You Get a Promotion

Hey all. Today I got a day off from school today. So I watched some GSN, and saw some promos. One that stood out to me. Promotion for the upcoming Primetime blocks. On Mondays it's Million Dollar Monday. Tuesday get hitched with Sherri and The Newlywed Game. On Wednesdays get a date with Jerry Springer and Baggage. On Thursday's make a deal with Howie and Deal or No Deal. On Fridays we flashback to retro game shows. I saw clips for Eubanks Card Sharks, Dawson Feud, Match Game and The $25,000 Pyramid. Haven't seen an older game show promoted since 2009. Hope this experiment works for them.

Build-A-Schedule Edition #1

Well, I just thought of something that would be a good schedule of balance, and would generate good ratings, and it proves I don't hate older shows

8:00am - Match Game
8:30am - Match Game
9:00am - Super Password
9:30am - Family Feud (Karn)
10:00am - Wheel of Fortune (Recent Episodes)
10:30am - Jeopardy!
11:00am - The $25,000 Pyramid
11:30am - The $100,000 Pyramid
12:00pm - Card Sharks (Perry)
12:30pm - Password Plus
1:00pm - Match Game
1:30pm - Family Feud (Dawson)
2:00pm - Lingo (Woolery)
2:30pm - Lingo (Woolery)
3:00pm - Whammy!
3:30pm - Chain Reaction
4:00pm - Family Feud (Karn)
4:30pm - Family Feud (Karn)
5:00pm - Deal or No Deal
6:00pm - Lingo (Engvall)
6:30pm - Baggage
7:00pm - Newlywed Game
7:30pm - Baggage
8:00pm - Lingo (Engvall)
8:30pm - Lingo (Engvall)
9:00pm - Newlywed Game
9:30pm - Newlywed Game
10:00pm - Family Feud (Karn)
10:30pm - Family Feud (O'Hurley)
11:00pm - Deal or No Deal
12:00am - Baggage
12:30am - Family Feud (O'Hurley)
1:00am - Family Feud (Karn)
1:30am - Wheel of Fortune (Repeat of 10:00am)
2:00am - The $25,000 Pyramid
2:30am - The $100,000 Pyramid
3:00am - Card Sharks (Eubanks)
3:30am - Card Sharks (Perry)

Well, I added Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy! to daytime, to an hour that's far away from the access hour. I kept Karn at 9:30am, that would boost Wheel and Jeopardy!. I also added Super Password I put a Pyramid hour at 11:00am (I remember Casey once suggesting that a long time ago). For afternoons I added shows such as Password Plus, Dawson Feud and Card Sharks. That could do OK in early afternoons. I put Woolery back in afternoons, that could boost Whammy's ratings. For primetime I went to the pre-August 29th version of the schedule which did very well numbers. As for latenights, I added Wheel. That could boost latenights. As for Inaba, it's lost its appeal, it's time for it to go. As for Alfonso, he does well on weekends.
As for Saturday Nights

11:00pm - Who Wants To Be a Millionaire
12:00am - Deal or No Deal
1:00am - 1 vs. 100 (Saget)
2:00am - Who Wants To Be a Millionaire

It was a hit, that ended up being a miss

I'm not a big fan of Barry/Enright Game shows. But one I really liked was Break the Bank. Break the Bank debuted on April 12, 1976 on ABC with Tom Kennedy as host. The show featured 9 celebrities (sounds familiar doesn't it), and featured different boxes of money. 3 $100, $200, and $300 boxes. It also had 5 money bags, and a wild card that could be used for anything. And 5 blanks. Get 3 of a kind and you win the game. Get 3 money bags and you Break the Bank. You had to answer questions. 2 celebrities gbe you answers, and you had to determine which celebrity was right, and which celebrity was speaking crap. That's how the game was played. It was the 2n highest rated daytime game show, ahead of The $20,000 Pyramid, and behind Match Game '76. Unfortantley it was the sacrificial lamb for an expanding soap opera and ended its run on July 23, 1976.

But in September 1976, Break the Bank returned to the airwaves with Jack Barry as host. Same rules except the boxes were $100, $300, and $500, and a $10,000 prize package as the "bank." This version included a bonus round, with different money cards. The player called on a celebrity and they revealed a money value. They had to hit $2,000 without hitting a bust card, and they won $5,000.

I enjoyed this show. Tom was the best. Jack was OK, but he never looked comfortable on camera. Although I did enjoy the shades. This should've lasted longer. It aired on GSN from October 1997-April 1998 during the dark period, and hasn't been seen since.