The full article, a rundown on new (hey, look at the title!) game and court shows that syndicators are trying to sell, is here. Two excerpts, with at least one nice surprise for those of us who would like to see Sale of the Century revived:



This is also the first time I've heard that CBS wanted an hour-long Jeopardy!

As always, let the comments begin!

Interesting...I was wondering how the Catch Phrase pilot was coming along.

Keeping fingers crossed as always...

ETA: I think this quote was interesting:



Damn. This is what's wrong with Mo-Money Syndrome. Now a half-million is considered "chintzy". ;-) I see what he's saying, esp. since that seems like the average given away per contestant, but that's still a heluva lot of dough, even for a syndicated version, esp. since this version would air 5 days a week.

Besides, I seriously doubt the reduced potential jackpot killed syndie Link.

That sounds like a bad idea. I think 60 minutes would be pushing the tolerance level to the limit.

Anyway, since talkies seem to be failing left and right, syndicators might as well try and find something else other than court shows. Now if they could get rid of the court shows and give talkies to someone we actually like to watch......

Building on the success of Match Game '98:


Judy Tenuta IS available (haven't used that line in years).


When did anyone ever win a substantial amount of money on any version of Weakest Link?

We all knew about CL & TJW for a few months now, but Friedman is considering a word scramble game? Hopefully, it'll be better than Jumble tried to be on the Family Channel back in the mid 90's.

I was wondering what's up with Catch Phrase. Connections is a new one on me. Curious as to how that p;ays out.

I hope the next MG incarnation will keep the classic elements of the original & not the crapfest that it was '98.

Bah! on the idea of a 60-minute J! Half an hour is long enough for me. And since when did CBS acquired the rights to the format originally done by NBC in the first place?

I was present in the audience of both "Catch Phrase" and "Connections." Starting with "Catch Phrase," It is completely faithful to the original, with the money chase, Super Catch Phrase and 5-in-a-row bonus game. The animations were great, the puzzles updated to keep up with current pop culture and technology. I loved it, but the trouble I had with it, and the reason I don't think it will make it, is that it's too slow paced.
All-in-all, though I really did enjoy it. Then I found out why it was so faithful. It was being overseen by Marty Peseta, who created the original "Catch Phrase."

As far as "Connections," I think this has a better chance of making it to air, as it has a strong pop culture influence, a lot of visuals, some good humor, and a unique game play. I don't want to give it all away, but the show could be called "visual Tribond." As much as I liked this one, there were also some problems. Just some things I found unnecessary, but, things that could easily be fixed. If they fix these "teething problems" I have no doubt that "Connections" could be a great success.

As a game show fan, I'd like to see both of these shows sell.
As a game show realist, I think "Connections" probably will, "Catch Phrase" most likely will not.

I think your former statement will happen. Why? You have MyNetwork affiliates which could use syndie shows, and also the CW 100+ group -- currently, they have:

A double run of Roseanne
A double run of Cosby Show
Judge Maria Lopez
Greg Behrendt Show
Still Standing
Bernie Mac
King of Queens (I think)
Will and Grace

With the last four a double run as well.

I'll put a shiny nickle that Behrendt is done, which opens an hour up.

As for Roger King's statement, that's spin for now. Wonder if he's seen the Aussie DoND? That's 28:26 and it works just fine.

Regarding "Tempation(s)/SoTC"...I found this comment when looking at the IMdB on US Sale...

If Louie did "SoTC", I'd probably never watch it, even though I love the format.

/same goes for Feud
//Oh wait....

If "Sale Of The Century" is a "firm go" for the 2007-2008 television season...

/who sings the Anthem for the Flyers these days?

That would be Lauren Hart, Chris.

That's interesting. Seeing the Granada connection, it's not the same Connections that was on UK telly in the late 80s, is it?

http://www.ukgameshows.com/page/index.php/...ections_%281%29

Well since it was here, I can safely say that the pilot for Temptation has already been shot in Australia. It was done a few weeks ago. Obviously that thing we thought was Temptation was infact Temptation. As far as I know, the format is relatively close to the Australia one.

I have never said Temptation that many times in my life.

Also, unless someone already said it, the original pilot host for Catch Phrase was Todd Newton, but they reshot a pilot after that, and from what I heard it went very very well.

To make a correction before anyone else:

Steve Radosh created "Catch Phrase." Marty Pasetta was only the money man behind the original project.

And how would you be able to do "J!" with an hour format? Every time someone buzzed in, all of the lights go down and Vari-Lites hit the contestant while a dramatic music sting plays? Have Alex take fifteen seconds to tell anyone that their response was correct? Ask the contestant to consult his friends in the audience before he makes his Daily Double bet? The "Jeopardy!" Girls? (Wait, that was my idea.)

How about the "Clue Crew Dancers" -- sponsored by Bed Bath & Beyond?

This makes me very very happy. I'd assume we don't know the host?

Finally...someone making a game show that knowledge and luck work hand in hand. First time we've seen that, since, what...TJW '90?

EDIT: My roommate just brought up a good point. How many times do you think the host would use the following line...

"Here's the Instant Bargain for XX dollars...sale or no sale?"

/puns intended.

Have four rounds instead of two. But I don't think it would work having the show be an hour. It could be worse I suppose, if CBS pitched Roger King the Jeopardy!/Wheel of Fortune hour.

Merv's original 10x10 board!

Hell -- why not sell The Hollywood Cubes? ;)

I think the most interesting quote from the article was this one from NBC Universal's Barry Wallach:



I looked at this quote and thought "Nahh, that can't be right." Then I gave it a second thought. And realized he's dead right. In the last 25 years, how many shows that never aired in day or prime time last more than 2 seasons? I sure can't think of any. The biggest problem with today's game shows remains that any more, nobody knows how to create a quality game. That's why all the games these days are coming from overseas. (This applies to board games as well... but that's for another web site.)

'Brian

What about The Liar's Club? That one lasted awhile.

'Brian did mention the last 25 years, so Liars Club is not eligible. If you open it up farther, then yeah Liars Club would be eligible, as would The Cross Wits.

"Street Smarts."? Of course, you could say that it didn't work.

In fact, I can think of only two that went to a second season:
Bullseye and The $1,000,000 Chance Of A Lifetime.
Interestingly enough, there were both hosted by the same guy.

I knew it wouldn't fit Brian's definition (and was gone by 1981) but it does negate that original quote about how there's never been a successful game show made especially for syndication.

As would PDQ if we were going back even farther.

Which explains why most of Richard Kline's career as a producer after leaving B&E was spent in taking new formats and giving them old titles. (As B&E did with "Break the Bank" a decade earlier.)

What about Lingo? Initially it was syndicated in the late '80s, only to come back as a GSN entity.

But it's successes didn't come in syndication. They came as a slightly re-tooled cable show.

If only we could call "Love Connection" a game show. :)

Which it's not. :)

What about "Win, Lose or Draw"? Since both network and syndication runs began on the same day, you can't say one begat the other. The syndication strip lasted longer, too.

Nor would I. I'm almost sure that the syndie version ran before the daytime one did, didn't it?

No. Both premiered in September... Maybe even the same day

/Paging Zach
//No I'm Not.

I'm not Zach (thank God!), but I can help out with this one (with some help from Curt's page for exact dates).

WLoD premiered on NBC daytime on 9/7/87 (Labor Day). It took the 11:30am (EST) time slot, bumping previous occupant "Scrabble" to 12:30pm, which in turn spelled the end of "Wordplay".

Miscellaneous footnotes:

While I don't remember the exact day the syndie WLoD premiered (I'm leaning toward a week later, 9/14) I *do* remember there being a "sneak preview" show the night before its premiere.

I remember spotting a WLoD board game ("based on the TV game show") earlier that summer and having no idea what it was.

I just remember it seeming very weird that the network and syndie versions premiered so close to the other; being only 12 and not knowing much about TV I was under the impression that the daytime show had to be a hit first (i.e. WoF, Family Feud) before a nighttime version would be considered.

According to the EOTVGS, they did premiere the same day -- 9/7/87 (and I would venture to guess that is the only game show to accomplish that feat).

Now if you really want to split hairs, depending on where you lived and what time the syndie version aired, the NBC version may have premiered before the syndicated version and vice-versa.

Harrisburg aired it at 4:30 or 5 in the afternoon (either WHP or WHTM its first season, for the second, it changed stations), Scranton at 7:30 (WNEP), and IIRC, in New York City, it had the dubious distinction of being the first syndicated show airing at 7:00pm on WCBS, bouncing "CBS Evening News" a half-hour earlier to 6:30pm.

Really. I could have SWORN that Bert was doing the show for at least a little while before the Vicki Lawrence version popped up on NBC. I defer to those of y'all who bothered to look it up. :)

They say the memory is the first thing to go...unfortunately, I forgot what the second thing was...

Your libido. :-)

You each get a gold star.

Yes, but the tome also claims the Alex Trebek-hosted Jeopardy! premiered on September 17th 1984, while in actual fact (at least in Cleveland OH, Columbus OH and Charleston WV) the opening show played on September 10th 1984.
Where I was in 1987, the syndicated WLOD didn't make its presence known until the Monday after Labor Day.

In my area, the syndie Joker's Wild and Wheel of Fortune both premiered in late August of their respective debut years, not September as the EOTVGS states.

I guess with syndie shows before satellite delivery was common, it wasn't unusual to see some stations starting earlier than others.

I have evidence that it also started in Cincinnati and Dayton on September 10th. Ohio is always on the cutting edge!

(It apparently didn't start in Los Angeles until September 17th, which may be the source of the EOTVGS date.)