Seriously - Waterford, CT????? This is huge.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111800301...yid=14&cs=1

You're not kidding, this is big news. I'll have to find out their schedule and try to attend a taping, if it's not too difficult to get to from NYC.

Just make sure you don't get the studios mixed up, otherwise you'll go to a taping of "You ARE the Father or You ARE NOT the Father..."

(seriously, I'm not surprised, if only because a lot of other shows have moved, a lot of them also NBCU productions- a good tax deal is a good tax deal)

Wow, how long has it been since an American game show recorded somewhere other than LA or NYC?

Would you count KWIK WITZ, which taped in Chicago?

Hmmm....

Bill Cosby's "You Bet Your Life" at the WHYY's Forum Theater in Philadelphia. (The theatre was removed after building renovations in 1999 or 2000?)

Double Dare?

Orlando's had a few, but to me Connecticut is to NYC as Burbank is to LA.

Didn't Merv Griffin's "Click!" tape in Seattle[?] for a while?

As for absolute last American show taped outside of NY or LA---I just got to remembering: Wasn't the first season[?] of "That's the Question" shot in the Netherlands?

And the upcoming Money List on GSN was taped in Europe, too. England, I believe.

You are correct, sir.

BET's Triple Threat taped in Secaucus, NJ.

As for this, I might consider trying out now...

Seriously, if that did happen, I would just get up and walk out with no hesitation.

And LINGO was in the Nether-regions, I mean, the Netherlands.

I worked the first tape day of DoND at CBS TVCity before it moved to Culver Studios. In part, because of the way it's shot, it was and is an expensive show... the primetime version especially. There's production money to be saved in CT, and when added to the state's tax breaks, the move is a no-brainer. There are good crews available out of NY, and because of the novelty of a TV taping in CT they likely won't have to hire audience members, at least at first. Scoring a 1.8 presently (I think that's what I last heard) it's doing fine. But with a slashed production budget the show will assure its continuation even if the numbers drop.

Congrats Stratford, Orange, Milford, Ansonia, Derby, Shelton, etc. A cool school outing and something cool to do on a rainy day!

Randy
tvrandywest.com

ABSOLUTELY. This news made my day, and with me going to school in New Haven, I wonder what possibilities will crop up for internships...

Mall Masters, or whatever it was called was shot at the Mall of America in Minneapolis as well.

The opportunity is knocking at me to remind you of the utterly abysmal Opportunity Knocks.

Not to the people who live there. Per Google maps, it's 2-1/4 hours from 30 Rockefeller Plaza to Waterford, CT (which probably means three, unless you're driving there at 5 AM on a Sunday morning). It's about 10-25 minutes from either Grauman's Chinese Theater or CBS Television City to Burbank.

That, and there's usually not a damn thing happening in CT in terms of game shows or live TV tapings. The last event I remember was Jeopardy taping the College Championships at Yale.

Did any of ESPN's game shows tape from their HQ in Bristol, CT?

I thought most of them did...Stump the Schwab and Teammates come to mind.

/Teammates...ugh.

2-Minute Drill taped in NYC.

3 if you're speedy. Living in New Haven, it has sometimes taken me 3 just to get into NYC!

Quick Geography - this is SE CT we're talking about, which has the world's biggest casino (Foxwoods), another big casino (Mohegan Sun), and......that's it. You're closer to Boston than NYC at this point, which is about 90 minutes away.

Still, it's an impressive move. Jerry, Maury, and Steve Wilkos are coming as well, but to Stamford, which is 40 miles out of NYC, and certainly not a HUGE move to the permanent staff of Maury.

If only somewhere would tape closer to my neck of the woods, like Chicago.

/One of the things that suck about living in the Midwest. Too far from LA. Too far from NYC.
//But is that necessarily a bad thing?
///IIRC, MG's Crosswords was originally planning on taping in Chi-town.
////Apparently, I contracted Slashie Flu today.

I feel like taking a road trip to see DoND, especially a side trip for a poker game at Foxwoods!

/How would some Maury Show guests travel to sunny Connecticut if some of them don't have enough after paying child support!
//Man...this reminds me of this game show ref from FOXSportsFan... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qRRrc8WUQ

Being that I live in Stamford, I should go see this. Heck, I should even try out. The casting is open but it still says you must be willing to fly out to L.A. - I'm thinking they're going to fix that soon.

As did Stump the Schwab.

Teammates, I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was in Bristol.

They were. It was part of the plan to make the Chicago NBC Tower studios a bigger production facility than it currently is. But now with the "loss" of Springer and Wilkos to CT, I think that only leaves the judge shows (like "Judge Mathis") in production over there.

/Johnny Mathis is a judge? "Chances are..." you're guilty!
//My first slashies!
///Man, they're addictive.

Well, if you really care, Jerry and Steve have a couple weeks left of taping dates before the big move...

This could open up all kinds of game show opportunities for Tom Bergeron.

Where would one go to find out about tickets for this? Sounds like it would make a nice day trip.

Oddly enough, I was there too. I recall speaking to you after I saw some of it thinking there's no way this would work in the U.S. Shows you what I know.

I also went to a taping at, IIRC Sunset-Gower after their move from CBS but before the move to Culver. What a dump!

And I reached a similar conclusion even before tape rolled. Count me among the clueless. But Capitol Records turned down the Beatles, so we're not alone!

Randy
tvrandywest.com

Is this a major trend, this exodus of movie and TV production from California to other states? I know that there's been a big deal made about Semi-Pro taping in Flint and the plans for Allen Park in Michigan. And how is the Governator going to fight back? Is his state in good enough shape to offer those kind of tax breaks?

Heh. His state isn't staying afloat with the revenue they're getting. He doesn't have any money to give up. :)

Dunno about an exodus, but Virginia is definitely lobbying for tax breaks, with a little success.

With Jerry and Steve leaving, "Judge Mathis" and "Judge Jeanne Piro" will be the only national shows taping at the NBC Tower.

However, Bonnie Hunt wants to do her show in her hometown of Chicago. Warners originally told her that they'd discuss that if she stays on at least two years. I read somewhere that she's now pressuring Warners for a move to Chicago for January 2010. I assume she knows that a studio at WMAQ, her station in Chicago, will be empty come fall.

Interestingly enough, Bonnie also currently tapes at the Culver Studios.

Have to say that I might be in a minority here but I'm against this trend.

Los Angeles / Hollywood is the spiritual home of the game show industry and should remain so.

Nevertheless, they did try to relocate the industry to Florida in the early 1990s (the last incarnation of Let's Make a Deal & Family Secrets were two such shows) because of the availablility of cheap labor and lower taxes but when all said and done it never really supplanted LA as the game show capital of the world and I cannot see this latest announcement leading to a mass exodus of game shows from the Hollywood area either.

Can this studio do HD?

By what I've read, the studios are just bare soundstages. They would bring in a remote truck for TV production.

Well, if there's no money left to be made in Hollywood, are you then advocating for the downfall of the game show industry?

Sure seems like it.

New York City would like to have a talk with you.

One game show relocating to another city does not a trend make. As healthy as the genre is right now (not including the possibility of daytime game shows returning), I don't think any city will challenge L.A. or N.Y. anytime soon.

Wow...I work in Westchester, just a short hop from Stamford, and you can bet I'll be attending a taping or 2. :-)

Chuck Donegan (The Thrilled "Chuckie Baby")

BuzzerBlog reports that the page to get tickets to the Waterford, CT, studio is up and linked here. Right now, the only available dates are Tuesday, 7/28 at 9 a.m., Wednesday, 7/29 at 3 p.m. and Thursday, 7/30 at 9 a.m. Tickets are free. If anyone in Southern New England is serious about setting up a road trip/group meet, then we had better start organizing.



Dean

Let me guess, just a hunch here, you were born after 1980?

Maybe he's just not a fan of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Or Password, Pyramid, Caesar's Challenge, other incarnations of LMAD, Carmen Sandiego, Double Dare, Michael Davies, panel shows, Nick shows, lottery shows, USA shows, and probably a bunch I missed.

I was born in 1985. Spiritual home, my foot.

/Believes there's no such thing

Or 70's Pyramid, What's My Line?, To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret, Cullen Price is Right, Eye Guess, Twenty-One, Password, The Big Showdown, Blankety Blanks, Moneymaze, etc. :-)

Sorry about the age thing, Joe. I was just trying to prove a point. Sometimes it is a generational thing as in the generation only sees past their birthdate forward. Obviously, as with you, this is not always the case. My apologies. :)

You young bastards, get the hell off my lawn. :)