Network Coming Attractions: Game Shows

COMMENTS (32)

• For your consideration, The Price Is Right with a return of the great Bob Barker. Studio execs place bids on available industry items such as family vacations in Jackson Hole, top network jobs for spouses, a birthday party or bar mitzvah featuring Aerosmith and private school for two on the westside.

  The suit who bids closest (but not over) then goes on to play one of several mini-games. Items for pricing include international sales of DVD packages, revenue increases from online viewing, ad-supported content, and exact losses tied to piracy and illegal downloading (a.k.a. “stealing”).

  Continuing the fun, the Showcase Showdown requires execs to spin a large wheel with various amounts from 3 cents to $19.99. The exec that bids closest to what they feel the writers are owed ($0.00) is declared champion and immediately returns to a demanding sked filled with meetings and manicures. A Winners Breakfast might follow at the Regency or Bel-Air Hotel. Following TPIR, a drive-by at various picket lines would ensure an opportunity to gawk at overpaid writers, seal the suits’ sweet victory and guarantee a one-way trip to hell.

  Comment by Adrienne Merrill — Tuesday November 13, 2007 @ 2:27pm PST  Reply to this post

• NEWS FLASH: Q&A shows ARE covered by the WGA!!!

  See Appendix A, Page 424 of the 2004 MBA:
  http://wga.org/subpage_writersresources.aspx?id=1610

  Comment by Aaron — Tuesday November 13, 2007 @ 2:48pm PST  Reply to this post

• I find it HIGHLY amusing after Ben Silverman’s rant last week that at of all places, Amne$isa is shooting the show on the Disney lot!

  Comment by James — Tuesday November 13, 2007 @ 6:10pm PST  Reply to this post

• Thanks for the newsflash Aaron. I guess the only show that can air through improv is Wanna Bet! In any case, be sure to post the Pitch video to another thread Nikki.

  BTW, I would love to watch Stephen Colbert’s idea about people using potty mouths at Thanksgiving, but expand it to all family gatherings and include just anything including reunions. Also, in the “Pitch” title card, doesn’t Stephen look a bit like Ben Silverman?

  Comment by Jessy S. — Tuesday November 13, 2007 @ 10:30pm PST  Reply to this post

• Wanna Bet? ran for about ten years in the UK as ‘You Bet!’ and was a Saturday night staple for ITV in the late 80s and early 90s. Used to get easily over 10 million viewers back in the days before multi-channel TV & DVD. It is a very family friendly show and obviously can travel successfully from Germany.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Bet!

  However, I think it’s success may depend on the host. Each UK host (There were 3) brought their own style to it but by the final one I was over it (may also have been that i had grown up by then!)

  PS – the calibre of the guests on the UK version was nowhere near what was commented regarding the German one – we usually got Z-list celebrities, kind of sub-Hollywood Squares level (we got that too, called Celebrity Squares in the UK)

  Comment by SteveM — Wednesday November 14, 2007 @ 8:48pm PST  Reply to this post

• I think we need to give Wanna Bet a chance. It is about time that we can all watch a show as a family. Wanna Bet has alot to offer. Family fun for all.

  Comment by Anonymous — Sunday November 18, 2007 @ 9:07pm PST  Reply to this post

• Angel upthread: the show that was very much like “Do You Trust Me?” was “Friend or Foe,” hosted by former MTV VJ Kennedy and airing on the Game Show Network.

  It combined paired strangers, a trivia contest, and an implementation of the Prisoner’s Dilemma: at the end of the show, the winning team (out of three pairs that start the game) face each other over an “honesty box” (or whatever they called it), and each person chooses to either be “Friend” or “Foe.”

  As in the classic Prisoner’s Dilemma, if both go Foe, nobody gets any money. If both go Friend, they split their winnings. And if one goes Foe and the other goes Friend, Foe wins everything.

  The pairing at the start of the game had Kennedy describing a few characteristics of each contestant, including some incident in which they had behaved badly. Then they get paired up using a somewhat simple preference picking (three players get to choose from the three other players; if any pickee gets picked more than once, then they get to pick from the possible partners).

  So yeah, I think that might be where the “Do You Trust Me?” idea came from.

  Comment by Ryan Cousineau — Tuesday November 20, 2007 @ 11:38pm PST  Reply to this post