"Finally, we come to what may just be me jumping to conclusions, but BBC Radio 4 has announced that they will be doing some reorganizing of their schedule beginning November 7, and the Monday afternoon game show slot (which contains such long-running shows as Brain Of Britain, Round Britain Quiz, Counterpoint, and Quote Unquote) may be lost in the shuffle. Quote Unquote is currently filling the slot; its season will end on August 8. I'll have a little more information about this on August 4, as I'll be able to find the name of the next show in rotation on July 29." - From my July 14 post.
Well, the BBC released its weekly program information a day early, meaning I can tell you today that Round Britain Quiz will start a new season on August 15 in the Monday afternoon game show slot on BBC Radio 4. Seasons of Round Britain Quiz last twelve episodes, meaning the last episode in the 2011 season will be on October 31 - and there might not be a Monday afternoon game show slot a week later.
Also in British game shows, Countdown host Jeff Stelling has announced that he is renegotiating his contract with Channel 4 and will likely stay on the show into 2012, despite the announcement that he is leaving.
Moving back to America, an episode of The Price Is Right has been taped featuring Larry Emdur (host of several versions of The Price Is Right in Australia) cohosting with Drew Carey. We don't even know when this will air, and already people are shouting "Yes! Yes! He might be under consideration to replace Drew!" I suppose anything's possible...
Finally, this is just barely game show related, but Mill Creek Entertainment has announced that they will be releasing a complete series DVD set of Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? on February 14, 2012. The set will be four discs containing all four seasons and forty episodes. Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? was the cartoon on Fox, not the game show on PBS...but if we all buy it, we'll be one step closer to having the game show back...
Look, I grew up watching Carmen Sandiego, OK?
Aaron
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Worthless Garbage Brain Drain
I have three things to look at today. First, Nickelodeon premiered Family Brain Surge on Monday, with Jeff Sutphen still around as host. Honestly, not too much has changed. Each episode features five families (one parent and one kid on stage, plus two additional family members in the audience). In a pleasant surprise, the families are referred to by their actual last names (I was fully expecting disastrous team names in the vein of Hole In The Wall). The game is pretty much what we're used to, but somehow feels a bit sped up; round one only has four puzzles (worth ten, twenty-five, fifty, and one hundred points), after which the family with the lowest score goes to the Brain Drain. The biggest change is that in round two, each family has one opportunity to shout "Brain Fart!" and enlist the help of their Brain Trust (the other two family members in the audience). Everything else is the same, meaning you do have to wonder why Nickelodeon felt the need to shake up the show like this, but look at it this way - it beats My Family's Got GUTS.
Moving to It's Worth What...hoo boy...
A spectacularly grating Cedric The Entertainer welcomes a team of two contestants to a set that vaguely resembles a warehouse, but also has all the usual chasing lights and such. They are there to play a series of seven pricing games...all right, they don't call them that, but it's pretty clear that the games on The Price Is Right are the inspiration here, all the way down to each game having a punny name. Thankfully, there isn't a straight money ladder; rather, each game won adds money to the team's bank. The first two games are worth $5,000 each, the next two $10,000 each, the two after that $20,000 each, and the seventh game is worth $30,000. If, after seven games, the team has any money in their bank, they can risk it all on one final game which, if won, multiplies their bank by ten. If you do the math, you'll find that the maximum prize is of course $1,000,000.
The games admittedly aren't that bad, all revolving around pricing bizarre collectible items (Miss USA's crown! A centuries-old tapestry! Various animals!). Indeed, beyond being a big money primetime game show that looks, sounds, and is just like every other big money primetime game show, there's nothing wrong with It's Worth What...expect the host.
I'll make this clear: Cedric The Entertainer is among the worst game show hosts I have ever seen - certainly the worst of the current crop of washed-up comedians hosting game shows. He's the most obnoxious, grating game show host this side of Phil Moore. With every costume change, every bit of likely scripted patter, every half-hearted repetition of the show's title ("It's Worth WHAAAT?") he just got worse. Halfway through the show I was begging for it to be over - and it was to be rid of Cedric, not the game. I'm sorry if I'm being too harsh, but if this show had a better host, it would at least be mediocre. As it stands...worthless.
Finally, I thought I should let you know that I have entered the "Create An Induction" contest on Game Show Garbage (a very funny website commemorating the worst moments in game shows). The judges for said contest are Game Show Garbage creator Robert Seidelman and writers Jim Williams and Carl Chenier. The top three submissions will win prizes and be posted on the site in August. If I win, I'll let you know; if I don't win, I'll post what I wrote here so it won't go to waste.
Back next week,
Aaron
Moving to It's Worth What...hoo boy...
A spectacularly grating Cedric The Entertainer welcomes a team of two contestants to a set that vaguely resembles a warehouse, but also has all the usual chasing lights and such. They are there to play a series of seven pricing games...all right, they don't call them that, but it's pretty clear that the games on The Price Is Right are the inspiration here, all the way down to each game having a punny name. Thankfully, there isn't a straight money ladder; rather, each game won adds money to the team's bank. The first two games are worth $5,000 each, the next two $10,000 each, the two after that $20,000 each, and the seventh game is worth $30,000. If, after seven games, the team has any money in their bank, they can risk it all on one final game which, if won, multiplies their bank by ten. If you do the math, you'll find that the maximum prize is of course $1,000,000.
The games admittedly aren't that bad, all revolving around pricing bizarre collectible items (Miss USA's crown! A centuries-old tapestry! Various animals!). Indeed, beyond being a big money primetime game show that looks, sounds, and is just like every other big money primetime game show, there's nothing wrong with It's Worth What...expect the host.
I'll make this clear: Cedric The Entertainer is among the worst game show hosts I have ever seen - certainly the worst of the current crop of washed-up comedians hosting game shows. He's the most obnoxious, grating game show host this side of Phil Moore. With every costume change, every bit of likely scripted patter, every half-hearted repetition of the show's title ("It's Worth WHAAAT?") he just got worse. Halfway through the show I was begging for it to be over - and it was to be rid of Cedric, not the game. I'm sorry if I'm being too harsh, but if this show had a better host, it would at least be mediocre. As it stands...worthless.
Finally, I thought I should let you know that I have entered the "Create An Induction" contest on Game Show Garbage (a very funny website commemorating the worst moments in game shows). The judges for said contest are Game Show Garbage creator Robert Seidelman and writers Jim Williams and Carl Chenier. The top three submissions will win prizes and be posted on the site in August. If I win, I'll let you know; if I don't win, I'll post what I wrote here so it won't go to waste.
Back next week,
Aaron
Thursday, July 14, 2011
I Lied
The day after I wrote my post last week, NBC pushed back the premiere of It's Worth What back a week. The show, hosted by Cedric The Entertainer, will premiere on July 19.
Moving to some Nickelodeon news, I had always assumed Family Brain Surge was a Fall 2011 premiere - I was wrong. The show will premiere on July 18, and yes, Jeff Sutphen is still the host. It's also come out that TeenNick (yes, there is such a channel) will launch a late night block of old Nickelodeon shows on July 26 (well, the night of July 25). Double Dare, GUTS and Legends Of The Hidden Temple are specifially mentioned. The name of said block? The 90s Are All That. I grew up watching All That and I still think that's a terrible name.
Finally, we come to what may just be me jumping to conclusions, but BBC Radio 4 has announced that they will be doing some reorganizing of their schedule beginning November 7, and the Monday afternoon game show slot (which contains such long-running shows as Brain Of Britain, Round Britain Quiz, Counterpoint, and Quote Unquote) may be lost in the shuffle. Quote Unquote is currently filling the slot; its season will end on August 8. I'll have a little more information about this on August 4, as I'll be able to find the name of the next show in rotation on July 29.
That should do it for now. Next week - Family Brain Surge and It's Worth What!
Aaron
Moving to some Nickelodeon news, I had always assumed Family Brain Surge was a Fall 2011 premiere - I was wrong. The show will premiere on July 18, and yes, Jeff Sutphen is still the host. It's also come out that TeenNick (yes, there is such a channel) will launch a late night block of old Nickelodeon shows on July 26 (well, the night of July 25). Double Dare, GUTS and Legends Of The Hidden Temple are specifially mentioned. The name of said block? The 90s Are All That. I grew up watching All That and I still think that's a terrible name.
Finally, we come to what may just be me jumping to conclusions, but BBC Radio 4 has announced that they will be doing some reorganizing of their schedule beginning November 7, and the Monday afternoon game show slot (which contains such long-running shows as Brain Of Britain, Round Britain Quiz, Counterpoint, and Quote Unquote) may be lost in the shuffle. Quote Unquote is currently filling the slot; its season will end on August 8. I'll have a little more information about this on August 4, as I'll be able to find the name of the next show in rotation on July 29.
That should do it for now. Next week - Family Brain Surge and It's Worth What!
Aaron
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Phil Shepardson 1935 - 2011
If you're saying "Phil who?" you're probably not the only one. Even most hardcore game show fans are probably saying that. Still, he has died at age 76, and I feel like I ought to report on it.
From the show's premiere in 1961 to his departure in 1991, Phil was the host of As Schools Match Wits, a local high school quiz bowl show in Springfield, Massachusetts. Contrary to what some reports of his death are saying, he was not the show's creator - that was Leonard J. Collamore, who was also the question writer until his departure in 1983. From 1983 to 1991, however, Phil was indeed the host and question writer.
I don't claim to have grown up watching As Schools Match Wits - I'm from Boston, not Springfield. Still, there is something endearing about the whole local high school quiz bowl show thing. As Schools Match Wits continues to this day (the current host is Beth Ward), and has a competition each year against Boston's High School Quiz Show, a show I still feel terrible about what I said about it on this blog. Since I wrote that post, the show has found a new host in Billy Costa, who is a massive improvement over Dhaya Lakshminarayanan.
Moving to a very different sort of kids game show, some more information has come out about the upcoming kids version of Fort Boyard. The show will be on CITV in Britain and Disney XD in America, and the hosts will be Laura Hamilton and Geno Segers.
Next week - It's Worth What!
Aaron
From the show's premiere in 1961 to his departure in 1991, Phil was the host of As Schools Match Wits, a local high school quiz bowl show in Springfield, Massachusetts. Contrary to what some reports of his death are saying, he was not the show's creator - that was Leonard J. Collamore, who was also the question writer until his departure in 1983. From 1983 to 1991, however, Phil was indeed the host and question writer.
I don't claim to have grown up watching As Schools Match Wits - I'm from Boston, not Springfield. Still, there is something endearing about the whole local high school quiz bowl show thing. As Schools Match Wits continues to this day (the current host is Beth Ward), and has a competition each year against Boston's High School Quiz Show, a show I still feel terrible about what I said about it on this blog. Since I wrote that post, the show has found a new host in Billy Costa, who is a massive improvement over Dhaya Lakshminarayanan.
Moving to a very different sort of kids game show, some more information has come out about the upcoming kids version of Fort Boyard. The show will be on CITV in Britain and Disney XD in America, and the hosts will be Laura Hamilton and Geno Segers.
Next week - It's Worth What!
Aaron
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