Syndicators Bet on Game and Court Shows

[goongas]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'138440\' date=\'Nov 21 2006, 12:40 PM\']
And how would you be able to do "J!" with an hour format? [/quote]

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.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'138440\' date=\'Nov 21 2006, 12:40 PM\']
And how would you be able to do "J!" with an hour format?  [/quote]


Merv's original 10x10 board!

[NickS]

[quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' post=\'138455\' date=\'Nov 21 2006, 02:12 PM\']
[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'138440\' date=\'Nov 21 2006, 12:40 PM\']
And how would you be able to do "J!" with an hour format?  [/quote]


Merv's original 10x10 board!
[/quote]

Hell -- why not sell The Hollywood Cubes?

[GameShowFan]

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

“There has never really been a game show invented for syndication that worked,” he says. “They all have come off of network daytime or primetime.”

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

[cweaver]

“There has never really been a game show invented for syndication that worked,” he says. “They all have come off of network daytime or primetime.”

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

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' post=\'138520\' date=\'Nov 22 2006, 12:52 AM\']

“There has never really been a game show invented for syndication that worked,” he says. “They all have come off of network daytime or primetime.”

What about The Liar's Club?  That one lasted awhile.
[/quote]

'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.

[Jimmy Owen]

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

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'GameShowFan\' post=\'138519\' date=\'Nov 21 2006, 11:48 PM\']
In the last 25 years, how many shows that never aired in day or prime time last more than 2 seasons?[/quote]
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.

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'138525\' date=\'Nov 22 2006, 01:33 AM\']
'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.
[/quote]

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.

[Mike Tennant]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' post=\'138543\' date=\'Nov 22 2006, 08:14 AM\']
[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'138525\' date=\'Nov 22 2006, 01:33 AM\']
'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.
[/quote]

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.
[/quote]
As would PDQ if we were going back even farther.

[uncamark]

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.)

[mcsittel]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' post=\'138543\' date=\'Nov 22 2006, 07:14 AM\']
[quote name=\'TimK2003\' post=\'138525\' date=\'Nov 22 2006, 01:33 AM\']
'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.
[/quote]

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.
[/quote]

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

[chad1m]

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.

[Jimmy Owen]

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

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'138633\' date=\'Nov 22 2006, 07:39 PM\']
If only we could call "Love Connection" a game show.
[/quote]
Which it's not.