The bottom line is: GSN needs to turn a profit. If they're making money, they're happy. If not, they'll diddle with the schedule until it they are.
The big problem with a network focused on game shows is that, with the exception of a very small percentage of the population who enjoy the genre as a whole and not individual shows, game shows have never been appointment TV in the way that, say, a soap opera or a talk show is. So the people scheduling GSN have to deal with what is essentially a transient audience - people who flip on the network, see a show they like, watch it to the end and resume channel surfing. The folks at GSN have to find a way either keep TVs on their channel, or give them a reason to tune in of their own volition.
I'd probably employ this strategy if I were in charge:
1. Dump the million-dollar shows from the schedule. Shows like WWTBAM and DoND don't work on the main schedule because, for the most part, the people watching these shows when they were first-run weren't watching them for the game - they were watching them to see someone potentially win the advertised top prize. Since the vast majority of the episodes shown don't feature a million-dollar winner and viewers already know this, they're likely to flip on GSN, see "Millionaire" in the listing, and say, "Next."
1a. If you must air million-dollar shows, limit each show to 1-2 airings a week. It's ludicrous to think that viewers are going to follow a show like DoND on a daily basis, so rather than stripping the shows, put them on once during the week and once on the weekend. WWTBAM on Mondays, DoND on Tuesdays, 1vC on Wednesdays, and so on. There are three benefits to this strategy: you don't burn through all the episodes of a show in a matter of months, you add variety to the schedule, and you have a chance to air only the "good" episodes from that show ($125K+ wins on WWTBAM, for example).
2. Longer runs of your original series. Unless you plan on rotating them around, doing 8-week seasons of a show means that each episode is guaranteed to air at least six times during the year. If you extend those runs to 13 weeks, it cuts the number of repeats by a third. Whatever additional studio and staff costs you may incur will likely be recouped by the fact that all of the episodes will now stay fresher longer.
3. Rotate the bejeezus out of your library. On the other side of the coin, there's no reason to air your late-night and early-morning shows more than 13 weeks at a time. Use the hours on your schedule between GSN Live and Prime Time to focus on your core shows: Match Game, Feud, Password, Pyramid, PYL, Originals. Outside of those hours, make it a point to shuffle as many shows in and out as possible. You get your money's worth out of the shows you've bought the broadcasting rights to, and you give viewers (both fans and casual viewers) the chance to happen upon a show like Hot Potato or Break the Bank and say, "Hey, this looks new."
4. Marathons on the weekends. Two four-hour blocks of different shows every Saturday and Sunday, leading into prime-time. The fans of those shows get what they want, and those who happen upon a show they like will get to stick with it.
This can all be done with the shows that GSN already has available to them. The Reg Grundy library, while awesome for us, would almost certainly be a wasted investment unless they can get it at a miserly price. Same for TPIR (and there's no way they're getting this cheaply, if at all). No need to produce any more original series, either. Honestly, it's not as if they can do any worse, if the encroaching informercials that now start at 1:00 AM are any indication.
