GSN's Good & Bad

[Winkfan]

Reviewing GSN in 2003:

GOOD: Finally showing Press Your Luck contestant Michael Larsen 'beating the system' to win over $100k; and the story behind his 'reign of terror.' as well as giving us PYL fans episodes that have not aired on GSN.
BAD: the 'audio problems' now plaguing PYL.

GOOD: One word: Blockbusters; even if it is now just on weekends.
BAD: Two words: Love Connection.

GOOD: Airing $100,000 Pyramid episodes that we haven't seen in quite some time during the mornings.
BAD: Dropping repeats of the ORIGINAL Hollywood Squares. (PM in the AM RULES!)

GOOD: Airing the 1963 Let's Make A Deal pilot in its entirety.
BAD: Screwing around with Black & White Overnight; IT WASN'T BROKE!!!!! (Well, at least they FINALLY gave I've Got A Secret a MUCH-NEEDED break!)

GOOD: The second season of WHAMMY; complete with 'the Big Bank,' a Suzuki win, and the 'Tournament of Champions!'
BAD: The GSN Video Games block. (Well, it was okay if you like actual video games.)

GOOD: Adding the Regis version of WWTBaM?
BAD: Still not getting the rights to Second Honeymoon and Talkabout!

Now what can we look forward to on GSN this year? That is, before March.

The Lingo 'Tournament of Champions.'
Make the Connection; even if it is only for three days.
Password and Beat the Clock back on B&WO.

Cordially,
Tammy Warner--the 'Gail Sheldon of the Big Board!'

[TonicBH]

[quote name=\'Winkfan\' date=\'Dec 30 2003, 08:25 PM\'] Reviewing GSN in 2003:

GOOD: Finally showing Press Your Luck contestant Michael Larsen 'beating the system' to win over $100k; and the story behind his 'reign of terror.' as well as giving us PYL fans episodes that have not aired on GSN.
BAD: the 'audio problems' now plaguing PYL.

GOOD: One word: Blockbusters; even if it is now just on weekends.
BAD: Two words: Love Connection.

GOOD: Airing $100,000 Pyramid episodes that we haven't seen in quite some time during the mornings.
BAD: Dropping repeats of the ORIGINAL Hollywood Squares. (PM in the AM RULES!)

GOOD: Airing the 1963 Let's Make A Deal pilot in its entirety.
BAD: Screwing around with Black & White Overnight; IT WASN'T BROKE!!!!! (Well, at least they FINALLY gave I've Got A Secret a MUCH-NEEDED break!)

GOOD: The second season of WHAMMY; complete with 'the Big Bank,' a Suzuki win, and the 'Tournament of Champions!'
BAD: The GSN Video Games block. (Well, it was okay if you like actual video games.)

GOOD: Adding the Regis version of WWTBaM?
BAD: Still not getting the rights to Second Honeymoon and Talkabout!

Now what can we look forward to on GSN this year? That is, before March.

The Lingo 'Tournament of Champions.'
Make the Connection; even if it is only for three days.
Password and Beat the Clock back on B&WO.

Cordially,
Tammy Warner--the 'Gail Sheldon of the Big Board!' [/quote]
 Replying on the "Original HS dropped" thing, do you realize why it GOT dropped?

While game show fans and people who had seen the show when they were young or whatever know about the Marshall days, most casual viewers don't. They may go "This is Hollywood Squares? Where's Whoopi? and who's that guy hosting? Ahh, I'd rather watch Fear Factor than this old crap. *click*"

And for crying out loud, Do you THINK GSN will get short-lived shows only a HANDFUL of people know about? no.

Sorry to go against your liking of Talkabout, I liked it too, but I don't expect it on GSN anytime soon.

[zachhoran]

Add to the "good": GSN putting 80s LMAD on the weekdays and acquiring more episodes of PYL and getting Millionaire.
Add to the "bad": GSN axing several decent originals, including Russian Roulette, Wintuition, and it seems like Whammy! won't get a third series of this shows at this point. Friend or Foe is toast as well, and Cram and Funny MOney look iffy. Non-GSN "bad": Taboo, which could have been a decent show in the right hands. As per a Games Magazine article several years back, the game was originally developed as a game show.

[ChrisLambert!]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jan 1 2004, 08:17 AM\'] Taboo, which could have been a decent show in the right hands. [/quote]
 That's Hearsay.

[gameshowguy2000]

We can add Female announcers to the mix, because Lingo got its fair share, from Randi Thomas to the newly recruited Stacey Hayes.

(And I got to watch the 2 shows from 12/30, and got to catch the British accent. Pretty good accent, too, I should say. As for the show, WTG, giving away a Suzuki like its Whammy counterpart, in the TOC.)

[cmjb13]

Add to the "good": GSN putting 80s LMAD on the weekdays and acquiring more episodes of PYL

Agreed.

and getting Millionaire.

Could have lived without it.

Add to the "bad": GSN axing several decent originals, including Russian Roulette, Wintuition, and it seems like Whammy! won't get a third series of this shows at this point. Friend or Foe is toast as well, and Cram and Funny MOney look iffy.

Actually, this is great news. Good riddance to all of them.

[TimK2003]

Let me sneak in this chapter for PAX-TV:

GOOD:  Adding a totally new original game show to their network, not to mention their fist primetime game show entry: "Dirty Rotten Cheater".  DRC was not the greatest show since sliced bread, but nonetheless, it was a decent show to watch as an alternative to "Fear Factor", and the premise was a creative one -- it was to play along with at home.  Also it was nice that PAX has kept reruns of George Gray's "Weakest Link" on the airwaves.


BAD:  No more new episodes of "Supermarket Sweep", yet they allowed for new episodes of Shop Til You Drop, with a complete overhaul of the set, the music and the host.  I know that SOMEONE in particular on this forum would agree with me on this point strongly [COUGHCOUGHRANDYCOUGHWESTCOUGHCOUGH]


BTW, was it just coincidence, or did STYD all of a sudden "borrow" the idea of doing grocery product placements at the same time SS was banished to reruns only?

[Ian Wallis]

Sorry to go against your liking of Talkabout, I liked it too, but I don't expect it on GSN anytime soon.

Yes, that's what I liked about the old USA and FAM block of afternoon game shows - quite frequently you'd see a shorter-run series on those blocks.  It's just too bad that GSN has a ton of them at their disposal that will likely never air again.  I wouldn't hold out much hope of seeing very much "vault" stuff once the changes take place in March.

[gameshowguy2000]

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Jan 1 2004, 01:38 PM\'] Let me sneak in this chapter for PAX-TV:

GOOD:  Adding a totally new original game show to their network, not to mention their fist primetime game show entry: "Dirty Rotten Cheater".  DRC was not the greatest show since sliced bread, but nonetheless, it was a decent show to watch as an alternative to "Fear Factor", and the premise was a creative one -- it was to play along with at home.  Also it was nice that PAX has kept reruns of George Gray's "Weakest Link" on the airwaves.


BAD:  No more new episodes of "Supermarket Sweep", yet they allowed for new episodes of Shop Til You Drop, with a complete overhaul of the set, the music and the host.  I know that SOMEONE in particular on this forum would agree with me on this point strongly [COUGHCOUGHRANDYCOUGHWESTCOUGHCOUGH]


BTW, was it just coincidence, or did STYD all of a sudden "borrow" the idea of doing grocery product placements at the same time SS was banished to reruns only? [/quote]
 Those Weakest Link reruns on PAX are those of Season 1.

And for those who didn't like BTC, you can put that on the Good list.

I liked it, but the Swirling Whirlwind was the better part of the show.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jan 1 2004, 02:50 PM\']

Sorry to go against your liking of Talkabout, I liked it too, but I don't expect it on GSN anytime soon.

Yes, that's what I liked about the old USA and FAM block of afternoon game shows - quite frequently you'd see a shorter-run series on those blocks.  It's just too bad that GSN has a ton of them at their disposal that will likely never air again.  I wouldn't hold out much hope of seeing very much "vault" stuff once the changes take place in March. [/quote]
 USA was big on picking up series(long or short-lived) as reruns shortly after they were cancelled, and in a few cases(Hot POtato, TTD90, Wipeout) running them into the ground.

[itiparanoid13]

One of the biggest moments that stands out to be is the mass speculation of The Price Is Right.  I did not help the cause either because I actually started to believe it was coming, but that was a big moment for me.  Also, Russian Roulette and Whammy, 2 of the top 4 rated originals on the network, and their stay in GSN Limbo was also a shock to be.

[Starkman]

GSN

GOOD: Early LMAD, Marshall Squares (while it lasted but im not crying that it left, gotta realize that something like that especally with the short number of eps they had), Larsen eps, Povich 21 marathon, bringing back Password, Millionaire, More 100k Pyramid, LMAD Pilot

BAD: Funny Money, Boden Leaving, Video Games, Love Connection, Seemingly Cancelling RR and Whammy!, Celeberty Cram (celebs not helping a game show case #989034209834298).

UGLY: Naturally Stoned, Robinson WL being shown daily.

GAS

GOOD: Play To Z, Double Dare New Years Marathon.

BAD: Overrelience on DD2K, Not showing the original WACK or WWYD, Showing You're On daily (if you havent seen it, small quality hint: Phil Moore hosts)

UGLY: Gamefarm

The Real World

GOOD: TPIR goes primetime, Karn Feud renewal, Pax showing Gray WL, DRC, MOGSM

BAD: NBC Axing Bush LMAD 3 eps in, Death of Rod Roddy, Cien Mexicanos Dijeron going to the one strike 4th round format.

UGLY: The glut of mean spirited bachelor shows like Joe Millionaire

Also a note on Taboo/Hearsay, personally I think its too much like Pyramid but id LOVE to see ESPN make it a regular show, not holding my breath though. As for taboo, My main gripe was that chris wylde made JD Roth seem calm!!!

[melman1]

[quote name=\'Starkman\' date=\'Jan 5 2004, 09:21 AM\'] Cien Mexicanos Dijeron going to the one strike 4th round format.
 [/quote]
 

[Starkman]

CMD is the spanish language Family Feud, in recent eps starting in october they started using the 4th round format that kills all the excitement in both the Louie and Karn feuds

[melman1]

[quote name=\'Starkman\' date=\'Jan 5 2004, 09:36 AM\'] CMD is the spanish language Family Feud [/quote]
 Which I'd guess that almost no one here is familiar with, and it would be stretching the bounds of relevance to include it in any "best of / worst of" list, don't you think?