Celebrity Name Game to air on WGN this fall

[comicus]

Come to think of it, when's the last time WGN aired a syndicated game show on its national feed? Part of me is thinking Bzzz! in the late-90s? Either that or Dawson's Feud 2.0? Unless I'm thinking of WWOR's feed...

I think MG98 aired on WGN?

That's right, it did! IIRC, it was in the middle of the night.

Was there any major market that didn't air MG98 in overnight? New York did for sure.

If Tampa/St. Pete counts as major, WTTA 38 aired it at noon, back to back with 100%.

[BillCullen1]

I heard from a friend who saw a few tapings in this show in Hollywood. Craig is a good host, very funny and quick on his feet. Two celebs are featured on each show. Each celeb is paired with two civilians. Teammates alternate giving and receiving clues. Winning team gets to play for $20K. No returning  champions to the next show. If you were hoping for Geoff Peterson, sorry, you're out of luck.

Celebs my friend saw were Jane Leeves, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, the latter two on the same show. They're taping 180 shows, which is 36 weeks. There was no announcer. Overall audience reaction to the show was good. My friend opted to go to this show over the new Candid Camera. He was glad he did. 

[PYLdude]

I thought Geoff was coming along? Guess not.

[BillCullen1]

A couple of other things - the winning team gets $3,000. The bonus round is for $20,000 or nothing. If you don't win the $20K, you get to keep the $3,000 for winning the main game. I'm figuring the two civilians on each team split whatever they win. The show is taped in "real time" and I believe they're taping six shows a day.

[golden-road]

A couple of other things - the winning team gets $3,000. The bonus round is for $20,000 or nothing. If you don't win the $20K, you get to keep the $3,000 for winning the main game. I'm figuring the two civilians on each team split whatever they win. The show is taped in "real time" and I believe they're taping six shows a day.

So basically, it's $3K for a win, and the end game is for $17K more?

Oh, and here in Boise, it'll air as a double run, on my ABC station (primary) at 3:30, and my FOX station (secondary) at 8:30.

[BrandonFG]

A couple of other things - the winning team gets $3,000. The bonus round is for $20,000 or nothing. If you don't win the $20K, you get to keep the $3,000 for winning the main game. I'm figuring the two civilians on each team split whatever they win. The show is taped in "real time" and I believe they're taping six shows a day.

No consolation money for the losing team, I'm guessing? Still...not too shabby for a daytime game, and I'm definitely thinking they split whatever they win. Nice to see there weren't a lot of stopdowns.

Oh, and here in Boise, it'll air as a double run, on my ABC station (primary) at 3:30, and my FOX station (secondary) at 8:30.

Did you find that from a station list, or did you see a promo? Also...do either of those stations air Feud in your market?

[golden-road]

Oh, and here in Boise, it'll air as a double run, on my ABC station (primary) at 3:30, and my FOX station (secondary) at 8:30.

Did you find that from a station list, or did you see a promo? Also...do either of those stations air Feud in your market?

Called the station. Feud airs on a subchannel of my NBC station.

[SamJ93]

I was a big fan of Craig's late-night show and am really looking forward to this, although I'm sure it won't be as wacky as Late Late Show is. Any news on whether it's been picked up in the Pittsburgh market?

[TimK2003]

Anyone know if they will actually try to have the same celebrities for a full week of shows and they actually air them all within the same week? 

/Hated the randomness of "Donnymid" and who could show up on any given day.

[BrandonFG]

With a little more than a month to go, still no official site or station list, which is interesting.

That said, remembering that Tribune took recently over WTKR and WGNT, Norfolk's CBS and CW affiliates, respectively, I managed to find a press release that reports Name Game will air at 7:30 on WGNT, right after the station's new 7:00 newscast.

In recent years, not too many local stations have tried games in the 7:00 hour, as WVEC has the Wheel/Jeopardy juggernaut, which has remained in place for 30 years. The last station to try a game in that hour was WVBT with Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader in fall '09; that experiment didn't last long. I think the last show before that was Woolery's Dating Game, which also aired on WVBT at 7:30.

And in a very eerie coincidence, as I'm writing this post, I turn on the TV just as a promo for the show went off. Maybe I should've waited about 10 minutes to make this post. :-P

[Marc412]

According to a commercial I saw tonight, WPHL in Philly will do a double run of CNG two nights a week at 8 and 8:30.  No word on a five-a-week slot yet.

[PYLdude]

According to a commercial I saw tonight, WPHL in Philly will do a double run of CNG two nights a week at 8 and 8:30.  No word on a five-a-week slot yet.

Wait...doesn't MyNetworkSyndicatedprogrammingdistributor program five nights a week for its affiliates?

Unless other affiliates preempt their rerun schedule to air stuff other than sporting events that I don't know about.

[BillCullen1]

Anyone know if they will actually try to have the same celebrities for a full week of shows and they actually air them all within the same week? 

/Hated the randomness of "Donnymid" and who could show up on any given day.

Since they're taping six shows a day, according to my friend, I'm guessing they DON"T have the same celebs doing five shows a day. My friend saw different celebs on the shows. Still trying to contact him to get a definite answer.

[BillCullen1]

Update - my friend in CA who saw tapings of CNG says the same two celebs will appear all week. Teams that win the top prize of $20K also get the $3,000 they got for winning. So the most a team can win is $23K, which is split between the two civilians on each team. Looking forward to the premiere date of Sept. 22.