Fremantle launching game show digital channel

[SuperMatch93]

For me, this is honestly a good excuse to get a DVD recorder or TiVo and just hook my antenna up to it, though I am a bit worried that this may create a 2nd Dark Period of sorts for GSN.

[Dbacksfan12]

For me, this is honestly a good excuse to get a DVD recorder or TiVo and just hook my antenna up to it, though I am a bit worried that this may create a 2nd Dark Period of sorts for GSN.

I honestly don't understand why people complain about this.  Many people in these circles seem to want a variety of classics...the so-called dark period was it.

[jimlangefan]

For me, this is honestly a good excuse to get a DVD recorder or TiVo and just hook my antenna up to it, though I am a bit worried that this may create a 2nd Dark Period of sorts for GSN.

I honestly don't understand why people complain about this.  Many people in these circles seem to want a variety of classics...the so-called dark period was it.

Even though I do like what GSN has done in the last year or two, I gotta say the dark period really doesn't seem that dark anymore.

[BrandonFG]

Honestly, 1997-98 was my first time seeing GSN. So, maybe I'm a little partial, but I never really found the era to be that "dark" even back then. I enjoyed the obscure stuff just as much as I did the Goodson-Todman shows once they returned in spring '98.

I was just happy to see episodes of shows I'd only read about/seen pictures of in the EOTVGS and various other game show books.

/Or the various screengrabs from the fan pages of that era

[jage]

GSN will be just fine, though they'll have to be more creative when they lose Harvey Feud. They still have access to enough content to fill the rest of their day. The Chase will have enough episodes to run as a daily in reruns if they want. And they could bring back some of the better originals from the past decade or more if they wished. I don't see them going after very many other classics, except perhaps bringing back J! and Wheel.

[snowpeck]

We shouldn't assume GSN is going to lose any of the Fremantle shows. Shouldn't Fremantle be happy to be making money no matter where it's coming from?

[chrisholland03]

We shouldn't assume GSN is going to lose any of the Fremantle shows. Shouldn't Fremantle be happy to be making money no matter where it's coming from?

This is a good point, based upon the number of networks currently running Steve Harvey

[JMFabiano]

For me, this is honestly a good excuse to get a DVD recorder or TiVo and just hook my antenna up to it, though I am a bit worried that this may create a 2nd Dark Period of sorts for GSN.

I honestly don't understand why people complain about this.  Many people in these circles seem to want a variety of classics...the so-called dark period was it.

As one of the founding fathers of that term, I agree that calling 1997-early '98 the "dark period" is harsh in retrospect.  For classics fans, you get to see shows you probably would not see AT ALL otherwise (and in many cases, that much has held true).  On the other hand, as the moment when you knew things wouldn't quite be the same as before, the (Not So) Dark Period was it.  For that was when the repeating program blocks began (3-4 hours of a number of shows, then repeat...), the oversaturation of the network's "babies" (Newlywed Game:1997::Harvey Feud:Now),  and the "holding back" of certain shows and versions of shows, whereas pre-Oct '97 seemed to always have something for everybody each day.  It took 2 years (by the time of the beginning of Cronin's run), I believe, to get Super Password, Eubanks CS, and Combs FF run regularly again and not disappear after a couple weeks. 

I guess other than that, the DP is now a Not-so-DP because the loss of things we had in that time caused us to appreciate them more. 

[JMFabiano]

It could mean something or could mean nothing, but there's no mention of airing any version of TPIR

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/82339/fox-oos-push-the-button-on-buzzr-tv

There was mention: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-tv-stations-air-classic-764821?utm_source=twitter

On Tuesday, FremantleMedia announced Fox’s 17 owned and operated TV stations are the first customer for an endless stream of titles including The Price Is Right, Card Sharks, To Tell The Truth, Beat The Clock, Password and versions of Family Feud hosted by Richard Dawson, Ray Combs, Louis Anderson, Richard Karn and John O’Hurley. The Steve Harvey version will eventually be added as well.

Which, for those of you hoping for a cease of Harveymania on GSN, might be disappointing, as it implies that maybe it and the other channels it's running on have separate rights to it?  Then again, this might be similar to what Feud '94 ran into when GSN started. 

No TPIR so-called embargo = chances that this new network can jump the NBC hurdle in front of Concentration? 

[Thunder]

As one of the founding fathers of that term, I agree that calling 1997-early '98 the "dark period" is harsh in retrospect...

Now that's something to put on your resume.

[thomas_meighan]

I first got GSN in September 1997, so I saw the last several weeks before the initial G-T lease expired. I missed those shows a lot, but I do have a lot of good memories from the months that followed: staying up late on Saturday nights to catch Hot Potato, Chain Reaction and Pass the Buck, watching $20K Pyramid early weekday mornings and Break the Bank on Sunday evenings, and the eventual addition of Cullen and Kennedy TPIR on Sunday afternoons.

The schedule itself wasn't "dark" so much; the bigger concern was when/whether GSN could get the G-T library back. Around March 1998, when the little promos started airing with teases like "What's in the cards at Game Show Network?...", I was certainly happy, but the 1997-98 schedule was a good game show education in itself.

[SuperMatch93]

I was mostly referring to "dark period" in the sense of "the classics most casual viewers would be familiar with going off the schedule", which isn't as much of an issue these days due to the abundance of GSN originals on the schedule. In fact, on the off-chance that Fremantle decides to leave GSN hanging in terms of classics, maybe GSN will start negotiating with Sony and get some of their properties back in reruns.

[johnnya2k3]

Maybe, despite the cross-ownership, Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour could finally be shown for the first time in over 30 years on that new diginet!

[Pyramid20000]

Would they possibly air anything from the ABC game shows of the 70's and 80's?
And also would this channel be available in Phoenix AZ?

[TLEberle]

Probably not, and if they did they would skip over the episode of $20,000 Pyramid with Jamie Lee Curtis.