Buzzr posted the
with GM, Ron Garfield, and SVP of Programming, Mark Deetjan from WBZ's
The Morgan White Show a couple of weeks ago. Here are a few quotes that I think this group will find relevant.
On the schedule’s repeats:
Ron Garfield, EVP/General Manager of Buzzr: "It’s just a matter of getting these episodes cued up through the… broadcast production process… We have 40,000 episodes and we’re looking to have all of them on the air at some point or another… This was the big surprise I gave Mark [Deetjen, VP, Programming & Operations at Buzzr] when we brought him in. We had 75 days to launch this channel once we got the official okay to do it… and all of these episodes, all of this great content, was sitting in a vault in multiple kinds of format: one-inch tape, half-inch tape, two-inch tape, and we literally had to scramble to get the content ready for broadcast… We have been just systematically through the process so then we can eventually, hopefully, have all 40,000 digitized. I think as you watch… you’re seeing new episodes every week. So, every week, 25, 30 different episodes from different titles are showing up on Buzzr. So, stay tuned. Much more to come."
They also noted that the Michael Larson game of
Press Your Luck is coming later this year.
On upcoming programming this year:
Ron Garfield: "We’ve got about 60 different titles that we’re looking through, but most importantly, I think you’ll see as the year progresses… this is the 75th anniversary of the television game show. So, what we’re doing throughout the entire year… is we’ve put together an overarching programming strategy… So, what you’ll see throughout the year… is all different titles and all different episodes of titles that are going to be coming through the lineup."
Mark Deetjen: "One of the things that we really want to do is we want to expand beyond Match Game ’78. We want to make sure we get to some of that 1973, when it first came back. We want to bring in ’73 and ’75 and we want to bring back more of the broad flavor of
Match Game. You also see Ray Combs on
Family Feud, you’ll also see the original versions of
Password and
Password Plus with Allen Ludden and things like that. You’ll see things like
Trivia Trap, will be coming. And obviously we brought in
Double Dare, we’ll also bring in
Now You See It, which was a Jack Narz Show. So, we’ll start going through not just the different titles but also the different eras of the titles."
On
The Price Is Right:
Mark Deetjen: "We would love to have all the original episodes of
The Price Is Right. I mean, we get a lot of requests from that all the time. There’s a lot of people that are interested in
The Price Is Right and it’s a little bit more complicated but we’re in constant communication with them and we’re really working as hard as we can to get
Price Is Right. So, hopefully we’ll be able to make some announcements but right now, we’re just working to try to get it.
"While it is part of the Goodson-Todman library, there are also a number of parties with interest in the show. We’re working out all of those details and we are most certainly endeavoring to get that show on our channel. As the head of programming, it would be a massive coup for me and I also know that it would satisfy you, the viewers, in a big way. I would love to do a primetime lineup of
The Price Is Right followed by
Let’s Make a Deal, probably the two most iconic game shows from my youth that I remember so vividly."
On Buzzr’s fans:
Ron Garfield: "I’ve launched a lot of television networks and the last few years and I don’t think I’ve seen an audience as knowledgeable, as passionate and as outspoken as the Buzzr audience. They tell us what we do right, they’ll tell us what we do wrong, they respond constantly on social media and it’s really been, it’s great. It’s great to hear people are that invested and we’re making that kind of connection with people."
Mark Deetjen: "As a programmer, these are the fans that you dream about. They also happen to be, sometimes, the fans that you have nightmares about. They’re so, so smart about the genre that you cannot stumble because they are so good."
On the network’s promotions:
Ron Garfield: "We’ve got a pretty amazing creative services team. Everything you see on the air is actually done by four guys: writing, producing, editing and then they do just a fantastic job for us.
"When we were putting together the vignettes that you see, we did some called Whatever Happened To? Our creative services people got in touch with the people at Spiegel Catalog… We’ve set up a meeting with the people at Spiegel. It’s amazing what they have and what they’re doing. We’re going to be talking to them about doing some things hopefully later on in the year."
