CW to premiere "Save to Win"

[colonial]

The CW has announced a new game show that will air this fall that's essentially "Supermarket Sweep" or "Shop Til You Drop" on a budget.

"Save To Win" will also air as part of the network's "One Magnificent Morning" weekend programming block, which gave Saturday morning cartoons the boot a few years back.

A description of the show, via a CW press release ...

SAVE TO WIN, premiering Saturday, November 5, is a fun and fast-paced play-along game show where savvy shoppers can win big cash by showcasing their knowledge of America's favorite household brands. Two teams of two compete head-to-head as they play shopping-themed games in our studio store that resembles Family Dollar, one of America's largest retail chains. Hilarious host and celebrity chef, Pat Neely, dishes out his SOUTHERN CHARM as our contestants compete in three rounds testing their brand knowledge. Our show culminates in an exciting final bonus round where picking the right items off our product-themed prize wall can result in one team walking away with the jackpot.


You may recall Pat Neely and his then-wife, Gina, from their numerous appearances on Food Network a few years back, where they hosted "Down Home with the Neelys" and other shows.

Things haven't been too kind to Pat in recent years -- he and his wife divorced, all of their restaurants have shut down and he's pretty much been reduced to occasional cooking segments on morning TV talk shows.

Frankly, I lost interest in this series as soon as I read "studio store that resembles Family Dollar".  Have never stepped foot in one but, based on various news stories I've read over the years, I half-expect the studio cash register to be swiped at least three times an episode.


JD

[Jimmy Owen]

There wouldn't be a lot of cash in the register, being a dollar store.

[MSTieScott]

Hilarious host and celebrity chef, Pat Neely, dishes out his SOUTHERN CHARM as our contestants compete in three rounds testing their brand knowledge.

I hope his SOUTHERN CHARM isn't as intense as this formatting implies.

[BrandonFG]

He and his wife's Food Network show was okay, but the constant sweet talk between he and his wife was annoying as hell. Given their later divorce, I wonder how much of that interaction was forced by the producers*.

Know how I know that press release author's a rookie? They best puffing they could do was to say "resembles Family Dollar". Unless there's a ton of commercials for Family Dollar coming...

/*I imagine upwards of 95%

[Thunder]

...

Frankly, I lost interest in this series as soon as I read "studio store that resembles Family Dollar".  Have never stepped foot in one but, based on various news stories I've read over the years, I half-expect the studio cash register to be swiped at least three times an episode.

No. That would be Dollar General.

Source: Personal on-the-job experience.

[PYLdude]

There wouldn't be a lot of cash in the register, being a dollar store.

Except it's not.

[Jimmy Owen]

The show premiered today.  It was an okay way to spend a half-hour. 

[David Levy]

The prize round is incredibly weak.

Twenty products are on display.  They're accompanied by numbered cards, behind which are ten randomly assigned cash prize amounts ranging from $500 to $1,000 (with each used twice).

The winning team selects two numbers between 1 and 20 and the cash prize amounts are revealed.  If they happen to match, the contestants win $5,000.  Otherwise, they win the two amounts' total (ranging from just over $1,000 to just under $2,000).

Pure chance determines whether the top prize is awarded (odds: 1 in 19) and how much money is given away otherwise.  The products are completely irrelevant, apart from the transparent pretext that the round has something to do with "shopping."

Incidentally, someone needs to explain to Pat Neely that a game show host needn't react to every correct/incorrect response by feigning jubilation/anguish, especially with a format like this one (wherein one team always benefits and there's no direct impact on prizes).

[TLEberle]

If I heard right, the only way to win the five grand is the pair of 500s of 1000s, as nothing else has a match.

[clemon79]

Incidentally, someone needs to explain to Pat Neely

...that he should stick to cooking crappy BBQ.

[David Levy]

If I heard right, the only way to win the five grand is the pair of 500s of 1000s, as nothing else has a match.

"Here are twenty items.  Each has a random prize amount assigned, ranging from five hundred to a thousand dollars.  Two of them are five hundred.  Two of them are a thousand dollars.  And every one in between also has a match.  You each will have to pick a item [sic].  We'll add the two of them together to see how much money you've actually won.  But if those two match, guys, you win five thousand dollars."

[parliboy]

This bonus would actually be passable if it were basically "Pick-A-Pair", instead of the revealed values being completely random.

[David Levy]

This bonus would actually be passable if it were basically "Pick-A-Pair", instead of the revealed values being completely random.

I wouldn't even categorize this as a "bonus round."  I described it as such originally, but I edited my message when it occurred to me that the no prizes (apart from the losing team's parting gift of a "Family Dollar shopping spree," which I presume is a pair of low-value gift cards) are awarded at any other point in the show.

[ChrisLambert!]

Incidentally, someone needs to explain to Pat Neely that a game show host needn't react to every correct/incorrect response by feigning jubilation/anguish, especially with a format like this one (wherein one team always benefits and there's no direct impact on prizes).

Unless, of course, the producers have told him to do so.

[David Levy]

Incidentally, someone needs to explain to Pat Neely that a game show host needn't react to every correct/incorrect response by feigning jubilation/anguish, especially with a format like this one (wherein one team always benefits and there's no direct impact on prizes).

Unless, of course, the producers have told him to do so.

Given the show's overall state, it wouldn't be the least bit surprising.