What's on the way? Here are highlights of GSN's development slate from an AP story:
>>Game Show Network Changing Name to GSN
By DAVID BAUDER
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - If the older women who make up the bulk of the Game Show Network's audience don't have an early bedtime, they may be in for a shock. The network renames itself GSN on Monday, when it will begin to gradually phase in programs like ``National Lampoon's Greek Games'' and ``Fake-a-Date'' weeknights at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
GSN wants to broaden its audience beyond Chuck Woolery and Gene Rayburn fans to bring in people who like reality programming, video games and televised poker...
...A new dating game with former ``Joe Millionaire'' Evan Marriott, a ``World Series of Blackjack'' competition, a comic competition with two Canadian buddies and reruns of ``The Mole'' are among GSN's new fare.
... GSN is currently in half of the nation's television homes. The median age of the network's viewer is 47, dangerous territory for the youth-obsessed television industry, so the changes are also an attempt to attract young people...
... GSN's blackjack series will be shot at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut, with Melana Scantlin of ``Average Joe'' as co-host.
Marriott, another reality show refugee, is host of ``Fake-a-Date.'' The game show sends a contestant on dates with two singles. One single is looking for love, the other is feigning interest in the hope of winning a vacation. The contestant's job is to find the faker.
``The Mole,'' a series that then-host and now-CNN anchor Anderson Cooper would probably like to forget, is another experiment... GSN last week announced it had purchased rights to second airings of the NBC shows ``Average Joe'' and ``Dog Eat Dog.''... The new series, ``Kenny vs. Spenny,'' features competitive Canadians Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice in a bunch of makeshift contests, like who can stay awake or sit on a cow the longest...
... This summer, GSN is launching ``National Lampoon's Greek Games,'' an Olympic-style competition for college fraternities and sororities, and ``Extreme Dodge Ball,'' a television recreation of the game you dreaded in elementary school. Cronin envisions meter maids, Sumo wrestlers and rap musicians in the circle.
``I would like to see mimes getting pummeled by dodge balls,'' he said.
Also in the works is a hidden-camera show from Las Vegas wedding chapels...
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