Game shows overdue for a remake

[Chief-O]

The time is right for The Money Maze. Add a couple more zeroes after the all-important 1 and you’d have ratings gold.

Quite honestly, I can agree here. They could certainly do the show nowadays in a massive Hollywood soundstage, and maybe make the maze 33 to 50% larger to really justify those extra zeroes.

Now my question is.......is George available and willing?

[TheInquisitiveOne]

I am of the thought that a case can be made for Scrabble. What would make it easy is that they could easily resort to the self-contained format NBC went with from 1985 onward. And if time is tight, resort to a best-of-3 format instead of a best-of-5. Otherwise, the format can stay exactly the same, with bonus squares doubled from the original format ($1000 for blue squares, $2000 for pink squares - both upon immediate solves).

For the Bonus Sprint at the end, cash prize depends on format: for returning champions, $10,000 + $5000 for each day until hit (champions progression only), or a flat one-time $25000 prize for one-off champions ($2500 for winning the overall sprint playoff as consolation, if the $25K isn’t won).

The Inquisitive One

[Kevin Prather]

I am of the thought that a case can be made for Scrabble.

Especially if they call it Words with Friends.

[Stackertosh]

Crazy idea I've always had to revive Line and Secret that is tough to execute apparently because rights are a mess:  The Panel Show.  Four celebrites, five games: lead with a round of TTTT, then Who's Who from WML, play a round of Line with one of the imposters, play IGAS with the other, then end with a mystery guest.  Revives Line and Secret in pieces.

That doesn't work?  Cross-Wits.

I like that idea, especially to fill an hour. I wasn't a fan of Anthony Anderson version of TTTT

[Neumms]

if time is tight, resort to a best-of-3 format instead of a best-of-5.

I’d be tempted to do one sit-down game, the returning champ getting a bye into the sprint. Maybe then they could avoid going to Speed Word early.

I’d also like to see a longer bonus round. That or make it one dramatic final word and somehow draw tiles (or letters). The 10-second thing always felt rushed, especially for the high point of the show.

[Joe Mello]

Based on my and others' machinations, if I were to do TV Scrabble, I'd replace the regular sprints with a head-to-head best-of-5 speedword (going from 5-9 letters). It shaves off about 2 minutes' of run time and is easier to manage logistically. Plus I find the drama factor to be on par if not better.

[clemon79]

Based on my and others' machinations, if I were to do TV Scrabble, I'd replace the regular sprints with a head-to-head best-of-5 speedword (going from 5-9 letters). It shaves off about 2 minutes' of run time and is easier to manage logistically. Plus I find the drama factor to be on par if not better.

I think you would find, due to a need to take more risks when you are behind, that there would be more utterly anticlimactic situations than you would like, as the person up 2-Whatever gets to stand there and wait for the word to fill in after their opponent made an early desperation guess.

[Jimmy Owen]

Anybody we know working on the Raven Scrabble revival?

[Neumms]

I think you would find, due to a need to take more risks when you are behind, that there would be more utterly anticlimactic situations than you would like, as the person up 2-Whatever gets to stand there and wait for the word to fill in after their opponent made an early desperation guess.

Maybe the penalty for buzzing too early could one free letter and a free guess for the opponent. If he can’t answer, speed word resumes.

I’ve often thought it would be fun to see the sprint work like a chess clock, as on Grand Slam. Figuring out a wrong-answer penalty may be the fly in the ointment, though.

[clemon79]

Figuring out a wrong-answer penalty may be the fly in the ointment, though.

They already had it, although I thought ten seconds was a bit stiff. So do the Whew! thing and run off five, and the audience can count along. At the end of the five the next two letters pop in and play continues.

[Neumms]

They already had it, although I thought ten seconds was a bit stiff. So do the Whew! thing and run off five, and the audience can count along. At the end of the five the next two letters pop in and play continues.

I meant figuring out a fair penalty. I like yours better.

[Otm Shank]

I was explaining to the kids about "Win Ben Stein's Money," and then 🤯 "hey, they should totally reboot that!"

I always thought that "The Challengers" would be a decent reboot for a cable news channel, but then that risks preemption too much.

[Jeremy Nelson]

I am of the thought that a case can be made for Scrabble. What would make it easy is that they could easily resort to the self-contained format NBC went with from 1985 onward. And if time is tight, resort to a best-of-3 format instead of a best-of-5.

I think I've got a fix that eliminates the uneven round timing issue- just play the front game with three people.

Same format, just another person to go down the line. Scoring could stay the same or just play for the word's official Scrabble score since Hasbro seems to want to stick closer to the actual game. Play the crossword round for the first two segments, with the top two scorers moving on to the Sprint.

[DoItRockapella]

I was explaining to the kids about "Win Ben Stein's Money," and then 🤯 "hey, they should totally reboot that!"

I'm going to repeat what I said in August in the "Great, but forgotten, long-running shows" thread:

While I quite like WBSM, I don't think it could be revived, largely because it seems to me to be completely dependent on Ben Stein's persona. I doubt he would come back, and I also doubt the show would work if you swapped Ben out for a Jeopardy superchampion or whatever.

As for my answer to the question which game show I think is overdue for a remake...I'm honestly having a hard time coming up with one, largely because in the revival boom of the past ~10 years, pretty much every game show I would want to see revived has been. I would go with my username and say WITWICS, but I honestly get the feeling a 21st century kid would just see that show as a 90s relic. It also doesn't help that the 2019 Carmen Sandiego cartoon on Netflix missed the point so completely that I've taken to calling it CASINO, for CArmen Sandiego In Name Only.

[BrandonFG]

Dunno if I agree about it not working just because Ben is too dry. The Chase showed that you could have a charismatic nerd to root against, although I wasn’t a big fan of just how much they played up the villain role in the second season of the ABC version. You’re not supposed to like the Chaser obviously, but I felt The Beast and Ken/James/Brad had some charm to their cartoonish villainy.

There was also Win Beadle's Money in the UK. But for a US reboot, I always liked the idea of Neil Degrasse Tyson. Maybe Brad Rutter?