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The Game Show Forum => Game Show Channels & Networks => Topic started by: xavier45 on October 13, 2007, 06:27:30 PM

Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: xavier45 on October 13, 2007, 06:27:30 PM
According to the Perf, GSN has cancelled Playmania. And if you have seen the show lately, you will know why. The show is just not the same as it used to be. But then again, it was never that great of a show.

But anyways GSN will now extend the Tuesday night Schedule to Tuesday-Saturday now Starting on October 31st. And even though he does not mention it, I am sure the Sunday night Schedule will stay the same. So now we have more Trivia Trap and Now You see It!

http://tvgameshows.net/bignews.htm (http://\"http://tvgameshows.net/bignews.htm\")
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Chelsea Thrasher on October 13, 2007, 07:22:38 PM
Good news.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: chad1m on October 13, 2007, 07:41:54 PM
Of course it's good news for those who wanted more classics, but for those who had once enjoyed the show, not such good news.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: MikeK on October 13, 2007, 08:21:29 PM
The best part news out of all this...

[quote name=\'xavier45\' post=\'166647\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 06:27 PM\']...more Trivia Trap and Now You see It![/quote]

At least I took GSN's little cash cow for some coin before the udders dried up.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: TLEberle on October 13, 2007, 09:11:50 PM
[quote name=\'chad1m\' post=\'166654\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 04:41 PM\']Of course it's good news for those who wanted more classics, but for those who had once enjoyed the show, not such good news.[/quote]My exposure to Playmania is less than most, but in my handful of viewings, I saw the same pattern play out:

1. Puzzle goes up on the screen
2. Hostess vamps while the Player's Lounge is empty
3. Camera swirls around the studio while thumping techno music bed plays
4. More vamping by hostess. (And too bad for me, it was Mel in five-out-of-five viewings)
5. Some dullard gets on the line, and gives a wrong answer.
6. More vamping
7. The underpants gnomes come, stage a coup, and I'm forced to make an early morning Costco run
8. More vamping, this time a hint is put up, or more money in the pot
...
19. Someone finally breaks through to solve the puzzle

I think the fastest time that I ever saw from puzzle to solve was 20 minutes. And it's not like the vamping was all that interesting, or clever. Most of the time it was nausea inducing because Mel was jumping around the place, as if the floor was made of hot lava. If you found enjoyment in that, I'm curious to know where it was derived. For real.

I'm not all that sad to see Playmania replaced by something a bit more game-y, as it were. Now, if I had to suffer through two hours of PM a night in order to keep the network solvent, then by all means, have Horseface park her keister in front of a camera/TelePrompTer and go to town.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: chad1m on October 13, 2007, 09:38:38 PM
[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'166663\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 09:11 PM\']
I think the fastest time that I ever saw from puzzle to solve was 20 minutes.
[/quote]

Normally, one-shot games take usually three to eight minutes to solve.

And Horseface? Don't you think that's just going above and beyond rude?
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: TLEberle on October 13, 2007, 09:51:40 PM
[quote name=\'chad1m\' post=\'166666\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 06:38 PM\']
[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'166663\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 09:11 PM\']
I think the fastest time that I ever saw from puzzle to solve was 20 minutes.
[/quote]

Normally, one-shot games take usually three to eight minutes to solve.[/quote] Oof. I would have paid GSN myself for a three-minute game on any of those days.

Quote
And Horseface? Don't you think that's just going above and beyond rude?
Can I play the "ain't libel when it's true" card? No? I forgot, it's Serious Business here, all day, every day.

I apologize to Mel's fan. I'll go back to HumorMode == Off.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Jay Temple on October 13, 2007, 10:02:00 PM
[quote name=\'xavier45\' post=\'166647\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 05:27 PM\']But anyways GSN will now extend the Tuesday night Schedule to Tuesday-Saturday now Starting on October 31st.[/quote]
Note to self: Change VCR's weekly program to daily.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: MikeK on October 13, 2007, 10:13:52 PM
[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'166668\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 09:51 PM\']Can I play the "ain't libel when it's true" card? No? I forgot, it's Serious Business here, all day, every day.[/quote]
Taking a page from Joe Raygor's book (http://\"http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/JRaygor/barkerserious.jpg\")...

Horseface.  Serious business. (http://\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/hmtriplecrown/horseface.jpg\")
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: chad1m on October 13, 2007, 10:25:14 PM
I'm not taking it as "serious business", but I think that was just a pretty rude statement.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: TLEberle on October 13, 2007, 10:29:56 PM
[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'166672\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 07:13 PM\']
[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'166668\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 09:51 PM\']Can I play the "ain't libel when it's true" card? No? I forgot, it's Serious Business here, all day, every day.[/quote]
Taking a page from Joe Raygor's book (http://\"http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/JRaygor/barkerserious.jpg\")...

Horseface.  Serious business. (http://\"http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/hmtriplecrown/horseface.jpg\")
[/quote]I should be shocked, I really should. But then, I've seen far weirder stuff here.

It was supposed to be all in jest. (the underpants gnomes aside should have been a red flag) I truly meant no offense.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: bandit_bobby on October 13, 2007, 10:48:03 PM
The show went down the toilet once Mel Peachey left.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Scrabbleship on October 13, 2007, 11:46:57 PM
[quote name=\'bandit_bobby\' post=\'166676\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 10:48 PM\']
The show went down the toilet once Mel Peachey left.
[/quote]

Not even then. It fell down a cliff when the split of the block into 100 Winners and quiznation took place. The two halves did not equal the whole of Playmania before the split.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Joe Mello on October 14, 2007, 01:55:31 AM
[quote name=\'Scrabbleship\' post=\'166680\' date=\'Oct 13 2007, 11:46 PM\']Not even then. It fell down a cliff when the split of the block into 100 Winners and quiznation took place. The two halves did not equal the whole of Playmania before the split.[/quote]
I disagree somewhat.  100 Winners probably was the start of the downhill fall, but not because necessarily it was bad.  It basically exposed the good and bad things about Quiznation.  The bad was that it was slower than molasses in January, but it had to be that way because that way they could actually try to turn a profit as opposed to giving away several thousand dollars to a few dozen people.  It was then that the numbers turned, 100 Winners was pulled and Quiznation became slower than 3-year-old molasses in the Arctic in January.

So 18 months for Playmania or thereabouts?  Does the volume of episodes make it the most prolific original in GSN's history?  I'd have to think it has more shows than Lingo.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: chad1m on October 14, 2007, 02:09:20 AM
If the show is indeed over in two weeks, the show will have just under 400 episodes under its belt.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Craig Karlberg on October 14, 2007, 03:31:14 AM
I never really liked the show from the start, but when they started adding bigger money & showing those QVC-type clocks every 15 minutes or so, that did it for me.  At least there's something to be said about call-in & lose shows like this: trying to pluck as much as $10 just to win as little as say, $50 or as much as say, $2,500 I saw in one episode just doesn't cut it for me.  Audios Playmania!
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Matt Ottinger on October 14, 2007, 11:22:25 AM
I'll tend to switch to it once in a while, mostly to see if Shandi's on, because eye candy is eye candy.  I hadn't seen in in a couple of weeks, but I saw it last night (before I saw this thread) and was perplexed.  One, because I didn't recognize the redhead who was hosting.  Two, because she was just sitting there.  I don't just mean she wasn't moving back and forth across the studio, that show' vertigo-inducing trademark, I mean she was just sitting and not saying anything.  She just stared at the camera for what felt like thirty seconds (was probably less, but still).  She finally mumbled something inane about the puzzle, and then just stared some more.  Never smiled, and I'm not sure she blinked.  Frankly, a little creepy.  They finally put up a FIVE minute clock (I had only seen the three-minute one up to now), and I gave up on it.  Anybody know who she is?
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: xavier45 on October 14, 2007, 11:35:08 AM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'166702\' date=\'Oct 14 2007, 11:22 AM\']
Anybody know who she is?
[/quote]
She is Angelle Tymone who just started on the show a few months ago.
I guess from what I hear about her, she worked on the show backstage before becoming a fulltime host.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Matt Ottinger on October 14, 2007, 11:48:15 AM
[quote name=\'xavier45\' post=\'166704\' date=\'Oct 14 2007, 11:35 AM\'][quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'166702\' date=\'Oct 14 2007, 11:22 AM\']Anybody know who she is?[/quote]She is Angelle Tymone who just started on the show a few months ago.[/quote]
She frightened me.  Though now that I see this thread, I wonder if she was just miserably depressed about her show being canceled, and her heart just wasn't in it.  That would at least explain the general pallor I saw over the proceedings.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: xavier45 on October 14, 2007, 11:52:57 AM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'166707\' date=\'Oct 14 2007, 11:48 AM\']

She frightened me.  Though now that I see this thread, I wonder if she was just miserably depressed about her show being canceled, and her heart just wasn't in it.  That would at least explain the general pallor I saw over the proceedings.
[/quote]
Yeah Shandi scared me the first time she did the same thing Angelle did.
And she probably was sad. She said at the end it was her last show in October, which means we will
never see her again.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: toddyo on October 14, 2007, 02:52:09 PM
This show is rescuable. The show suffered from multiple accounts. The sucking people for money was way too obvious. The repore between viewers and hosts vanished. The multiple hosts....the two newest were horrible.

Last night, I knew something was wrong with Angelle (or On-Hell as we called her at the house) was sitting, the lighting was horrid and the game play was slower than a wedding reception line.

To GSN, regroup, relaunch this show in a couple of months as PLAYMANIA, bring back the excitement and fun interaction (the e-mails, the topics of the day, the Chuck bobblehead etc...the interaction with the crew). Live at Midnight, time to be a bit randy, mischievious. This show has suffered from changes from around the time Mel left.

Comments?
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Chelsea Thrasher on October 14, 2007, 03:18:20 PM
[quote name=\'toddyo\' post=\'166714\' date=\'Oct 14 2007, 02:52 PM\'] To GSN, regroup, relaunch this show in a couple of months as PLAYMANIA, bring back the excitement and fun interaction (the e-mails, the topics of the day, the Chuck bobblehead etc...the interaction with the crew). Live at Midnight, time to be a bit randy, mischievious. This show has suffered from changes from around the time Mel left.
 [/quote]

Ooooooooor:

They could leave it dead - making the TV landscape a better place for it; in the process running 2 rarely seen older shows that actually seem to be drawing in better numbers than two hours of being told to "get involved" (dammit, where am I supposed to buy feed oats at midnight?) by hosts who have their audience sit through six minute vamping sessions that make Trivia Track and Super Decades look like fast-paced programming.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: tvmitch on October 14, 2007, 04:04:35 PM
Great changes. I will be setting the DVR to record NYSI every night it's on - I love that show.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: snowpeck on October 14, 2007, 05:06:28 PM
I'll admit the show could have worked as an occasional stunt, but every night was just too much.  I sort of enjoyed it the first couple of times I watched it, but after that it was just annoying.  I'm glad to see it go.  Bring on the classics!

Greg
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: xavier45 on October 14, 2007, 10:27:38 PM
[quote name=\'snowpeck\' post=\'166728\' date=\'Oct 14 2007, 05:06 PM\']
Bring on the classics!

Greg
[/quote]
Right On.

BTW, according to GSN's show pages they will be airing Super Millionaire at 1am with Millionaire on at 12am. This will all start on Late Monday/Early Tuesday on November 5th.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: clemon79 on October 15, 2007, 01:33:25 AM
[quote name=\'toddyo\' post=\'166714\' date=\'Oct 14 2007, 11:52 AM\']
The sucking people for money was way too obvious.
[/quote]
Fixed that for you.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: CaseyAbell on October 15, 2007, 11:54:19 AM
Playmania had a good run. How many shows on even the most obscure cable net last four hundred eps? The format just ran out of steam. It wasn't the new hosts or 100 Winners or anything else except simple viewer ennui with the call-in format night after night.

As for the quality of the show, I liked watching it for maybe a half-hour at a time. The live nature of the show and the eye candy dispensed by the hosts made things interesting enough, even if the games were simple-minded or flogged to painful deaths. It was hardly the greatest programming ever, but an acceptable way to pass a few minutes.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: uncamark on October 15, 2007, 05:20:00 PM
Perhaps the question here is how seemingly every other country in the world seems to make money with these call-in-and-lose shows and U.S. channels can't, including the games channel.  (I don't know that if that show on BET is still running.)  Perhaps we have better taste than people think.

And that's the main story, folks.  If it was still profitable, GSN would still be running it.

Perhaps one of our overseas correspondents can tell us if the genre is running out of steam in their countries and that that video of the Swedish hostess is an apt commentary on the current fortunes of call-in-and-lose.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Don Howard on October 16, 2007, 12:25:18 PM
[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'166845\' date=\'Oct 15 2007, 05:20 PM\']
(I don't know that if that show on BET is still running.)[/quote]
Indeed it is; Take The Cake can be enjoyed on BET weeknights at eleven followed by a double episode of Hell Date.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: tvmitch on October 31, 2007, 09:04:17 AM
A gentle bump to remind everyone that tonight is the final episode of Playmania. Trivia Trap and NYSI will begin a daily run starting late night "tomorrow" (technically in the early morning of November 2).
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: ChuckNet on November 06, 2007, 05:30:09 AM
Hopefully they'll keep TT on long enough to reach the end this time...they also did a week w/soap stars in Feb. 85 (as pictured in EoTVGS #1) that'd be nice to see.

Chuck Donegan (The Optimistic "Chuckie Baby")
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Steve_Bier on November 06, 2007, 09:38:59 AM
For some reason, I thought TT was cancelled in 84'...
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Scrabbleship on November 06, 2007, 09:54:17 AM
[quote name=\'Steve_Bier\' post=\'168881\' date=\'Nov 6 2007, 09:38 AM\']
For some reason, I thought TT was cancelled in 84'...
[/quote]

Trivia Trap lasted until April of 1985.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: Eric Paddon on November 06, 2007, 11:49:57 AM
[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' post=\'168872\' date=\'Nov 6 2007, 05:30 AM\']
Hopefully they'll keep TT on long enough to reach the end this time...they also did a week w/soap stars in Feb. 85 (as pictured in EoTVGS #1) that'd be nice to see.

Chuck Donegan (The Optimistic "Chuckie Baby")
[/quote]

I saw a couple of those pre-Dark Period and what I remember was how Roy Thinnes seemed ready to repeatedly explode in the Trivia Race over getting questions that he considered more than a tad too obscure.
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: DoorNumberFour on November 06, 2007, 12:10:03 PM
[quote name=\'Don Howard\' post=\'166969\' date=\'Oct 16 2007, 11:25 AM\']
Take The Cake can be enjoyed
[/quote]

Really? Is that possible?
Title: Playmania has been Cancelled!
Post by: xavier45 on November 06, 2007, 12:52:15 PM
[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'168901\' date=\'Nov 6 2007, 12:10 PM\']
Really? Is that possible?
[/quote]
It can't be enjoyed anymore since Friday was their Season Finale.