The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => Game Show Channels & Networks => Topic started by: tvrandywest on March 14, 2004, 08:03:40 PM
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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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[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 09:03 PM\'] ``I would like to see mimes getting pummeled by dodge balls,'' he said. [/quote]
Well, yeah, wouldn't we all?
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Well, there are more than likely people out there in Internet land who'd like to see HIM get pummeled with Dodgeballs, but, I'd happily settle for mimes.
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[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 07:39 PM\'] Well, there are more than likely people out there in Internet land who'd like to see HIM get pummeled with Dodgeballs, but, I'd happily settle for mimes. [/quote]
I think I speak for mimes everywhere when I say. . .
Doug (ducking)
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That one deserves a punishment FAR worse than the TTD '90 room. It deserves a punishment FAR worse than The Chamber Chamber.
But, what to do what to do?
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[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 09:04 PM\'] That one deserves a punishment FAR worse than the TTD '90 room. It deserves a punishment FAR worse than The Chamber Chamber.
But, what to do what to do? [/quote]
The GSWitch/GSG2Kepisode of Tic Tac Duh!, hosted by Patrick Wayne :)
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[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 09:04 PM\'] That one deserves a punishment FAR worse than the TTD '90 room. It deserves a punishment FAR worse than The Chamber Chamber.
But, what to do what to do? [/quote]
The silent treatment, perhaps?
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(Silence.......silence......)
It works! Scary, but it works....whoops!
(Silence.....silence......happy "future" GSN......silence)
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 07:06 PM\'] [quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 09:04 PM\'] That one deserves a punishment FAR worse than the TTD '90 room. It deserves a punishment FAR worse than The Chamber Chamber.
But, what to do what to do? [/quote]
An episode of the GSWitch/GSG2K/WHoserman episode of Jeoparduh!, hosted by Professor SB :) [/quote]
What the hell? Why are you dragging me into this?
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 09:06 PM\'] [quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 09:04 PM\'] That one deserves a punishment FAR worse than the TTD '90 room. It deserves a punishment FAR worse than The Chamber Chamber.
But, what to do what to do? [/quote]
An episode of the GSWitch/GSG2K/WHoserman episode of Jeoparduh!, hosted by Professor SB :) [/quote]
Zach, you really have some nerve.
Whoserman: Ignore him. He'll never have a clue.
Brandon Brooks
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All I have to say is....ZZZZ (Snoring As We Speak, or SAWS for short)
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[quote name=\'gameshowguy2000\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 10:48 PM\'] All I have to say is....ZZZZ (Snoring As We Speak, or SAWS for short) [/quote]
It was dumb the first time you said it. Now, it's just lame.
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[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 10:13 PM\'] [quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 07:06 PM\'] [quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 09:04 PM\'] That one deserves a punishment FAR worse than the TTD '90 room. It deserves a punishment FAR worse than The Chamber Chamber.
But, what to do what to do? [/quote]
The GSWitch/GSG2K episode of Tic Tac Duh!, hosted by Patrick Wayne :) [/quote]
What the hell? Why are you dragging me into this? [/quote]
I changed it, you don't belong in the same category with GSG2K. My mistake.
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Here's a link for the complete story (http://\"http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/entertainment/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-2/1079311440145520.xml\")
Besides, Randy, you missed perhaps the most entertaining quote of all:
MTV started as a music channel and evolved to be a youth culture channel, still music-based," Cronin said. "That's a model for us."
My rebuttal:
Interesting. Seeing as how MTV has become the pre-fabricated, festering armpit of pop culture --a complete 180 of what it started out as-- is this really a direction Cronin wants to take?
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Not much new in the AP article except some quotes from Cronin and a cable teevee pundit. An ironic note is the dismissal of video games as viable cable fare. I guess the reporter was unaware of GSN's short-lived video games block, or he would have used it to bolster his argument. Maybe he blinked and missed it.
I tend to agree with Cronin that five years from now the majority of GSN's programming will still be studio game shows. They've proven more resistant to rerun abuse than reality epics, because it's a lot easier to churn out zillions of eps for a studio gamer. GSN's economics will always dictate severe rerun cycles.
Casino games might be a little different, because you can get more of them onto tape relatively quickly. GSN is already planning a couple more series of blackjack shows.
The idea of "heading off" G4 seems a little silly, because that network doesn't look to be getting much traction. I can see where GSN might want to get in ahead of the reality and casino channels, because that kind of programming has a far better track record of success on cable than video games.
Not to get off-topic, but some folks think MTV started out as a pre-fabricated armpit of popular culture.
Finally, GSN's new site is up and running. Just posted my congrats to the techs for the new site's graphics.
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[quote name=\'CarbonCpy\' date=\'Mar 15 2004, 12:35 AM\']
MTV started as a music channel and evolved to be a youth culture channel, still music-based," Cronin said. "That's a model for us."
My rebuttal:
Interesting. Seeing as how MTV has become the pre-fabricated, festering armpit of pop culture --a complete 180 of what it started out as-- is this really a direction Cronin wants to take? [/quote]
That's a pretty cliche position that's been advanced by people who still wish MTV was all music, all the time. However, it is an extreme minority. The overwhelming evidence (supported by ratings, publicity, ad buys, demographics, etc) is that MTV was very wise to have expanded its "brand" to encompass youth culture and not limit itself to music.
We start finding out today whether GSN's analogy is valid. It will be interesting to see if we can weed out the comments that clearly would be resistant to ANY move away from traditional shows and instead focus on the merits (or lack thereof) of the programs and the programming philosophy itself.
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[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' date=\'Mar 14 2004, 08:04 PM\'] That one deserves a punishment FAR worse than the TTD '90 room. It deserves a punishment FAR worse than The Chamber Chamber.
But, what to do what to do? [/quote]
Just being me is punishment enough. :)
Doug
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Mar 15 2004, 10:05 AM\']That's a pretty cliche position that's been advanced by people who still wish MTV was all music, all the time. However, it is an extreme minority. The overwhelming evidence (supported by ratings, publicity, ad buys, demographics, etc) is that MTV was very wise to have expanded its "brand" to encompass youth culture and not limit itself to music.
We start finding out today whether GSN's analogy is valid. It will be interesting to see if we can weed out the comments that clearly would be resistant to ANY move away from traditional shows and instead focus on the merits (or lack thereof) of the programs and the programming philosophy itself.[/quote]
Cliche? Sure. Although, I feel as though I should qualify my argument a little, Matt, as I believe Casey read a little too much into what I said. My argument wasn't all "WHAA WHAA MTV WONT PLAEY TEH VIDOES," it was more along the lines of being all "WHAA WHAA MTV IS TEH LAZEY."
Reason for that is that I'm of the opinion that the late 80s/early 90s was the best time for MTV: They got their "sea legs" in the 80s, after --for lack of a better term-- an interesting start ("Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes" readily springs to mind).
Having finally gotten some decent exposure, they started branching out. Remote Control, Liquid Television, the John Stewart show... Right up untill The Real World. Don't get me wrong, the first season or two was pretty decent, but somewhere along the line, they must've figured that if one showing every once in a while was okay then 1500 would surely put the ratings through the roof! And why stop there? Sure enough, that lead to Road Rules, and the incessant repeats; Tough Enough, and their incessant repeats...
So, rather than actually try and keep the creativity flowing, MTV, much like television in general nowadays, stagnated. Let's take "Newlyweds," for example: It's the Real World, only instead of media hogs mugging for the camera with the mundane activities of their daily lives, we get media hogs mugging for the camera with the mundane activities of their daily lives with a woman who's dumber than a sack of hammers.
The problem with MTV, and TV in general, is one of cultural incest: "Let some other sucker take the chance, 'cause we can always copy their gimmick if they strike gold." (see: WWtbaM? vs. Greed; Everybody Loves Raymond vs. My Wife and Kids vs. The Tracy Morgan Show vs. Bernie Mac; The Bachelor vs. Average Joe vs. Cupid vs. Joe Millionaire; Poker vs. Blackjack... ).
But to steer this thread back on topic: I'm very interested in how Extreme Dodgeball will turn out. Physical/slapstick comedy has never failed to get a laugh out of me. I'm not holding my breath for the Vegas chapel hidden camera thing,
though. Kenny vs. Spenny has potential. In my opinion, Fake-a-Date will be worth watching, much like imagining a train wreck at a clown college.