Schedule Changes

[xavier45]

Tvgameshows.net is reporting that How Much is Enough is not really pulling in the ratings(Suprise Suprise), and will be cut down. Here are the changes starting next week.

Tuesday-Thursday/Saturday
8pm: Millionaire
9pm: Family Feud(Karn)
9:30pm: Same
10pm: How Much is Enough?
10:30pm: Chain Reaction

Friday
8-10pm: Same
10pm: To Tell The Truth 2000(2 episodes)

Sunday
8pm: Millionaire
9pm: Lingo
9:30pm: Lingo
10pm: How Much is Enough?
10:30pm: Chain Reaction
11pm: Celebrity Millionaire

I am not really shocked about this. HMIE is a good cure for Insomnia, that is for sure.

And if anyone cares, they will be having a Love Connection Mini-Marathon on Sunday, February 10th from 9-12pm.

[Chelsea Thrasher]

I'm more surprised to see that
1)The audience is finally starting to get bored with Chain Reaction. That little show just didn't seem to want to die.
2)They're using TTTT 2000 as filler.  I seem to remember it not doing so well when they had it in primetime.  Are they *that* dead set against using, say, Match Game PM?

[bandit_bobby]

Apparently, the public thinks the game is way too simple.

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' post=\'175956\' date=\'Jan 23 2008, 12:00 AM\']
1)The audience is finally starting to get bored with Chain Reaction. That little show just didn't seem to want to die.
[/quote]
Word on the street is that it is in fact getting a third season. <'shrugs'>.

[itiparanoid13]

Really?  I'm hearing that it and Lingo are in limbo because the reruns are getting the same ratings as new episodes.  However, my unbelievably reliable and close source told me my info back in November.  I'm more inclined to believe you since lots of things can change obviously and I can see them needing Chain Reaction and/or Lingo to come out of the shop since How Much Is Enough apparently isn't doing much for them.

I can never tell when there are newer episodes of Lingo on.  It always seems like one gigantic continuous season.  You could probably tell on Chain Reaction by which of the thousand different end game formats are being used.

[Chelsea Thrasher]

[quote name=\'itiparanoid13\' post=\'175972\' date=\'Jan 23 2008, 09:02 AM\']  can never tell when there are newer episodes of Lingo on.  It always seemed like one gigantic continuous season.  You could probably tell on Chain Reaction by which of the thousand different end game formats are being used. [/quote]

Actually, I can't even tell episodes of Chain Reaction apart.  Same uninspired set. Same uninspired host. Contestants who look like they come from the same uninspired cookie cutter.  The show's so uninteresting that I couldn't come up with any adjectives other than uninspired until an edit after the fact.

And I would suggest that based on the numbers, the "same" ratings that GSN is getting for shows like Lingo, Chain, etc - is probably fairly close to nada at this point. People aren't buying into 7th-generation-reruns of boring little originals with high school prize budgets anymore, clearly. (Lingo was good, but you can only watch pairs of folks fail to put the T in the right place and draw the red ball/stopper so many times....) And no, I'm not advocating sticking Go in prime time - though GSN tried that once before and the world didn't come to an end...but what they're doing now isn't working, and a third season of a piss-poor version of Chain Reaction isn't the fix.

[chad1m]

[quote name=\'bandit_bobby\' post=\'175970\' date=\'Jan 23 2008, 08:38 AM\']
Apparently, the public thinks the game is way too simple.
[/quote]

Well, uh, it is. Didn't you get the mem---nevermind.

[uncamark]

And let it be said that putting on their modest little entertainments against Howie and His Hot Babes and the other flashier prime time game shows and reality comps aren't hurting them, as well.

Of course, we have to remember that they're programming for the "what else is on?" audience surfing through the channels, not the diehard game show fan.  And they're going to be watching the network game shows before GSN first because of the glitz factor.  I would ramp up first run production in both quantity and quality and put it on at 10 p.m., when no broadcast network for the most part's doing game or comp shows.  Comedy Central's been doing this counterprogramming for years at 10 p.m. (since few if any comedy series start on the Big 3 networks after 10 p.m.) and it's worked very well for them.   The schedule changes hint that they're beginning to realize it--but they need to expand on it.

[MizzouRah!]

All this talk about the failed/failing/boring GSN originals brings to mind a question I've always had. Has GSN ever announced the cancellation of one of their originals? It seems all their shows go through the original run, then play in repeats for weeks/months/years, then fade away or magically reappear w/ new episodes. Are the producers, host, etc. in limbo, waiting for a call, such as CR & Lingo right now? I don't remember a time when GSN came out and said "we've canceled *insert favorite GSN original*, it just didn't perform well enough". If not, maybe HMiE will change that and they'll admit the mistake of green lighting this nightmare.

[catnap1972]

[quote name=\'chad1m\' post=\'175977\' date=\'Jan 23 2008, 11:37 AM\']
[quote name=\'bandit_bobby\' post=\'175970\' date=\'Jan 23 2008, 08:38 AM\']
Apparently, the public thinks the game is way too simple.
[/quote]

Well, uh, it is. Didn't you get the mem---nevermind.
[/quote]

The demo GSN is targeting (or at least trying to) actually has taste?  Who'da thunk it!

[itiparanoid13]

[quote name=\'MizzouRah!\' post=\'175985\' date=\'Jan 23 2008, 03:01 PM\']
All this talk about the failed/failing/boring GSN originals brings to mind a question I've always had. Has GSN ever announced the cancellation of one of their originals? It seems all their shows go through the original run, then play in repeats for weeks/months/years, then fade away or magically reappear w/ new episodes. Are the producers, host, etc. in limbo, waiting for a call, such as CR & Lingo right now? I don't remember a time when GSN came out and said "we've canceled *insert favorite GSN original*, it just didn't perform well enough". If not, maybe HMiE will change that and they'll admit the mistake of green lighting this nightmare.
[/quote]

The only cancellation I've ever gotten a confirmation about was I've Got A Secret.  Panelist Suzanne Westenhoeffer emailed me that GSN decided not to pick the show up for a second season in October (which was a big disappointment for me).  But yeah, the rest have slowly faded away and are brought back if they are absolutely needed, or so it seems.  Happened to Lingo during the rebranding.  Wouldn't be shocked if it happened again

[tvmitch]

[quote name=\'itiparanoid13\' post=\'175988\' date=\'Jan 23 2008, 03:50 PM\']
The only cancellation I've ever gotten a confirmation about was I've Got A Secret.  Panelist Suzanne Westenhoeffer emailed me that GSN decided not to pick the show up for a second season in October (which was a big disappointment for me).  But yeah, the rest have slowly faded away and are brought back if they are absolutely needed, or so it seems.  Happened to Lingo during the rebranding.  Wouldn't be shocked if it happened again
[/quote]
That news crushed me as my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this show...and there's not much on GSN that she "thoroughly enjoys." (i.e. TTD, to my chagrin.) And of all of GSN's originals, it was the most fun. I think Bil could host a show anytime and it would be great - very underrated.

I imagine that the cancellation happened because of the talent budget. I remember the show was doing fairly well in the ratings, at least by GSN standards. But maybe not, because the show gave away $2K at most per show (plus dinner), while other shows probably have a prize budget of $3-4K+. Who knows.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'mitchgroff\' post=\'175992\' date=\'Jan 23 2008, 04:42 PM\'] because the show gave away $2K at most per show (plus dinner), while other shows probably have a prize budget of $3-4K+. Who knows.[/quote]
And of course they didn't even have to give away that.  Nobody watches a panel show to see a player win money.  Heck, contestants don't go on a panel show to win money, they go to show off for some reason.  The game would have been just as much fun (and it was fun) if they didn't say anything about prizes and just played, the same way the 70s version worked.

But yes, having to pay five talent fees instead of one or two probably didn't help the bottom line.

[Jimmy Owen]

IIRC, the Marianne Curan shows all acknowledged they were coming to an end on the air, I think Playmania did too, though I didn't see the farewell show.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'176006\' date=\'Jan 23 2008, 03:45 PM\']IIRC, the Marianne Curan shows all acknowledged they were coming to an end on the air.[/quote]I remember that: "Super Decades is at an end, this time next Monday you'll see When Did That Happen?". The latter actually managed to be slower and less interesting than the former, which is too bad.