CBS Cancels Guiding Light

[TheFlea]

I would love to see Pyramid return. It would be something I never expected to see - a new network daytime game show...

As far as the Osmond-version bashing goes, I hope they fix those errors. My main problems with that version were a) the constantly-changing camera angles in the WC, which to me completely wrecked the tension, and b) the set - it looked like someone put a bunch of flat screen TVs, a couple tables and chairs, and a few laptops in a warehouse. There was no character there! Hopefully with a network behind it, if this version gets off the ground anyway, they'll develop a better product.

[Sodboy13]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'211751\' date=\'Apr 1 2009, 04:22 PM\']
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'211745\' date=\'Apr 1 2009, 05:07 PM\']
I'll gently point out that this is the same Michael Davies who completely butchered Chain Reaction.
[/quote]
But could that be blamed more on contestant coordinators? From the few episodes I saw, the show seemed to get the gist of Cullen's version, just had dumb contestants.
[/quote]

Two words:  Betting.  Round.

/still makes me facepalm after all these years

[chris319]

I can fix all of the problems with the most recent version of Pyramid:

- Two subjects in 15 seconds. Yeah, that ought to do it. It will still challenge many players.

- Give the celebrities all of the subjects and possible clues in advance, both for the main game and the end game.

- For the end game, turn off ALL the lights in the studio and play in the dark.

- Have someone from the studio audience act as judge for each show.

- No contestants under age 35.

- Top prize: One Zillion Dollars!

- And now, for the pièce de résistance, the emcee -- even smilier and more personable than Donny Osmond:

BILLY MAYS

[snowpeck]

Well we do know for sure now that the hour isn't going back to the affiliates.  A paraphrase from CBS president Nancy Tellum in an article in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/arts/television/02ligh.html) says they are definitely keeping the hour.

Greg

[DrBear]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'211786\' date=\'Apr 1 2009, 08:33 PM\']

BILLY MAYS [/quote]
I was going to say that Vince the ShamWow! guy was kicked off the gig after his recent legal troubles ... then I remembered Marv Albert.

/or Martha Stewart
//or Bob Barker, for that matter
///have your slashies spayed and neutered

[chris319]

There's always Tony Little.

I hear they're saving Vince the ShamWow guy for Family Feud.

[chris319]

[quote name=\'snowpeck\' post=\'211790\' date=\'Apr 1 2009, 06:41 PM\']
Well we do know for sure now that the hour isn't going back to the affiliates.  A paraphrase from CBS president Nancy Tellum in an article in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/arts/television/02ligh.html) says they are definitely keeping the hour.

Greg
[/quote]
If they gave that hour away they would never get it back. The networks have basically shut themselves out of daytime for good in those time slots they released to the affiliates.

[tpirfan28]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'211795\' date=\'Apr 1 2009, 10:02 PM\']
I hear they're saving Vince the ShamWow guy for Family Feud.
[/quote]
Considering he was a frontrunner for TPIR after Drew, then Bart got fired.

[chris319]

Forget Pyramid, they should bring back What's Going On?

Tony Little they can save for the remake of What's My Line? He'd look so cute with a bow tie and that tank top.

[Jay Temple]

Whatever else they do, if they played only three games an hour, they'd have time for bonus cards, 7-in-30 and Winner's Circle post-mortems. I'd set it up like this: 2 players have a best-of-3 format, with the second win a 25K attempt. Games wouldn't straddle, of course, but matches could. (Yes, I realize this means defending champions and airing shows in the order taped.)

[CarShark]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'211796\' date=\'Apr 1 2009, 10:09 PM\']If they gave that hour away they would never get it back. The networks have basically shut themselves out of daytime for good in those time slots they released to the affiliates.
[/quote]Why did they give them away, then? Was programming daytime shows that much of a hassle that it wasn't worth it?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'211808\' date=\'Apr 1 2009, 08:17 PM\']
Games wouldn't straddle, of course, but matches could. (Yes, I realize this means defending champions and airing shows in the order taped.)[/quote]
You were doing so well until this point.

LOVE the three-games-a-day thing. But make it easy: start with four contestants. Games 1 and 2, go to Winner's Circle for $10K. Game 3 features the winners of Games 1 and 2, winner plays for $25K. None of that moronic "the $10K goes away" crap, a possible day's work is $35K.

If you want to make sure everyone goes away with something, play for increments of $100 instead of points, losers keep their cash. Or send 'em away with Lovely Parting Gifts. Doesn't really matter.

Boom. Self-contained hour. Risks someone getting screwed with a bad celebrity, but so does a 2 of 3 match.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'211828\' date=\'Apr 2 2009, 01:08 AM\']
LOVE the three-games-a-day thing. But make it easy: start with four contestants. Games 1 and 2, go to Winner's Circle for $10K. Game 3 features the winners of Games 1 and 2, winner plays for $25K. None of that moronic "the $10K goes away" crap, a possible day's work is $35K.
[/quote]
To make sure I'm reading correctly, basically three full matches (two qualifiers then a "playoff" of sorts)? At first I was kinda confused, then remembered that an hour in 2009 isn't worth what it was in 1982, so that idea  sounds cool, and it prolly allows a more spread out game without having to trim any game play (i.e. 6-in-20 instead of 7-in-30). Works for me! :-)

/Just don't make the set look like a rave

[Loogaroo]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'211831\' date=\'Apr 2 2009, 01:01 AM\']
/Just don't make the set look like a rave
[/quote]

This is all being terribly presumptuous - we'd have to assume they are going to cancel GL (which no official announcement has been made about yet), then we'd have to assume that CBS is going to hang on to that hour and not pawn it off to the affiliates, then we'd have to assume that they'll put game shows in that hour, and finally that one of those shows they bring in is a Pyramid revival.

In the event that all those stars happen to align perfectly, I don't see any reason why they can't just take the old-school approach and craft a set that's at least close to the one they used in the '80s. Obviously it'll be flat screens over trilons, and they may tone down the chasing lights, but still. Pyramid is one of those shows that had an iconic look to it (PYL and Match Game are the other big ones I can think of). Why mess with it?

For all the talk about advertising demos, there's nothing I can think of that would attract a new viewer to a show more than flipping the channel, seeing this, and saying, "Hey! I remember that show!"

(Minus Dick Clark, of course. And the word "discotheque".)

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Loogaroo\' post=\'211832\' date=\'Apr 2 2009, 01:07 AM\']
(Minus Dick Clark, of course)[/quote]
Mr. Goen! Paging Mr. Bob Goen to the $300 courtesy phone, please!