GSN TCA announcements...

[weaklink75]

GSN did their midwinter Television Critics Association presentation tonight, and here are the press release links, with a couple of highlights....

First, they're putting the new Poker Royale: Battle of the Sexes and World Series of Blackjack together on Friday nights, along with Celeb Blackjack 2 reruns:
Here's that release (link fixed)


Next, they gave 13 episodes to their new pool show
(including 2 celeb eps), to be titled "No Limit 9 Ball"-
Info on the format and the host...


And in a bit of a surprise, they are going to be doing a documentary series about what people can and will do to win called "Anything to Win". It's being produced by the people who made the Big Bucks documentary.
Here's the info on that. Now this show could be really good I think. One thing I would personally hope for is an episode on the Dotto scandal in the 50's. All people seem to talk about  the game show scandals back then is Twenty One and Charles Van Doren, but Dotto was also a big part of those scandals.

[tyshaun1]

[quote name=\'weaklink75\' date=\'Jan 14 2005, 11:30 PM\']GSN did their midwinter Television Critics Association presentation tonight, and here are the press release links, with a couple of highlights....

Here's that release...

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First of all, fix your link.

Secondly, I'm beginning to think GSN needs to stick a P and E in their name, because a lot of their programming is beginning to resemble theirs. Horse racing, blackjack, poker, pool; place your bets, because I can all but guarantee that bowling will be next (w/ Jed Allen as host, course).
Although "Anything To Win" seems like a good concept, I wouldn't call it a signature show, which GSN still has yet to find.

Tyshaun

[sshuffield70]

Trust me, they found a signature show.......but the idiots cancelled it for a "Poker Royale" tournament......stupid bastards.........

[Jimmy Owen]

GSPN?

[CaseyAbell]

The pool show does sound pretty much like ESPN's effort, plus a betting angle. ESPN's show is certainly watchable but a little dry except when Jeannette Lee bends over the table. She's gonna pop out at parties one of these days, and it will be a glorious day indeed.

The documentary might be interesting, but it sounds like the quality of the episodes could vary widely, depending on each storyline.

I assume the reference to Lingo is an echo of the Prof's asinine argument that the $4.95 GSN spent on Poker Royale made a fourth season of the word game impossible. Of course, you could say that ANY other expense by GSN - roses for Sectretaries' Day, the WBSM license, renewing the G-T library - prevented another season of the Chuck wordfest.

The Prof was just trying to gin up fans of traditional games shows against the GSN poker show. That actually seems a little weird because the poker show was squeaky clean, without any of the backbiting and badmouthing the Prof is always denouncing in reality shows.

The tournament was played in what seemed like a professional and respectful, often even friendly atmosphere. You'd think this would be the kind of competition the Prof would want on TV. The show even included warnings about excessive gambling.

[Dbacksfan12]

Wow, yet another slam against the professor, and more trying to justify your stance that GSN is never wrong.

Imagine that.

[CaseyAbell]

In fact, I've often defended the Prof. He's just way out in left field - actually, he's nine miles out of the stadium - when he says that Poker Royale prevented another season of Lingo.

That's like saying you can't buy bread because you're spending too much on milk. No, you can't buy bread because you're spending too much on everything else besides bread. The Prof could just as easily (and accurately) have argued that the WBSM license made more Lingo eps impossible. He was just trying to dump on the poker show.

Which again seems weird because the poker show was hardly one of those reality spitefests that the Prof is always slamming. Truth to tell, it was the kind of competition he seems to approve of.

I don't expect you to read anything very carefully, but your argument that I think GSN can do no wrong is a joke - based on this thread alone. I just gave very tepid responses to GSN's new show announcements. Don't want to prejudge, but I have my doubts about both the pool show and the documentary.

Just a few days ago I posted a review of GSN's horseracing show with many negative comments. You should really try reading some of the posts on this board.

[melman1]

Arguing just to argue.  Again.

As Don said, imagine that.

[itiparanoid13]

One of the main things I was shocked about was no big word of the 24/7 interactive iTV.  This is really a revolutionary thing, TV wise, they are planning here, with what will sure come major schedule changes in some places.  I figured some small word would have been made.

[Robert Hutchinson]

When will Jeopardy! have a "____ING JUST TO ____" category?

(I've seen arguing just to argue around here. Those last couple of posts? Ain't it.)

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'itiparanoid13\' date=\'Jan 15 2005, 05:03 PM\']One of the main things I was shocked about was no big word of the 24/7 interactive iTV.  This is really a revolutionary thing, TV wise, they are planning here, with what will sure come major schedule changes in some places.  I figured some small word would have been made.

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As much as I would love that (and to see some G-T classics dusted off, and out of the vault) I really don't see it happening. I see them making the remaining non-interactive shows on their current schedule interactive, and has been said, the infomercials too.

[CaseyAbell]

Arguing just to argue. Again.

No, I'm pointing out a silly argument by the Prof, which was earlier echoed in this thread.

To give the Prof credit, he seems to have dropped his goofball assertion that Poker Royale - instead of everything else besides Lingo that GSN spends money on - prevented another series of the word game. His article on the poker show's conclusion made no mention of this bizarre "logic," and he hasn't trotted out similar "logic" in his article on GSN's new battle-of-the-sexes pokerfest.

Maybe he actually liked Poker Royale a little. As I said, it was the kind of competition he seems to favor - no disrespect among the contestants, no whining and backbiting, no sleaze.

[itiparanoid13]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jan 15 2005, 05:41 PM\']

Arguing just to argue. Again.

No, I'm pointing out a silly argument by the Prof, which was earlier echoed in this thread.

To give the Prof credit, he seems to have dropped his goofball assertion that Poker Royale - instead of everything else besides Lingo that GSN spends money on - prevented another series of the word game. His article on the poker show's conclusion made no mention of this bizarre "logic," and he hasn't trotted out similar "logic" in his article on GSN's new battle-of-the-sexes pokerfest.

Maybe he actually liked Poker Royale a little. As I said, it was the kind of competition he seems to favor - no disrespect among the contestants, no whining and backbiting, no sleaze.

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Which is funny because you completely changed the topic from discussing the TCA shows to something against the professor.  Anyway, to try to salvage this from what it's becoming, the pool show sounds like a decent attempt to switch it up.  I don't like to watch pool on TV, but this might be interesting.  The Friday Night Casino may be something I'll watch.  Anything To Win won't be, however.  I'm not expecting this to be about game shows.  Maybe a show or two about a game show scandal, but not many.

[CaseyAbell]

Which is funny because you completely changed the topic from discussing the TCA shows to something against the professor.

Nope, the subject was changed by this post, which reads in full:

"Trust me, they found a signature show.......but the idiots cancelled it for a "Poker Royale" tournament......stupid bastards......... "

As you can see, this post made no reference to the TCA shows. Instead, this was an obvious reference to the Prof's weird argument that the poker show - instead of any other GSN expense - made a fourth season of Lingo impossible. The subject was changed by somebody else, and I replied.

Not that I much care if the topics on a thread get changed. Happens all the time, and often makes the thread a lot more entertaining.

Anyway, I tend to agree with your tepid reaction to GSN's new show announcements. Neither sounds all that enticing. ESPN's pool shows are only okay, though the betting angle might jazz things a little. The documentary might occasionally have some interesting episodes, but the interest level looks like it might vary too much depending on the particular story.

Not to dump on GSN completely, I'm looking forward to the second civvie blackjack series and the new poker show. The civvies play better than the celebs, even if they don't get off as many zingers. And the new poker show looks like it will maintain suspense better than the unfortunately anticlimactic first series.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jan 15 2005, 06:58 PM\'] The civvies play better than the celebs, even if they don't get off as many zingers. [/quote]
That's my problem with it, though, as I think I've said before.  These GSN: The Network For Watching Other People Play Games offerings aren't all that interesting to me, mostly because I find the skill level of the on-screen participants irrelevant.  Rule Number One of the -- dare I say it? -- "traditional" game show is that the audience needs to be able to play along.  There's a little of that with poker, but even less with blackjack, and virtually none with pool.

Absolutely, there's an audience for these shows, in the same general way that there's an audience for sporting events:  You can admire the skill of experts, enjoy the competition and root for your favorites.  Poker and the rest don't happen to engage me that way, so I personally enjoy the celebrity editions a lot more.