Amazing Race on GSN is now official

[itiparanoid13]

I'll be at the press conference tomorrow, and it is official after hearing Rich Cronin and others speak: GSN has picked up The Amazing Race.  Hopefully this will do better than their last few reality shows, which it should.  The Amazing Race VS American Dream Derby: not a lot of competition.  You can read the story, which there isn't a ton to it, at Buzzer! in the link in my sig if you choose to do so.

[davewalls]

Now the rest of the world will come to hate Wil and Tara as much as I did!

To everyone else: Welcome to the bandwagon.

[CaseyAbell]

Marc Berman posted the same report at Mediaweek, with the same lack of details. It'll be interesting to see how GSN programs the show. Prime time slots are a given, but will the show get Monday-Friday exposure?

OLN is lavishing time on Survivor - 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM Monday-Thursday. Amazing Race can't get that much. If I had to guess, I'd pick 10:00 PM Monday-Thursday, which would displace a couple Dogs (no pun intended) and a couple blackjack shows.

This might make for a semi-compatible lead-in on Wednesday and Thursday with the remaining Dogs. Otherwise the show sort of looks lonely on GSN's current super-traditional game show schedule. Hope it doesn't get lost in the ratings race.

EDIT: Ah, just realized that can't be right because the pool show is getting Monday 10:00 PM and Dodgeball takes Tuesday 10:00 PM. Which leaves Wednesday and Thursday 10:00 PM. Or maybe Monday-Thursday 9:00 PM with the incompatible Millionaire lead-in, but everything can't work perfectly. We'll find out soon enough, I guess.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jun 8 2005, 10:58 AM\']Marc Berman posted the same report at Mediaweek, with the same lack of details. It'll be interesting to see how GSN programs the show. Prime time slots are a given, but will the show get Monday-Friday exposure?

OLN is lavishing time on Survivor - 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM Monday-Thursday. Amazing Race can't get that much.

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I would assume that they're airing the same episode in both time slots, not two different episodes, since I think they're still a one-feed channel.

[CaseyAbell]

Yep, it's probably the same episode in both time slots, though the Multichannel story didn't make it clear. Down the road OLN said it might expand the time slots even further, with stunts like "best villains" marathons. I can well believe this after seeing OLN o.d. on Lance Armstrong.

By the way, the story also said that Fox Reality and GSN were both in the hunt for Survivor (jeesh, the unintended puns pile up when I discuss reality shows). I commented on the GSN board that I was surprised Fox Reality just didn't blow everybody away with massive bids to get both shows. That would have given the network immediate credibility. Short-term pain, long-term gain. But maybe they've decided to go cheaper for now.

EDIT: A Variety story (I had to sit through an ad for) says the Survivor license fetched more than $10 million from OLN. I can see why GSN, with yearly revenues of about $90 million, didn't make the deal. In Cableworld's April prime time ratings, OLN got a whopping 0.2 and 120K household average. Ranked 48th out of 49 listed networks. Where does this operation get $10 million? (Rhetorical question. Its parent Comcast decided to go for broke.)

Oh well, I can understand why Fox Reality didn't want to venture quite so much. Variety didn't give any numbers for the Amazing Race deal.

[Chelsea Thrasher]

Promo during Rafferty CS said the show will debut July 11, Nightly at 9 PM

[itiparanoid13]

Exactly correct. The Amazing Race will be the lead in for their new summer programming starting Monday, July 11th, at 9PM EST.  It will rerun at midnight and will run 7 days a week.  Starting in July, they will have seasons 1-5.  In September, they will pick up seasons 6 and 7.  After that year, they will receive the 8th season.  This will be the biggest marketing campaign in GSN's history.  The story is so long that I can't post it here.  Read Buzzer! in my link below to see the full story, where we better have posted it first.

[TV Favorites]

I see in the blog that this acquisition has brought about a better relationship between CBS and GSN.  Maybe CBS will loosen up the strings on Price is Right now.

[inturnaround]

I'd think a good idea would be for GSN to have a weekly "Amazing Race" talk show much like CBS.com does with Survivor and Big Brother. It would tie in with the current season and run alongside that. You could do interviews with the eliminated teams and do a preview and wrap-up show. Unlike Survivor, which has a reunion show, TAR never did one that wasn't just segments on The Early Show.

Another big treasure that could be tapped by GSN is the clips that go on CBS.com that were cut out from the race for time but are interesting in themselves.

Anyhoo, here's the GSN press release
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/pr.cgi?id=20050608gsn01

[gamed121683]

I just saw a promo on Rafferty's "CS" this afternoon. This is gonna be big for the promo acts like that not since they got thr G/T library they've gotten a show this HUGE! I'm sure they even paid big $$$ for the voiceover guy (Don LaFontaine). I hope it is a success it might actuallly make GSN more a household name then it is now. Who knows?

Although, I'm just afraid that if that is a hit over time GSN could become RSN (REALITY Show Network). So for those who want to tape your favorite classic "traditional" game show, do it now! I fear that for this network "The Game Show Apocalypse" could come when we least expect it. I'm not sure but you all, but I'm getting prepared.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled forum already in progress.

[davewalls]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Jun 8 2005, 06:22 PM\']I fear that for this network "The Game Show Apocalypse" could come when we least expect it. I'm not sure but you all, but I'm getting prepared.

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Can't be any worse than another rerun of "Celebrity Blackjack". This is coming from someone who likes blackjack and poker a LOT.

I say, bring in the Amazing Race, grab whomever you can with it, and take it from there. If GSN was going to get one reality show, they picked up the best one of the bunch. At least it isn't another season of "Fake-a-Date". Count your blessings.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Jun 8 2005, 04:22 PM\']I'm sure they even paid big $$$ for the voiceover guy (Don LaFontaine).
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I'm sure they, um, didn't.

[Gromit]

Amazing Race is a great show, especially the early seasons (they get progressively worse).

I highly suggest those who haven't seen it to give it a chance, especially if you love travel.

[CaseyAbell]

According to this Variety story (which you pay for by viewing a Microsoft ad that at least offers a nice looking actress as the wife) GSN shelled out $6 million for the show. So I can understand why they're going wild on exposure, a seven-day strip at 9:00 with a repeat at 12:00 except Fridays.

That price tag is a substantial piece of GSN's annual revenue. This show better produce, or it will make the horseracing fiasco look like a blip. Rich Cronin diplomatically described the acquisition as "more expensive than we expected but worth every cent."

That's 600,000,000 cents, Rich. I guess competition from Fox Reality and other possible suitors drove the price up. Variety mentions other pricey deals for reality reruns on cable.

The lead-in from Millionaire still looks problematic. GSN's weeknight schedule starting at 6:00 PM: WBSM, Lingo, Millionaire, Amazing Race. One of these things is not like the others. The network must figure that Amazing Race will generate its own audience rather that relying on the lead-in from very traditional game shows. In fact, the lead-in for the entire day is traditional game shows until Amazing Race at 9:00.

By the way, I assume the whole Casino Night lineup will get pushed back an hour on Friday. GSN still has a lot of poker shows to air. (Yep, just checked the previous GSN press release. The new poker series goes in at 10:00.)

Never seen much of Amazing Race, so I'll drop by to check what an entire series is like. Good luck to GSN on a substantial commitment.

[davewalls]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jun 9 2005, 07:44 AM\']That's 600,000,000 cents, Rich. I guess competition from Fox Reality and other possible suitors drove the price up. Variety mentions other pricey deals for reality reruns on cable.

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Even though the name of the other channel is Fox Reality, I think GSN is a better outlet for The Amazing Race than Fox. Fox Reality is not available in a lot of markets yet, so why would CBS send it's hottest show to a channel where it would be seen by fewer people, when it has a chance to send it to a channel that has clearance in far more outlets. If Fox Reality was a bit more established, or were available in more areas, we might have seen Fox pick up the check.

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Jun 9 2005, 07:44 AM\'] The network must figure that Amazing Race will generate its own audience rather that relying on the lead-in from very traditional game shows. In fact, the lead-in for the entire day is traditional game shows until Amazing Race at 9:00.

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The Amazing Race, IMHO, should fare better in drawing an audience in reruns than Survivor did on CBS. Simply put, a lot of people missed the first 4-5 seasons of the Race..it'll be like a new season to them. CBS ran Survivor right after Hatch won, and everyone knew the ending. No one cared about watching Sonja and her ukulele getting kicked off again. GSN might has well have bought brand new seasons of The Amazing Race, because to a lot of viewers, that's exactly what it will look like.