I don't normally recommend watching GSN's infomercial block overnights, but there's a new one with Bowzer, aka John Bauman. Yikes. He hasn't aged well.

Haven't posted in a while but I'm bummed to see that Password is pulled from the CBS lineup. It also makes very little sense to me -- ratings have been very solid and similar to what it got over the summer. Yes the younger demographics are awful, but come on, what were you expecting?

 

posted by Brad @ 1:02 AM   0 comment(s)

Yay! Password is back.

And it's good to know that William Shatner is as awful at Password as he was at Pyramid. MY GOD! Even Regis was ragging on him during the show. Hermit the Frog???

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who noticed, but contestant Mark from the 2nd half of the show was the guy who cleaned up on Temptation in Fall 2007.

 

posted by Brad @ 9:03 PM   9 comment(s)

I don't watch Price is Right every day. Maybe I should.

I got clued into Tuesday's amazing finish by, of all things, a blurb on the awful-yet-captivating TMZ on TV where they showed a blip of the reveal. I couldn't believe my eyes. I also couldn't believe that nobody had spoiled it for me before.

Clearly what happened is that someone (or someones) with a savant knowledge of the prices on the show (and let's face it, if you watch for a month straight you know how much some things cost) was able to do some quick adding and help the contestant out. You simply don't come to a number than random by chance.

The question of rigging has come up but, to simplify things, this is simply Michael Larson part two. The audience is encouraged to, not prevented from helping. Apparently the show has caught some "good bidders" before and marginalized or even banned them from tapings. While some people may consider that bad behavior, in the end its their show, its not a public good, and its within their boundaries.

Drew claimed this had happened before (back in 1972 or 1973, when showcases rarely topped $3000). If it has, I haven't seen a clip. This very well may be the first time. And yes his reaction was muted; even TMZ picked up on that. I don't think it speaks to him being a bad host, I think it was simply an awkward situation that was hard to get excited about. Keep in mind that Peter Tomarken's interview of Larson himself was muted somewhat given the fact that everyone in the studio figured the show had been rigged.

So what does CBS do now? Advice like "get more prizes" is a bit short sighted; the show DOES recycle prizes quite a bit. Adding more distributors would require more research and more staff, and it has a cost. If someone hits a showcase on the nose once every 30 years it's probably not a budget buster.

 

posted by Brad @ 11:40 PM   8 comment(s)

Yes, I'm still alive.

On Price today, Drew dropped a great line during the playing of Temptation:

"Hardly anybody wins the car in this game."

Nice!

 

posted by Brad @ 1:31 AM   10 comment(s)

I couldn't believe that Dot from the 2nd episode of Price was picked as a contestant again on yesterday's show! We all remember Dot from that 2nd episode. Running down with her purse. Winning the odd $100 bonus in Grocery Game. And losing out by a hair in the showcase while telling Bob how much she loved The New Price is Right.

Well good to see that she's alive and kicking 36 years later. She did get up on stage but lost Coming or Going and didn't get past the wheel. How trippy would it have been if she played Grocery Game again?

 

posted by Brad @ 11:58 AM   15 comment(s)

According to an article on SFGate.com, a disgruntled would-be Price contestant tried to blow up a building in San Francisco yesterday. No, seriously.

Click here for the article.

 

posted by Brad @ 5:10 PM   2 comment(s)

Two of my least favorite shows to have aired this year are Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Amne$ia. Well, if those two shows got married, had a baby, and the baby came out with four heads, then you'd have the new ABC primetime game Opportunity Knocks.

What's not to love?

*Zero play along factor? Check.
*Annoying overexcited family? Check.
*Ridiculous fake drama cliffhanger commercial breaks? Check.
*Screaming teenager girls? Check.

At some point I was hoping J.D. would just give the family two minutes to run through their house collecting prizes and cash, but that probably would have been too much to ask for.

 

posted by Brad @ 8:44 PM   4 comment(s)

TP'd as in Trivial Pursuited. I have to give the show neither a thumbs up or thumbs down, but rather a thumbs sideways. The scoring system is unique, and the user-submitted questions I like. I like the fact that the home players have a team captain who is kind of watching over the show Max Headroom style. And I thought the range of questions was broad with acceptable, if not great, difficulty.

I really didn't like the fact that in Round 2 the wedges become somewhat meaningless in the sense that any question can earn any color. That really violates the spirit of the game and just smacks of laziness in the rule design. Christopher Knight is very average as new hosts go -- he kept the game moving along but didn't seem completely engaged, and in today's show had a rough flub when he asked a contestant if he was sure of his answer -- right as the "correct" signal sounded. Lastly, while the end game scoring system ensures that the game will remain close until the end, I didn't really find it all that dramatic or climactic.

 

posted by Brad @ 8:30 PM   4 comment(s)